Cauliflower mashed potatoes

So I've been reading about making this forever, but for some reason have never done it.  People that are trying to stay away from carbs often mash cauliflower instead of potatoes.  And we're talking loooowwww calories.  Cauliflower has 7 calories per OUNCE.  So you can eat a full POUND of cauliflower for only 112 calories.

 

Marc and I went grocery shopping after work today so I said "Hey!  Let me grab some cauliflower and try this!"  I'm not going to call this a "recipe" because there really is no recipe to it.

 

Here's what I did:  Chop the florets into pieces.  Bring a pan of salted water to a boil.  Throw the florets in.  Boil for about 10 minutes.  Take off the heat and drain.  Threw in some pepper, garlic powder, a splash of skim milk and then took a hand blender and mashed it all up - it mashes reallllyyy easy, so you could probably just use a hand masher.  Then I added some reduced fat Parmesan cheese and stirred.

I wasn't sure how it would taste but it was freaking DELICIOUS.  Marc loved it too!

You will find dozens of recipes if you google "mashed cauliflower" - so let me add a couple opinions:

• Lots recommend 1/4 cup of instant mashed potatoes to thicken it up.  It was plenty thick for me.
• Recommendation of butter and/or sour cream and/or cream cheese.  Totally unnecessary calories.  This was plenty flavorful with just spices and the Parmesan.
• Add whatever spices you like - I might try adding barbecue flavored spice next time.  If you like things spicy, add paprika or cayenne.  If you like sweeter, add nutmeg.
• Some people add "real" cheese - like goat cheese or cheddar.  That would be good but would really ramp up calories quick.

So, in like 15 minutes, you can whip this up and it is delicious!