Roasted Garlic Whipped Cauliflower

A vegetable side dish that is so similar to mashed potatoes you’re going to feel guilty and want to add on ANOTHER vegetable side! A serving of this roasted garlic whipped cauliflower is only 156 calories! (5 SP)

I am currently on a mission to make vegetables taste better by incessantly crushing them with other ingredients until they resemble foods I love. I will mash, whip and destroy innocent cauliflower then add anything I can think of to it until my brain is semi-satisified that somehow we are eating mashed potatoes. Because I love mashed potatoes. And I hate the amount of calories that comes with them. Life is unfair I tell ya.

I’ve never roasted garlic before but when I found this recipe it seemed like a perfect way to learn a new cooking technique as well as a new way to further complicate cauliflower’s growing identity issues. Which seems to be my new goal in life. Sorry, cauli! 😉

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ROASTED GARLIC WHIPPED CAULIFLOWER

156 calories per serving

5 SP per serving

To start this recipe you first want to roast your garlic. (Obviously…) This is pretty simple!

Cut off the top half inch of an entire head of garlic. Place onto a foil lined, rimmed, baking sheet then drizzle with about 2 Tbsp olive oil. No need to measure, be generous!Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until your cloves are browned and the skin is a little crispy (sounds like spring break, no? 😛 ). Allow to cool then carefully remove each clove and separate out all of the skins. Be careful doing this as I just learned you can cut yourself on the skins!
Next, you’re going to need the bacon fat from a pound of bacon. If you’re sitting there going “Oh great, what am I going to do with all that bacon since you want me to have bacon fat but no bacon for this recipe!”….have no fear! Here are some ideas!

Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball

Cheddar Bacon Jalapeño Pinwheels

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Boulders

Bacon Mozzarella English Muffins

Gouda, bacon, onion, apple quesadillas

Brie, Bacon, Peach and Basil Flatbread

Jalapeño Bacon Deviled Eggs

Kentucky Hot Brown Dip or Mini Hot Browns

Loaded Breakfast Bowls

BLT Pitas with Homemade Herbed Mayo

Spaghetti Squash Florentine

Not enough bacon for you? Good. You’re my kind of person. And we can probably become good friends in bacon rehab once my bacontervention happens.

Anyway. Once you fry up your bacon for one of the *AMAZINGGG* recipes above, ( 😉 ) you’re going to keep the fat to drizzle over top of the cauliflower. (No one said this recipe was going to be super duper healthy!) Meanwhile, clean and cut 2 heads of cauliflower into florets and arrange onto a foil lined, rimmed, baking sheet.

Toss the cauliflower with the bacon fat then bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the cauliflower is slightly browned and softened.Once cooked, add the cauliflower and roasted garlic cloves into a food processor. Add in 1 1/4 C of chicken broth (I used low sodium), and salt and pepper to taste. Process until smooth (read as: destroy until your brain thinks this is mashed potatoes).

Side note: I found I had to add more chicken broth than the original recipe called for. I don’t know if my cauliflower heads were a lot bigger than normal (smarty pants!) if they were just extra thirsty but my dish looked more like sand than potatoes so I had to add in some more. Feel free to adjust the broth amount as you see fit!

Top with parsley and enjoy! 🙂

If you enjoy destroying cauliflower’s identity as much as I do, check out these other faux-tatoe recipes!

Smoked Gouda and Bacon Cauliflower Mash (Still my favorite!)

Cheesy Ranch Cauliflower Casserole (My most pinned recipe!)

Cauliflower faux-tatoes with bacon, caramelized onions and gorgonzola (One of my first recipes, don’t judge the pics, okayyyy?)

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**Recipe adapted from Country Cleaver (She’s hilarious! Definitely a blog worth reading!)

What do you think? Did this recipe make the cut for you or did it crumble? What would you do differently? I look forward to reading your opinions! 

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