Cauliflower Breadsticks Recipe

 

To-die-for mock breadsticks made with cauliflower that are low in calories, carbs and fat. No fail results as I take the guess work out of the recipe with step-by-step photo instructions.

Phenomenal low carb alternative to traditional cheesy breadsticks. These cauliflower breadsticks are full of flavour, cheesy and easy. Yes, this recipe is foolproof! Just like my so popularCauliflower Pizza Crust recipe (the amount of re-pins is insane => thank you!). The breadsticks recipe is even easier and lighter, as I ditched the cheesecloth and made a few tricks with the ingredients.

And you can pick them up by hand. I know you you are wondering about that. The answer is YES!

I made 2 batches of cauliflower breadsticks in a row, just to make sure it works. If you have attempted a cauliflower pizza or breadsticks recipe before without any luck, this recipe will change the situation. There must have been a reason why it didn’t work. That’s why I spent 2 days developing, testing, photographing and writing this post. To show you how easy it is to make these delicious “breadsticks”.

So, let’s begin. You start with a large head of cauliflower, 7″ – 8″ wide. If you are serving 2 or more people, I recommend do double the recipe. These breadsticks are so good and guilt free, they disappear fast. Chop the cauliflower and process in a food processor until “rice” texture. Do not make a cauliflower mash. Alternatively, if you do not own a food processor, you could chop it really fine or even grate using simple boxed grater.

Place cauliflower in any oven proof baking dish and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F. I usedPyrex glass pie dish. Alternatively, you could microwave or steam it. The idea is to cook the cauliflower, so it releases the moisture and we squeeze it out.

Line a bowl with a linen kitchen/tea towel. I used cheap tea towels from a Dollar store, similar tothese ones. They are called something like glass tea towels and are kind of linen mesh. Much better than cheesecloth as they do not rip and are widely available. You probably have some on hand. You can also wash and reuse them. Bingo!

Then you grab the towel by the corners, holding with one hand just below the corners, and start squeezing the liquid out with another hand. The process will take about 3 – 5 minutes and you should squeeze about 1 cup of liquid. Use a measuring cup as a point of reference. If the liquid is hot, let the cauliflower mash cool down a bit and proceed again.

Just showing you that the kitchen towel works.

Here you can see, from right to left: cauliflower “ball” before squeezing, after squeezing and liquid squeezed out.

Open the towel and voila: you got yourself some pretty dry cauliflower. Add seasonings to it as per the recipe. I used egg whites instead of an egg and it worked! Any cheese works. Full or low fat, Mozzarella or Tex Mex or even Parmesan. Use grated or shredded cheese and when measuring do not pack.

After you make the “dough”, transfer it onto any baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The “dough” won’t be sticky and that’s OK. Egg whites and cheese will act as a binder during the baking process.

No need to spray the parchment paper with cooking spray either. The breadsticks won’t stick. More than that, the parchment paper underneath the breadsticks will be moist after baking. And that’s OK too. It doesn’t mean the breadsticks will fall apart. No. The moisture releases during the baking process therefore no need for cooking spray. I was asked before if pizza stone would work and I don’t know as I don’t own one. No idea how to use it.

Form a rectangle, using your hands, approximately 9″ x 7″ in size and 1/4″ thick. Press the “dough” a bit to make it stay together and use spatula to make the edges straight. Do not worry, the egg whites and cheese will bind everything together during the baking process. It won’t fall apart.

And bake. All ovens vary. I own simple electric oven and it took the breadsticks 18 minutes. Just watch it => when you see the “dough” becoming golden brown on top, it’s time to take it out. Then you top the breadsticks with cheese and bake for another 5 minutes until the cheese melts and broil for nice golden brown crust.

Remove the breadsticks from the oven and transfer to a cutting board, holding by the ends of parchment paper. Let the breadsticks cool down for 5 minutes before cutting, if you can. I waited with the first batch and the breadsticks were easy to cut. With the second one I didn’t and it was a bit of a mess. Use serrated/bread knife to cut into 12 breadsticks.

How you serve these guys is totally up to you. I’m just going to give you a few ideas. Serve with warm marinara sauce. Any clean/healthy/organic store bought marinara sauce like Dave’s Gourmet works. Or you can make your own and that’s what I did. My mom makes this homemade Ukrainian kind of salsa. So I combined it with some tomato paste, dried thyme and oregano. Just use what you have. No need to spend money.

Another idea is to make these cauliflower breadsticks even lighter in fat by skipping the cheese topping. And that’s what I did with my second batch. Below I have included 2 nutritional infos:

1. Breadsticks without the cheese topping

2. Full on with cheese.

Pick yourself.

These cauliflower breadsticks turned out delicious!!! Full of flavour and cheesy. They hit the spot and satisfy the craving without wrecking your daily macros/nutrition. That’s if you care about that. I do as I want to see my abs this summer. I’m obsessed! You can have 5 – 6 of these and still have consumed very little calories, fat and carbs. Perfect healthy alternative for binge eating weekend get-togethers with friends.:) The only difference is you stay on track and bring your friends here to try your recipe.:) Enjoy!

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Cauliflower Breadsticks

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, large (7" - 8" wide)
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1/2 cup + 3/4 cup (for topping) Mozzarella/Tex Mex cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp Italian herb seasoning or any dried herbs like rosemary, basil, parsley
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Marinara sauce for dipping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Rinse cauliflower, remove outer leaves and separate into florets with a paring knife. Place cauliflower florets in a food processor and process until "rice" texture. Some coarse chunks are fine.

2. Place in an oven proof baking dish (I used Pyrex pie dish) and bake for 20 mins. Remove cooked cauliflower from the oven and transfer to a bowl lined with a tea/linen towel (I used glass tea towel from a Dollar store, similar to this one). Let the cauliflower cool down a bit until it is safe to touch, about 15 minutes.

3. Fold the towel holding by the ends and squeeze the liquid out of the cauliflower "ball" as hard as you can. Be patient and do this a few times until barely any liquid comes out. I squeezed out 1 cup of liquid. Second photo, from right to left: before squeezing, after squeezing, liquid squeezed out.

4. Increase oven T to 450 degrees F. Transfer cauliflower to a mixing bowl along with egg whites, 1/2 cup cheese, herb seasoning, black pepper, pinch of salt and mix to combine.
5. Transfer cauliflower mixture onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten with your hands into a rectangle, approximately 9" x 7" size and 1/4" thick.

6. Bake for 18 minutes, remove from the oven and top with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes and then broil until cheese turns golden brown. Cut into 12 breadsticks and serve hot with warm marinara sauce, if desired. P.S. For a lighter version, do not top with cheese.

Storage Instructions: Refrigerate covered for up to 2 days. You can also freeze the breadsticks tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 month. Thaw on a counter or in a microwave.

Nutritional Info (no cheese topping)

Servings Per Recipe: 12

Amount Per Serving = 1 breadstick:
Calories: 33.3
Total Fat: 0.9 g
Cholesterol: 2.5 mg
Sodium: 48.4 mg
Total Carbs: 3.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 3.1 g
WW Points+: 1

Nutritional Info (with cheese)

Servings Per Recipe: 12

Amount Per Serving = 1 breadstick:
Calories: 53.0
Total Fat: 2.2 g
Cholesterol: 6.2 mg
Sodium: 107.6 mg
Total Carbs: 3.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
Protein: 4.9 g
WW Points+: 1

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CARBONARA WITH FRIED SAGE AND CARAMELIZED ONIONS

On Monday morning, lying in bed and catching up on my blog-reading after a happy and busy weekend with friends, I saw this post from Cookie and Kate, and was immediately obsessed. I spent the rest of the day thinking about various versions of the creamy butternut squash linguine, and by the time I stopped at the store on the way home from work I had reversed all of Kate’s healthy twists to the dish and it had morphed into a full-blown, decadent carbonara in my mind. Which, it turns out, is how the folks over at Bon Appetit had originally published it anyway. There’s no denying that I’m a fat kid at heart – give me the opportunity to cover pasta in fried salty bits and cheese and heavy cream and I’ll go all out  (and then hide the rest of the leftovers to help keep my vegan challenge going strong).

Now that it’s (finally) March, we only have a few weeks left where root veggies, kale, and heavy winter flavors are what we need to keep us going, so I’d suggest that you indulge in this dish now before all you can think about are radishes and asparagus and rhubarb. I’m not sure how best to convince you that it’s worth the calories, so I’m just going to ask you to trust me. If it makes you feel better, serve it with gently sauteed bitter greens, like broccoli rabe or mustard greens – the bitterness is a perfect counterpoint for the sweetness of the roasted squash and the saltiness of the pancetta. And enjoy it! One of winter’s redeeming qualities is the comfort food it inspires, so if eating food like this is what gets you through the lingering cold, go for it.

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Butternut Squash Carbonara with Fried Sage and Caramelized Onions

Inspired by Bon Appetit and Cookie and Kate. Serves 4-6.

• 1 small butternut squash, about 1 1/2 – 2 lbs.
• 2 TBS olive oil
• sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 lb. slice pancetta, cut into small cubes
• 1 small onion, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
• 1 lb. fettucine
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 1 TBS butter
• 1 small bunch sage

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Peel the butternut squash and cut into slices that are half an inch thick. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip slices with a spatula to coat with the oil. Roast until fork tender and slightly caramelized, about 20-25 minutes, checking and flipping after 10 minutes. When tender, remove from oven and place in a blender. Set aside.
2. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat and add the pancetta cubes. Cook until crispy and browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Once cooked, set aside on a paper-towel lined plate. Discard all but 2 TBS of the pancetta grease. Heat the 2 TBS of grease over medium-low heat, then add the sliced onions to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until thoroughly caramelized and slightly crispy, about 15 minutes.
3. While the onions are cooking, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook the fettucine according to package directions and drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Place the cup of pasta water in the blender with the squash and the 1/4 c. heavy cream, and puree until very smooth. Toss the squash puree with the fettucine.
4. Just before serving, melt the 1 TBS of butter in a small frying pan. Fry the sage leaves in the butter until crispy, about 2 minutes. To assemble, divide the pasta between the serving plates, and top generously with cooked pancetta, caramelized onions, and fried sage. Serve immediately.

snickers bar cheesecake pie

I found it a little bit by accident.  See, I was having some friends over for dinner and realized at the very last second that I needed a fabulous dessert.  I remembered that I had just gotten Lori’s book so I thumbed through to the dessert section.  There (among some other pretty fabulous options) was this sweet concoction.

As you can imagine, I was instantly drawn to the decadent flavors.  Snickers is my second favorite candy bar of all time, so you can imagine how excited I got when I saw it was paired with Oreo crust and cheesecake.

Then topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce, hot fudge and MORE snickers?  I was in HEAVEN.

Truth be told, I made two of these in 48 hours.  And I don’t regret it for one single second.

The whole fabulous experience begins when you get to cut up 16 snack size snickers bars.  It just so happens that there were 19 bars in the bag, which was the perfect amount for the filling of the cheesecake and then to garnish the top.

This was NOT the perfect amount if you have zero self control and just HAD to snack on one or seven of those sweet little bites as you were slaving away over the cutting board.

Just buy two bags.

snickers bar cheesecake pie

Ingredients

• 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 16 "fun size" snickers candy bars, chopped (2 cups total)
• 2 6-ounce Oreo Pie Crust
• 2 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

1. Place cream cheese into bowl of stand mixer. Mix on medium-low speed for 30 seconds. Add in sugar and eggs and beat until smooth.
2. Remove bowl from stand and stir in chopped candy bars.
3. In a small bowl combine the Oreo pie crusts and the butter gently with a fork.
4. Prepare a 6-inch spring-form pan and then press the Oreo mixture into the pan and up the sides.
5. Pour the filling into the pan and bake until set, 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees.
6. Set the pie on a wire rack and let it cool completely.

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