Kitchen Experiments – A Special Mother’s Day Dinner

Cauliflower.  It has never really been one of my favorite vegetables, but I would buy it on occasion and roast it and then not buy it again for weeks.  Recently, once again, I have made some dietary changes and cauliflower has risen to the top as one of my new favorite vegetables.  There have been weeks where I have bought a couple of heads at a time.

I knew that there were some very inventive recipes on the web using cauliflower but I never felt the need to try any of them.  Now, I have made all sorts of fun recipes with it.  Cauliflower rice, quiche crust, pizza crust, cheesecake, and most recently Alfredo sauce. The best thing about cauliflower is it has a very unassuming flavor so when you put it with other ingredients, it melts into the background.  This Alfredo sauce is extremely creamy and delicious.  It is dairy free and was great on pasta and delicious on chicken.  It is one of those sauces that I think you could put on anything and it would taste good. I served it over mung bean pasta with asparagus and mushrooms and chicken on the side.  My husband loved it.  He ate it the next day over rice pasta with broccoli and said it was just as good.  It is a recipe to make again and again using various vegetables, grains, or pastas.  I ate it the other day over the cauliflower rice and that was good too.  I hope you will try it.  Enjoy!

CAULIFLOWER ALFREDO

1 Cauliflower head (medium – about 4-5 cups)

1 cup Cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes up to 8 hours

½ cup Pine Nuts, soaked for at least 30 minutes up to 8 hours

1 cup Almond milk, unsweetened

6 Tbs. Nutritional Yeast

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbs. Lemon Juice

Soak the Cashews and the pine nuts in water for at least 30 minutes, up to 8 hours, and then drain.

Cut the head of cauliflower into small pieces and then steam until tender.

Add all ingredients into a high speed blender. If you do not have a high speed blender, you can use a food processor but then make sure you soak your nuts for the longer period of time. Start with the cauliflower and the almond milk, and then add the nuts and the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy. If the sauce seems too thick, use more almond milk to thin it to the consistency that you like.

Place in a medium pot over low heat to warm. Use over vegetables or pasta.

Happy Mother’s Day!