Cauliflower is the New Carb

Who new Cauliflower could be such a trickster?  I've seen many uses for cauliflower on social media, but was always a little skeptical if I could really 'secretly' replace it for some of our starchy staples.  My go-to taste-tester, my teenage son, has grown up sampling many of my food experiments, both good and not so good.  He's typically a good sport and will not only give most things a try, but give me his honest opinion.  He was cool with my Roasted Garlic Faux Mashed Potatoes and even had seconds, but when my dad, who is a super stubborn carb-lover enjoyed them too, I knew I should explore a few more ideas.

I really wanted to try cauliflower pizza crust, but I was only searching halfheartedly because I was warned it was a ton of work and a lot of time for a single meal.  Although I enjoy being in the kitchen, my schedule does not allow for wasted kitchen time.  Plus, some of the pictures I saw of others pizza on the cauliflower crust really didn't look all that appetizing.  I really wanted my son to enjoy a slice or two and I knew that would not happen if it didn't look like a regular pizza.

So, I searched the internet and came up with this recipe: The Secret to Perfect Cauliflower Pizza Crust.  The title alone made me take a look, because it sounded like exactly what I was looking for.

Showing off the Sous Chef

Plus any opportunity to chop up things in my lovely food processor is exciting.  I highly recommend making the investment, if you haven't already.  It saves a tremendous amount of time.

'Riced' Cauliflower

If you don't have a food processor and want to quickly 'rice' your cauliflower, use a large cheese grater.  Just watch those fingers as you get close to the end!

Boiling the cauli-rice is quick and simple.  Straining it is not if you don't have the right sized strainer.  I ended up buying a super-sized strainer after making this crust because I knew I would make it again and saving time is a must!










If you peeked at the recipe link, you'll know the secret is right here; squeezing the cauli-rice dry.  The cauli-rice will be super hot, so if you have those rubber oven-mitts, use them.















Finally mix up your crust.  The recipe link used goat cheese.  Since I'm not a big fan, I used fresh grated Parmesan.

Crust Ingrediants

Raw crust

The crust was easy to mix and then press into my heart-shaped pizza pan.  You want to keep it pretty thin.  Mine was about 1/4 inch.

Voila!  I LOVE this crust!!

Baked crust

Most importantly, my teen did too!  Here's the pic from my social media post recreating an old Valentine's Day photo.  I know the nutrients in this year's heart crust far out-weight those in the past.  I truly know how to LOVE my family!  XOXO

Movement Monday: Life Lessons from 'The Greatest'

Welcome to this special edition of Movement Monday!  This is an email I send weekly to my customers and clients designed to motivate continued action to achieve a desired goal throughout the week.  My mission is to provide the "want to" when it comes to reaching YOUR goal because the "how to" is different for every body and every goal.  When you are constantly seeking the truth, you will find exactly what you need.  Each email contains a subject, practical suggestions or encouragement surrounding the subject and powerful quotes that support the weekly theme.  After the passing of Muhammad Ali, this past weekend, I was motivated to share my email with everyone... especially since there was so many inspirational quotes that my email would have been much longer than usual.  So I kept the email short and kept the unabridged version here.

To say Muhammad Ali lived a spectacular life is an understatement.  His charisma and charm was catching and he won the hearts of many across the world.  As a good portion of the world mourns his passing, we can take a look at the way he lived his life and the statements he made in life to leave a lasting impact on every person we come in contact with during our life, from here on out.  All quotes today are accredited to The Greatest, Muhammad Ali.

"Live every day like it's your last because someday you're going to be right ."

How many times do we go back on our own promises to ourselves and push things off until tomorrow?  You've been given each day to make the most out of your life.

"What I suffered physically was worth what I've accomplished in life. A man who is not courageous enough to take risks will never accomplish anything in life."

Yes, it will be hard getting from where you are to where you want to be, but it will also be equally as hard to stay where you are.  No one enjoys being stagnant.  Can you imagine looking back and wondering 'if only ...?'  Choose your hard.

"I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be.  I'm free to be what I want."

Are you living life by design? Are you following your vision?  Are you living your dreams?  Don't worry if you're not quite there.  Just be intentional about living your life and not allowing life to just happen to you. Only you can define what your live should look like.

"I am the greatest.  I said that even before I knew I was."  

You've got to believe that you can achieve your dreams.  Say you are who you want to be every morning and watch yourself get there.

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wears you out, it's the pebble in your shoe." 

How many times do we let the little things keep us from reaching our big goal?  We want to lose weight, for example, but won't make the time to prepare our meals, schedule our workouts or invest in the proper tools we need.  The difficulty of the goal is not what keeps us from reaching it, but our belief that we can not and our unwillingness to get out of our own way. 

"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain.  It's not something you learn in school.  But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."

Life is measured by the quality of our relationships.  We were meant to be connected to others, so make it a point to take time to build quality relationships.

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."

Your gift was meant to be shared with the world. Take the time to develop it and most importantly share it.

"To be a great champion you must believe you are the best.  If you're not, pretend you are."

Sometimes you simply have to fake it until you make it.

This is my absolute favorite!  Take the time to explore your power.  Change impossible to "I'M POSSIBLE!"

Make movement this week!

If this message has helped you in any way, feel free to share with a friend.  Also, if this is something that could get you going weekly, but aren't interested in receiving weekly emails, leave a comment and I may consider this a weekly blog post.  With love...