Cauliflower Cheese

 

So....I LOVE cheese.... ANY cheese......so when I started my WW journey one of the things I decided to do was to give up cheese...I KNOW....I gave it up....the one thing I love in life....BUT....my WW journey is important and I have no off button with cheese....so imagine my delight when I discovered Eat Lean Protein Cheese....their motto is "Lets put cheese back on the menu".....I mean...I'm IN!!!!

Cauliflower cheese is one of my favourite things to eat and I couldn't make it before ...but now....woo hoo.....so here's the result

I served it with some of the tomato chutney I made a couple weeks ago but when I tasted it with the cauli cheese it wasn't needed so I didn't eat it.

 Ingredients

15g Cornflour

1 portion Cauliflower,

1 tbsp Philadelphia Lightest Soft Cheese

1 Bay leaf, dry

pinch Salt

pinch Black pepper

10 Cherry Tomatoes

120ml Almond Breeze Unsweetened

1 slice Eat Lean Tasty Sliced

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200/ 180 fan/ gas 5
2. Put the cauliflower florets into a microwaveable and ovenproof dish with the bay leaf. Cover with cling film and pierce to allow the steam to escape. Cook on full power for 5 minutes. Remove from the microwave and set aside, remove the bay leaf.
3. Mix together the milk and cornflour in a pan and place over a medium heat. Heat through until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the Philadelphia cheese and half of the grated cheddar.
4. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the cauliflower florets and season well. Pour over the cheese sauce and grate over a good grating of nutmeg. sprinkle the remaining cheese over and bake in the oven for 20 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Smoked Salmon and Mushroom Broccolisotto!! .....with croutons

One of the things I used to love to eat was risotto....but I cut it out when I started my WW journey...I know....I can have rice....but I choose to reduce points in my diet......so I was playing about with cauliflower rice and made a couple of "Caulisottos"....but then I thought "I wonder what this would be like using the stalk of the broccoli?" I used to throw this away (and I use a LOT of broccoli) and then I started freezing it to go into my Vegetable Stock but then I decided that I would give it a go in the "risotto"....its fab. It keeps more of a bite than the rice made with the florets, which makes it perfect for this dish. So this is what I did today......and I had some hot smoked salmon left from when we had our Fish and Chips this week so in it went too!!
This recipe served just me for 4sp but if you decide to up the ingredients for more people please remember to recalculate the points.

Ingredients
Spray oil
1/2 banana shallot (or about 3-4 small shallots) finely chopped
250ml Vegetable Stock
1 broccoli stalk processed into 'rice'

salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 tbsp Philadelphia Light (salmon  and dill flavour) 2sp

50g Hot smoked salmon 2sp
4 medium sized mushrooms sliced
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/2 tablespoon Parmesan to garnish (optional...1sp)

Method
Spray a medium sized saucepan with the spray oil and bring to a medium heat, add the shallot and fry on a medium heat for a few minutes to soften.
Add the stock and bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.
Add the salt pepper and garlic salt.
Allow to simmer for about 10-15 minutes (it doesn't need long to cook as the 'grains' of broccoli are so small, what you want to happen is for the liquid to reduce down and almost disappear).
While this is happening spray a small frying pan with oil and add the mushrooms.
Allow to gently fry for a few minutes until they soften slightly and become a little moist.
Add the dried dill and stir through.
Cook a few more minutes until the mushrooms are cooked through.
Check your "Broccolisotto" and when you have lost almost (but not quite) all of the liquid add the Philadelphia Light and stir to combine (you want a little of the liquid left in to help combine the cheese with the broccoli).
Allow it to gently simmer for few minutes more until you can take a spoon and draw across the 'rice' and the mix doesn't immediately come together again.....like this....

I often do my meal ahead and for this dish I leave it covered in the kitchen at this stage until I am ready to eat, then I warm it through and then gently stir through the mushrooms and the hot smoked salmon (gently so that the pieces don't break up too much). The mixture often tightens up a little when it cools so I add a little freshly boiled water to slacken it....but not too much or you will end up with soup!