Hey everyone!
Well, my quest for finding a fun new veggie didn’t turn up anything. King Soops only had ‘normal veggies’ so I at least bought a veggie that I haven’t had in a long time: cauliflower. (Looks like a trip to Whole Paycheck Foods is in order to find the fun stuff! Better leave the credit card at home…!)
Back when the South Beach Diet first came out, there was one recipe that quickly became ‘famous’ from that program and that was using cauliflower to create a dish that resembled mashed potatoes. The ingredients in the South Beach version include a couple of dairy products, and while I don’t shun dairy completely, I will find ways to minimize or avoid things made from cow’s milk when I can.
Here is my twist on the original recipe of what I like to call Mashed Faux-tatoes:
- 12 oz package of cauliflower florets
- 2 tbs MimicCreme
- 1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes (approximate – use to your own taste)
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Steam the cauliflower until tender (I used the steamable microwave bag, 3-4 minutes on high). Place steamed cauliflower in a food processor and begin pureeing. Add the MimicCreme and continue pureeing until you have the consistency of mashed potatoes (a few minutes max). Add nutritional yeast, sea salt and pepper to taste then run the processor for a few seconds more to thoroughly mix all the ingredients.
This makes a pretty small batch (essentially a single serving) since I am the only one in my house that will eat cauliflower. Adjust your batch size as needed if you have veggie eaters in your house.
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Before my trip I’d ordered the MimicCreme to have on hand when I returned. I’d planned to use it in my coffee but learned that it can also replace cream in most recipes, which is why I’d decided to try it in the faux-tatoes before giving it a thumbs up or down. I’ve been searching for something to use in my daily coffee other than fat-free liquid Coffeemate and thought this might be the solution. I tried it for the first time yesterday. I had to use a fair amount to get the level of lightness in my coffee plus a full pack of Stevia as this ‘cream’ is unsweetened. It does give a very creamy taste to my coffee and it worked great in the cauliflower, so I’d say it’s a definite thumbs up! Which is good, seeing how I had to order a package of SIX from Amazon!
My Tuesday started with my Denver mug, in honor of being home!
I woke up hungry so had 1 cup of Kashi GoLean cereal with some almond milk.
Then I took the dogs out together for their wog. We did 2.5 miles – Riley got really tired right at 2 miles and kept stopping to lay in the grass, so we cut the loop really short. I’d been aiming to get them out for 4 miles but I need to remember that in dog years she’s like 70 and so I need to take it easier on her. That was the extent of my ‘planned’ exercise and the rest was running stairs from the 2nd floor to the basement floor with laundry and massive unpacking!
After wogging I had a scoop of Chocolate Vega mixed with almond milk.
For lunch I was in the mood for a veggie wrap. This one started with a warm whole wheat tortilla, smeared with Tofutti. I sprinkled pepitas on, then added sliced avocado, sliced tomato, alfalfa sprouts, sea salt and pepper. For crunch I added a few Baked Lays on the side. It was so good… I might have to have another one for today’s lunch too! But maybe with some fauxtatoes on the side. 
Afternoon snack was a delicious lemon flavored Larabar. And some hot green tea.
For dinner I ate my leftover Chipotle bowl (rice, black beans, fajita veggies, pico de gallo, and corn salsa) with a spinach salad on the side.
I’m working on getting the recipe page going since I had a few requests for that before I left for my trip, so you should see that coming soon!
Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! Still looking to hear some comments on your favorite interesting veggies or a veggie you’ve never tried but wanted to! I like to eat pickled beets, but have never tried them any other way, so that’s one that I’d like to purchase and prepare myself to see how it goes. My most recent new veggie was fennel, which I tried because I heard that it tastes like licorice and it actually kind of does!
– Shari B. =)
#1 by Clairissa on November 2, 2009 - 3:11 pm
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OK, so I may have missed a post somewhere, but tell me why you don’t like dairy? What’s so bad? Why the MimicCreme over dairy cream? And why so much soy?
#2 by Shari B. on November 2, 2009 - 4:23 pm
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Hi Clairissa,
When I was working with the acupuncturist, cow’s milk (including products made from cow’s milk) was one of the first things he recommended I get rid of to help ease some of the issues I was experiencing – which at first was a challenge for me because I loved my cottage cheese, etc. After doing some further reading (especially “The China Study”), learning about the possible connections to a few diseases, the indigestion I was experiencing, how mucus-forming it is, added to the treatment of dairy cows, I ultimately chose to exclude it from my diet. I’ll still eat the occasional raw goat’s milk cheese, and if I’m somewhere with friends/family and there’s dairy in something we are eating, I’ll eat it. I don’t want to be a pain about it.
Re: your question about soy, I actually try to keep soy at a minimum for the most part. At home I drink almond milk (the MimicCreme is made of cashews/almonds). If I’m at Starbucks, I drink soy because they don’t offer any other alternative to dairy. I don’t use soy-based protein powders or eat bars anymore w/ soy. I do occasionally eat tofu and edamame. Soy is iffy to me only because there are so many studies both FOR and AGAINST soy (much like dairy) so I just try to keep it to the minimum as much as possible.
Thanks for asking!
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#3 by Stephanie on September 30, 2009 - 4:40 pm
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Ever heard of a durian? Some of the guys in my office tried one, but I can’t bring myself to.
#4 by Carrie on September 30, 2009 - 10:50 am
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Hi Shari! Welcome home! The newest veggie I’ve tried cooking with lately is jicama. I used it in two “Cooking Light” recipes (I LOVE “Cooking Light”) – a fruit salad (with watermelon and cucumber) and a couscous salad (with peaches and mint). Honestly, I’m not the biggest jicama fan, but Dan really liked it, which is good, because he’s not a very big fruit and veggie fan. He thought that it tasted like apple (which is, like, the only other fruit he likes).
#5 by Cindy on September 30, 2009 - 9:02 am
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lately, eggplant is the “strangest” veg I eat. I don’t know what veg we eat is strange or “interesting” because we eat so many that I think for us it’s normal…but when we have a bbq, for instance, our guests always think the things I am eating are ODD….
HAHAHA
like my green smoothies or juices or anything I make with the pulp…etc
maybe kabocha squash….MMMM
Happy Wedensday to you!
#6 by Shari B. (FitFeat) on October 1, 2009 - 8:00 am
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Stephanie, so I looked up DURIAN… don’t think I’ll be trying one of these anytime soon! This is from Wikipedia: “The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odour has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia.” But I will keep my eye out for one, because I’d really like to see it in person!
#7 by Shari B. (FitFeat) on October 1, 2009 - 8:03 am
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Dan sounds like MSP in the only liking a select few from the fruit/veggie department!
I do like Jicama but I’ve only ever had it at salad bars. When I see it in the store whole, it looks like a lot of work to peel and cut. I feel like something that looks that hard to cut better give me a lot of bang for my taste buck! Thanks for sharing!
My ‘cooking’ is not worthy of using the fine recipes in “Cooking Light” – they are intimidating (to me at least!)
#8 by Shari B. (FitFeat) on October 1, 2009 - 8:04 am
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Kabocha squash is a new one that I’ve not heard of before! I saw a “Sunshine squash” yesterday, but it was $2.99 for ONE (and it was small!) so I passed on it.