Cauliflower Steaks

Hey guys! Thanks so much for the support on my last post where I shared about my Fill Your Cup self-love event.  It went off really great and was the first of many, so hopefully more of you living in Bombay can attend them in the future. It was a mix of chat, written exercises, yoga, meditation & an introduction on EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping. One of the topics which we covered involved how to cultivate self-love on a daily basis.  While there are infinite options, one of the easiest ways is through nutrition and consciously choosing to eat a healthy diet out of love for your body.  Especially given how fixated our society tends to be on looking a certain way, food is often utilised with a negative intent i.e.

• I am going to start eating better because I hate the way my body looks.

• I can only eat carbs if I exercise.

• I am going to skip breakfast because I ate way too much last night and don’t deserve to eat.

In other words, food is used as a tool to support feelings of self-loathing, self-validation, punishment & guilt.  While adopting this kind of mindset has several repercussions, from a wellness/diet standpoint it makes the concept of sticking to a healthy diet extremely unpleasant and hardly sustainable.  We often underestimate the power of the mind but one of the ‘hidden secrets’ behind eating a healthy diet is re-evaluating our motives. 

When you start to look at nutrient-dense food as a means to stay energised, you will naturally gravitate towards whole foods.  When you consider the medicinal properties of food, chances are the apple will seem much more appealing at snack-time.  When you start to witness yourself feeling happier on days you eat well, you’ll go out of your way to make better choices and choose mood-boosting foods. Ultimately when you start to equate nutrition and eating well as a form of self-respect, you’ll be all the more focused on nourishing your body with quality ingredients…because you love it enough.  Ultimately it comes down to paying attention to what your body wants and feeding it foods that make it feel great and run optimally.  Sometimes that might even mean a bowl of ice cream to make your soul happy, but most of the time it will probably ask for nutrient-dense whole foods. 

Because nothing says ‘nutrient-dense’ like veggies, I’m going to leave you with a quick side dish recipe to try out later this week: Cauliflower Steaks.  While some might mock the mere thought of cauliflower & steak even being in the same sentence, give it a shot.  Cauliflower has a somewhat meaty texture and hey, it’s worked wonders as ‘rice’ & ‘pizza’ in the past.

Cauliflower Steaks– Serves 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1-2 tablespoons garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Your choice of seasoning*
• Olive oil or cooking spray

Method

1) Remove outer leaves from the cauliflower. Carefully trim stem end, leaving core intact so florets are still attached.  Turn cauliflower head core side down.  Cut cauliflower vertically into four 1- to 1 1/4- inch-thick ‘steaks’ (reserve ends & loose pieces for another use). 

2) Immerse cauliflower steaks in hot water for 60-90 seconds. Remove & pat dry.

3) Marinate steaks in garlic paste, lemon juice & your choice of seasoning for at least 30 minutes.

4) Heat skillet over medium heat and coat with oil/cooking spray.

5) Add cauliflower steaks and cook for 3 minutes until browned, turn over and continue cooking for another 3 minutes.

6) Transfer to a plate and serve with your choice of condiments (e.g. hummus, marinara sauce, black pepper sauce, chimichurri sauce)

Notes

* I used the McCormick Grill Mates Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning

And if you want more cauliflower fun in your life, check out my Cauliflower Crust Pizza recipe.  Given I posted it in 2012, please excuse the terrible photos ha! 

I would love to hear your thoughts on self-love and nutrition…

What’s your favourite way to eat cauliflower?