Craving a fresh salad with substance? This cauliflower salad recipe might be right up your alley. It’s crunchy, chewy, bold and unexpected. You’ll love this salad if you enjoy fresh Mediterranean flavors and reach for raw cauliflower on veggie trays.

Yes, this salad is made with raw cauliflower. The only cooking you’ll need to do for this recipe is toasting the almonds for a few minutes. The cauliflower soaks up the flavors in the vinaigrette during a 30-minute rest.

The post Cauliflower Salad appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

While I’m a forever fan of mashed potatoes, these cauliflower mashed potatoes are a surprisingly great alternative! Use this recipe to make mashed cauliflower or add a potato to the mix for cauliflower mashed potatoes.

When you add a russet potato to the mix, the starch helps the mash become more creamy, smooth, and, as expected, more mashed potato-like. While optional, I prefer the results with the potato. Either way, it’s a simple and nutritious side dish.

The post Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

This buffalo cauliflower recipe has been a long time coming. I’m glad to get it to you just before the big game! This recipe is a vegetarian spin on buffalo wings, featuring caramelized roasted cauliflower with an irresistibly spicy coating. It’s the perfect watch party appetizer.

Restaurant-style buffalo cauliflower is typically deep fried (and delicious), but I wanted to make homemade buffalo cauliflower in the oven. I tried it every which way to get here, and many renditions were simply not good. The cauliflower was either soggy, too saucy, too salty, or otherwise not quite right.

I gave up on the idea last year after I landed on buffalo Brussels sprouts instead.

Here’s what I ran into along the way. Many homemade buffalo cauliflower recipes feature cauliflower tossed in a flour and water mixture before baking, with the promise that it produces a deep fried effect. It would be cool if that worked, but it doesn’t. Simply roasting the cauliflower on its own doesn’t yield crispy-enough results, and tossing the cauliflower in sauce after baking negates all crispness anyway.

I finally picked up a new tip from a loosely-written Bon Appetit recipe—cornstarch. Cornstarch helps make my baked sweet potato fries extra crispy, and it does the same for this cauliflower, offering a crispy outside to a high-moisture vegetable without frying. That means that this recipe is gluten free as well. Hooray!

It’s way too easy to eat this buffalo cauliflower straight off the sheet pan before it makes it to the serving platter. You have been warned.

Watch How to Make Buffalo Cauliflower

The post Buffalo Cauliflower appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Tired of regular roasted cauliflower? Try cauliflower “steaks” instead! Cauliflower steak makes a strong presentation at the dinner table. Think of it more as a side dish or meal component than a protein-rich steak—after all, we’re talking about roasted slabs of cauliflower.

You can serve these cauliflower steaks as a simple side dish topped with gremolata or a sprinkle of parsley. Or, create a restaurant-worthy vegetarian meal out of them. Start with a simple base of whole grains and chickpeas or lentils, then top it with cauliflower steak and a vibrant homemade sauce. Beautiful!

Cauliflower steaks require careful cauliflower selection and slicing. Know that the outer slabs will likely fall apart into large florets, which are still very nice. Cauliflower steaks are a bit more work than simple roasted cauliflower, but they’re worth the effort.

If you follow my recipe while maintaining reasonable expectations, you’ll be plenty satisfied by your results. Keep reading for all of my cauliflower steak tips and tricks!

The post Roasted Cauliflower Steak appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Have you tried cauliflower rice? It’s a perfectly versatile, light side dish. I was skeptical of the concept at first, but now I’ll admit that it can be awesome. I’ll share all my tricks with you today.

If you, like me, are craving lighter meals as the weather warms up, try serving cauliflower rice instead of white or brown rice. It’s similar in texture, with a nice savory flavor, and it’s pure vegetables! I’ve been trying to fill half of my plate with veggies lately, so cauliflower rice is just the ticket.

There is an art to cauliflower rice. If you haven’t enjoyed it in the past, it probably wasn’t prepared optimally. In fact, I just ordered the new cauliflower rice option at my favorite chain burrito place (you probably know it), and I was  disappointed. It was far too salty and way too watery. It can be so much better.

Here is a basic primer on how to prepare cauliflower rice. This recipe is simple and yields perfectly fluffy, lightly seared cauliflower rice. You’ll also learn how to adjust the recipe to suit many different meals. Off we go!

The post How to Make Cauliflower Rice appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Have you tried roasted cauliflower? I don’t get very excited about raw cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower, though—I can eat it straight off the pan like French fries.

Raw cauliflower transforms into golden, caramelized deliciousness in the oven. If you roast it with just olive oil, salt and pepper, it’s a tasty snack. This roasted cauliflower recipe is the perfect simple side dish for your fall and winter meals.

You can also use basic roasted cauliflower to add bulk and tasty roasted flavor to other veggie dishes, like my lentil tacos and farro salad. It’s neutral enough that it doesn’t overwhelm other flavors, so it goes well with a variety of cuisines.

As much as I love basic roasted cauliflower, it’s the perfect vehicle for creative flavorings. I came up with three fun flavor combinations this week inspired by Italian, Mexican and Indian cuisines. I can’t decide which one I love best! In the recipe below, you’ll find options for plain roasted cauliflower plus my simple variations.

The post Roasted Cauliflower (Four Ways!) appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Today is a big day for my friends Jack and Jeanine—it’s book launch day! I hope you’re familiar with their blog, Love and Lemons. It’s one of my very favorites, and I’ve been looking forward to their second cookbook for a long time.

Their new book is called Love and Lemons Everyday (affiliate link), and it’s absolutely stunning. The new book offers “more than 100 bright, plant-forward recipes for every meal.” Jeanine’s cooking style is super fresh and often inspired by the farmers’ market, and it shows.

I love how she weaves tips between the recipes, like how to freeze quinoa, and colorfully displays seasonal variations for recipes like fruit crumbles (four ways)! She even offers a giant visual grid of salad dressings, which I’ll be referencing often.

To celebrate their new book, I’m sharing Jeanine’s recipe for whole-roasted cauliflower slathered in seriously delicious turmeric-spiced yogurt sauce. Somehow, I’ve never prepared cauliflower in this fashion, and it was both fun to make and fun to eat. Want to see how it’s done?

The post Turmeric-Spiced Whole Roasted Cauliflower appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Here she is, the lightened-up baked ziti of my dreams. This baked ziti has all of lasagna’s saucy, mozzarella-topped appeal, but is easier to pull off on a regular weeknight. Amen.

When I dreamed up this recipe, I wanted to replace some of the pasta with roasted vegetables. In the end, I was able to displace half of the ziti (8 ounces) with two pounds (32 ounces!) of vegetables.

I chose cauliflower, which develops the most irresistible golden edges as it roasts, red bell pepper and yellow onion. I love this combination, but you could easily use your favorite vegetables here.

It took me a while to find the perfect ratio of mozzarella, marinara, and ricotta (I actually used cottage cheese, more on that in a bit). I believe I’ve hit the nail on the head with the final recipe, and can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you.

The post Baked Ziti with Roasted Vegetables appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Trying to eat better this year? I know, it’s extra-hard when it’s freezing cold outside and delivery pizza is just one call away. This warm, fresh yet hearty salad is the perfect solution. It packs well for lunch, too.

I really love the combination of garlicky farro with roasted cauliflower and salty feta and olives. Farro is an ancient grain related to wheat that you should be able to find in the health section of grocery stores. It’s nutty in flavor, freezes and defrosts well, and offers some heft to salads.

Fresh greens, sliced avocado, and lemon round it out. This seasonless salad is bursting with bold Mediterranean flavors.

You might recognize this salad from the archives. We have a lot of new visitors this year (hello and welcome!), and I’m trying to make sure my favorite recipes have appealing photos.

I love revisiting existing recipes because they give me more creative energy to devote to new recipes. I’m working on a new batch this week and can’t wait to share the results with you.

The post Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Behold! Lusciously creamy, yet cream-less, cauliflower soup. This cauliflower soup recipe will absolutely satisfy your craving for warm, creamy soup—no cheese required.

I know “cauliflower soup” might not sound super appealing if you’ve never had it before. Trust me, it can be so delicious! Today, I’m sharing my favorite cauliflower soup recipe, and I can’t wait for you to make it at home.

My friend Tessa introduced me to cauliflower soup a few years ago. I loved it so much that I developed my own recipe for my cookbook, Love Real Food.

As the temps and leaves have dropped this fall, I’ve had a hankering for warm, creamy soups. So, I thought I’d share a slightly simplified version of my cauliflower soup for everyone to enjoy. Let’s make some!

The post Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup appeared first on Cookie and Kate.