I feel like Jerry Seinfield’s wife, trying to slip vegetables into family dinner. Only she does it way better than I am, because at the end of the night brother bear wouldn’t eat my surprise. And her hair is perfectly coiffed the entire time.

I’ve been hearing a Ton about making “mashed potatoes” using cauliflower. I find cauliflower to be a tad on the expensive side ($3.99 a head, say whaa?) but while I’m at home home I’m pretty good at getting mom to agree to experiment with recipes (and to use her credit card!).

I must say, these veggies masquerading as one of the world’s best comfort foods is pretty spot on. I found them perfect as a side dish to some peas and flank steak and thought they were quite passable as the real deal.

Brother Bear took one bite though and asked what kind of vegetable they were—so if you’ve got a picky eater perhaps these won’t fly. But mom, dad and I ate second helpings!

“Faux Mashed Potatoes:” (adapted from the SBD book-page 171)

4 cups cauliflower florets (I used 2 heads)

1/8 cup fat free half and half

1/2 TBS margarine

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt

To assemble:

1. Place cauliflower florets in microwave safe casserole dish and microwave until soft (I did mine for about 9 minutes, and probably could have done a few more minutes for smoother consistency).

2. In a food processor (or blender, if you’re not fancy like me) combine soft cauliflower with remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. I was heavy on the pepper hand, but the beauty is that you can season however you generally like mashed potatoes.

Serves 4

Since I was trying to fool my brother I went as far as to rinse the blender and put the “mashed potatoes” in a pot on the stove. But you really could serve straight from the blender since the cauliflower will still be hot from the microwave.

Super easy, super quick, and my opinion super tasty. 

I may have failed with the brother, but here’s hoping I can fake out the BF!