Cauliflower “Spanish Rice”

I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty brutal going from the 17 Day Diet’s cycle 3 back to a repeat of cycle 1. I would pretty much kill for a bowl of oatmeal, whole wheat pita or bowl of brown rice or quinoa right about now. I decided that this go around, I needed to get a little more creative with my food. I have been eating too much of the same thing. I kept seeing a bunch of recipes on the 17 Day Diet facebook page for riced cauliflower. I had tried cauliflower mashed potatoes on other food plans, I even tried cauliflower pizza crust and found a recipe for cauliflower breadsticks – which I will be creating another post for – but I’ve been craving Mexican food and I’m a bit burned out on turkey taco salads.

I did a quick google search on “riced cauliflower” and found a bunch of veggie, gluten free, and low carb blogs, websites, and videos, that all shared similar recipes. I decided to use what I had on hand, combined with some of the things mentioned on the sites, and I got to work in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
1/2 Head Cauliflower – cut into small pieces
1 Onion – rough chopped
2 Garlic Cloves – minced
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3/4 Can Diced Tomatoes
3/4 Cup Fresh Salsa – I used medium heat
Pinch of Red Pepper
Salt and Black Pepper to Taste

I’m apparently obsessed with colored cauliflower – expect to see the chartreuse green soon. 😉 Colorful Harvest out of Salinas, CA, is the brand I keep seeing in my local stores. It’s the little things on this diet that bring me joy.

Directions:
I broke as many florets off the cauliflower head as I could before tackling it with my knife.

I then used my “cheater” steamer solution for the microwave. I filled a shallow dish with water, added my cauliflower, covered the dish with a big mixing bowl, and it worked great. I ended up cooking the cauliflower for 5 minutes – testing every minute after the first 3 (I didn’t want to overcook it) – I was looking for “al dente” – not overcooked and mushy.

Once the cauliflower had cooled a little, I chopped it into small “rice-like” pieces. I might use a food processor next time, it took a while to get the pieces small enough.

Meanwhile, in a larger pan… I heated the olive oil over medium/high and then added my chopped onion and garlic.

I stirred often and once translucent, I added my diced tomatoes. I only added some of the liquid from the can. I let the tomatoes cook with the onion for a minute or two and then I dumped in the cauliflower.

I gave the mixture a good stir and let things simmer until some of the tomato liquid absorbed. I then added the fresh salsa.

Some of the pieces look more like corn than rice… that’s why I’m thinking I’ll break out the food processor next time or I’ll use white cauliflower. Continue simmering and stirring until the liquid has cooked off. I tasted it, added some salt, red pepper and black pepper and let it cook some more.  It took about 10 minutes before the majority of liquid cooked off.

I ate the Cauliflower “Spanish Rice” along with salsa chicken and loved it! Something new, something different, and I have lots of leftovers for future lunches. Now if only I could make a tortilla out of cauliflower… ha!