Vegetable of the Week: Cauliflower

My husband is a vegetarian and I cook a lot of vegetarian meals for dinner. We keep a pretty stocked pantry of vegetarian items  that I have blogged about in the past.  However, we started tracking how many vegetables we ate and it was a lot lower than expected. We decided to try cooking new vegetables. So between friends suggestions, searching the internet and looking for deals in the produce section at Harris Teeter and Kroger- we are trying out a new vegetable each week.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is actually a pretty amazing vegetable. I had no idea that it was packed with Vitamins C, K, and B1, B2, B3, and B6. It a good source of dietary fiber and is chock full of potassium and magnesium. This is a great vegetable to replace refined white flour like rice or a pizza crust if you want to try something different. We will definitely be adding it to our grocery list!

Previous Experience: Prior to this week, I really only liked cauliflower raw and as part of a vegetable tray, usually covered in hummus or a vegetable dip. I will also order it out at an Indian restaurant but I don’t cook it at home. I have always hated mushy, cooked cauliflower. But this week has shown me that it can taste quite yummy!

How to Pick a Good Cauliflower: Apparently, cauliflower can come in many colors. The purple one is really pretty but I was a little scared to start cooking with that. So I stuck with white. Similar to other vegetables, the leaves should be green and the cauliflower should be all white with no brown spots or mushy parts.

Prepping the Vegetable: It is a lot easier than I thought but it is messy! To be honest, I don’t think I have cut up many cauliflowers in my cooking experience. My first attempt scared my dog and my husband came in the kitchen to ask if I was ok. This youtube video was super helpful and now I can cut up cauliflower faster than I can cut an onion.  I kept part of the stalk and added that to some of the meals – so don’t think you have to throw that part away!

Ways I Cooked it: Chopped, Food Processor, Microwave, Saute, and Roast

My Top 3 Recipes:

Cauliflower Rice- Epicurious has a great article on all the different ways you can make cauliflower rice. This was a great help! A food processor is essential for this. I have a small one and it took a little while and was messy, but it worked really well. I steamed some cauliflower in the microwave and also sauted it on the stove with other vegetables and it came out great! You can also now buy pre-made cauliflower rice (at Trader Joe’s), which will save time and reduce the amount of clean-up.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust– Our Med Instead of Meds website has great ideas for cauliflower. The pizza crust recipe was the best recipe I found. It is not necessarily fast, but it is tasty!

Roasted Cauliflower- WOW! This Delish Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin and Cheese ended up being one of our favorites. This is now a go to recipe instead of french fries for us.