Cauliflower Pasta

Pinch of Yum is one of my favorite food blogs.  She's a teacher, loves food, she's funny,  she's from Minnesota, and she loves cauliflower.  I like to think that we could be friends in the real world.

Cauliflower.  Love it.  One of my favorite dishes from my childhood that my dad made was cauliflower with ground pork and cream of mushroom.  The recipe is pretty simple.  Brown ground pork.  Add cauliflower and 2/3 cup of water in pot.  Steam / boil cauliflower until soft.  Drain water until about 1/4 cup left.  Add in cream of mushroom soup.  Stir until no more lumps.  Serve with rice.

But now, I've become aware that my precious cream of mushroom soup has MSG in it.  MSG makes me thirsty.  It makes my tongue feel dry.  I'm really buying into the Real Food movement, so I'm trying to move away from the canned soups.

Where am I going with this?  Pinch of Yum posted about Creamy Cauliflower Sauce and using it as alfredo sauce, and using it with rice.  Um, yum?!  So, as I was reading the recipes, the sauce reminded me of my cauliflower puree, maybe a little thinned out, but adding pasta to it - genius!

Cauliflower Pasta

Ingredients:
1 c cauliflower puree (see recipe below)
1/2 lb pasta of your choice
1/2 c frozen peas
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1/2 c meat of your choice (optional)

Directions:

1. Make cauliflower puree.
2. Cook pasta.  Put in frozen peas during last 2 minutes of cooking.  Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid.  Drain.
3. Saute mushrooms and meat, if desired.
4. Combine pasta, cauliflower sauce, mushrooms, and meat.  Add reserved cooking liquid to thin out, if needed.

Cauliflower Puree

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
1 oz cream cheese
1 T butter
1/4 c milk
1/4 t garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:

1. Boil or steam cauliflower until very tender and it falls apart.
2. Drain water and place cauliflower in food processor.  Add in 1 oz. cream cheese, 1 T butter, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.  Pulse until cauliflower is broken up.  You may need to push it down a bit.
3. Gradually add milk and blend until desired consistency (like mashed potatoes).
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!