This recipe is sponsored by Walmart. I used their product to make this delicious Roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon. The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

Seasonal vegetables is something that I always strive to use as much as possible. This summer I have been cooking quite a bit with one of my favorite vegetables, cauliflower. When it comes to cauliflower, one of my favorite ways to serve it is roasted. I have made it my mission to make at least one new cauliflower recipe per week the past 2 months and this roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon recipe has been one of my favorite by far.

I was recently at Walmart’s Rediscovering America Campaign at the James Beard House in Manhattan where it tasks 10 James Beard Chefs that feature fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables available at Walmart.

The recipes that were showcased were nothing but sensational. All canapés were delicious, unique and super tasty. All chefs made sure to use fresh seasonal ingredients which elevated the quality of the recipes by providing a tastier result.

Then menu for the Walmart’s Rediscovering America Campaign consisted of:

• Okra fries.
• Shishito peppers.
• Cauliflower curry with coconut sticky rice.
• Brussels sprout Yassa, spiced broccoli with avocado pistou.
• Watermelon cucumber salad with west African peanut sauce.
• Brown rice milk ice cream with organic strawberries.

I mean, don’t these recipes look sensational? I really don’t know what my favorite was but the cauliflower curry and Brussel sprouts were just plain sensational. Nothing like using fresh seasonal vegetables to obtain top notch tasty recipes.

I am extremely happy that Walmart is committed to offering a fresh, broad assortment of locally grown and organic produce to our customers.

Supporting local farmers allows Walmart to not just positively impact the economy, but also offer our customers incredibly fresh, high-quality produce. And we literally support thousands of American farmers.

This roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon recipe was super simple yet delicious. Just a few ingredients, a few minutes for prep and you have an awesome vegetable side dish or appetizer. The lemon, parsley and oil were a fantastic combo for the dressing and paired with the roasted garlic and cauliflower it was a match made in heaven.

When cauliflower is roasted it becomes nutty and buttery which is the perfect vehicle to introduce just one or two more ingredients to enrich its flavor.

One thing to keep in mind with cauliflower is to be careful not to over roast it. I roast cauliflower for just 10 minutes, check and then rotate for another 2-3 minutes. I don’t like my cauliflower super soft. I like it with some sort of a crunch so if you are like me I suggest that around the 10 minute mark you start to check on it.

Roasting cauliflower is one of my favorite ways to prepare cauliflower. I tend to make double the batch to be able to enjoy it a few days through out the week. My family doesn’t mind leftovers and since we all love cauliflower so much it is a win win when making more.

With this recipe you can swap the main vegetable if you like. If you prefer to use Brussel sprouts or even broccoli instead of cauliflower you can do so. It will work great as well. I think next time I might actually use Brussel sprouts.

I hope you get to make this amazing simple, healthy super tasty roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon. If you like cauliflower and I am sure it is going to become one of your favorite recipes to prepare.

Enjoy!

Roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 large head cauliflower, cut into large florets
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt
• Pepper

Dressing

• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup minced parsley
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450° F. Toss the cauliflower and garlic with the oil and a generous pinch
of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, turn once and roast further for
another 5 minutes.

Combine sunflower seeds, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir to
combine. Taste and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Arrange the cauliflower on a large serving plate and spoon the dressing over it. Toss to serve.

The post Roasted cauliflower with parsley and lemon appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Salad recipes are one of my favorite things to make over the summer. I normally refrain from using the oven and cook top when hot weather arrives. Today I decided to have a fun outing with my kids so I figured I would make something light like this Cauliflower Quinoa Salad and have it ready upon our return.

We love to hang out in the backyard after coming home from bike riding. Today, because it was raining on and off we decided to just stay in the yard and have some fun on the trampoline instead.  No matter how the weather turns out we always find a way to have fun.

For days like this, I always make sure that I have some light, healthy and refreshing to have later on when the kids get hungry and tired. I served the Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Santa Cruz Organic beverages, which was perfect for my thirsty kids.

There are actually different flavors to choose from so make sure you pick a favorite of yours. You can find a store near you where Santa Cruz Organic Beverages are sold at this link.

• From the iconic Lemonades to the lightly sweetened Agua Frescas and the new Carbonated Tea Lemonades, Santa Cruz Organic offers the perfect way to refresh your summer with unique flavors.
• Whether you’re spending the day by the pool, or prepping for a family picnic, Santa Cruz Organic’s line of organic, non-GMO lemonades and fruit juices are an easy way to beat the summer heat.
• Made with 100% organic fruit juice, Santa Cruz Organic lemonades are a summertime favorite we can all feel good about drinking.

Staying busy when there is no school and finding fun activities for the kids to enjoy is sometimes a challenge. My trick is to always try to keep it simple. Bike riding, exploring the neighborhood and having fun on the trampoline are always activities that are a success. I always try to emphasize this for my friends that are busy working out of the home and still want to spend quality time with their kids.

Keeping activities simple and getting the kids moving, even if it is just a simple game of basketball they will enjoy for sure. Whatever it is just, finding ways to spend quality time with the kids is always important.

Well, I hope you like this cauliflower Quinoa Salad. Santa Cruz Organic beverages were the perfect combo to keep the kids hydrated and happy. One of our favorites was the Cherry Lemonade – I hope you will like it too.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower quinoa salad

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked red quinoa
• 12 oz of cauliflower florets
• 9 oz shredded cabbage
• 7 oz fresh arugula
• 2 large cucumbers, cut into small chunks
• 10 oz cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 15 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3 tbs sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp celtic salt

Directions:

Cook quinoa according to package instructions and set aside.

Microwave the cauliflower florets until they are tender but not super soft and mushy. I do about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl add the arugula followed by the chopped vegetables, sunflower seeds and cauliflower. Add the vinegar, oil and salt and combine.

Serve.

The post Cauliflower quinoa salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

This recipe was part of the Food Network Chopped At Home Challenge. The ingredients I had to use were crimini mushrooms, leeks and cauliflower, and since the theme was comfort food, I thought, what about pizza? Everyone likes pizza pretty much. So I went ahead and roasted the leeks and cauliflower and sauted the mushrooms. This vegetable combo, yet unusual, it was the bomb. If you like vegetables you are going to love this pizza version.

I was also able to used 3 different type of cheeses. I used Sargento® shredded mozzarella, sharp and extra sharp cheese. What a cheese mixture. I even topped the pizza with some ricotta cheese and the result was just out of this world. My kids ate the pizza with no complaints. It was just comfort food at is best!

Now for you guys, you can enter the Food Network Chopped At Home Challenge. Read below and give it a go. The link is also there. How fun would it be to win? Good luck!

Chopped At Home Challenge Details:

Phase 1 Entry 2/2/16 at 9am – 2/29/16 at 9am (blog post and 2 social shares)

Phase 1 Vote 2/29/16 at 9am – 3/21/16 at 5pm (1 social share driving voting)

Please enter your recipe here

Submit your recipe to FoodNetwork.com/ChoppedChallenge for the chance to win $5,000 and a trip to New York City to compete in a televised Chopped cooking challenge for a $10,000 grand prize.

Well I hope you like this whole wheat vegetable pizza. Even though the vegetable combination may be unusual, trust me, you will love it. It was just plain delicious.

Enjoy!

Whole wheat Vegetable pizza

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 slices

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat pizza dough, homemade is best
• 2 large leeks
• 8 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 head of cauliflower
• 16 oz Sargento Mozzarella cheese
• 8 oz Sargento Sharp Cheddar cheese
• 4 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 tbs olive oil
• pinch of celtic salt
• crushed black pepper

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

In a baking tray place cauliflower florets and sliced leeks. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until they start to turn brown. Just like in the pictures. Don't burn them, as they will cook further once you use them for topping the pizza.

In a medium saute pan, add the olive oil and mushrooms and cook until they are soft. About 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to them and set aside.

To roll the pizza dough, sprinkle some flour on your work surface where you will roll out the pizza. With a rolling pin roll out the dough and transfer the rolled dough onto the pizza stone, or any other pizza baking tray you are using. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes or so.

Spread the shredded mozzarella cheese over the pizza dough followed by the roasted cauliflower, leeks and mushrooms. Make sure you distribute the veggies all over the pizza dough. Top with the sharp cheddar cheese and ricotta. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until golden.

Serve immediately.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sargento. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Whole wheat Vegetable pizza appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I have actually make this kale cauliflower salad twice this week. I made double the batch for salad dressing so it really only took me 10 minutes to put it together. It is just so delicious!

I love kale and lucky for me it is readily available where I live. I minced the cauliflower in my food processor and made it into cauliflower rice, or more like, pulverized cauliflower. I have done the same thing with broccoli before. They both work really good when it comes to use it for salads.

The mixture of kale and cauliflower using this cauliflower rice method was nothing but superb. Even my kids liked it.

For the salad dressing you can pretty much use anything you like. I decided to make a cilantro parmesan dressing this time around to change things up a bit but any type of dressing will work.

I hope you had fun with friends and family this Thanksgiving. Christmas is right around the corner so I will try to make some healthier Christmas recipes for you this year. Stay tuned…

Enjoy!

Kale cauliflower salad

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 10 oz fresh kale
• 1 head of fresh cauliflower
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds

Salad Dressing

• 2.5 oz fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 4 oz parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp crush black pepper
• pinch Himalayan salt

Directions:

Cut cauliflower head into small chunks and place it in your food processor. Pulse until the cauliflower is pulverized. In a large bowl add the fresh kale, pulverized cauliflower, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds and set aside.

Add salad dressing ingredients to your food processor and pulse until you obtain a homogenous liquid mixture. Taste and adjust to taste. Transfer mixture to a salad dressing shaker or any other jar of your choice. Pour dressing over the kale and toss to combine. Allow the salad to sit for at least 15-20 minutes to make sure the kale softens.

NOTE: Once the cauliflower is pulverized you can cook it in the microwave for 3 minutes if you like. I didn't.

The post Kale cauliflower salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

For these cauliflower vegetable tacos I used my homemade blue cheese dressing I made a few days ago, however, you can use any other sauce of your choice. I used both blue cheese dressing and buffalo sauce for these tacos. So good…

Have you made your own tacos before? I couldn’t believe how easy these cauliflower vegetable tacos were to make. I actually found cauliflower really cheap at the grocery store so I wanted to try a new recipe with them. I love cauliflower so I am going to try to incorporate it into some of my recipes.

I have seen tacos done with large lettuce and cabbage leaves instead of soft flour tortillas. A much healthier version if you ask me. I have had them at restaurants before and to be honest I do prefer the vegetable wrap version. Will see what I can come up with all these choices.

On another note, fall season is just around the corner so I have device a menu plan to post plenty of pumpkin recipes this coming September. I hope you like pumpkin otherwise I think you are going to hate me this September. Pumpkin up and down left and right here in EG4L!

Anyhow, I hope you like this recipe. Of course you can use any sauce of choice as well as any veggies you may like. Tacos are super versatile so get creative and make it your own.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower vegetable tacos

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8 soft corn tortillas
• 1 cauliflower head, cut into florets
• 6 oz shredded coleslaw
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 1/3 cup blue cheese dressing
• 1.3 cup buffalo sauce

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Place the cauliflower onto a baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes stirring the cauliflower around once. Bake until soft and until it become brown around the edges (like in the picture)

Place the tacos on a Taco holder and place a tablespoon of blue cheese dressing followed by some shredded coleslaw, roasted cauliflower and avocado. Drizzle with more blue cheese dressing and buffalo sauce and serve immediately.

NOTE: You can use any other sauce of your choice.

Each serving equals to two tacos.

The post Cauliflower vegetable tacos appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I really don’t know if this should be called Cauliflower Kung Pao or Kung Pao Cauliflower, either way I am sure you get it right? Sorry if I am making a mistake for those that speak Chinese!

This Kung Pao sauce can be used with different types of protein as well as veggies. I have seen many different versions with chicken but perhaps next time I will use more veggies and tofu instead. You can also serve this with rice, quinoa or any other type of noodles of your choice. I think rice noodles would be great and will keep the dish gluten free. Originally I don’t know how Kung Pao is best served with but for us Asian noodles worked rather well.

On another note, my mac pro lap top crashed on me last night. I think I had a nervous brake down because my hard drive completely shut down. I wasn’t able to repair it at all. I freaked out because I never backed up my information. The computer doesn’t even have a year so I figured it wouldn’t brake, crash or die on me, boy was I WRONG… I have learned my lesson to say the least.

Luckily my information was retrieved and my pictures, files and such have been saved today. I had so much work on my lap top it is not even funny. From now on I am backing my computer, if not every day, at least every week. Holly molly did I literally crapped my pans last night! Phew and thanks to my tech guy…

OK back to the cauliflower kung pao. This recipe got a bit more involved because of having to cook the cauliflower first but even still it will not take you more than 20-25 minutes from start to finish. You can freeze leftovers and have later on as well. Something that I do with many of my recipes.

I hope you like this recipe.

Enjoy!

Add the oil to a non-stick skillet and cook the cauliflower for about 5 minutes. Transfer the cauliflower to a large dish. Add the pepper to the pan and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower back to the pan and cook the veggie mixture for an extra 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Here is the veggie mixture. Right before adding the sauce to it. The cauliflower is sort of intact and not mushy so make sure you don’t over cook it.

Serve over brown rice, rice noodles, quinoa or whatever other type of grain you may like.

Cauliflower Kung Pao

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower head, cut into small floret pieces
• 1 red organic pepper, diced
• 1 yellow organic pepper, diced
• 1 orange organic pepper, diced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 scallion, cut 2” in lengths
• 1/3 cup raw cashews
• 1 tsp pepper flakes, optional
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb rice noodles (any other type of noodles will work)

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 4 tbsp soy sauce, gluten free
• 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tsp arrowroot powder, or cornstarch

 

Directions:

Cook noodles according to package instructions. Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large non-stick skillet, over medium heat, place the olive oil over medium to high heat. Add the cauliflower, and cook stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until the cauliflower as cooked a bit. It will not be cooked throughly, as you will add it later on with the other veggies. Take the cauliflower out into a large plate and set aside.

Add the diced peppers to the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower back to the skillet and cook with the peppers stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes until the veggies are almost cooked through but not mushy. Add the garlic, ginger and cashews and cook further for 2 minutes. At this point add the sauce to the skillet and cook for 1 minute over high heat or until thickened. Add the spring onions and serve over the noodles while still warm.

Recipe adapted from here

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