Mashed Cauliflower

The mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes idea has been around for a long time but in case you haven't tried it I thought I'd share - it's easy, quick, healthy, and a great alternative to potatoes. Obviously it doesn't taste just like mashed potatoes (sometimes I'll mix half potato and half cauliflower together if I want it to be more potato-y tasting), but it's a perfect substitute if you're looking to cut down on your potato consumption, don't like potatoes (gasp!), have a head of cauliflower sitting around waiting to be used, or you just want to try something different.

steam until soft, then put in food
processor with a little butter, salt
and pepper to taste

It's basically just like making mashed potatoes, only with cauliflower. I chop up cauliflower into biggish pieces and steam them on the stove until soft (I have a vegetable basket that I put into a pot with an inch or two of water, cover and let steam). Put the cauliflower in a food processor (or mash by hand, or do whatever you do to mash potatoes - the food processor makes them super smooth and creamy which is we like, hand mashing will leave them with small pieces and not very smooth but I do this when I'm in a hurry) and add a little butter, salt and pepper and process until smooth. Usually they don't need any milk or liquid but if you want them runnier then by all means add some.

We had them with meatloaf (click here for my recipe) and peas in vinaigrette - so good!