Thursday, November 6, 2014

Cozy Golden Cauliflower with Red Sauce! GF, Vegan, SCD & Paleo!

Hey Happy Tummies!

How is everyone's week going?



Good news...tomorrow's FRIDAY!!! :D

What do you have planned for the weekend?



Well today it rained. All. Day. And there's no better remedy for a rainy day then a lovely home cooked meal -- preferably involving the oven and roasted veggies:) haha



Enter: today's recipe: Cozy Caramelized Cauliflower with Red Sauce!



Half a head of cauliflower roasted to golden brown perfection, topped with a beautiful tomato sauce and fresh basil. Y-U-M.

And it's Gluten Free, Vegan, Specific Carb Diet Friendly, and Paleo!



Here's what you need: (Serves one)

1/2 head of cauliflower

handful of baby spinach
3 button mushrooms, sliced
fresh basil, chopped (garnish)

Sauce:
1 tomato, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp herbs de provence
1/4 tsp salt
several "cracks" of black pepper



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place your halved cauliflower, cut-side-down on a tin foil-lined, olive-oil sprayed baking sheet. Spritz with olive oil, and bake for about 45 minutes, until its golden brown and delicious, otherwise known as GBD :)



In the meantime, make your sauce. In a skillet, sauté your onions and peppers in 1 Tbsp olive, salt, pepper, and herbs de provence. Let those soften for about 5 minutes. Add your garlic and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Finally, add your tomato and let it cook for about 4 minutes. Carefully transfer to your food processor, and process until smooth.

Finally, brown your mushrooms in the skillet - about 3 minutes per side.

At this point, you should have about 10 minutes left on your cauliflower -- which is the perfect amount of time to clean the food processor, set the table, and pour a glass of wine :)



To assemble, place your cauliflower on a bed of spinach. Top with the tomato sauce, mushrooms, and garnish with fresh basil. Serve warm.



My goodness, what a delightful dinner! The perfect ending to a rainy and rather gloomy day.

It was such a stunning dish - with the golden brown outlines of the cauliflower, and the bright red tomato sauce. It was so beautiful against the bright green from the spinach and basil.



But more than that, it was DELICIOUS. If you've never had roasted cauliflower before, consider this your personal invitation. It is seriously amazing. I'm not kidding -- magic takes place in the oven, my friends, magic! It becomes caramelized and has a nutty flavor! For a girl that can't eat bread, it almost tasted like bread! hah ok, well...how about...reminiscent of bread. :)



And the sauce was wonnnnderful. The herbs de provence gave it a warm and cozy flavor that had a delicate sweetness to it. And the basil gave it a nice *pop* of freshness.



So. Good. This is my next dinner party meal for sure:)

Finally, I was watching Gilmore Girls, and to my delight, check the sign on the door of the town grocery store...you may know my love for all things winter squash, so the screen grab was particularly humorous. Check back on Monday for a special butternut squash recipe:)



Have a great weekend, everyone!

33 comments:

  1. The sign is hilarious! Congrats on another beautiful recipe! Looks delish!

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    1. thanks mare :) haha i know..."my daughter's really into gourds" lolololol

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  2. Beautiful meal. Not sure why the door sign is hilarious though? Might be over my head.

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    1. hey Shen! thanks! so the sign is hilarious because one time when I was home i asked my mom to buy 3 butternut squash, and the cashier gave my mom a weird look. My mother shrugs and says, "my daughter's really into gourds" I guess I should have included that! lol thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I really love simple recipes and your cauliflower here looks super yummy. Really love cauliflower, most of the time I steam or mash them but I will try roasting them more often. It's the roasting time of the year after all! And yes spaghetti squash has become one of my favourite veg. I am currently editing a video of a recent recipe I made! :) Looking forward to your squash recipe!

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    1. Thanks! spaghetti squash is super delish. I'll keep an eye out for your new video! thanks for stopping by! have a great weekend :)

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  5. What a glorious golden crust you got on those cauliflower steaks! Cauliflower is easily one of my favorite vegetables to roast, especially because it always seems to be in season and is so easy to toss into the oven. Love how you turned it into such an elegant dish here.

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    1. Thanks Hannah! I appreciate that:) you're right -- it does always seem to be in season! haha :D thanks for stoping by! have a great night!

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  6. I love when dinner can truly change your perspective of the whole day! ha ha. Food always puts a smile on my face, ESPECIALLY WHEN I have a blah kind of day! LOL!

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    1. haha thank you GiGi! I know...funny how that works :) So glad you stopped by! have a terrific weekend!

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  7. I have all the ingredients for this except the mushrooms, sooo tempted to make it :D It looks amazing! x

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    1. ooh I hope you do and i hope you LOVE IT!! :D thanks for stopping by! have a great evening!

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  8. Cauliflower my favorite! Yummy recipe:)

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    1. thank you Ilona! cauliflower is one of my favs too:) so glad you stopped by! enjoy your evening!

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  9. This recipe is beautiful!! I love topping my veggies with fresh tomato basil sauce so this is right up my alley! I definitely have to give this a try. Yum!

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    1. Thanks Sarah! :D there's something so comfort-food-y about a warm tomato sauce, you know? thanks for stopping by! i hope your weekend is going wonderfully!

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  10. I roasted cauliflower florets this week while the hubby was out of town. Next time I'll try your technique...love that caramelized edge! YUM.

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    1. Thanks Liz! yeah the caramelized edge was the best part:) haha thanks for stopping by! enjoy your evening!

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  11. Yum! I love cauliflower roasted like that. Feel free to join into our Meatless Monday link up sometime

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    1. awesome! I'll have to check it out! :D Thanks for stopping by! have a great night!

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  12. I love cauliflower and this diva looks incredible! I has an amazing flavor, when roasted (baked).

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    1. Thanks Mira:) enjoy your evening! glad you stopped by!

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  13. I love cauliflower and this recipe looks amazing!

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    1. Thank you so much Britt! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by:)

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  14. this is so funny ;-) I watch Gilmore Girls too! I actually bought the full season lol and this recipe looks amazing! I am definitely putting this on my to-try-recipe list!

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    1. Awesome! Thanks Michele! Yeah I LOVE Gilmore Girls. The show is absolutely brilliant. I hope you enjoy watching it! Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. I've hear about cauliflower steaks before but have never made them! They sound absolutely delicious! Love it :)

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    1. Thanks Caera! You should definitely give them a try! It's incredible how roasting cauliflower really transforms it into a show stopping veg:) haha thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

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  16. Have a nice big cauliflower in the fridge and some more growing on the roof. Now i know what I need to make with it.. his looks amazing!

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    1. Oh wow! Lucky you to grow your own veggies!! thanks! :) So glad you stopped by, Pamela! Have a great afternoon!

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  17. Beautiful meal :) I love the idea of roasting cauliflower like that, without chopping it first. So cozy!

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    1. thanks Lauren! yeah, it's cozy AND it cuts down on the prep time! Double win! :) haha thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a terrific Monday!

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