What To Do With Cauliflower??????

Cauliflower is a vegetable that gets little praise. Sometimes, it gets tossed in a vegetable stir fry, or you get a piece in a restaurant with your order of steamed veggies. I have never heard anyone say they LOVE cauliflower. My family won't eat it. Resembling broccoli, you would think the cauliflower would be more popular. However, it is not. I think there are several reasons for this...

1. Cauliflower is ugly. It's white and colorless, and raw or cooked it looks unappetizing. (There are other colors cultivated, like purple and orange, but they are hard to find and still an unusual color.)

2. Cauliflower stinks. Raw or cooked it is smelly.

3. Cauliflower doesn't really taste like anything except cauliflower which no one likes.

For these three reasons, this veggie from the Brassicaceae family, is often overlooked at the market. Even though it's high in fiber, folate, vitamin c, and contains many cancer-fighting phytochemicals, no one I know eats it regularly. A few weeks ago while grocery shopping, I decided to buy a head of cauliflower- knowing full well no one likes it at my house except me. And, truth be told, I don't really like it, but I occasionally eat it because it's a vegetable, and I feel like I don't eat enough of them. So, I brought home the cauliflower. For days I pondered what to do with it... How could I prepare it and trick the family into eating it? Oh, the endless woes of the mother!

I found some recipes online for mashed cauliflower. It is supposed to resemble mashed potatoes and is made much the same way. Why not? It was worth a try. The original recipe called for a blender or food processor for "mashing" the cauliflower. Unfortunately, I don't have either of these appliances. I used to have a blender, but my husband and two kids blew it up trying to make milkshakes with ice cream, candy bars, and Little Debbie Cakes... Sometimes I feel like a single-parent with three children... Anyways, I decided to use an electric hand mixer to do my "mashing". I also added a few ingredients to give this concoction more flavor. The hand mixer gave it the consistency of rice which was good. Everyone loves a rice dish! Here's the recipe. I know it's cauliflower, but just try it. You might like it!

"Mashed" Cauliflower

1 Head of Cauliflower
1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
4 oz. Cream Cheese- Softened
1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
4 Tbsp. Butter
6 oz. Light Cream (you could substitute heavy cream, whole milk, or even half & half here.)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Strip away the green leaves and thoroughly wash the cauliflower. Cut the buds off the head, then cut into smaller pieces. The "white curd" differs from broccoli in that it's not a flower bud. Broccoli doesn't really fall apart much when you chop it up. However, the cauliflower will. Put all of the little white curd pieces and chunks into a medium sized pot filled with enough water to cover. Add the chicken bouillon cube and boil for about 10 minutes. You want it to have a very soft and tender feel. Don't cook any longer because nutritional value will be lost the longer it cooks. (For 10 minutes of boiling, you lose 40-50% of the nutritional value. Any longer and that percentage increases with every minute.) Drain in a colander and return to the pot. Add butter, softened cream cheese and garlic powder. Add the cream and beat slowly on low until it starts to come together. Beat at medium speed (maybe higher) until you get the consistency of "cheesy rice". You may need to add more butter or more/less cream depending on your tastes. Add some fresh ground black pepper (or white pepper if you don't want to see black specks). Cook on low just until heated and slightly reduced, about 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately.