Pureed cualiflower as potato substitute?

Quoted message said:

How many people here smash up cauliflower into a paste and make it
like mashed potatoes?

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

If you go to Google Groups, then alt.support.diet.low-carb you can
search cauliflower and you will find many many articles on how we use
it as a substitute for potatoes, rice, and other things. Cauliflower
has been and will likely continue to be one of the most discussed items
on this group.

Mashing it up is only one way!

Irv
--
--------------------------------------
Diagnosed Type II Diabetes March 5 2001
Beating it with diet and exercise!
297/215/210 (to be revised lower)
58"/43"(!)/44" (already lower too!)
--------------------------------------
Visit my HomePage at http://members.shaw.ca/finkirv/index.html
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--------------------
Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Fauxtatoes, yumm!

We just had this last night for dinner with a beef rump roast cooked in a
slow oven (200 degrees, 4 1/2 hours.) OMG, did it taste wonderful! Even DH
and kids, who are not 'lc', loved this.

I used my blender and it was okay; much better than when I simply used my
potato masher (kind of fibrous.) I'm dropping hints like crazy around here
for a food processor for my birthday, as I've heard that's even speedier.

--
Linda
296/199/160
LC since Oct. 13, 2003
http://home.att.net/~lewis_linda/index.html
http://community.webshots.com/user/mslewtoo

"Are you telling me there are dead people in my living room watching
videos?"--Nina (Truly, Madly, Deeply)

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

How many people here smash up cauliflower into a paste and make it
like mashed potatoes?

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

Quoted message said:

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

I use a stick blender - lightning fast and no lumps to remind me it's
really...choke...cauliflower. Even my non-LC husband said they were
like smashed taters (of course, doctored up a little with cheese,
bacon bits, etc.).

I cook it longer than normal to get it mushy (drain it VERY well), then use
a hand masher to break it up, and finally puree with a stick blender. I
tried just throwing it into a food processor, but it always came out lumpy
and watery. The stick blender makes it the perfect consistency.
And of course, add whatever you'd normally add to mashed potatoes like
butter and cream, etc.

Quoted message said:

How many people here smash up cauliflower into a paste and make it
like mashed potatoes?

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

-----
Bev

Quoted message said:

I used my blender and it was okay; much better than when I simply used my
potato masher (kind of fibrous.) I'm dropping hints like crazy around here
for a food processor for my birthday, as I've heard that's even speedier.

OK

Question..... is it better to mash it BEFORE cooking? Or after
cooking?

Im just mashing with a spoon for now as I don't have a "masher"

Quoted message said:

The stick blender makes it the perfect consistency.

Hmm.... may have to get one of these as I cant "pure" it enough when
mashing by hand

What else can one do with a stick blender?

I use mine every morning to make a yogurt, soy milk and fruit smoothie for
breakfast. Takes all of 30 seconds to make the smoothie and only about a
minute to clean the blender by running it in soapy water.
I suppose you could use it anywhere that you'd use a normal blender, but
it's much easier to clean.
They're pretty inexpensive. I got a Braun 200-watt one for around $30
Canadian.

Quoted message said:

What else can one do with a stick blender?

-----
Bev

Quoted message said:

I suppose you could use it anywhere that you'd use a normal blender, but
it's much easier to clean.

So bottom line a stick blender is lots more versatile than a standard
blender in your opinion?

A good investment?

It has been for me. I put my $100 standard blender away in a cupboard
after buying my $30 stick blender.

Quoted message said:

So bottom line a stick blender is lots more versatile than a standard
blender in your opinion?

A good investment?

-----
Bev

Quoted message said:

How many people here smash up cauliflower into a paste and make it
like mashed potatoes?

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

I don't really think of it as a potato substitute. Probably because I think
it's better than potatoes. I don't like the texture if I put them in a food
processor, so I use a regular old handheld potato masher thingy.
LCing since 12/01/03-
Me- 5'7" 265/165/140
& hubby- 6' 310/188/180
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lcer09/my_photos

I forgot about this. The stick blender I bought has optional attachments
(cost extra, didn't need them) so it can be used as more than just a
blender.
Here's a website that shows all the attachments and it's a good price if
you're in the U.S.:

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004S9GX/103-3967278-0643867?v=glance>

Bev-Ann said:

It has been for me. I put my $100 standard blender away in a cupboard
after buying my $30 stick blender.

-----
Bev

A stick blender is fine, but there is no way it is more versatile than a
standard blender. A stick is easier to clean and I think for the mashed
cauliflower it is ideal, but a blender is more powerful for many things.

Curt

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I suppose you could use it anywhere that you'd use a normal blender, but
it's much easier to clean.

So bottom line a stick blender is lots more versatile than a standard
blender in your opinion?

A good investment?

Bev-Ann said:

I use mine every morning to make a yogurt, soy milk and fruit smoothie for
breakfast. Takes all of 30 seconds to make the smoothie and only about a
minute to clean the blender by running it in soapy water.

I love mine for that too! I have a neighbor who drinks cola and gives me
the empty 2-liter bottles. I cut off the top of the bottle and that makes a
mixing container just the right size for using the stick blender. I keep
the smoothie in it in the fridge and when it's empty throw it away. (My
neighbor drinks a lot of cola. :-)

I don't like smoothies for breakfast, but I make a yogurt drink (the
cut-down 2-liter bottle holds a full carton of yogurt plus other stuff)
with water and a little whipping cream. Make it thin enough to pour, and
then it's easy to pour half a glass full and fill the glass with whatever I
want at that meal. (More water, more cream, milk, fruit juice, etc. Extra
whey might work too if one wants extra protein.) There's a wonderful Indian
shake called 'lassi' like that (I've forgotten what spices they use). Very
popular with mango pulp blended in. (I think the combination of yogurt
culture and mango makes the whole thing lower-carb and/or lower glycemic
than the numbers would indicate.)

Quoted message said:

I suppose you could use it anywhere that you'd use a normal blender, but
it's much easier to clean.

Quoted message said:

They're pretty inexpensive. I got a Braun 200-watt one for around $30
Canadian.

I can't imagine chopping nuts or anything tough, but maybe we're talking
about different tools. Mine is called a 'wand' and the brand is Rival.
About $30 in California, with a cord: the battery types are more expensive
iirc.

Skinny

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The stick blender makes it the perfect consistency.

Hmm.... may have to get one of these as I cant "pure" it enough when
mashing by hand

What else can one do with a stick blender?

I mostly use mine to whip canned catfood for my elderly cats.
They both had to have a couple of teeth pulled recently. Because of
painful teeth before the dental work, and spaces in their mouths after,
they tend to have food fall out of their mouths all around the bowl,
unless I puree it so they can lick it up like babyfood.

(So if anyone has a cat who dribbles canned food all over the place
when eating, or is trying to lick it instead of biting it and mashes
it flat all over the bowl, have his teeth checked out.)

--
jamie ([email hidden])

"There's a seeker born every minute."

I have not used my standard blender once since getting the stick. Any
chopping or grating I need done, I use the food processor or coffee grinder
I bought specifically for non-coffee stuff.

curt said:

A stick blender is fine, but there is no way it is more versatile than a
standard blender. A stick is easier to clean and I think for the mashed
cauliflower it is ideal, but a blender is more powerful for many things.

-----
Bev

IMO, it would be difficult to mash before cooking. Now, I've seen recipes
for low carb 'fried rice' that uses grated cauliflower; in that case, you
would grate it before you cook it.

--
Linda
296/196/160
LC since Oct. 13, 2003
http://home.att.net/~lewis_linda/index.html
http://community.webshots.com/user/mslewtoo

"Are you telling me there are dead people in my living room watching
videos?"--Nina (Truly, Madly, Deeply)
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I used my blender and it was okay; much better than when I simply used my
potato masher (kind of fibrous.) I'm dropping hints like crazy around

here

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

for a food processor for my birthday, as I've heard that's even speedier.

OK

Question..... is it better to mash it BEFORE cooking? Or after
cooking?

Im just mashing with a spoon for now as I don't have a "masher"

Irv Finkleman said:

Quoted message said:

How many people here smash up cauliflower into a paste and make it
like mashed potatoes?

How do you puree it? Use a blender or just smash it up with a spoon?

If you go to Google Groups, then alt.support.diet.low-carb you can
search cauliflower and you will find many many articles on how we use
it as a substitute for potatoes, rice, and other things. Cauliflower
has been and will likely continue to be one of the most discussed
items on this group.

Also search for "fauxtatoes."

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

Bev-Ann said:

I have not used my standard blender once since getting the stick. Any
chopping or grating I need done, I use the food processor or coffee
grinder I bought specifically for non-coffee stuff.

A stick blender probably won't handle ice, so if you ever want, e.g., an
ice-thickened smoothie or shake, you likely won't be able to do it with a
stick blender. They are different tools, for different purposes.

My breakfast shakes include either frozen berries or ice, and I make them in
the countertop blender. I use the stick blender for pureeing soups and
foods with consistency like the mashed cauliflower that started this thread.
Different tools, different uses.

--
carla
http://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/geek

I use my hand masher to make "rice". Same technique as the "mashed
potatoes", just don't puree it. It's a lot easier to use the hand masher
on cooked cauliflower than to grate it first.

on Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:18:38 GMT, "Lady o' the house" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

IMO, it would be difficult to mash before cooking. Now, I've seen recipes
for low carb 'fried rice' that uses grated cauliflower; in that case, you
would grate it before you cook it.

-----
Bev