Food Friday: Roasted Cauliflower

The most difficult part about making dinner for Michael and I is coming up with new sides.  I feel like we exhaust our typical meals to the point that I get so tired of eating the same things over and over.  We have been in a really big squash, zucchini, and asparagus rut lately.  Michael would eat asparagus at every meal if I would make it.  I didn't used to like it but now that we've eaten it so much it has grown on me.  However I still don't want to eat it with every meal. 

On top of that, when you try to make healthy sides, it becomes even more difficult.  Michael doesn't really like macaroni and cheese or white potatoes (I didn't even know those people existed in life!) and I could eat a white potato 3 meals a day, everyday!  We compromise and eat white potatoes sometimes and sweet potatoes quite a bit.  I didn't used to really like sweet potato but since we've eaten those so much they have kind of grown on me too.  They are so much better for you than white potatoes but they just aren't the same  for me (even though I do pile on the butter and brown sugar...how's that for healthy?!).

We eat the bags of steamable frozen vegetable medleys, brown rice, and we have salads a lot too.  Now that I'm typing this it sounds like a variety but when you're the one making dinner it just seems like we're eating the same things over and over again.  We recently started buying heads of cauliflower to make for Kellan and we decided to buy one for us.  I love cauliflower raw but I'm just not a big fan of steamed vegetables.  I know they are so good for you and I will eat them but again...I would so much rather have a good baked potato, or mashed potatoes, or cheesy potatoes, or french fries...I could go on and on...

So anyway we had this head of cauliflower and although I really wasn't thrilled about it, I looked for a recipe online to make it for dinner one night.  I found the MOST SIMPLE recipe ever by Rachel Ray and we gave it a try.  It is seriously simple.  All you need is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt, pepper, and a head of cauliflower.  That's it!

Our head of cauliflower...we have really been trying to buy organic when possible and would you believe the Food Lion in Emporia has started stocking organic cauliflower?!  I was so excited when I saw it!

Cut the head into bite sized pieces and arrange in one layer either in a shallow baking dish or a baking pan.

The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil but we used a little more just to make sure the cauliflower was well coated and then we sprinkled salt, pepper, and Michael added some seasoning salt that we have but its definitely not necessary.

Stir the cauliflower around to make sure the pieces are all coated with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  After evenly coated spread the florets in the pan or dish so that they are in a single layer.

Place in oven at 425 degrees (ignore the 300 degrees in the picture, we went ahead and stuck ours in the oven while it was pre-heating...totally NOT professionals).  Roast the cauliflower for 20-25 minutes until tender and browned on the edges.



Ribs, asparagus, and cauliflower...more proof that we do cook at home!! 

Oh. my. gosh. I hope I have conveyed how much I love white potatoes and how much I really do not care for steamed vegetables...because this cauliflower is amazing. So good, I can easily eat it in place of my beloved white potatoes. Please try it and let me know what you think! We have had this several times since we first tried it.  Its also pretty good warmed over the next day...delicious and SO good for you!