How to Make Cauliflower Mash
As promised in Cauliflower vs. Bread here is a recipe that is pure genius for getting a whole lot more fibrous non-starchy vegetables into your daily diet in a way that tastes great! In this particular case that vegetable is Cauliflower. If you don’t happen to like cauliflower I ask you to please hold your prejudice until you’ve actually tried this cauliflower mash. Remember, you don’t actually know until you try – an important life lesson.
The fibrous vegetable category includes amongst many others: celery, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, onion, cucumber, asparagus, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, bock choy, eggplant, leek, and zucchini. If you turn your nose up at that list know that it’s time you got over your childhood tantrums and learn how to cook or prepare these wonders of nature in a way that tastes fantastic. It is possible.
You need to make friends with the plants that will gift you with a high quality of life by consuming them. I see this very clearly as a cycle of love. I love plants and when I eat them, they love me back. As a side note I have the same relationship with the meat I eat. I’m thankful for their energy and their health so that I too may be healthy. We can’t be healthy if we eat sick plants and animals.
Ingredients
1 whole Cauliflower head
Butter (or a substitute if you feel you must but they aren’t doing you any good)
Real salt (not sodium chloride, also known as table salt, which does not appear in nature)
Pepper
Optional Ingredients
1 head of Garlic
Cottage cheese or grated cheddar
Chili
Anything else you might like to experiment with!
The Process
Get your whole head of cauliflower and slice into smaller chunks. Wash said smaller chunks.
Get your steamer on the stove top and get the water boiling. While that is happening cut your cauliflower up into smaller pieces and then put them in the steamer.
Cut up the garlic if you’re going to use it and put the garlic slices on top in the steamer. Put the lid on the steamer and let it steam away for about 15 minutes.
When it’s done, let it cool slightly and then spoon the cauliflower (and garlic) into a food processor. Puree the cauliflower for a few moments and then add some butter, salt and pepper to taste. Puree some more until the mixture is the consistency of nice smooth mashed potatoes.
If desired the cauliflower mash can be quickly reheated.
I’ve found that it stores quite well in a sealed container in the fridge so you can make a big batch and eat it over a couple of nights. It goes well with lots of things including the leftover beef stroganoff I had for breakfast. Eat your cauliflower mash with some steak and celery. Eat it with poached eggs and butter fried onions. Experiment!
Wrapping it Up
What I’ve been trying to do here on Balanced Existence starting with The Myth that Sugar Causes Type 2 Diabetes is a Myth is to show you that you do not need to eat starchy filler as a staple of your diet. Bread, pasta and potatoes are all comparatively high starch and low fiber foods. This means they are high and quick energy foods. You only need so much energy to move through your day. Consume too much energy and your body will store it for later. That means you will get fat and eventually you will get sick.
What your body really needs to be well is nutrition. There is a world of difference between nutrition and energy in the form of carbohydrates. In our modern world of excess plenty we rarely want for energy. I’ve fasted on nothing but water for up to 14 days a number of times in the past. I did not run out of energy and no one would have called me fat at the time.
While writing this article I’ve consumed a lunch that included a small piece of grass fed steak from last night, two sticks of celery, an avocado, a tomato, a handful of walnuts, a handful of olives and a slice of organic cheese. It was a feast and I feel better after eating than I did before! That tells me I ate the right thing. What need for bread? Sandwiches are not easier. Sandwiches are not quicker. Sandwiches are simply what you have always done.
What your body longs for is nutrition. Learn how to give it what it needs and may you be well.
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October 20th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Hi Stephen,
I have been following your blog for quite a few months now and agree with a lot of what you write regarding nutrition.
I made your recipe for cauliflower mash and our family had it for dinner tonight. I must say, it was pretty tasty! I prepared it with garlic and then added a bit of butter, salt, and pepper at the table. My husband really thought they were mashed potatoes at first. Even after tasting the first bite, he still didn’t know that it was cauliflower until I actually told him. He just thought the potatoes were a bit “light”. We both liked it quite well.
I am always looking for new ways to prepare vegetables. Thank you for sharing your recipe. And yes, I did feel pretty good after eating this, so I guess that tells me I need more of this type of food.
Laura
October 20th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Hi Laura,
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to read comments like yours. Thank you for taking the time to try it out and to report your results. I personally think it works really well with garlic, another food that is fantastic for our health. I just didn’t want to push garlic too much as some people have an aversion to it.
I knew when I first made cauliflower mash that I had to tell others about it. It’s amazingly similar to mashed potatoes in taste and texture and yet it is worlds apart. It’s also great that you listened to your body afterward! Feel free to share cauliflower mash on your website if you like.
Stephen
October 30th, 2009 at 2:14 am
[…] How to Make Cauliflower Mash […]
July 15th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Hi Stephen,
Loving your blog, it has really helped me get a footing on the way I want to steer my health.
This recipe reminds me of my childhood, my grandfather used to put cauliflower into my mashed potatoes and say they were just how potatoes were in the west of Ireland, lumpy.
I will try this recipe and look forward to reporting back.
I would also like to ask you if you are against potatoes fully? I have read the article about foods that fight, it makes alot of sensse but i wonder if you have any other small dishes or foods that compilment potoatoes as being from Ireland they have such a common place and are so tasty sometimes
anyway love the blog, keep it up.
All the best.
Barry.
July 15th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Hi Barry,
Good to hear from you. It seems we share some common ancestry. Personally I was initially surprised to learn that potatoes come from South America and have only been eaten in Europe and Ireland for some 300 years or so.
Not that I have a problem with potatoes per se, or carbohydrates for that matter. As I’m sure you’re well aware from my other posts. The main “foods that fight” recommendation is to experiment for a time with not eating starchy carbs like potatoes at the same meal with high protein foods like steak or chicken. My suggestion is to try this idea out out for say just 2 weeks and then try a meal of meat and potatoes. Then pay attention to how you feel. If you feel great, then great, your body can handle that sort of food in that sort of combination. Perhaps in the future it will not. Everything changes and this is why I disagree with any sort of nutritional dogma.
Just think of it as an experiment and a learning experience about your own body. Personally I don’t seem to do to bad on sweat potato. Oven baked sweat potato “fries” with a little coconut oil, salt and herbs/spices are good!
Take care,
Stephen