No veggies here... or are there?

In an effort to add more vegetables to my family's diet I turned to the culinary genius at ... Pintrest (of course!). While trolling through yummy recipe after the other I came across on for Mac and Cheese geared towards Toddlers made with Sweet Potato. What a brilliant idea! This will be a great way to add an extra dose of veg to one of Darin's (my 3 year old) favorite meals. Now truth be told I did not follow the recipe to the exact letter mainly because I did not have any Sweet Potatoes in the house but I did have Cauliflower.

*Here are the health benefits of Cauliflower:
While cauliflower is not a well-studied cruciferous vegetable from a health standpoint, you will find several dozen studies linking cauliflower-containing diets to cancer prevention, particularly with respect to the following types of cancer: bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer. This connection between cauliflower and cancer prevention should not be surprising, since cauliflower provides special nutrient support for three body systems that are closely connected with cancer development as well as cancer prevention. These three systems are (1) the body's detox system, (2) its antioxidant system, and (3) its inflammatory/anti-inflammatory system. Chronic imbalances in any of these three systems can increase risk of cancer, and when imbalances in all three systems occur simultaneously, the risk of cancer increases significantly.*

First, I boiled 1/2 box of pasta and 1/2 a head of Cauliflower together in the same pot. Once the Cauliflower was fork tender, I tossed the florets and a few spoons of the pasta water in my handy Baby Bullet mixer and pureed it into a smooth apple sauce consistency. Next, I drained the pasta once it was "al dente" and set aside. In the same pot I started to make my roux, by adding equal parts on flour and butter (about 1 table spoon each) once the flour and butter combined to make a blonde paste (this is almost instant) then slowly added the Cauliflower puree to the pot, constantly but gently stirring the ingredients together until well blended and the Cauliflower puree is even thicker. If you find the sauce is too thick you can added a splash of milk to thin it out. I let the sauce marry for a few minutes then added in the cheese. For this particular dish I used a Mexican shredded blend but feel free to you whatever you have on hand. I used about 2 cups of cheese and slowly added it to the pot stirring to combine and make sure the sauce is smooth. Once the cheese is all melted in the sauce, fold in your cooked pasta. When all the pasta is coated in the delicious yummy sauce, it's time to serve.

Now since this was mainly for my little one I didn't really season it, however, we adults like comfort food too, so before you add the cheese you can add salt, pepper and a dash of fresh grated nutmeg for added flavor. This recipe took me about 25-30 mins to make even with the blending and sauce prep. I find it so much easier to use one pot for this dish, plus less clean up. 

To make this even more healthier you can use reduced fat cheese and 2% milk to thin your sauce. You can add green peas, either fresh or froze (thaw before use), even carrots or chopped broccoli florets. It can even be made sinful, instead of using butter for your roux fry up some chopped bacon, remove the cooked bits and leave the grease in the pan, add your flour to create the roux and snag up all that good smoky flavor from the bacon. Once the roux is a blonde paste add your cauliflower and proceed with the recipe. When ready to serve sprinkle some of the bacon and a little finely chopped Parsley on top. Three words for any of these versions: Happy, Happy, Happy!
Enjoy!!

*Source: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=13