Spaghetti squash, cauli rice, etc actually good???

CatherineLaurel

I'd love to try veggie subs for carbs but I'm afraid they'll be nasty. Open to suggestions on what to try, though!

fornowiamwinter

Spiralized zucchini is amazing! It's one of my favourite meals! Haven't tried the squash or cauliflower etc

CatherineLaurel

How do you spiral it? Do you need a special tool or just a knife?

CatherineLaurel

@fornowiamwinter

fornowiamwinter

It's a special tool and it's expensive at all! And you can spiralize other veg too!

DaddieCat

Spaghetti squash is great, cauliflower is the devil (I hate it soooooooo much... you might like it... but if you do, you're probably wrong ) and a spiralizer is a specific type of tool easily and fairly cheaply found online.

CatherineLaurel

@BecomingBane haha thanks for your input! Maybe bed bath and beyond sells them...they sell everything

DaddieCat

They do sell everything... except the one thing that will get me back to my own time!

Bonny132

Spiralized zucchini is great, I sometimes mix in some carrots too. A spiralizer is really cheap and you can spiralize any hard veg with it. I steam mine with some garlic salt or other spices, and make spag bol mmm

CatherineLaurel

@Bonny132 do you put tomato sauce on it?

AlisonH729

You can get handheld spiralizers virtually anywhere. They are probably in the kitchenware aisle of the supermarket. And I know I've seen the Veggetti with the other 'as seen on tv' products in CVS. I have some other brand that I use fairly often for zucchini noodles** that I mix with regular spaghetti to bulk up a meal. Just zucchini noodles don't do it for me. Neither does spaghetti squash. I need to make spaghetti squash boats with hearty meat sauces for them to be filling.

**This is about all the handheld ones are good for. I would like to make shoestring potatoes, or frizzled sweet potatoes. Or spiralized carrots. But you'll need a very study tabletop variety for those. Or possibly an old fashioned apple peeler.

I'm not so into cauliflower, I think because fresh tends to be really expensive. I tried cauliflower pizza crust once (I'm a sucker for food experiments) but it was a disaster. Entirely too much work and again, NOT a sub for pizza crust. But Green Giant now sells cauliflower crumbles. Which again I think would be a nice add in with regular white rice served with stirfry or something similar.

ETA: That I didn't have anything planned for dinner so I might pick up a bag and make spicy shrimp over fried rice/cauliflower...

CatherineLaurel

@AlisonH729 that dinner idea sounds amazing. I really want to go buy a handheld one now and experiment! Yeah, I thought about trying cauliflower crust but when I looked up the directions and the comments it just didn't seem to be worth the effort.

Bonny132

@cla11b I put tomatoe sauce and minced beef.

I fry minced beef with garlic, onions, mushrooms and herbs and spices. I then add either tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes/passata or if I have a lot of tomatoes I quickly blanch them, skin them and chop them up to add with the beef. I steam the zucchini spaghetti with the spices till I can see the seeds showing through, then it is ready to be put in a bowl, with my bolognese sauce. Takes a few minutes (I don't use a microwave but it takes 60-90secs I believe)

Beef can be exchanged for other types of mince or vegetarian options.

I get a filling portion for 300cals

A sprinkling of Parmesan or mozzarella on top is also really nice, or finely chopped bacon or pancetta mixed in with the bolognese.

AlisonH729

Here's the recipe for the shrimp. (Which if you like it is a great low cal protein! And in that case you should probably also try this recipe, and use the zucchini noodles instead of or along with the pasta.) And this one is for the fried rice. I think you could def sub half or even all the rice with cauliflower crumbles.

Bonny132

This is my spiralizer, works like a giant pencil sharpener. I have cooked for 3 people using it with no issues. I mainly spiralize zucchini, potatoes and carrots. The other end of it slices really thin so perfect for slicing really thin, I use this to slice cucumber, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, sweet potatoes etc. Great for making vegetable crisps etc

CatherineLaurel

Awesome! @Bonny132 that's looks so easy to use

gillybilly2015

I personally love using spaghetti squash as a substitute for pasta. I find it more filling than regular pasta and I don't feel guilty eating it (or more of it!). Making a thicker sauce is nice because the squash can be a bit watery sometimes. I've also made cauliflower mashed potatoes, its a long process and can be a bit of a pain to go through all those steps if you are just cooking for yourself. It's one extra step than the rice, but adding a little bit of butter and garlic makes them taste very similar to mashed potatoes.

AlisonH729

Ooh I never thought of mashed cauliflower. I like mashed turnip which I thicken with instant potato flakes. (As you can see we like our starches, I just try to make them a liiiiittle healthier.)

WindSparrow

AlisonH729 wrote: »

Ooh I never thought of mashed cauliflower. I like mashed turnip which I thicken with instant potato flakes. (As you can see we like our starches, I just try to make them a liiiiittle healthier.)

I like this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/230816/garlic-mashed-cauliflower/ for garlic mashed cauliflower. For a high quality carby mash, one of my favorites is mashed rutabaga, carrot, and sweet potato.

kirstenb13

I don't think any of these versions are nasty - I don't think they are always very close to the thing they are trying to mimic but it tastes good as its own thing.
I regularly make cauliflower fried rice which is really good and basically just a ton of veggies so you can eat a mountain of it for close to no calories.
Often I use things like zucchini noodles to bulk up regular noodles rather than completely on their own.

RandiNoelle

Simple cauliflower rice can be really good... when mixed with lots of spices!! I buy a whole head, cut it up, and then pulse it through a food processor. I use it mostly for Mexican rice and stir-fry's. I've never used cauliflower as anything but rice (tortillas, pizza crust). It doesn't seem to many people here like it though. Lol! It's definitely a bit different but I love cauliflower.

Zucchini and squash made into noodles with a spiralizer is good. I cook it in a nonstick skillet with a smidgen of olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasonings.

TheBlizz35

I've made chinese "fried rice" using cauliflower and it was delicious. Here's the recipe I've tried: http://therecipecritic.com/2015/01/cauliflower-fried-rice/

You can even buy bags of cauliflower rice if you don't own a food processor to make the rice. Spaghetti squash isn't bad with tomato sauce over it, but the thing I make the most is the zucchini noodles. So easy and great with pasta sauce. I don't even need to cook them. The noodles raw are still great; firm like spaghetti and sauce and maybe a little shredded parmesan is all it needs. I make that meal at least once or twice a week.

CatherineLaurel

@theblizz would the bagged cauliflower be frozen aisle or fresh produce?

CatherineLaurel

@kirstenb13 being able to eat a.mountain of fried "rice" is definitely goals!!!!

CaptainOlson

@cla11b my wife and I have been buying the Green Giant Cauliflower Crumbles from Target whenever we can. In fact, I'm supposed to stop by and pick up a few bags on my way home. We usually wind up taking everything they have in stock.

For the record, they are in the refrigerated section of the produce department. Usually right next to all the bagged lettuce and salad mixes.

We make spanish rice and fried rice with them all the time. I also make the pizza crust using the recipe on the back of the bag. The first time you attempt to make the crust it might feel a little daunting, but it is really pretty simple. The real key is to lay the cauliflower crumbles on a towel to cool after you microwave them. Once they cool, you use the towel to squeeze as much juice out as you can. Then, just mix the ingredients with an electric mixer. We always make four small crusts instead of one big one because they cook better that way.

I admit that it is no replacement for real pizza, but a little bit of sauce and a little bit of meat topped with a sprinkle of cheese is good enough to keep the craving under control.

I'll see if I can dig up our rice recipes for you.

TheBlizz35

cla11b wrote: »

@theblizz would the bagged cauliflower be frozen aisle or fresh produce?

I've seen it in the fresh produce aisle. Not sure about frozen but it might be there as well. Look at the area where they package prechopped things that are refrigerated. It's usually by the prediced veggies like onion/pepper combos. Depends on the store. I made the cauliflower fried rice recipe and threw in some rotisserie chicken. Fun for something different. Cauliflower isn't my favorite so I was happy to find something that made it edible.

Wolfena

I think steamed veggies of any type are delicious on their own... or with a spritz of butter spray.

Queenmunchy

I spiralize and rice a lot of vegetables. Www.inspiralized.com is an awesome place to start. You want sauces that "go" with the vegetable, not just with noodles.

olygirrrl

Just bought a spiralizer recently and I love it! So far have only done zucchini but ready to try it on more veggies

Also, I like to do half cauliflower and half Yukon Gold potatoes and several garlic cloves in a pot. Cook like you would for mashed potatoes and then mash it all together when everything's soft at the end. Great alternative to all potatoes and the garlic adds a lot of flavor!

Lounmoun

I think if you go into eating zucchini noodles, mashed cauliflower or riced cauliflower as a die hard pasta and rice lover who wants it to be pasta and rice you will be disappointed. If you go into it as a way to eat more vegetables and lower calories with the same flavors of some dishes then you will probably find things you like.
Zucchini noodles cook very quickly- like 3 minutes. If you cook it longer they get a bit mushy.
http://www.skinnytaste.com has some spiralized vegetable noodle recipes. You can find simar ideas on pinterest as well.
Stuffed zucchini instead of lasagna or pasta shells is pretty tasty.

need2belean

I don't even eat regular pasta anymore. I love spaghetti squash with ground turkey and 1/2 cup of the healthiest marinara or pasta sauce I can find and it fills me up and it's way lower in carbs/calories than the alternative. Same for cauliflower rice. It's a huge hassle to drain all the water out of the cauliflower but if you want a low carb alternative, it's the way to go.