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 |
|
- 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
|
|
- 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.
If your calendar is anything like ours, we are pretty booked up between now and Christmas. Our weekdays are filled with school, ballet classes, swim lessons, and gymnastics classes – oh and work, of course. While our weekends are filled with lots of dinners, parties, festivities and fun. Yes the silly season has arrived – bringing with it lots of good times and, inevitably, an abundance of good food!
The salad itself, was rather simple – just crunchy cos lettuce, cucumbers and sliced radishes – surrounded by some pappadums that I had cooked in the microwave. But the real star of the show was the mango chutney dressing – made with mango chutney (of course), mayonnaise, lime, olive oil and ginger. Blended to perfection – and serving as not only a salad dressing – but a tasty little dip for the pappadums too.
Indian-inspired, and rather refreshing after a weekend of great food!
Packed with wombok, brown rice, tomatoes, pineapple and fresh herbs, and jazzed up with toasted coconut and sweet chilli cashews, this salad sure packed a punch.
I used 
For our recent 
Resulting a coleslaw that was much lighter than its mayonnaise-laden counterpart, and with lovely fresh flavours that worked beautifully with the spicy pulled pork tortillas.
You might think that all we have eaten lately is treats. Sure we have had our fair share of 
I slow cooked the lentils and pearl barley as directed, with the bonus of lots of leftovers to use in lunches and dinners the following days. I swapped rocket for baby spinach, for that was what I had on hand, and used feta in place of goats cheese. The result being a tasty salad, that was packed with flavour and crunch.
On this particular occasion we served the salad as a side dish. Although I think it would have made a tasty meat-free meal on its own too – with the grains offering lots of substance.
Following on from my recent “
Despite the abundance of other ingredients, the tapenade really shined! It added lots of flavour to the salad, with no additional dressing required. And while on this occasion I used eggplant tapenade, I think an olive or pepper tapenade would also work really well.
Simply – dried figs, kalamata olives, sugar, vinegar, fennel and cinnamon. Coming together to create the perfect blend of sweet and salty – and a wonderful accompaniment to the meat dishes we had on offer at lunch.
Combined with cucumber, spring onions, lime, red chilli and fresh mint – we soon had ourselves a lovely sweet and spicy salsa. I think avocado would also be a nice addition…next time perhaps?