four-hour body

Meatless Monday: Mashed Cauliflower

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

B and I have been eating about a head of cauliflower a week. Whether it’s raw or roasted, cauliflower has seemed to become a staple in our household, to my excitement. Why do I love cauliflower? It’s so versatile, healthy, super easy to make, and it can take on so many different flavors depending on what you do with it. A few weeks ago I made some mashed cauliflower for the first time and have been making it about monthly since. It’s another healthy side dish that tastes like it should be unhealthy – but it’s not!

mashed cauliflower

Simple Mashed Cauliflower

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 medium cauliflower or 4 cups cauliflower florets
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • Optional – something to add more creamy goodness to the mixture: I’ve used cream cheese, Greek yogurt, butter, cream and milk

Here’s what you do:

  1. Chop cauliflower into large chunks, around 1-2 inches in length.
  2. Cook cauliflower. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add to boiling water and cook 10-12 minutes or until a fork can easily pierce the cauliflower.
  3. Drain cauliflower and throw into your food processor.
  4. Use food processor to completely mash cauliflower. Throw in garlic, and the salt and pepper to taste. Mash the cauliflower completely, it may take 5 minutes to get it to a nice consistency like that of mashed potatoes.
  5. Taste the blended cauliflower mash. Add more garlic or salt/pepper as needed.
  6. Optional: Add some Greek yogurt, cream cheese or sour cream to make the cauliflower even creamier. I’ve made it with heavy cream (leftover from making the Murphy’s Irish Stout Cupcakes), Greek yogurt, and even Parmesan cheese. This most recent time I followed the recipe, above, without any added cream or anything (just garlic, salt and pepper) and it was delicious!

Pat yourself on the back and enjoy how delicious and healthy your mashed cauliflower is. If you somehow managed to eat half of the recipe (made as is without any of the optional add-ons) you’ve only downed about 105 or so calories. AND you’ll be stuffed! B and I manage to make 3-4 servings out of the above recipe when served as a side dish.

Meatless Monday: Easy Roasted Cauliflower

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments
Disclaimer: this is a non-recipe post. What’s a non-recipe? It’s something that I typically just throw together, without following instructions. Or measuring things. Something that you just do but don’t really think about (or something that didn’t seem blog-worthy at first). But I decided to actually pay attention and write down what I do, so I can share it with you!
B’s been eating a lot of vegetables lately and this is one of the easiest, no-hassle ways to prepare one of his new found edible vegetables, cauliflower. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and then just sits in the oven while you go about your business. Think about all you can do in the 45 minutes it takes for this to cook! Go work out (only if you’re not leaving the building. I wouldn’t recommend having your oven on 375 without anyone around!), prepare more parts of your meal, make some lentils (the take about 30 minutes from the bag and is cheaper than the can) to go with the cauliflower, read a trashy magazine, catch up on your DVR, give yourself a manicure … think about it!
Easy Roasted Cauliflower

Here’s what you need: 

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced or diced
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Chop up cauliflower. Remove the stems and leaves and chop florets into 1/2 inch pieces.
  3. Place chopped cauliflower on a baking sheet covered with Pam. Or spread foil sprayed with Pam on a baking sheet for an easy clean up. Drizzle cauliflower with olive oil.
  4. Add salt and pepper and garlic.
  5. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until brown and crispy.

A whole head of cauliflower made enough food for B and me for dinner, plus I got leftovers for lunch the next day!

chopped cauliflower

Chop your cauliflower (this is the longest part of the process)

seasoned cauliflower

Season with garlic, pepper and salt (or other spices, like rosemary!)

roasted cauliflower

Eat it! I served mine with lentils, fish, Brussels sprouts and sauerkraut

This is a 4HB friendly recipe (without the modifications, below).

Modifications:

This is the basic roasted cauliflower recipe. I’ve also made it where in addition to the above steps, at about 10-15 minutes before it’s completed I’ve added Parmesan cheese or other shredded cheeses (cheddar, gouda, etc.) for a slightly cheesy roasted cauliflower. I’ve also added breadcrumbs for added crunch!

Meatless Monday: Spicy Kale with Yellow Pepper and Onions

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

Hope you all had a great St. Patrick’s Day! I made it outside for a few hours and judging by what I witnessed downtown, most of you were having a good time. While I didn’t enjoy any corned beef this year (still meatfree for Lent!), we did enjoy some green food – including a kale dish like this one.

As B has started eating more slow carbs, one of my challenges has been to find new and not boring bean/veggie/meat (or other protein) combos. B would be perfectly happy eating the same meals day in and day out. Me? Maybe for lunch, but half of the fun in eating is the cooking! And half the fun in cooking is trying new recipes. So, last week for dinner, we were debating on the bean/veggie/meat combo when I suggested cooking up some Kale with Peppers and Onions for our veggie. Not a kale fan, B was skeptical. As I was putting it together, B even made the comment that he expected the ratio of peppers and onions to kale to be a little higher than he was expecting (meaning – “You’re using too much kale!”). Plus, when I had made the Kale with Lentils and Sweet Potato recipe a few weeks ago, he wasn’t sure he liked the texture of the kale, but this was due mostly to the fact that I may have forgotten to remove the stem from many of the kale leaves. Whoops! I was determined to leave a better impression this time, so I included one of B’s favorite ingredients – Cholula sauce!

As we sat down to eat our meals, I ate in silence. I didn’t want to ask … but I was dying to know what B was thinking. After a few bites it was clear. It was a hit. “We should have this again,” B told me. YES!

spicy kale with yellow pepper and onion

 Spicy Kale with Peppers and Onions 

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow pepper, sliced 
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped (if you like garlic a lot, feel free to make it 3)
  • 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, chopped / torn into small pieces (about 4 cups) 
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons Cholula sauce (depending on your taste for heat, use more or less) or your other favorite hot sauce
  • 1/3 cup vegetable broth

Here’s what you do:

  1. Heat the oil in a medium sized pot on medium heat.
  2. Dice the onion, yellow pepper and 2 cloves of garlic.  Add to pan and let soften.
  3. Tear kale from stem and chop or tear into bite size pieces. Remember to remove the stem! (This reminder is courtesy of B)
  4. Once onion and pepper are translucent, add the kale and vegetable broth. Feel free to add more garlic at this time too 🙂
  5. Add hot sauce and hot pepper flakes. Turn heat to medium-low, put lid on pot, and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
  6. After about 10 minutes, remove lid and turn heat down. Add more hot sauce if you like and cook until the liquid is absorbed  
  7. Enjoy!

I served mine with baked tofu and some black beans for a complete  Four-Hour Body friendly recipe.

spicy kale with peppers and onions

Saute the pepper, onion and garlic

spicy kale with peppers and onions

Chop/tear up the kale. Don’t forget to remove stem!

spicy kale with peppers and onions

Add chopped kale to translucent pepper and onion. Add hot sauce, hot pepper flakes, vegetable broth and more garlic if you want.

spicy kale with peppers and onions

All done! Check out how much the kale cooks down.

Enjoy! Here’s how I served mine:

SPICY KALE WITH yellow pepper & onion, baked tofu, avocado and black beans

Some questions to ponder:

  • Have you tried any slow carb diets or the Four-Hour Body? What’s your favorite meal combo?
  • Are there certain meals you have over and over again and never get tired of them?
  • What’s your favorite way to cook/eat kale?