Cauliflower - My New Love

I have always enjoyed cauliflower. In the past I normally ate it raw dipped in something creamy. A week ago they had cauliflower on sale at my local grocery store so I picked some up for the veggie tray at our Super Bowl party. After the party I still had almost a full head of cauliflower left and I knew I wouldn't eat the whole thing with dip before it went bad. So off I went in search of a tasty way to use up my cauliflower. And let me tell you....I found the best, full of flavor cauliflower recipe EVER!

You all know that I'm a fan of roasting vegetables. This recipe calls for roasting cauliflower with garlic and Parmesan cheese. The saltiness of the cheese with the roasted garlic takes the cauliflower over the top! So, without further ado, I give you........

Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Cauliflower

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets (the more uniform in size the better)

1/3 C. shredded Parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

Parsley - 1 tbsp fresh or 1/2 tbsp dried

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Put the olive oil, garlic, and cauliflower in a large ziplock bag and shake until well mixed. (You can also put it in a large bowl and mix with your hands to makes sure it all gets coated.)

Dump the contents of the bag onto the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover the baking sheet with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove the tin foil, stir the cauliflower and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and parsley on top. Return to the oven and broil on low for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

A Salad Inspired Pasta

I still had some of the Gorgonzola cheese my friend had given me so I wanted to try something new with it. I also had avocados that needed using that night. So I looked online at tons and tons of recipes with Gorgonzola and avocados in them trying to find something fun to make for supper. The majority of recipes that combined the 2 were for salads. And I definitely wasn't in the salad mood. I happened to come across a recipe for a pasta dish with avocados, Gorgonzola, and bacon in it. I didn't have all of the ingredients called for so I made my own version of it according to what I had on hand. And let me just say....this is my new all time favorite pasta! Hubby loved it too!

B.A.G. Pasta (Bacon Avocado Gorgonzola)

1/2 box of any small shaped pasta (I used rotini)

4-6 strips thick cut bacon cut into small chunks

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

1/2 bag baby spinach

2 ripe avocados with skin and pit removed and cut into chunks

1/4 lb crumbled Gorgonzola (you can add more or less to your liking)

Boil a pot of water and then add the pasta, cooking until al dente. Then drain the pasta reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water and put the pasta back into the pot with the lid on and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat another pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and stir, cooking until browned. Removed the bacon and place on paper towels to drain. Leaving a little bit of the bacon fat in the pot, add the onions. Once the onions are browned and slightly soft add the bacon back in along with the spinach and some ground black pepper. Stir until the spinach just starts to wilt. Remove from heat and add in the pasta, avocado, and Gorgonzola. Stir until combined. If the pasta seems a little too think add a little bit of the reserved pasta water (or milk if you forget to save the water like I did.)

Serve with crumbled Gorgonzola on top if you like. Enjoy!

Gorgonzola Cheese

A really good friend of mine takes me to Costco with her whenever she goes. We went 2 weeks ago and she bought some Gorgonzola cheese. Since everything at Costco is super sized she gave me a hunk of the cheese. Now, I had eaten lots of Gorgonzola in my life time but I have never cooked with it. All day at work on Wednesday I was trying to think of how I could use some of that cheese. Going through the contents of my fridge in my mind I decided to use up the chicken, spinach, and croissants that I had on hand. I also had huge onions that we got on our last Costco trip so I thought caramelized onions with Gorgonzola sounded yummy.

So I had figured out what I was going to use but I still needed to figure out how to use it. The more I thought about it I decided to baked the croissants flat by pinching the triangle together to form 4 rectangles. Then I would cooked everything else up, put it on top of the croissants and bake it a little longer to melt the cheese.

I made a few changes once I got home and in the kitchen but it all turned out fantastic! And it was done in about 25 minutes! Can't beat that!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my husband, his friend, Rob, and I did!

Gorgonzola Chicken Flat Breads with Caramelized Onions

2 rolls refrigerated croissants

Olive oil

2 tbsp. butter

1 large yellow onion sliced

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into small strips

1/2 bag of baby spinach

salt & pepper

crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (use as much or as little as you like!)

1/2 cup toasted walnut halves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray then set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter. Once the butter starts to melt add the onions and saute for 5-8 minutes stirring often. At this point the onions will be starting to brown and soften. Add the chicken and some salt and pepper at this point.

Once you add the chicken to the pan unroll the croissants but do not separate into triangles. Instead, pinch the seams together to form rectangles. Lay the rectangles on the prepared baking sheet and brush with a little olive oil. Bake for 8 minutes.

1 minute before the croissants are done, add the spinach to the onion and chicken. Stir the spinach in and then turn off the heat. When the croissants are done pull them out of the oven and put some of the onion and chicken mixture on each rectangle then top with some crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and put back in the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

When the flat breads are done, take them out of the oven and top with the toasted walnuts.