Cauliflower Parmesan and a New Year!

Happy New Year and welcome to my first post of 2023! The holidays were wonderful, we connected with friends and both families and ate way too much food. Dan and I hosted Christmas this year for 25+ people and it was great to be back together again - it’s been too long. 

We also celebrated with my family at my nephew Corey and his wife Orlean’s house - great food, great company, and lots of laughs. You know you’ve hit the gift nail on the head when your grand-niece screams the name of the book title you got her, it feels good to get it right. 

This winter we are staying in the frozen tundra and dealing with ice dams, snow (lots of snow to be precise), and cold. We are planning another European cruise with our friends Ann and Warren in May and looking forward to getting back out into the world and seeing new things. 

I’ll be mentoring new Master Gardeners, working in community gardens, and volunteering at farmers' markets. If things come together, I’ll have my own Community Garden this year, participate in a garden productivity project, and support the Growing Connections and Master Gardener Learning tour efforts. There are so many things to get involved with - it’s hard to do all of the things that sound interesting. 

I’ve been looking for new recipes and things to cook and I hope to up my blogging this year. While I’ve added fish back into my diet, we continue to have a plant-based diet. 

I found this recipe on the Eatwell 101 website https://www.eatwell101.com/cauliflower-parmesan-recipe. I served it with a green salad and we both agreed it is something we’ll have often. One piece of advice is to use freshly grated parmesan - it makes a huge difference

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower trimmed and sliced into 1-inch steaks

2 T olive oil

1/2 tsp kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 t Italia seasoning

1 c tomato sauce (I used the sauce from our 2022 garden harvest).

1/4 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese - divided

1 c vegan mozzarella cheese

1 T chopped basil

1/2 t red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. To make the cauliflower parmesan steaks: Preheat your oven to 425°F (225ºC). Arrange cauliflower slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and brush both sides with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Roast the cauliflower steaks, flipping once, until cauliflower is tender and golden, about 30-35 minutes. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and top each cauliflower steak with marinara sauce. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and half of Parmesan.

3. Switch your oven to broil mode and broil cauliflower steaks until the cheese is bubbly and golden for about 3 minutes. Serve the roasted cauliflower parmesan sprinkled with remaining Parmesan, chopped basil leaves, and red pepper flakes. 

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by ❤️