30 Days of Recipes: Day 2: Paleo fried "rice"

It was easy for me to eliminate grains from my diet. I don't eat much bread, although I do enjoy pizza and pasta. But really, we weren't eating those things very often. I stopped using buns with my burgers years ago. And other than the occassional burrito bowl, I don't have any reason to eat rice. Other than chips and salsa, I don't need or want corn.

But. Sometimes, it goes really well with a meal. Enter: caluliflower fried rice.

This is my new favorite staple. I feel like I make it really well, which must mean it is easy to make. I even started to "get fancy" and add more ingredients. Still easy.

My tip: use a bag of frozen cauliflower. Raw cauliflower doesn't chop quite the same, so there is much more labor (time spent chopping) and the texture is different, too. Very... cauliflowery.

I use:
1 bag of frozen cauliflower. Leave it in a collander, to thaw and drain any excess moisture.
As much frozen (or fresh) peas, chopped carrots, broccolli, chopped onion, chopped pepper, etc, as you like. I use about a cup each of peas, carrots and broccolli. I use about a quater cup of the other two.
3 eggs. You can use more, less or none.
Ginger.
Coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute).
Garlic.
Salt.
Pepper.

1. First oil the pan and warm it up to a warm medium.
2. Toss in the onion to soften for a minute or two, then dump in the rest of the veggies (except the peppers).
3. In a seperate pan, scramble the eggs, then set the eggs aside.
4. Put the cauliflower in the food processor or blender and pulse, pulse, pulse. It doesn't take long to get a nice rice-like texture. It might look a bit like quinoa. I do the cauliflower in two or three portions, so I don't over load the food processor.
5. Add the peppers (I hold these out a few minutes because I don't like them too soft).
6. Season with plenty of ginger and conservatively add the coconut aminos- you don't want it soupy.
7. Taste it- is it good? Great! Not enough flavor? More ginger. Garlic, salt and pepper to taste, if you like.
8. Stir the egg back in. Test the flavor- still good? Great.
9. Last, add the cauliflower. Stir everything around to warm up the cauliflower and distrubute the flavor. Test the flavor as before.

You use any meat you like, or none at all. If you use regular soy sauce, check the label, as it may contain wheat. Another option is reduced beef stock. Yep, super reduced beef stock.

I've served this to a few different folks- my extended family, a few friends, strangers at a potluck holiday party... and it continues to be a big hit with everyone. It reheats really well, which is great for packing lunches.

Give this a try! I really hope to spread the cauliflower rice love here!