Monday, December 27, 2010

Pureed Cauliflower

A very healthy, low-calorie, vitamin-packed alternative to mashed potatoes. Pureed cauliflower is incredibly easy to make and requires just a few ingredients. The winter vegetable cauliflower is commonly found in stores during the chilly months which makes this dish the perfect stand-in to butter-laden, cream-heavy mash-po.

The taste is smooth, creamy (without the cream), and delicious. There isn't a pungent cauliflower flavor at all. 'Cross my heart.

Really, your scale will thank you. You know you need it after those three (we know it wasn't just two) cookies and that candy-cane shot, and the Grinch mixed drink, and the snowstorm kahlua, and the pumpkin pie...

Pureed Cauliflower

1 head o' cauliflower
1 box/can vegetable broth
1/4 cup cashews
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp vegan margarine

Before cooking: Soak cashews 1 hour in water.

1. Cut all of the stems off of the cauliflower and roughly chop the heads.

2. Place them in a medium pot with the vegetable broth. You're going to want to cover the cauliflower with the broth, but just use that amount. It's alright if you have some broth unused.

3. Let the broth boil and them bring it down to a simmer. Cook the cauliflower for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain the broth, reserving 2 tbsp of the cooking liquid.

4.Take the tender cauliflower, 2 tbsp cooking liquid, drained cashews, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp vinegar, and 1 tbsp vegan margarine and puree all ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is smooth.

5. Season with salt and pepper and garnich with a little pat of vegan margarine. Voila... you have completed your destiny.

Back from the Dead!!!

Hello ladies & gents! A little status message... I have some good news and some good news. I will do this in a LIST since I love lists, and no one can take that away from me.

1. First of all, my apologies for being, for lack of better word, dead, for the past several months. It almost seems it's been ages since I posted on here at all! Boo hoo, right? :( I am crying tears of salty sadness.

       a.HOWEVER. They are not tears of salty sadness borne of neglect! I have been very, very blessed to have been (since September) in the process of writing a vegan cookbook that will be in stores in March 2011!

       b.Holy shit, right???

       c. The book, aimed at all you lovely flexitarians out there is titled The Part-Time Vegan and will have simple, easy-to-follow, easy-to-find-ingredients-for recipes that will (hopefully) be acompanied by clever and amusing introductions by moi, your humble servant.

2. I may be getting my own domain sometime soon! I am looking to create my own .com which will be prettier and full of more superheroes than you could ever possibly imagine! When this happens, there will be a message and link on my blog redirecting lovely readers.

3. Until then, I will be updating the blog with new recipes, because the work of writing, editing, searching through galleys, emailing editors, going crazy, losing my mind also, making too much food for my own good-- is all, done done done!!

4. A very Merry Sithmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to everyone who reads this here missive!