If you are anything like me, you may have indulged a little too much over the Christmas period. Actually, it was more than just the Christmas period in my case, with celebrations and other festivities kicking off in November and running all the way through to the New Year. The food was abundant, the drinks were flowing and my morning walks, whilst regular, were probably not enough to balance out the indulgence.
So I guess it ought to have been no surprise when my clothes felt a little tighter than usual when I returned to work last week. Slouchy summer shorts and dresses can be far more forgiving than a tailored suit, it seems.
With a view to getting things ‘back into balance’ we tend to keep carbs at dinner time light. We don’t cut them out altogether (I could not think of anything worse!) but we’ll make substitutions where we can. Cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, zucchini noodles instead of pasta…you get the idea.
When I had a craving for potato salad recently (but not wanting to get the ‘carb load’ that comes with my usual version) I decided to try a cauliflower version instead. Still laden with all things that make a potato salad yummy, of course.
I started by steaming some cauliflower florets until they were just tender. While warm, I added them to a mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream, celery, pickles, Dijon mustard and my favourited ingredient, dill. I then covered the salad and placed it in the fridge, allowing the flavours to develop overnight.
And, I must say, I’m rather taken with this lovely little salad. So much so that I’ve made it a few time since. Sometimes omitting the sour cream and replacing it with natural yoghurt, other times adding spring onions, celery salt or a few chopped boiled eggs. It may be low in carbs but its definitely packed with flavour!
| Servings |
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- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 2-4 pickles diced
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 2 tbs dill
Ingredients
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- Steam the cauliflower florets until just tender (you want them to retain a little crunch).
- Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream and mustard in a large bowl. Add the cauliflower while it is still warm, along with the celery, pickles and dill, and stir to combine.
- Cover and place in the fridge for a few hours to allow the flavours to develop.
There are some dishes that, despite their humble appearance and ease to make, are really something special.
With simple ingredients, and created easily in the slow cooker, the result was a hearty dinner soup (with lots of leftovers for lunch and for the freezer too). 
And just like that, the Summer holidays have come to a close. School uniforms have been ironed, school and day-care bags have been cleaned, and school lunches are again, inevitably, on my mind.
These were made even easier by using ready-made puff pastry. For all I had to do was top the sheets of pastry (I went with cheesy vegemite and “‘pizza”), roll them, slice and bake.
And while the kids demolished quite a few scrolls straight from the oven, the others were packaged up and placed in the freezer for a quick ‘grab and go’ addition to the lunchbox. My kids don’t mind eating the scrolls cold once thawed, however you can easily re-heat them for 10 minutes or so in the oven if you are wanting a nice after-school treat. 
My two eldest girls can be quite challenging when it comes to food. Miss C will happily eat avocado, mangoes and prawn dumplings by the bucket load, but is generally not all that food focused at meal times (preferring instead to snack and graze throughout the day). Little J would happily have yoghurt for breakfast lunch and dinner, and has no interest in more ‘traditional’ meals such as sandwiches.
The texture of this slice is almost fudge-like, and we all loved the little pops of crunchiness throughout. Covering the slice in dark chocolate took the whole slice to the next level too – and worked perfectly to fool my suspicious eaters!
With the warmer weather having (finally) arrived, I expect you will see more and more BBQ-cooked meals on the menu at our place. For why mess up a pan and heat up the kitchen, when you can cook dinner on the BBQ outside instead!
Growing up, our family had a regular Sunday night ritual. After dinner, Dad would present four chocolates of different varieties to the family, with instructions that we could each choose one. We’d then sit down to some TV time as a family, and noting the era, we probably watched an episode of The Wonder Years, Xena Warrior Princess or, perhaps, Home Improvement.
I’m all for a little indulgence, albeit in moderation. And what could be more indulgent that a chocolate / nut / berry combination – in the form of a homemade brownie. Inspired by a recipe I came across in 
Filled to the absolute brim with dark chocolate, pistachios and raspberries, they were far from “healthy”, but ticked all the boxes when it came to satisfying my sweet tooth. The raspberries added a nice touch of tartness too, meaning the end result was not sickly sweet, while the pistachios gave the slices a little texture.
So, if you are looking to satisfy a craving for sweets, may I suggest you make a batch of these! Be warned, though, they were hard to stop at just one piece…