Mashed Cauliflower instead of Mashed Potatoes

November 26th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

I have mentioned my mashed cauliflower many times before, but have never posted the recipe for you guys. Well, it seems to be perfected, so here you go!

Everyone seems to love it, even my brother, Danny, who doesn’t like too many vegetables. And, it is a great healthy and light alternative to mashed potatoes. Especially, for those who want to eat more vegetables and a few less carbohydrates.

Mashed Cauliflower

Makes 4 large servings or 6 medium servings.

Ingredients:

  • 3, 12 oz. (36 oz. total) packages of frozen cauliflower (the frozen kind seems to get a little softer for mashing), thawed
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2-3 tsp. minced garlic (or about 4 fresh cloves, minced)
  • 1 Tbsp. dried parsley (or fresh)
  • 1 tsp. ground rosemary
  • 4 Tbsp. light cream cheese or reduced fat
  • 1 Tbsp. real butter or Earth Balance
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (sometimes I taste it, and end up adding more)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a medium saucepan, steam your thawed cauliflower for about 10-15 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, cook your onions and garlic in the olive oil on medium-low until caramelized a golden brown.
  3. Add your herbs and seasonings to the onion mixture.
  4. When the cauliflower seems soft enough to mash, empty the water from the pot, and put the cauliflower back in that pot over the warm stove-top. Add your onion mixture, cream cheese, parmesan, and butter to the warm cauliflower. Mash with a potato masher (works best) or large serving utensil until it becomes smoother. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
  5. Taste and see how you like it. At this point, I may add additional herbs or spices, or another pinch of parmesan. You can check your consistency as well. I don’t mind mine chunkier, but others may like it smoother.

You can see that my recipe comes out more yellow in color because I use caramelized onions. You could omit them, and try using some dried onion flakes instead or more onion powder to get a whiter color like a potato. But, I love onions!

I also tried to snazz-up my dining table with some holiday decor.

Picture didn’t come out so great this time, but you get the idea. Used white lights behind the drapes, and used leftover Christmas tree branches in the centerpiece.

, , , , , , , , ,

26th Birthday

May 14th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week | Miscellaneous - (4 Comments)

So, I had a birthday this weekend. Nothing epic since last year was a milestone year. But, nevertheless, we celebrated over at my parent’s house on Sunday which was also Mother’s Day. I argued with my brother that my birthday took precedence over Mother’s Day because if I was never born, she wouldn’t be a mother. Silly.

Anyway, my Dad made some amazing grilled salmon:
We didn’t have a ton of food for dinner because we always fill up too much on appetizers (and my Dad complains about this every time). For appetizer, we had seed crackers, cheese, sour cream dip, and carrots/celery.

And my Mom made me a tasty (not healthy) jello surprise cake:
I was almost more obsessed with the chocolate fudge ice cream. The cake was actually pretty light–nothing to heavy. But, crazy sugary. More than I am used to.
My brother made me a card with carrots on the front of it.

So, of course, we all got sugar crazy and hyper after eating. And my Dad decided to scare us all with his crazy face mask.
So silly and creepy.
Anyway, for Mother’s Day, I made my Mom this Pinterest inspired star collage for the wall:
It turned out super cute. All you need is a metal star, some black and white photos, 3 pieces of scrapbook paper, and modge podge.

More on turning 26 later…

, , , , ,

Dress Up Dining Space with Plates

February 13th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Healthy Living | Kitchen - (0 Comments)

Since I was moving all last week, this weekend I worked on decorating the apartment. I had saw all these ideas for using plates on the wall for decoration, and decided it would be a great way to add a splash of color to the boring white apartment walls.
 Here is how to do this project–it is pretty easy!

  1. Collect plates from different stores like World Market, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls, Pier 1, and Target. And feel free to get some plastic plates because they are lightweight and don’t look any different from the ceramic plates when up on the wall. You can also try etsy for some unique plate finds. Keep in mind a color theme. It doesn’t matter if the plates will match perfectly.
  2. Order these plate hangers from amazon. They glue to the back of your plates and add a hook for the wall. You can not see the adhesive or the hook, and they are very sturdy.
  3. Pick up some 3M Command adhesiveor mounting squares or strips. These can be used for any plastic plates or very small/lightweight plates you have. 3 squares should hold most of the lightweight plates on the wall. I cut some of the mounts to fit the backs of the plates better.
  4. Line up your plates on the floor to decide how you will arrange them on the wall. I took a few pictures to remind myself and decide what I like best.
  5. When you are ready to arrange on wall: Measure where the center of the wall is, and start with the center/middle plate first. Then, build outward, stepping back each time to check your work.

Here is a close-up! I still have to move that white plate closer to the others…

Also check out apartment therapy where I found my inspiration.

I figure that the decor is important for my dining area if I want to try to eat more at the table!

, ,

Fish Mayonnaise

January 30th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Miscellaneous | Recipes - (0 Comments)

That is the name of what Mr. Cyclist calls this dish. My Mom always made us this baked fish with cracker crumbs and some kind of tartar sauce topping as kids. I just happened to think about it the other day and decided to make my own version–a little healthier!

I used this recipe from the Washington Post for inspiration.

Fish with Cracker Crumb Topping
Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. mild white fish filets such as tilapia, flounder, or cod
  • Earth Balance sticks or butter for pan greasing
  • 1 sleeve of crackers similar to Ritz (any buttery/flaky cracker will work); check to make sure they are trans fat free and contain no hydrogenated oils
  • 3 Tbsp. light/olive oil mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp. lemon zest
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced (or about 1 Tbsp.)
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh parlsey, chopped (if you don’t have fresh, use a combination of dried parsley, basil, and dill)
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan with Earth Balance sticks or butter.
  2. In a zip top bag, crush the crackers with your hands. Do not crush too finely–keep a few larger cracker pieces un-crushed.
  3. To prepare the mayonnaise mixture: combine the mayo, spices/herbs, garlic, lemon zest, juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper. Reserve the juice of the other half lemon to squeeze on top of the fish just before cooking.
  4. Lay the fish out in the pan. Spread the mayo mixture across the tops of the fish generously.
  5. Press the cracker crumbs on top of the fish.
  6. Bake 10-15 minutes until cracker are more golden.

I just love fish that is baked like this. It is so moist. This is not the healthiest recipe for fish, but it is definitely a healthy compromise that seems like you are having a rich dish.

Then later that night I decided to make a wreath like I often see posted to Pinterest.
All you need to DIY is yarn, hot glue gun, Styrofoam wreath, and some flowers and decorative pieces to glue on to your wreath. I also made a few felt flowers to glue on. It does take a while because you have to wrap all the yarn around and around the Styrofoam. But, I just watched some Mad Men season 4 while I did the project :)

, , , , ,