I never had cauliflower growing up. Not once, not even frozen. I really don’t remember when I started liking it; I think I had it at an Indian restaurant and liked it.
I looked in my 1950-s Betty Crocker cookbook and there it was…Cauliflower Au Gratin or curried cauliflower au gratin. I made it for lunch one day along with some white rice. It was so creamy, exotic from the curry spices, and delicious. It didn’t taste like the cauliflower I heard about people hating. It was satisfying as well.
Since I follow a gluten-free diet there are lots of gluten-free recipes and videos that pop up on my FB and Instagram newsfeeds. There are also a lot of Keto and low carb recipes that get lumped together with gluten-free. All showcasing cauliflower recipes.
The debut of the cauliflower pizza crust took the country by storm. People were like, WTF? Everyone, including me, was skeptical. All of the celebrity chefs were on their TV shows making a version. I made my own cauliflower pizza crust, and it was good.
Commercial cauliflower pizza crusts have gotten better over the last few years. We always have a case of them in our freezer. We get ours from Restaurant Depot, and it is better than any commercial gluten-free crust out there. I make my own GF pizza dough, but it takes some planning ahead; it takes at least 24 hours to proof in the refrigerator. The cauliflower crust is the quickest dinner I can throw together for lunch or dinner on production and farmer’s market days.
Back in 2014, I started experimenting with some of the recipes I saw on my newsfeed only because I was intrigued. I made tater tots, mashed “potatoes” and hash browns from cauliflower. They were really good. So delicious you could fool people with the tater tots, they were that good.
I also tried making cauliflower rice. This was before Trader Joe’s started selling frozen cauliflower rice. Then everyone did. I made fried rice and Indian spices rice with cauliflower and I have to say they were fantastic. They even held up for lunch the next day.
One night I made General Tso’s “chicken” with cauliflower. Noah was away at school I’m not sure if he would have tried it, but Sam was a good eater and I didn’t give it a second thought. He took one bite and put his fork down. “Don’t ever try to fool me with this cauliflower business again.” Ooopppps! He’s my food texture kid and he was expecting to bite into a piece of chicken; this was softer than chicken. He ate only the rice for dinner. Thank goodness I didn’t make cauliflower rice too! 😂
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a recipe for buffalos chicken cauliflower. I’ve seen these recipes posted all the time, but this one looked better than the others. I read through the recipe and made it that night. I always have a cauliflower head in my refrigerator as one of my staple veggies to have on hand.
The recipe called for making a batter which I used all-purpose gluten-free flour. I added hot sauce to the batter to layer a little more flavor. I baked them on a baking tray and turned them halfway through. Brushed them with homemade Buffalo sauce and put them back in the oven just like the recipe said.
I made a homemade bleu cheese dressing because I am that asshole who can’t eat the bottled stuff when I can make my own in 5 minutes. I always have some bleu cheese in my cheese drawer. When I put them on the platter, they looked like fucking buffalo wings! The way I cut them, leaving part of the stalk, looked like drum sticks!
When we tried them Marty and I were like, “Holy shit these are so good!” Marty said if he couldn’t have chicken again he would be happy with these; they were that good. We even reheated the rest the next day for lunch and they were just as good. Would Sam like them? Out of principle, he wouldn’t.
One of my favorite memes last year was something like this. “If potatoes can be vodka and cauliflower can be pizza & buffalo wings, you can be whatever you want to be!” When you think about it, it’s true!
Here are some boring facts about cauliflower I thought I would share since it is categorized as a superfood. I think it’s a superhero, personally. These are some pretty good reasons to eat or try it, though.
From Inspiring Health Solutions:
▪ Cauliflower is rich in healthy vitamins and minerals, including beta-carotene, lutein, and vitamins C, E, and K; and folate.
▪ One serving of cauliflower contains 75 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin C.
▪ Cauliflower is a good source of choline, a B vitamin that aids in brain development and may improve cognitive abilities and prevent against age-related memory loss.
▪ Importantly, cauliflower is a cancer-fighting food. It contains sulfur-containing chemicals called glucosinolates. During digestion, glucosinolates form the compounds indoles and isothiocyanates. According to the National Cancer Institute, indoles and isothiocyanates (in laboratory tests) have been found to inhibit the development of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, stomach, and bladder cancer.
▪ These compounds also have antiviral, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.
▪ Cauliflower is a great source of good fiber – aiding digestion and helping you feel fuller, longer.
Now I know some people are still going to hate cauliflower. I hated jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else at first, but I have to give cauliflower the recognition it deserves.
If you decide to try some of the amazing recipes out there, look for a firm and white cauliflower. Avoid ones with yellow or brown spots. Don’t try to use frozen cauliflower florets instead of fresh; it just doesn’t work. I tried…
Whether you are gluten-free, following a Keto diet, or are trying to get more veggies either into yourself or your family, you should look up a few cauliflower recipes and make one. Everyone won’t like it because they hate cauliflower, or haters gonna hate no matter what.
Cauliflower is a superhero and comes to the rescue for lunch or dinner. In 2017 Time Magazine actually declared cauliflower the new “It” vegetable. It is extraordinarily good; wonderful. By the way that is the definition of the real word su-per-ca-li-fra-gil-is-tic-ex-pi-a-li-do-cious means the same thing extraordinarily good; wonderful. The thing that I can’t believe is there isn’t a cauliflower emoji, dammit!