Dear Mrs. Karma,
I know that as a child and young adult I was a picky eater. I know that I ate mostly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken fingers and honey mustard and I know that I was incredibly resistant to even try anything new. I humbly apologize and realize that in many ways I wasted tons of opportunities to eat delicious dishes. Please forgive me for being so reluctant to embrace the multitudes of flavors found in the foods from all over the planet… Please let my son be more open to try different types of food than I was… Or in the very least, grant me the patience to deal with a picky eater.
I was so sheltered in so many ways growing up and food was no exception. My little Southern hometown did not have an array of ethnic restaurants and I just was not exposed to such until high school and college. And I had a set of fruits and vegetables that I would eat and I would not stray from that mental list. Eventually, as I got older, my horizons widened. For instance, as a child I wouldn’t have dreamed of eating tomatoes. Now, a ripe tomato sliced and eaten with mayonnaise on white bread is what dreams are made of!
The latest vegetable that I have come to love is cauliflower. I just always thought it was gross- broccoli’s nasty cousin. But oh. Cauliflower is not broccoli’s nasty cousin. Cauliflower is broccoli’s cool cousin. I have been amazed at the versatility of cauliflower. It now has a regular spot in the menu rotation at our house.
My friend Alece Pugh has a blog, the motivated mama, and she posted this recipe for cauliflower- it immediately caught my eye. I knew I had to make it. The recipe calls for
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, riced
- 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1 large egg white
Preheat oven to 350 F. While the oven is warming up, use a cheese grater to rice your 1/2 head of cauliflower.
And once you have a half head of cauliflower riced into an microwave safe bowl, microwave it for 5 minutes. In the mean time, heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the garlic. By the time the garlic is sautéed, the cauliflower should be finished in the microwave. Combine the cauliflower, egg white, ItalIan seasoning, garlic and mix it well. Spread it on a pan lined with a greased piece of parchment paper and sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake it for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, flip it over (I cut it in 3 pieces), sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and bake it an additional 15-20 minutes until it’s nice and brown on top.
I have to say, this is awesome! I mean, surprisingly, really awesome! The only thing I’d do different is to double the recipe. Bub and I ate this in about 2.2 seconds flat!
Oh, did I mention this is a healthy and clean recipe?!? Well, it is! Totally delicious and guilt free!
This is a major home run, y’all. Even Jojo begrudgingly liked it. Coralie suggested a marinara sauce and I found one with lots of veggies (don’t tell Jojo) so he gets TWO servings of vegetables!!!