Mashed Cauliflower is a great sub for Mashed Potatoes

I made cauliflower like this once and asked my family how they liked the new mashed potato recipe. They all agreed it was delicious and had seconds.  I didn't tell them it was really cauliflower until the dishes were done!

Mashed Cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower is a delicious, low-starch alternative to mashed potatoes. This cruciferous vegetable is an excellent source of vitamin C, containing almost as much as oranges.

Ingredients

1   lg head

cauliflower, chopped into florets and steamed

2   tbsp

low-fat milk

1⁄4   cup

low-fat sour cream

2   oz

reduced fat cheddar cheese

1⁄2   tsp

kosher salt

1⁄4   tsp

ground black pepper

If you have a pre-programmed Blendtec blender, just add the ingredients to the blender jar in the order listed and secure the lid. Press "Sauces" or blend on Medium Low (Speed 3 or 4) for 30 seconds and serve.

Some people feel that adding butter instead of sour cream gives it a more traditional mashed potato taste, and if you're not using dairy products, try substituting coconut milk or yogurt instead of milk and sour cream.

Chef Kristi leaves out the cheese and adds "nutmeg with a touch of roasted garlic and 1 tsp of balsamic glaze, which I make by reducing the balsamic vinegar by 3/4 of its starting volume, it adds the hmmm factor really nice" so there are a few variations and gourmet idea.

As originally posted here are the nutrition facts for the recipe:

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

• Servings 5.0
 
• Sodium 340 mg
• Serving Size 3/4 cup
 
• Carbohydrates 9 g
• Calories 90
 
• Fiber 4 g
• Fat 4 g
 
• Sugar 5 g
• Saturated Fat 2 g
 
• Protein 7 g
• Cholesterol 10 mg

This recipe is from the www.blendtec.com recipe section.  Make it with confidence!

*As a side note, if you store leftovers in the fridge, the high water/low starch content starts to show and the water begins to separate off.  Plan to make a cauliflower soup with it the next day!

Blendfresh raw, whole food powders

Want something that makes getting your fruits and veggies easier? I have just found this and am IN LOVE! Raw, whole food powders, pesticide free, non-GMO, soy free, gluten free, dairy free, vegan. Just the good stuff you actually want in your body. I have been sneaking scoops of this into our smoothies the last two weeks and no one in my family seems to mind they are eating so many veggies! This is the new foods line put out by Blendtec and one of the reasons

 I'm so excited to work with them.

What happened was that Blendtec, the maker of the world's most advanced blenders, would make a great product and then their completely satisfied customer would be gone for 8-10 years enjoying their blender.  Millions of people worldwide know this brand for quality, and they all go and buy various qualities of produce to use for their smoothies.

Blendtec saw an opportunity to better serve their customers by spinning off a sister company that would focus on high quality foods that could be used with their amazing blenders.  As soon as I knew this line was affiliated with a 200 million dollar company and a 38 year reputation, I wanted to know more.  There is no way a stable company like this would put out a substandard product.  

The more I learned, the more excited I got.  Yes, several companies sell greens powders, I've been buying them for years.  But how many are actually raw?  Dried with light instead of heat to keep the enzymes unharmed and active?  And are greens all we really need?  What about the orange, red and purple colored vegetables - we are supposed to "eat a rainbow" of color right?

I was even more impressed when I read the label.  "Bell pepper, rhubarb, strawberries, cranberries..."  twelve ingredients.  Only fruits and vegetables.  No fillers so that they will make more money selling a larger container of product.  No binders so it looks artificially pretty.  No preservatives so they can keep an abnormally long shelf life.  This is just a bottle of food with the water carefully removed.  Wow.

Because it is a fresh, raw food they suggest keeping it in your fridge and using within 90 days of opening.  I love looking in my fridge the last couple of weeks, wonder what I should make, and then having a beautiful bottle remind me and inspire me to make a nutritious smoothie.  Sounds corny, I know, but that's what's been happening.  And with zero arguments from kids or hubby!

I'll post more detailed articles soon on the other great products in the line, but here's a teaser; a probiotic complete with blackstrap molasses as a pre-biotic, so your friendly germs are still alive when you open your bottle.  A fiber blend of sprouted nuts and seeds that meets FDA requirements for soluble and insoluble fiber so that they can say it "lowers cholesterol" right on the label.  And last but not least a delicious (which is rare) vegan protein powder, with not one but 8 different protein sources for a complete amino acid profile.  Lighter on the digestive system than traditional whey and made of whole foods - you can actually read and understand the label!  I could go on and on, and I will, soon.  Just know that if you need a solution for more nutrition quickly and simply (and I forgot to even mention that it even costs you less than fresh produce!) just find out more about this!  I've made a YouTube video link so click here to see me explain it in more detail.  It even goes along with a Blendtec blender discount program if you need one of those.  

So think on it, and have a great day.  I'm going to go mix up a glass of Purples!

A Compromise on Instant Oatmeal?

Some days the kids just want a "fun" cereal for breakfast.  Translation: "Please can I have extra sugar and less fiber from a brightly colored package before you send me off to sit still at school for half a day".  Uh, maybe not.

But we want them to have a little fun sometimes and feel like they have choices, and most importantly to not grow up feeling so deprived that they binge on cold cereal the second they go off to college.  So being the stealthy, healthy mom that I am, I've engineered a compromise.  Here's how it goes.  On special days they can pick a flavored instant oatmeal packet.  In the beginning they would watch me pour it into their bowl, then I'd walk over, add the water, and as they happily ran off to get ready for the day I'd grab a handful of regular oats and add them to the bowl.  (The regular oats aren't even called instant, but cook up in just the same amount of time in the microwave and actually give the kids something to chew on versus drinking down the instant stuff).  They've figured out what I'm up to and these days they don't even mind.  They're used to the taste of less sugar now.

So they get to pick the fun flavor they want from a brightly colored assortment, and I get to give them an added dose of fiber so they will stay full until lunch and keep their tummy from hurting from too much processed food.  Plus the goodness in the oats will dilute down the sugar from the instant packet since the body has something more hearty to digest, creating a more positive glycemic effect on blood sugar.  By doing this I'm also teaching them to adapt recipes to be more healthy at the same time.

Oats even have some protein, did you know that?  Lots of vegan protein powders use it as a main protein source.  Just think, you get all these benefits and you slash your grocery bill too by adding the less expensive regular oats to the more expensive flavor packs.  Everybody wins!

Let me know how you like it!  If you're on Instagram post a pic of your bowl and tag me with @coachjenngibbs .  Thanks!