Roasted Cauliflower Steaks w/ Thyme

I hope you enjoyed #WWHD!!! Michelle at The Gym Bag Diaries has something up her sleeve for us -- and I can't wait to share it with you. In the meantime, I thought I would post what I whipped up this lovely weekend afternoon -- some steak! Wait, where's the steak? Welp, it's ummm -- the cauliflower! Surprise! The "steak" refers to the thick cut you'll make before roasting this bad boy! And when paired with my Easy Soy Sauce Glaze recipe (here) and some fresh thyme -- get ready to be just as satisfied.

Servings: 4

What You'll Need:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 pinch of black pepper
• A good knife!
• Cooking Spray/Oven
• OPTIONAL: A drizzle of my Easy Soy Sauce Glaze
• OPTIONAL: A few sprigs of fresh thyme

BTW -- Thanks to my coworker Kelly for the ADORABLE apron!

The Step-by-Step: 

1. Spray a flat oven pan with cooking spray. Turn on oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Being super careful, hold the cauliflower upside down (stem-up.) Holding the stem with your hands, cut the "excess" cauliflower off (put the knife on the right side of the stem and slice down. Repeat on the left, and you'll have gotten all the "excess." The word is in quotes because we'll still roast it, but it won't be a steak.)
3. Position the knife close to the right edge of the stem. Carefully slice (downwards) all the way down until you slice all the way through the cauliflower. Do this until you have 4 whole slices of stem/cauliflower (should look like picture.)
4. Place cauliflower steaks onto pan. Take "excess" cauliflower and place in extra space on the pan.
5. Sprinkle cauliflower with garlic powder and pepper. Spray again with cooking spray.
6. Roast cauliflower for 20 minutes. Turn up heat to 400 degrees F, and cook for another 10 minutes. 
7. Finish cauliflower with 5 minutes at 450 degrees F.
8. Use a spatula to carefully remove steaks from pan and onto plates (if you use your hands, they may break!) 

The cauliflower will be delicious on it's own, but drizzle with glaze if you have it, and serve with a sprig of thyme. With all the vitamin C and antioxidants it provides, I'd say it's "thyme" to get our cauliflower on! (See what I did there?)

xoxo n

Help! I Want to Roast a Squash!



Butternut squash, uncut!

Fall is near, and I thought I would take a moment to address one of the season's most difficult yet easiest cooking skills! Aren't those the most frustrating things -- the easiest yet hardest? Drinking lots of water when you're trying to lose weight, going to sleep an hour eaerlier when you want to do better at work, etc.? Those things always trip me up. It's like the harder the obstacle, the easier it is to focus, and the easier the requirements, the more I underestimate them and therefore the harder of a time I have achieving them. Crazy how that works. Anyways, back to the topic at hand.

One of the best ways to eat this fall includes taking advantage of SQUASH. You know, those weird looking gourds of things in baskets at the supermarket for ridiculously cheap prices (y'all know I'm all about the cheap eats.) Once I learned to cook and eat them -- I loved them and have never looked back (and neither has my wallet.) Never again will I pay $4.99 for 2 cups of pre-cubed butternut squash -- when a whole squash makes about 5 cups and costs about $2! Proposterous. I guess they think we're stupid -- or don't have access to a blog post such as this. Since when does using a knife bring about more costs? I'll wait.

Anyways, the possibilities for squash are endless. I thought I would take a break from #THApplefest to answer this question I received via twitter (check us out -- @tablehaven!) -- How can I break down a squash and cook it? Well, here we go.

1. At the grocery store, pick a squash (any squash, even though I used a butternut squash for this post) that is firm to the touch.
2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Lie the squash on its side on a hard surface, such as a clean kitchen counter or a cutting board if you have one.
4. With a large knife, cut the squash in half, from top to bottom.
5. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.
6. Now that you have two large (and seedless) halves, keep cutting each piece in half until you have chunks similar to the picture above.
7. Spray a pan with cooking spray and place the chunks on the pan. Then spray each chunk with cooking spray (If you have olive oil, feel free to drizzle some on the chunks.)
8. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the chunks (optional: cinnamon! yum!!) and bake for 30-40 minutes.
9. Enjoy!!!

When you bake a squash, you can eat it as is, or cut it into smaller cubes and add it to a salad or soup for some depth. You could also heat some on the stove with spinach and garlic for a great (hearty!) side dish. It's also very filling for the "price" -- Butternut squash (pictured) has only 82 calories per cup!

I hope this answered your question!
Readers -- if you have any questions (ever,) feel free to shoot me an email at thehaventable@gmail.com or tweet me at @tablehaven!

 

Great Rule of Thumb

Follow the rainbow ~ if a food has a strong color, it's good for you! As you can see from the picture above, butternut squash is a deep orange, and is a great way to get in your vitamins and nutrients!

xoxo n