Cauliflower Gets Smashed

Having IBS is sort of like being either an infant or a 93-year-old resident at the Home at Boca del Vista.  Mashed up veggies are the only way to go.  The only difference is that I can actually feed myself. Cauliflower is on the IBS list of tread-lightly-indigestible-insoluable fiber. (See my IBS page). I happen to love cauliflower and I've found that if I mash it up real well it's much easier on me. Several years ago, when my kids were little, I tried to hoodwink them into thinking this was a 'new kind of mashed potatoes' after reading all those books for moms about sneaking vegetables into your picky eater kid's food. (I've seen it in cookbooks labeled "mock mashed potatoes", made with milk & butter and then pureed). I bombed miserably.  I couldn't fool those smarty pants kids for one second.  I, on the other hand loved it, which they still think puts me on the Crazy list.

Smashed Cauliflower
1 whole bag (16 oz) frozen (or a head of fresh) cauliflower florets (I use Wegmans frozen because when I buy fresh vegetables they tend to rot in my fridge).
Cook 'til tender, about 10 minutes.
Add Earth Balance natural buttery spread (several tbs depending on how creamy you want it) and mash away with a potato masher or chopper.
I add some Red Star Nutritional Yeast Flakes for a more savory flavor.  I don't know quite how to describe the taste of nutritional yeast, aka "nooch", but I've started adding it to foods like pasta & vegetables for enhanced flavor, protein & vitamins. It's neither sweet nor salty nor spicy... it's an umami flavor unlike anything I've ever had before.  It was popping up in so many vegan recipes that I finally had to give it a try and I'm so glad I did.

This is good all by itself as a side dish or to play it safe have it with some soluable fiber like on top of a baked sweet potato, mixed with mashed parsnips or turnips or over a low carb pasta.  I've even topped my veggie burgers with smashed cauliflower.

Note: Nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast made from sugar cane and beet molasses. It comes in flake or powder form.  (It is not the same as the active yeasts used in bread making). Easily digested & packed with B vitamins and all the essential amino acids, it has a nutty, cheese-like flavor and is often used to emulate cheese in vegan dishes however, you don't have to be a vegan to enjoy it. Nutritional yeast can be sprinkled on pasta, salads, baked potatoes, soups, or anything, really, to enhance flavor. One of the most popular ways to eat nutritional yeast, it seems, is sprinkled on popcorn.

Holy Chocomole!

Banana Avocado Chocolate Pudding is pudding in the raw at its finest. This concoction is so crazy... yet so clever! There's no dairy whatsoever yet it's a very rich & creamy dessert. I tried a few different recipes using avocado that all came out way too strong for my taste but I found that adding banana, deleting vanilla and making a couple of other changes to tone it down, makes a more inviting, easier-on-the-taste-buds batch.

What you need:

1 avocado cut into chunks

1 large banana cut into chunks

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

a little less than 1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbs agave

Process: Dump all the ingredients into a blender and blend until creamy. This recipe makes 2 full cups. Let it get cold in the fridge & when you're ready to eat, mix it up. I like it best warmed up in the microwave.

Notes: I use Blue Diamond Almond Breeze vanilla unsweetened almond milk and Wholesome Sweeteners organic raw blue agave.

Lasagna to Daiya For

(I think it may actually be pronounced DAY-a, not DIE-a but then my cute pun doesn't work). I have to say, this was surprisingly tasty & satisfying, all things considered. I made this lasagna with 1 box of Tinkyada brown rice lasagna noodles, browned up & seasoned ground chicken, Daiya dairy-free mozzarella style shreds & store bought marinara sauce. I always use the lowest sodium tomato sauce I can find, which happens to be my local supermarket brand, Wegmans Red, Ripe & Ready, and I doctor it up with herbs. (Next time I'll make it vegetarian with spinach & mushrooms, sans chicken, but I knew my kids wouldn't touch it made that way). It's the first time I made brown rice lasagna noodles and they cooked up beautifully. I couldn't tell the difference at all in the lasagna. The Daiya mozzarella is melty & stretchy and I'm becoming addicted to this stuff. As I've said before, it's truly the crack of vegan cheese. It's nothing like any of the other 'cheese wannabees'. Now, of course it's not actual mozzarella, and I'm not trying to put one over on anybody, but it does the trick without forcing me to eat soy cheese (yuck). It does contain safflower & coconut oils and I'm very IBS sensitive to all fats, but it doesn't bother me as much as cheese with lactose. It will get to me, though, if I have more than one piece. But, hey, one piece of lasagna is more than I've been able to eat in eons.

Note: I have read dozens and dozens of reviews about Daiya dairy-free cheese-like shreds from lactose intolerants as well as iron-stomached people and 99.9% of them are wildly, cheesegasmically positive. Restaurants in LA & NYC are now serving pizza & other vegan 'cheesy' dishes with Daiya so it's only a matter of time before that happens here in upstate NY. (A couple of vegan food brands are also using it - Amy's mac 'n cheese & Tofurkey pizza). I am also crazy about the stuff, but I'm in the apparently infinitely small percentile who in addition to the lactose intol. has IBS sensitivities too. I keep telling myself that it's a good thing because it keeps me from eating too much... of anything!