How to Cut Cauliflower & Five Ways to Eat It
/No more steamed cauliflower for you baby! (although I do love steamed cauliflower as part of a salad tossed with an amazing dressing -- if there's great dressing, I can eat loads of cauliflower then!).
There's so many unique, easy and interesting ways to eat cauliflower now that you don't have to settle for steamed cauliflower. The up-tick in cauliflower recipes, is in part, due to the unjustified gluten-free craze (Capannolo, et al. 2015).
Despite the misinformation the gluten-free craze has caused, at least there's more creative ways to eat cauliflower because of it.
Before I introduce five unique, easy (and plant-based) ways to make cauliflower, Chef Erik of Trisha's Healthy Table (my husband - I'm a lucky woman!) is here to show you an easy way to cut cauliflower.
Before Erik taught me how to cut cauliflower, I was clueless. I never had uniform cuts and I'd always cut through the "leaves" of the cauliflower tree instead of cutting them, like this...
Once you know an easy way to cut cauliflower, it's time to put your skills to good use with fun and easy cauliflower recipes, like these...
Five Unique, Easy (and Plant-Based) Ways to Eat Cauliflower
1. Cauliflower Rice
Cauliflower rice is SO easy to make. Simply grate cauliflower with a cheese grater or pulse in a food processor until you get 'rice like' pieces and then microwave with your favorite spices. We serve cauliflower rice with our Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas at Trisha's Healthy Table. If you're going to eat cauliflower rice instead of a whole-grain rice, be sure to include Foundational Filling Foods (like sweet potatoes and black beans) with your cauliflower rice, in order to stay full.
Here's a cauliflower rice recipe from Minimalist Baker you can use.
2. Cauliflower Wings
I made these this weekend for the first time and they were awesome! I used chickpea flour as part of the breading mixture (I tried whole wheat too but that didn't turn out as well) and Trader Joe's General Tso's sauce as the wing sauce.
We dipped the final product in cashew-based ranch (mix ranch dressing spices into cashew sour cream) and ate them with a veggie vegan pizza we made using Trader Joe's pre-made, whole wheat pizza dough. It was an awesome dinner and the wings tasted great the next day too.
Check out this cauliflower wing recipe to make them yourself.
3. Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce
We're serving 100% whole-grain pasta with cauliflower Alfredo and broccoli at Trisha's Healthy Table this week. A lot of mock Alfredo sauces use cashews and are calorie dense and high in fat.
Cauliflower Alfredo sauce however, is a low-fat and less calorie-dense version that's especially great for anyone trying to eat more veggies, eat vegan, or trying any who is looking to achieve accelerated weight-loss with a plant-based diet.
Try this Cauli-Powder "Alfredo" from Oh She Glows.com We LOVE her recipes! (Psst - I'd omit the 1/2 TB of oil from the recipe. Save yourself an 60 extra calories).
4. Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce
I LOVE pouring this sauce on my oil-free potato and oil-free sweet potato fries. With ketchup of course! I can eat a huge plate of these, watch some University of South Carolina women's basketball and munch out on what tastes like greasy bar food, but is even better!
Use this Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce from fatfreevegan.com We love this blog too!
5. Cauliflower Pizza Crust
I haven't made this yet, so if you do, please comment below and let me know how it goes! Again, I'd be sure to add Foundational Filling Foods to this pizza to make it a complete, and filling meal.
This cauliflower pizza crust recipe is oil-free and vegan and has a 5 star rating (hence why I picked it for you!).
If you're interested in learning how to healthy and more plant-based (including fun ways of cooking!), be sure to sign-up for email updates about my next "Plant-Based Nutrition and Cooking eCourse for Weight-Loss and Improved Health." It'll be here just in time for summer! If you want to be one of the first know about it (there's perks to that!) be sure to sign-up here.
Take Control Now
Which of these cauliflower recipes will be the first you try? Have another cauliflower recipe to share? Please post it by clicking 'comment' below.