I’m going to start by saying that this is not a pretty recipe. In fact, I even hesitated posting a picture of the final result because it could actually resemble one of those side-by-side photos of Pinterest fails. This is anything but a fail – this is the real deal comfort dish y’all. All I was doing was simply trying to use up some groceries we had in the house towards the end of last week and the outcome was something I will be making again very soon. We’ve been trying to find creative ways to incorporate more veggies in to dishes besides your run of the mill ‘side of’ broccoli or corn. Cauliflower seems to have been all the craze lately because there’s a lot you can do with it – pizza crust, riced with various spices, frozen with smoothies, and the list goes on. It’s pretty filling too. So, I bought a bag, threw it in the freezer, and figured I would just figure out what to do with it. I didn’t figure it out until we were at the end of our grocery haul and I didn’t want another Panera sandwich.
The only ingredient I didn’t have on hand was shredded cheese, so I ran out to make a stop for some. I had the intention of picking up a bag of store brand Mozarella until I saw one of my recent favorite brands carrying their own shreds. I’ve been using Daiya products as much as I can because Bryan and I both don’t do well with a ton of dairy. It’s okay on occasion, like a couple slices of Friday night pizza or a small container of Greek Yogurt (ALWAYS Siggis), but our tummies obviously feel it the next day when we consume a lot of that pizza or Mac and Cheese (shoutout to our recent trip to Nashville). I discovered Daiya when looking for a better alternative to that Mac and Cheese we love so much and their packaged Mac and Cheese is a GAME CHANGER. Their products are dairy free, soy free, gluten free, and really, really, REALLY creamy. Bryan and I add a little chicken sausage and spinach to their Mac & Cheese almost on a weekly basis and we find ourselves fighting over the last portion. It never leaves us with that overly full or gross feeling. Long story short, when I found their Mozzarella and Cheddar style shreds it was a no-brainer to pick some up.
For this bake, I threw in some peas and ground beef to bulk it up but you could easily use this ‘cheese’ sauce recipe over just the cauliflower, bake it with a few bread crumbs on top, and call it Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. I also plan to make some dairy free nachos with this too! I’m excited to swap out some normal recipes for more of Daiya’s products. I might try our favorite Cheeseburger Wraps with this ‘cheesy sauce’ as well.
- -1 lb ground beef
- - 2 cups cauliflower
- - 1 and 1/2 cups almond milk
- - 2 tbs flour
- - 1 cup peas
- - 1/2 tsp turmeric
- - 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- - 1/2 tsp sea salt
- - 2 tbs sour cream (You can purchase dairy free if you need to. The portion is small enough that I just used the normal low-fat sour cream I had in my fridge)
- - 1 1/2 cups Daiya shreds (I used 1/2 cup of Mozarella and 1 cup of Cheddar but you can mix it up. They also have Pepper Jack style!) + a little extra for sprinkling
- - Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- - Fully cook ground beef over stove top, breaking up as it cooks.
- -Whisk 1/2 cup of the cold almond milk with the flour until fully combined
- - Heat 1 cup of almond milk over medium heat until you start to see steam and add the milk/flour mixture. Whisk again to fully incorporate.
- - Turn down heat to low-medium and add sour cream, cheese shreds, turmeric, garlic, and sea salt to the milk and keep stirring until you get a creamy, cheesy, consistency. Try not to eat this with a spoon at this point.
- - Cook cauliflower and peas (Personally, I just use microwave steamer bags because it's super quick for recipes during the week. You can steam fresh veggies yourself but ain't nobody got time for that over here).
- - Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray and add cauliflower, peas, and ground beef to the pan. Pour 'cheese sauce' over the veggie/beef mixture and add a few Daiya shreds to the top. I also added a little extra pinch of sea salt here.
- -Bake for 15 minutes and serve with your favorite warm biscuits or croissants!
I have been on a cauliflower kick so I will be definitely be trying this! We have been eating cauliflower tots to mix up our usual side of sweet potato fries and they are delish 🙂