Wednesday, September 28, 2011

For the Love of Cauliflower... who knew??

I'm almost embarrassed to make this post.  As a "mommy foodie," it seems that I should be fully aware of the glorious possibilities of cauliflower.  AND, as an english teacher, I probably should have known how to properly spell "cauliflower" (and not to start a sentence with "and")... what can I say?  My days of playing "crowd-control" have turned my brain to mush.  
Problem:  my precious little one was stuck in a vegetable rut.  She insisted on zucchini all day and everyday.  I'm pretty insistent about her having a variety of foods, so this stubborn food phase irritated me to no end.  I tried everything... or so I thought.  I realized that I've never given her cauliflower (what?!) wait, I never even made cauliflower.  Crazy, I know.  I think that's because I grew up eating it in those broccoli, carrot, cauliflower frozen vegetable medley mixes.   Yuck.
While searching recipes, I stumbled upon several in which pureed cauliflower was made into a bowl of "fake-out" mashed potatoes.  Really??  There's no way that someone could mistake that bland veggie for a delicious cloud of mashed potatoes... right?  So, I kept searching and found a highly-rated roasted cauliflower recipe.  Perfection!  My little one loved it too!  Now, I suppose it's time for a mashed cauliflower recipe - I'm a believer.  If you have any delish cauliflower recipes - please link them up in the comments!  I'd love to see and try some new ones now that this delish veggie has made it's way into our kitchen to stay!
Best dishes and yummy dreams!

xo,

My little angel watching the cauliflower get crispy!

Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower
By: Shellery  on allrecipes.com

  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

  • 1.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.
  • 2.  Spread the florets on the pan.
  • 3.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the garlic, salt, and pepper over the cauliflower.
  • 4.  After baking for 20 minutes, add the cheese on top and broil for 2 minutes.
  • 5.  Top with fresh parsley.

  • Enjoy!

  • Thanks for reading, loves xo  

1 comment:

MissieLee said...

That sounds delicious! My mom told me she used to bake cauliflower and sprinkle it with some cheddar cheese, which she said was decadently delicious, too.

I've substituted some cauliflower for the potatoes in mashed potatoes, but I've not get gotten the texture to seem right -- it'll do, and lightens up the potatoes a bit, but I can't says as we're wild about it, so I don't do it.

A quick & easy way to season cauliflower is with a bit of light Italian dressing (when I'm tired or in a hurry and need a quick side, I love to cook up some frozen veg and season them simply and quickly). A bit of lemon juice and a bit of butter and pepper seasons it nicely, too (lemon pepper seasoning is handy for this, also).