I’m dying to tell you about two things today!

First of all, this cauliflower bread topped with sweet peppers and feta.  It’s gorgeous, right? And it tasted fabulous!  

Second, this stunning cutting board crafted for me by my friend and colleague Darren.

I know I’m showing up late to the cauliflower mock carb game. But, since Ben and I decided to trudge through and not take any days off from our diets for the last couple of months I’ve been experimenting with new, healthy, low calorie food ideas a lot more.  I realize this is not really bread.  It’s minced cauliflower (dried and bound with egg whites).

About a year ago Chocolate Covered Katy (an awesome healthy food blog) published a post about mushroom burgers.  In the post she writes about how her burgers are not a substitute for a meat burger.  It’s a mushroom burger and pretending it’s meat will just disappoint.  But, like Katy reminds us, a meat substitute can be amazing if it’s regarded as exactly what it is and not expect it to taste just like flame licked 80/20 dripping with hot fat.

This is exactly how I feel about cauliflower bread.  When you bite into it it’s not going to taste just like a toasted baguette.  It’s not going to be able to sop up the white wine, butter, and garlic slurry left over after you’ve eaten all your steamed clams.  But cauliflower bread has a dense cakey texture and a fresh healthy flavor.  And, it makes a darn great, tasty, and low calorie vehicle for any awesome savory topping you would normally stack on bread!

To cut up all the vegetables and peppers for this recipe you need a cutting board, right?  Lucky for me I have this friend who likes to build them.  He crafted the one you see here on this post especially for me!  He showed me a bunch of different examples of what he’s capable of doing. I picked a pattern I liked and left the rest of it up to him.  This gorgeous black walnut, cherry, and maple board is what he came up with!

The craftsmanship in this piece of artwork is impeccable!  The perfect edges and contrasting wood grains are stunning. It was difficult for me to actually slice through raw food marring its flawless surface for the first time!

If you are interested in one of Darren’s custom cutting boards leave me a comment on this post or fill out your information on my contact me page and I will put you in touch with Darren.  He is open to suggestions and special requests.  His cutting boards would make an impressive, thoughtful, and unique Christmas or Birthday gift for any home cook.

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Cauliflower Bread Topped with Sweet Peppers and Feta

Ingredients

• bread:
• 1 large head cauliflower
• 1/4 cup ~2 egg whites
• 1 tsp. Zhoug or your own favorite savory spice blend
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• topping:
• 8 oz. sliced vine sweet mini peppers
• 4 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/4 tsp. each salt, pepper, and Zhoug
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 oz. fat free feta
• cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Wash and chop your cauliflower into large florets (discarding the core and leaves).
4. Finely chop your cauliflower in a food processor until the grain is a little larger than an actual rice.
5. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your processor.
6. Spread your chopped cauliflower out over your parchment lined cookie sheet.
7. Bake cauliflower for 20 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool for 15 minutes.
8. Transfer cauliflower onto a large, clean, thin dishtowel.
9. Ball cauliflower up in the towel and twist up the towel so no cauliflower is able to escape the towel.
10. Squeeze as much liquid out of the cauliflower ball as possible (I was able to squeeze out about 12 fl. oz.).
11. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the squeezed cauliflower, Zhoug, pepper and salt.
12. Mix until well combined and then spread it out onto another parchment lined cookie sheet forming a rectangle in the middle of the paper.
13. Bake cauliflower bread at 450°F for 20 minutes.
14. Meanwhile in a large, cooking spray coated, sauté pan over medium high heat sauté the sliced mini peppers until softened.
15. When the peppers begin to soften and brown a little deglaze the pan with the white wine.
16. Add the salt, pepper, Zhoug and garlic to the pan. Stir until all liquid has evaporated. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
17. When the cauliflower is done remove it from the oven and top evenly with the peppers and feta.
18. Place back into the oven and bake for 5 minutes more.
19. Remove from oven, let cool for a couple of minutes, slice into six pieces, and EAT!!!
20. Makes 6 side dish, or appetizer, servings.
21. Cauliflower bread recipe adapted from the Cauliflower Breadsticks Recipe at ifoodreal. Note: If you go to Olena’s site you will find her amazing breadsticks recipe along with excellent instructions for getting the moisture out of the cauliflower.