Food of the Month - Cauliflower

Cauliflower is the ugly duckling of the vegetable world. To some, she is the bland white, knobby thing that ruins the frozen vegetable medley that we all keep stocked in our freezer. Or maybe she’s that horrible side dish that comes boiled and under-seasoned when you have dinner at Aunt Margaret’s house.  But to us, she’s SO much more.  All you have to do is take off her glasses and add a little lip-gloss and POW, she can be your new favorite vegetable. If you can’t already tell, this month we’re celebrating cauliflower, one of our favorite fall/winter vegetables.

First things first, why eat cauliflower? Not only is it totally de-lish, it’s a member of the cruciferous veggie family. Like it’s brothers and sisters (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage and kale), it’s loaded with Vitamin C and K, folate, fiber and B6.  Cauliflower also helps the body naturally detoxify and has a strong anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

Now, how do we glam-ify this nutritionally packed veggie?  Here are our top three favorite way to make cauliflower kid/husband friendly.

When you turn a head of cauliflower into this famous junk food staple; you’ll totally turn heads. Check out our delicious recipea for BBQCauliflower wings. They look and taste just like your favorite finger food but they’re all veggie, have a perfectly crunchy outside and a deliciously “meaty” inside and are totally gluten-free.

When you turn cauliflower into this fancy Italian dish, you’ll leave your family singing, “when the moon hits your eye like a big dish of RISOTTO…that’s amore-eee.”  Simply dice up a half a head of cauliflower (dice into very small, rice like pieces) and add to your favorite risotto recipe. Most recipes call for you cook the onions and garlic then add your veggies (before you add the Arborio rice), this is when you’ll add the cauliflower. You want it to cook down and become creamy like the rice. Use a large pot because this will give you more servings of risotto. Most people won’t even know that you’ve replaced a good amount of the main ingredient with a veggie!

And our final cauliflower recommendation is something you don’t have to make yourself. Our FAVORITE way to eat this nutrient powerhouse is via our delicious AND fat-free cauliflower VEGGIE WEDGIES.  A serving of Peas of Mind’s cauliflower veggie fries contain 2 servings of veggies, are gluten-free, vegan and can be prepared in about 12 minutes.  If you want to spice up a bag of fries, check out our garlic fry recipe and get ready for your little ones to ask for seconds and thirds!