An Ode To Cauliflower

[Guest]

Not really an ode; I'm not a composer. If I were I'd write a lil' song to a very overlooked, beautiful vegetable that I've been sleeping on.

• Cauliflower rice completes my Thai takeaway.
• Steamed cauliflower is great instead of plain potatoes.
• Grilled cauliflower adds umami to - let's be honest - sometimes bland post-bariatric dishes.

But there's a new thing in town!

I was browsing the frozen meals section at the store. As usual, most dishes are 600+ calories and I'm a single dude. I can't eat all that in one sitting. Yet lo and behold, cauliflower gratin with lean, shredded ham. Could that be good, I wondered? Surely not. 284 calories for such a huge dish? This must suck. Oh well, let's try.

45 minutes in the oven, grated a little bit of parmesan cheese on it (80 cals worth) and my god, what a feast! Had half of this and I'm saving the other half for dinner 2.

Here's to cauliflower!

[DaisyAndSunshine 303]

Hahahaha, I love cauliflower too. I am Indian so I love making cauliflower curry and it's heaven 😂

Though at this stage, it still feels a little heavy, so I can only do about 1/4 to 1/3rd of a cup.

I also have cauliflower rice in the freezer, though I have yet to try it. I may try making fried rice or may be even a Vegetable Biryani from it lol.

Edited January 17, 2022 by DaisyAndSunshine

[pintsizedmallrat 473]

You can make "wings" with cauliflower! Roast florets in the oven until they have some color and toss them in sauce (if you can handle spicy do buffalo style or there are low sugar bbq sauces out there). I was extremely skeptical but they absolutely have that "meaty" texture and scratches that bar food itch!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, pintsizedmallrat said:

You can make "wings" with cauliflower!

I've never had "wings"

[Smanky 752]

Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegies. Baked, fried, battered, stir-fried, grilled. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Cauli mash is a fave of mine. Boil until soft, drain, stick in a blender with salt, pepper, nutritional yeast if you're vegan, powdered Parmesan if you're not. Blend. Devour with sausages and greens. Purest happy-place comfort food without the carbs.

[Spinoza 1,467]

16 hours ago, MiniGastricBypassDude said:

I was browsing the frozen meals section at the store.

Which store please?

Also a massive cauli fan here - hangover from my Keto days when I must have eaten it almost every day in some form. And celeriac (celery root). Makes nice pretend fries baked in the oven with oil, and also very low carb and low calorie.

I have never tried cauli as wings - definitely gonna give that a go - thank you for that idea!

[GradyCat 3,696]

I bought a cauliflower crust frozen pizza a couple of weeks ago. Haven't tried it yet. I think it's called "CauliPOWER" or something funny. I haven't gotten into the whole cauliflower mashed potatoes, etc. yet. I need to give it a try.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Spinoza said:

Which store please?

Some local Scandi, unfortunately

[Spinoza 1,467]

Ah - thought it might have been a chain we have in Ireland too! Thanks anyway - will definitely keep my eyes peeled for anything similar here.

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, Spinoza said:

Ah - thought it might have been a chain we have in Ireland too! Thanks anyway - will definitely keep my eyes peeled for anything similar here.

Just checked, it's definitely not over there from that brand :/

[lizonaplane 1,613]

3 hours ago, GradyCat said:

I bought a cauliflower crust frozen pizza a couple of weeks ago. Haven't tried it yet. I think it's called "CauliPOWER" or something funny. I haven't gotten into the whole cauliflower mashed potatoes, etc. yet. I need to give it a try.

I bought one of those... then I read the ingredients... it's full of rice flour! Not low carb at all.

I bought the green giant or birds eye cauliflower mash (I used to buy it pre-surgery too!) and cooked the whole thing but ate about 1/4 to 1/2 cup with most of my meals for a few days. It was good with the spicy chicken I made because it soaked up all the sauce. it also went well with the barber chicken cordon bleu (I eat half of one for a meal).

[SONeill13 8]

On 1/18/2022 at 9:00 AM, GradyCat said:

I bought a cauliflower crust frozen pizza a couple of weeks ago. Haven't tried it yet. I think it's called "CauliPOWER" or something funny. I haven't gotten into the whole cauliflower mashed potatoes, etc. yet. I need to give it a try.

GradyCat I actually really the the Caulipower pizzas- I have an autoimmune disease that makes eating gluten a risky affair for me (HIVES suck) so I used to eat those pizzas before I had surgery. I really like their Margherita and I recently bought a buffalo chicken pizza by them as well (haven't tried it yet)

If there's any piece of advice I can offer is that sometimes you have to cook the cauliflower pizza a touch longer just to get a nice crispy crust. Hope you like them!