Cauliflower “Fried Rice”

Hello there! We've had such nice weather here in Chicago. Although summer doesn’t officially start for another couple of weeks, it feels like it’s already here. We bought a giant inflatable pool for the kids and finally planted some herbs and vegetables outside. I’ve lived in the Midwest long enough that I no longer really mind winter, I even enjoy some of its comforts, but summer is still where it’s at. I’m so excited to eat most of our meals outside and to pack picnic dinners for the park this year.  

Also, I LOVE our house in the summer. It’s hard to explain, but the layout makes it almost feel like you are outside when the windows are open. The house has old bones but it was redone before we bought it in 2012.  Now, instead of the traditional bungalow style with several individual rooms on the ground floor, it’s all open.  It’s breezy and bright, and usually full of the sounds of little ones going back and forth from the yard - all covered in sand and water.  Naturally, all of this makes it easier to enjoy cooking inside, even when it’s beautiful out there.

Recently, I made this delicious, yet almost embarrassingly healthy meal for myself.

It was a combination of prepared fish and vegetables that I bought at the Korean grocery store and a new creation, one that I will make again and again.  Cauliflower “fried rice”.  Truthfully, I wasn’t trying to be so virtuous. This recipe was born out of necessity.

I was all set with my prepared foods from the Korean store and some brown rice in the rice cooker.  I  chopped up a shallot, some garlic and green onion to make a quick fried rice when, 40 minutes later, the rice was still cooking and I was STARVING. I had some frozen riced cauliflower from Trader Joe’s in the freezer so I grabbed that and a frying pan, and got to work. Within about five minutes I had this lovely “fried rice” and my brown rice was still nowhere near ready.  

I could eat this stuff with an egg on it for breakfast, in a salad, with some Japanese curry (yum!), or Vietnamese pork chops, even meatballs and sauce.  It's unbelievably versatile.  

Here’s how you do it.

Cauliflower “Fried Rice”

Serves 4

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil

3 heads of garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

3 green onions, chopped

Salt to taste

1 bag of riced cauliflower*, defrosted and drained if frozen

1 cup peas, defrosted and drained if frozen (I usually just run hot water over them to defrost)

*You can buy this either fresh or frozen at Trader Joe’s.  You can also make it yourself by taking a head of cauliflower and blitzing it in your food processor until the pieces approximate the size of grains of rice.

Heat oils over medium high heat in large pan. Add riced cauliflower and saute about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and shallot and cook about 2 minutes.  Add peas and saute until warmed through, about 1-2 more minutes. Add salt to taste.  Voila! That’s it.

Now go outside and play! 

Road Trip and Best 99

Because any stroller can be a double stroller.  Especially when you're on vacation. 

We took a little road trip last weekend to Madison, Wisconsin, land of ice cream and cheese.  Sometimes all of the preparation, planning and transportation involved in traveling with small children makes it seem hardly worthwhile. This, fortunately, was not true of our mini-trip to Madison.  We played it by ear and it was actually low stress and quite fun.  

When Emmett fell asleep on the way to dinner we went with it and discovered that he could sleep, sitting upright on his dad’s lap, in a crowded, noisy dining room - no problem. When the kids all woke up at an ungodly hour, I got them in the car and headed out to Greenbush Bakery which, thankfully, opened at 6:00 a.m.  We got there just as the doors were being unlocked and selected donuts with chocolate and sprinkles and an apple fritter the size of my head.  They were amazing.  We even made it home with one diaper to spare (I had been worried about not packing enough diapers, but when we got home and unloaded the trunk I realized we had an entire bulk box of them in the back. Go figure).  

While we were there we went to the Dane County Farmer’s Market, UW and hit up a great pizza joint called Salvatore’s Tomato Pies.  At UW, we stopped at Babcock Hall Dairy Store for ice cream.  Babcock Hall Dairy store is located in the Dairy Plant on the west side of campus. Attached to the ice cream store is a viewing gallery where you can see the ice cream being made.  Since 1951, UW has been making ice cream, cheese and other dairy products on campus.  The agricultural sciences portion of the campus is pretty cool if you have any interest in that sort of thing. Huge greenhouses occupy much of the plant sciences building and they have a whole building dedicated to dairy cows in addition to the dairy plant.

Where the magic happens. 

Of course hiding under this old desk was more fun than all of the fancy ice cream churners in the world. 

Back in Ireland, another dairy story was unfolding.  The Barry family store was basking in the glory of being named the best “99 in County Louth” as a result of a poll conducted by the Dundalk Democrat.  A 99 (I should have included it in this post about Irish slang) is an ice cream cone, usually soft-serve, with a Cadbury flake stuck in the middle. Apparently, Barry’s edged out its closest competition by 2% for the win.  It was a proud moment for the family as demonstrated via illustration below.  

Congratulations Barry's! We're looking forward to getting one of those award-winning 99s next time we are in Ireland. 

Banana Coconut Milk Pops

Last weekend Emmett and Isla performed in the Spring Performance at their school, Montessori Learning Center of Edison Park.  This was by far the highlight of our weekend and we were so proud of how they both fearlessly took the stage, singing and dancing in front of all of the parents and relatives of their classmates. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my head around how their teachers get them all in and out of costumes and up on stage to perform for us. It's truly amazing. 

Other than the french toast and bacon “power breakfast” that I made the day of the show, I barely cooked a thing all weekend.  But I did make something. Because I cannot stand to throw food away, I freeze all of our overripe bananas until I figure out what to do with them. They usually end up in muffins, banana bread or pancakes but since it’s finally warm out, this time I decided to try something a little different.

Banana Coconut Milk Pops.

I don’t think I can think of anything easier to make and, BONUS, you can feel good about giving them to your kids. The only ingredients are agave nectar, vanilla extract, bananas and coconut milk (although you could throw some chocolate chips in there if you want). The high fat content of coconut milk makes them more creamy than icy, and most of the sweetness comes straight from those super ripe bananas which you can really taste.  Much better than the banana Popsicles of my childhood - as much as I LOVED those!  I can probably think of a hundred variations of these that I would like to try. Fruit flavored, chocolate, peanut butter, or and adult version with coffee and Bailey's (wouldn't that be a fun dessert for a summer dinner party?). 

Now I'm starting to think that I might get some use out of these silicon ice pop molds I bought last year. 

Banana Coconut Milk Pops

makes 6 pops

1 can coconut milk

1 tbs agave nectar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 super-over-ripe bananas (room temperature)

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.  OR, place ingredients in a large bowl (preferably with a spout) and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Pour mixture into Popsicle molds molds and freeze until solid.

No raw eggs! Lick the bowl! 

If you're squeamish about licking the bowl when there are raw eggs involved (I'm not - must be the Japanese in me but I'll eat anything raw), this is your opportunity to get in there.  Oh yeah, and it just dawned on me, these are vegan too. So a great treat to have on hand if you're vegan or have vegan guests. Because no one should ever miss out on dessert. 

Apparently, you can purchase an "easy-fill stand" separately, but I lo and behold, I found one in my cupboard (a glass). 

Done. I felt like I accomplished something and it only took about 2 minutes. The hard part is waiting until they are frozen.