RECIPE: Wifezilla's Jacked-up Cauliflower

I was planning to make twiced-baked cauliflower the other night. Low carb kitchen guru Linda Sue has several recipes with cauliflower as a potato replacement that have gotten rave reviews. I had been looking forward to giving one of them a try.

I bought cheese, cauliflower and bacon a few days ahead of time. Naturally, when I was ready to actually make the dish, all the bacon was gone. 4 packages in 3 days. My husband and sons tried to blame it on the cats. Since they lack opposable thumbs and I am suspicious of my husband's story that his new aftershave is bacon scented, I am willing to believe the cats might be innocent.

My choices once I realized the bacon was gone were to change out of my jammies and go to Walmart (shudder) or get creative. Since my jammies were comfy and I was on my 2nd glass of white wine, creativity won out. Here is what I came up with...

Wifezilla's Jacked-up Low Carb Cauliflower Bake

1 large head of fresh cauliflower
8oz cream cheese
1 cup Monterey jack cheese - shredded
1 2oz stick pepperoni - chopped
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Chop and steam cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl with a little water in the bottom (about 20 minutes on high power). While cauliflower is steaming, gently heat pepperoni in a small frying pan. Cook until lightly browned on the edges of the pieces. After cauliflower is steamed, drain off water and either mash or shred with a hand mixer. (If you like, you can put in a food processor to make it really smooth. I just hit it with the blender and didn't care that there were some small chunks.) Add cooked pepperoni pieces, 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, and spices and mix well. Place in a loaf pan or casserole dish. Top with shredded pepper jack cheese. Bake until cheese on the top is melted and slightly browned. 

This recipe should work equally well with frozen cauliflower and that may even make your mashing job easier. If your family hasn't snatched all the bacon, go ahead and use that instead of the pepperoni. This is a great side dish for beef or poultry. Since my guys liked it so much, maybe the promise of future batches of Jacked Up Cauliflower might get them to leave the bacon alone.