Ok, so if you read my post on Monday then you know that last week I was fighting off a stomach bug/virus.  It really knocked me on my butt and I’m still trying to get back to completely normal.  Because I couldn’t eat anything more than baby carrots and brown rice cakes (totally weird combo I know, but it’s the only thing that didn’t make me want to run to the bathroom) I ended up with a lot of vegetables that were just about to go bad.

Instead of throw them away, because I hate wasting food, I decided to come up with new interesting ways to use them.  One of my biggest missions is to reduce the amount of food waste we create each year.  There are so many things that we can do with food rather than throw it away but sometimes you have to get creative.  If you want a few other ways to cut down on food waste, you can check out this post. 

So today we have a recipe that uses a part of the vegetable that most of us throw away, cauliflower stems.  Yup, you can eat the stem but because gnawing on a big old stem doesn’t sound too appealing, we’re going to make a creamy sauce that can go on pasta, vegetables, meat, or even used as dressing.  The best part is it only requires a few ingredients and minimal effort.

Stop throwing away food that you think you can’t eat because I bet you can use it in a unique and delicious way!

Cauliflower Stem Cream Sauce

• 1 1/2 cauliflower stems, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp roasted garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 to 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (or 1/4 cup parmesan cheese if you do dairy)
• 1/2 to 1 cup reserved steaming water

1. Save the large main cauliflower stem from your bunch along with any other trimmed pieces you aren’t using with the cauliflower florets.  Trim off the green leaves and the tough woody bottom of the large stem and then cut everything into bites size chunks.
2. Fill a medium pot with about 2 cups water and set up a steamer basket if you have one.  If not, you can just boil the cauliflower right in the pot.  Steam the cauliflower until very soft and easily pierced with a fork.
3. Transfer the cauliflower to a blender or food processor and save the steaming water.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend until you have a thick paste.  Add the reserved water a few tablespoons at a time until you reach the consistency you would like.  Thinner for things like dressing and pasta sauce, a little thicker for meat and vegetables.