Thanksgiving Guest Post: Primal Cauliflower Casserole (not strict paleo)
The holidays are coming up, fast and furious, but without all the angry drivers. It’s true. They don’t come out until after Thanksgiving. So to start some of the Thanksgiving Recipes off, I thought I’d start with a guest post from Bravo For Paleo. This cute little college ballet blonde is knocking em’ out of the park with amazing recipes and a extremely positive attitude to go along with it. And nice hair. Who doesn’t love nice hair?? What I do want to warn you about is she does use some heavy cream and some cheese in this recipe. It’s the holidays, people. So do not complain in the comments that this isn’t strict paleo. Monica and I are fully aware of that. Now go on with planning your holiday recipes. Many more to come!
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Happy Holidays, PaleOMG readers! I’m Monica from Bravo For Paleo, and I am so grateful to be sharing a Thanksgiving recipe with you today.
We all know what goes along with holidays… Food! Lots and lots of it. But there’s no reason you need to pause your grain free life in order to enjoy some comfort food. My Primal Cauliflower Casserole tastes just like the comfort dishes my grandmother and mother have made for years. This casserole will make your whole house smell like the holidays; it truly is Thanksgiving in a dish.
I have been eating real food for two years, and I know how the holidays go. You have to have a game plan! There’s almost always ham or turkey and tons of vegetables. Bring your own dish, like this casserole, and you’ll be set. Trust me on this one, cheating on the holidays is just not worth it!
For those who don’t know me, I’m a 19 year old studying Biochemistry at LSU Honors College. I joined the blogging community after realizing there was a need for someone in my age group to answer the simple question, “How should we eat, and how can we do it in college?”
Since I’m usually very busy, I try as best as I can to make my dishes simple. I’m no chef yet, but I know what tastes good and what’s easy! Over at my site, Bravo For Paleo, I am trying to help students join the real food movement. In January, I’m starting a 30-day Primal Challenge for Students. If you sign up for my email list, I’ll keep you updated on it!
Check out Monica on:
Instagram @bravoforpaleo
PrintPrimal Cauliflower Casserole (not strict paleo)
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Ingredients
- 2 heads of cauliflower
- 4–5 pieces of bacon
- 6 green onions
- 1– 1 1/2 sticks of pastured butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 6 oz of chèvre (goat cheese)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cut up cauliflower. Put in large stock pot and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil on high heat. Continue boiling until cauliflower is very soft when stuck with a fork. Drain in colander.
- While cauliflower is cooking, bake bacon in oven on 400 for 15 minutes or until crisp. Drain on paper towel and then crumble.
- Chop up green onions. Melt butter in stock pot on low heat. Add green onions and sauté until soft. Turn off heat.
- Return cauliflower to the pot and add heavy cream. Mash with a potato masher.
- Add chèvre, crumbled bacon, sea salt and pepper to taste. Blend well.
- Put in baking dish prepared with coconut oil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
- Serve hot.
Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.
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33 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Guest Post: Primal Cauliflower Casserole (not strict paleo)”
You had me at goat cheese. Yummo!
Reminds me of Potatoes Au Gratin. Thanks so much for sharing!
This looks AMAZING! I think I might try this tonight 🙂 I just bought goat butter yesterday for the first time and Its really good..maybe I will be able to incorporate goat milk products into my diet every so often. Ill see how I feel after I eat it.
Yum, will make this for my CF friendsgiving – how many servings will this make? Probably will have to double up, my guess.
8-10
I’m a dairy paleoite (being a slightly older woman I want as much calcium as I can get).
So this recipe is right up my alley! Especially since cauliflower is one of my new favorite veggies!
Now I know what I’m taking to family dinner on thanksgiving 🙂
Looks fantastic… great guest post!
Yum! Having this for dinner tonight.
Juli – I was looking at your cookbook on Amazon. There is no index in the preview. Can you post one on your page?
Many thanks.
★★★★★
which cookbook are you asking about? first or new one coming out?
What do you think it would be like if we subbed coconut milk?
Yes you could sub coconut milk for heavy cream, and omit the goat cheese. Bacon fat would be a good sub for the butter!
Hi Juli! Goat cheese doesn’t seem to upset my stomach very badly, but Heavy cream will. Can I sub our full fat Coconut milk by chance?
This looks amazing! Can we substitute the heavy cream with coconut milk and the butter with a little bacon fat? Trying to make it taste delish without the dairy, my stomach can’t handle it.
Thanks!!
Yummy this looks and sounds good. Thank you. But I really don’t like goat cheese. What other chees would be good? Sharp cheddar maybe?
Any kind you’d like!!
This is in my oven right now! Taking it to an early family Thanksgiving get together.
This was delicious!!
Made this last night and now can’t wait for dinner tonight for leftovers. SO FREAKING GOOD. Thanks for the post! (Oh, and just because I put garlic in everything, I threw in about 5 garlic cloves with the cauliflower)
★★★★★
Hey Monica!
What do you do with the 1.5 sticks of butter (aside from what you need for the onions)? Just melt and add to the cauliflower?
I made these and they tasted yummers!! Couple questions:
1) Am I supposed to blend w/ hand mixer?
2) can I prepare until ver end and cook next day?
Ok 3…
Can I freeze?
Great site!!!!
Think this would be ok if I assembled it ahead of time and then cooked in a day or two? We’re traveling out of town and I really don’t want to have to assemble this at my in-laws if I don’t have to. Thanks!
Has anybody made this ahead of time? I am trying to figure out if I should cook it through and reheat it, or assemble it and cook it later. Thanks!!
Made this today, only I roasted the cauliflower instead of boiling. Was heavenly!!
Made this for Thanksgiving dinner, turned out awesome!! I used fontina cheese and added some chopped garlic and green chili’s!! It was totally bomb.com Juli!!
★★★★★
Sorry to just see these comments! I’m not sure about freezing, but you can definitely make ahead and reheat! These are great leftover. I just throw it back in the oven and reheat.
Also Lydia, the butter goes in the cauliflower after its cooked!
I made this on Thanksgiving following the recipe to a T and it was EVERYONE’s favorite dish of the day! I think it might be a new tradition 🙂
★★★★★
I made this a few days ago and this is what I did differently: only 1/4 cup butter, and I used dried chives as I didn’t have green onions. I did not use heavy cream, but instead added a cup of cottage cheese (probably no better for many people with lactose intolerance, however, it has been digested by microbes so maybe it is a little easier on the stomach), doubled the bacon, and voila. It is delicious. It probably isn’t as good as Juli’s original, but in case you don’t have the ingredients on hand, it is a pretty good illustration of how versatile cooking (not baking) is! Makes a great breakfast IMO
★★★★★
Made this for our Christmas dinner. It was the yummiest thing on the table – even stood up to the the prime rib. Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Just made this today. WOW! Thank you! Got to cook my first paleo/primal Christmas dinner and this was just perfect.
★★★★★
I have made this recipe a few times already, to rave reviews. I have modified it a bit to be more Paleo — No cheese, no cream, and no butter. Instead, I doubled the bacon (reserving the bacon fat), doubled the green onions, and used all of the bacon fat to saute’ the onions. Fantastic!
★★★★★
I have made this for my husband and I many times and everytime its delicious. He is more primal while I try to stick to strict paleo (dairy does not such good things to me) but i cheat for this recipe. Delish! Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes you share with our paleo community 🙂
My son prepared this dish for us while I was visiting. This is THE BEST cauliflower dish I have ever eaten! I will use this recipe from now on. Thank you for posting such a delicious recipe! He has tried quite a few of them with much success!!
Is it okay with this dish to prepare it the day before, and put in it refrigerator overnight and cook it next day? Thanks!
yes