Recipe below for Italian Sausage and Kale soup. Benton resident Jason Murphy lost 80 lbs. in part by doing healthy remakes on the classic favorite meals of his youth. He enjoys sharing with others how food can be both fuel for fitness and fun to eat. See the list of his columns/recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.
Cauliflower. It’s amazing how strong the reactions are I get from from people when I mention all the dinners I make with this versatile yet strange alien member of the cabbage family. Of all the foods I bring up, it’s the one people most sneer their nose up at and declare they hate. Then with a little deeper dive, I find out they came to that conclusion around age seven after their parents forced them to eat an over-boiled pile of mushy, bland, reeking of sulfur horror show, and they haven’t tried it since. I have some news for all of you out there that feel this way, and it’s not going to be easy for you to read. If you don’t like cauliflower… it’s your fault. You just have to know what to ask of it. Cauliflower is the ultimate people-pleaser. It just wants to taste or behave like whatever food you tell it to be. And cauliflower has no inhibitions or boundaries. Whatever wild scenarios you suggest it to do, it’s down with it. This member of the Brassica veggie family truly is the party animal of the group, it answers the “caul” of the wild without reservation. Pizza crust? No problem. White rice? In its sleep. Tater tots and hash browns? Hold your potatoes and watch this. And it does it all with a multitude of health benefits, vitamins, anti-inflammatory properties, and the glycemic load index of 1 cup is just 2 with 6 carbs. When white rice sees those numbers, it just quietly backs out of the room and closes the door. Leftover cauliflower rice also doesn’t turn into uneatable plastic pellets with a high arsenic concentration like cold cooked rice. All you need to get your cauliflower freak on is some know-how on cooking techniques and an open mind.
Still not with me, I see. I get it. I was a white rice and white potato guy through and through, and I rarely, if ever, cooked cauliflower. But then I had my lifestyle change, and I had to leave all those simple carbs behind to get the results I wanted. I also knew I didn’t just want to eat tuna and 2 almonds for dinner the rest of my life. I needed to find a way to make my favorite dishes with less calories, less glycemic impact on blood sugar levels, and more nutrition. In other words, I had to eat like my life depended on it, because it did. Here’s a little more photographic evidence of the impact food has on body composition.
The pants I’m holding up are a 36 inch waist, and they were getting snug on me, even though I was exercising. It wasn’t until I replaced foods like white potatoes and rice with cauliflower that the 80 lbs. fell off and now I wear a 29 inch waistline. Those pants swallow me up now, and when I look at them, I remember just how bad I felt all the time. Changing my mindset on foods and deciding to have an open mind was key, and cauliflower played a big part in that journey.
One of the meals I used to make that got me into those giant pants was a casserole loaded in simple carbs. My kids dubbed it “Daddy Special” because it was family favorite and it was a go to meal that I had perfected. It had an entire bag of tater tots, two packages of boil-in-bag white rice, and two jars of store bought alfredo sauce. No wonder my pant size was expanding faster than the rate of the universe. One day I was thinking back fondly on how that meal tasted and realized I could re-invent it, and make it fit into a healthy lifestyle. Cauliflower can make the tater tots, the rice, it can even make the alfredo sauce. When I’m running short on time, I’ll use purple potatoes for the tater tots, and make a simple three ingredient alfredo sauce, as I did this time for this version. If you want to try your hand at any of those things, just google “low carb cauliflower…” and whatever food item you want, and you will find all the links you need to make those items. One word of caution, even with healthy foods, you still need to watch portion control, and this is the one I struggle with the most on not getting seconds or overloading. Just remember to eat slowly and walk away, give yourself some time before immediately going back for seconds. The brain is on a delay from the stomach, give it time for the “I’m full” message to get delivered, or you could end up eating half of this before you know it. I like to pair this with roasted broccoli. I’ll include the techniques for that side in the instructions below.
“Daddy Special” Smoked Swiss Cauliflower Casserole
Ingredients:
- Alfredo sauce
- 1 ounce grass fed butter,
- 1 cup grass fed heavy cream,
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese,
- sea salt and pepper
- I large head cauliflower (4 cups riced)
- 1 package purple potatoes
- 1 lb ground 93% ground turkey
- 1 package organic baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt, divided
- 1 tsp black pepper, divided
- 1 tsp onion powder, divided
- 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil, divided
- 8 oz sliced smoked swiss or smoked cheddar cheese
- 3 strips cooked bacon
Instructions:
Wash and dry one package of purple potatoes. Cut into quarters and toss in a large mixing bowl with 1 tsp olive oil, and a 1/2 tsp of sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix well to coat, then transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, stir, and then roast another 15 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, cut cauliflower head into florets and process in a food processor until it resembles white rice. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 4 cups of the cauliflower rice with a pinch of salt and pepper over medium heat. Stir often, reducing heat after rice softens and continue cooking/stirring until the cauliflower rice loses it’s moisture and it resembles dry, fluffy rice.
Brown 1 lb of ground turkey, seasoning with a good pinch of sea salt and pepper. Once the ground turkey starts to brown and fat is rendered, add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan and continue cooking until the ground turkey is cooked completely and the veggies are soft. Drain excess fat and return to the pan.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan, then add the heavy cream and stir until combined and cream is heated slightly.
Add the Parmesan cheese in small installments stirring constantly until all the cheese is incorporated and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Spray a 13 x 9 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Place the potatoes in first, then add the cauliflower rice. Add the ground turkey and veggie mix on top of that, then pour the alfredo sauce over the entire dish, then mix until combined.
Cover with smoked cheese slices.
For the roast broccoli, cut 4 heads into florets, place in a large bowl and mix with 1 tsp olive oil, and a 1/2 tsp of sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Set oven to 425 degrees, set one rack in the middle and another rack in the slot directly under. Place the casserole on the middle rack and the broccoli underneath. Set the timer for 10 minutes, then stir the broccoli, and cook another 10 minutes. Let cool on the stove top for 5 minutes. While casserole is cooling, cook 3 strips of bacon in the microwave on a plate lined and covered with paper towels until crisp, usually 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Listen for the bacon to stop popping, that means it’s done and will burn if cooked longer. Wait for bacon to cool enough to touch and crumble on top of casserole.
Serve and enjoy:
See the list of the Shirtless Chef columns/recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.