Cauliflower "Potato" Salad

One of my favorite side dishes of summer used to be potato salad so I have tried several attempts at finding a substitution. So far, this is my favorite. It looks somewhat like the real thing, and the flavor is close, especially if you let this salad sit in the fridge for a day to allow the flavors to blend.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large cauliflower
1/2 sweet onion
3 hard-boiled eggs
3-4 pickles
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup olive oil
4 T apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
salt to taste

METHOD:

Break or cut the head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and steam them until tender. Put them into a large mixing bowl. Chop the eggs, onion and pickles and add them to the bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add the dressing to the cauliflower. Taste and adjust the seasonings, and add more mayo or vinegar if you want.

Nut Butter Muffins

One of my favorite recipes from Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall is the one for peanut butter brownies. I wanted to come up with a version that is more like a muffin or cupcake, and thus this recipe was born. It is very quick and easy and one of our favorite portable treats.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup nut butter
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 T vinegar or lemon juice

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients except for the vinegar and mix well (this usually requires an electric mixer for me). Add the vinegar or lemon juice and mix well, then pour into either muffin cups or a greased muffin tin. I find this recipe makes 9 good-sized muffins, or 12 small ones.

Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. They are done when an inserted toothpick some out clean.

These are very light and moist with a texture very much like cake. If you use 1/2 cup honey they could easily be used as cupcakes at a birthday party.

Pancake "bread"

I created this recipe while experimenting to find ways of using the nut pulp left over from making nut milk and was surprised by how much the texture reminds me of wheat bread. The flavor and texture will vary quite a bit depending on which nuts the pulp was made from. We eat these either hot off the griddle with butter and honey (in which case they remind me of toast), or let them cool and use them to make round sandwiches. If the sandwiches are to be savory, you can add herbs to the batter, if they are to be sweet (say nut butter and fruit) they taste good with honey added and maybe a little cinnamon.

INGREDIENTS:

5 eggs, separated
1 cup nut butter
1 cup nut pulp
1/2 cup nut milk (or other liquid)
pinch of salt (for savory)
1 T honey (for sweet)

METHOD:

Mix all ingredients except egg whites. Beat egg whites with mixer until they form soft peaks, then fold them into the other ingredients. If the other ingredients are very stiff and it is hard to mix, you can either add more liquid or just keep stirring- even if you lose some of the fluffiness of the egg whites the pancakes will still turn out well.

Cook on hot greased griddle.