Creamy Cheesy Cauliflower Alfredo

Have you seen all of the recipes for cauliflower Alfredo sauce?  Have you thought it sounded gross?  Have you wondered if it was good?  Me too.

 This is the 2nd time I've made an Alfredo using cauliflower.  This is the 2nd time my kids have eaten it and thought it was the greatest pasta ever.  My kids HATE cauliflower!  So, yes, it is good.  Yes, it works. And yes, you should make it.  But I warn you, you will not like restaurant Alfredo any more.  You will look at the grease as it separates from the cheese and taste the blandness and you will be disappointed.  You will want the cauliflower Alfredo. 

This stuff reheats like a dream.  There is no separation.  This freezes and reheats.  It covers pasta, pizza crust, and can be used as a fondue of sorts for your favorite veggies.  It is creamy, and cheesy and really tastes better than it's 1100 calorie counterpart.  And the best part- it is easy! 

Creamy Cheesy Cauliflower Alfredo

1 head Cauliflower
2 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 8oz package of  neufchatel cheese (you can use cream cheese but this has 1/3 the calories and the same flavor)
2 slices Swiss Cheese
1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Onion
1 Tsp. minced garlic
1-2 Tbl. Olive Oil
dash nutmeg
1 tsp. parsley
2 dashes Thyme
1/2 tsp white pepper (optional)

Clean and cut the cauliflower.  Then boil it in the water and bouillon cubes until soft. Carefully add to blender and starting on the lowest setting blend until smooth.  Set aside.  Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  When just starting to turn translucent, add to blender and blend.  Return mixture to pan and heat on medium low.  Add the Swiss and Parmesan cheeses and stir until melted.  Add the nutmeg, parsley and thyme. (Pepper also if you are using it.)

Serve over whole wheat pasta.

How easy is that?  Let me know what you think of it.

Tomato Pasta Sauce with Pumpkin

 

By now you know that I love to sneak vegetables into my kids meals.  Admit it, you do it too.  I love that I am also eating more veggies.  It makes me feel like I am somehow fabulously healthy.  I also try to reduce the amount of sugar in my recipes.  I decided to take on the task of eliminating refined sugar from my pasta sauce and replacing it with natural sugars.  But unlike my Cafe Rio Style Chicken, I couldn't use a sweet fruit.  This took some research.

 When my mom made homemade pasta sauce, it simmered on the stove all day.  It was filled with chunks of beef, pork sausage and pepperoni. Soooo delicious.  My mom also added vinegar and sugar.  It combats the tangy flavor that canned tomatoes sometimes give off.  So I had to find something that would replace both the vinegar and the sugar.    I also wanted to add zucchini.


 So I chopped my onions, and 1/2 of my carrots, and my celery.  Then I grated my zucchini, and the rest of my carrots.  I opted to cook all of this with the meat, to eliminate the need for extra oil, (normally needed to saute the garlic and onion and veggies).

When this was done and I was ready to add my tomatoes, and tomato sauce, I also added pumpkin!  I know!  Pumpkin!  And with the first taste I was so sad.  I thought I had ruined my sauce.  But I decided to wait it out.  Guess what?  An hour later, no pumpkin flavor.  Just meaty, full, robust pasta sauce.  What a happy discovery. 

And my family loved it.  And I have not told them they were technically eating a squash, or at least something from the same family as the squash.  They can be squeamish about such things.  

 This makes a lot, as I freeze half.  You can halve the recipe, no problem.  Just keep the full can of diced tomatoes and skip the tomato paste.

 Tomato Pasta Sauce with Pumpkin
2 lbs ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
(Normally I would also add 1 small can tomato paste, but I didn't have one. You decide.)
2-3 large carrots, 1chopped, the rest grated
1 large onion - chopped
1 medium zucchini - Peeled, grated and squeezed to remove moisture.
2 stalks celery - chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) pumpkin -- do not accidentally use pumpkin pie filling.  Trust me on this.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 Tbl garlic - chopped (probably 1 tsp if you use garlic powder)
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp white pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Add the onion, beef, zucchini, celery, carrots, to a large skillet and cook the meat.  Drain if needed, and add the tomato sauce, paste if using (along with a can full of water), diced tomatoes, pumkin and spices.  Cook over low heat for at least 30 min, but I recommend 2-3 hours.  Stir occasionally.  You could also cook the meat and throw everything into a slow cooker.  This would give you a fast and easy meal for a busy day.  I serve mine over blanched cabbage.  My family likes it with spaghetti noodles.

Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole- And your kids will love it!

This is good stuff.  This is three helpings good.  This is healthy! But don't tell my kids.

This is my Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole.  Seriously, this stuff is loaded with yummy vegetables that my kids normally won't eat.  In fact, it has a veggie in it that I won't eat! As in, it makes me gag to think about eating it.  It took faith to add spinach to this. I hate cooked spinach. H-a-t-e! Would rather do laundry kind of hate. I had two helpings of this, my boys had three each.  And my little princess, who won't eat anything?  Oh, she happily scarfed it down.  Even the baby liked her ground up portion.  The husband had two helpings.  I'm telling you, it's good!

Guess what's in it?  Never mind.  I'll tell you.  :)  I'm generous like that.

Spinach, carrots, zucchini! Can you believe that?  My family ate zucchini and loved it!  I'm seriously doing the happy dance.

So you may remember an earlier post where I told you how to sneak carrots into your ground beef.  If not, you can find that here. That is how I got the carrots in.  The rest- easy peasy.  But no peas.  They wouldn't work in this one.  :)

Very Veggie Lasagna Casserole
1/2 of the meat mixture (found here)
OR
1 lb meat (shred 2 carrots into the meat while it cooks and add 1/2 large onion) cooked and drained.
2 cups of your favorite marinara, spaghetti sauce or even pizza sauce.
        (I used left over home made pizza sauce)
2 cups water with 2 beef bouillon cubes, or 2 cups beef stock
1/2 of a 13.25 oz box of whole wheat penne pasta (I used Barilla)
6 oz Cream Cheese
3/4 C. Cottage Cheese
1 10oz pkg of frozen spinach
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 slice swiss cheese (this is how I keep the amount of cheese down. - strong flavor but very little)
1 C. low fat mozzarella cheese divided

 Put the first 4 ingredients in a 4 quart stock pot.  Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to medium low.  While doing that warm up your cream cheese in the microwave so it's very soft.  Stir it until it is very creamy.  I added some basil and oregano to the cream cheese along with some chili powder because my homemade sauce was too bland for my tastes.  But if you are using a commercial spaghetti or marinara sauce, you don't need to do that. Add the cream cheese to the pot along with the cottage cheese and zucchini.  Cover for 5 min.  Now I recommend that you thaw the spinach first, but I didn't remember, so I ran a little hot water over it to remove any ice crystals and tossed it in the pot.  Cook for another 10 min stirring occasionally.  Just before serving add your slice of Swiss and 3/4 C. of mozzarella cheese. Stir in, allowing to melt.  When everything looks creamy pour into your serving dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Serve.  YUM!