#51 New Recipes: Twice Baked Cauliflower

I have completed my Day Zero Goal of making 30 recipes I've never made before! I honestly had no idea it would take me so little time to do or I would have made it a bigger goal. Maybe next time. I am definitely not going to stop making new dishes, or blogging about the dishes I make.This has been one of my favorite goals so far; I've gone outside of my comfort zone to try new things and to push my cooking skills, and I've learned a lot doing it, which exactly what I think the Day Zero Project is about.

So here's my final Day Zero Recipe (for this round, at least):

Twice Baked Cauliflower(Makes 6-8 servings; recipe adapted slightly from The Low Carb Gourmet.)

Ingredients:
1 large head cauliflower
4 oz. low fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
1/2 cup low fat sour cream (do not use fat free)
1/4 cup minced green onions
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (If you only have finely grated Parmesan, use a bit less)
6 slices bacon, cooked until very crisp, fat blotted with paper towel and then crumbled
1 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese (I used mozzerella)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
2. Cut out stem and core from cauliflower, and cut into small pieces.

Coring just means gtting rid of that big thick stem in the middle, with all of the leaves attached to it.
I did very small pieces of cauliflower, and I didn't put much of the smaller stems into the pot, because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not. Next time I'll include more of the small stems.

3. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water until cauliflower is tender, but not overly soft.

4. Drain well and mash with potato masher, leaving some chunks.

5. Mix in light cream cheese, light sour cream, green onion, Parmesan, and 3/4 of the crumbled bacon.

6. Spread evenly in a medium-sized glass casserole dish. Sprinkle with low-fat cheddar cheese and reserved bacon. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

I used about half of the bacon that the recipe called for and shredded mozzerella cheese instead of cheddar.

When I first told Chef Hubby about this recipe he gave me a very skeptical look. This was outside of his experience as well and he didn't seem very excited to be a taste tester for it. But once it started baking he commented that it smelled good, and his first bite wiped away all skepticism!

I'll definitely be making this again, with more of the stems in it because I think they probably should have been included in the first place. This was delicious, it tasted just like comfort food and has a lot less calories than loaded baked or mashed potatoes. Of course, it does taste like cauliflower instead of potatoes, but like delicious, wonderful cauliflower. This was my first time doing anything to cauliflower other than steaming it and I now know I'm going to be making this a lot!