Name: Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets (Cooking Light)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 3
Ingredients: 1 medium/large cauliflower (about 4 heaping cups); 6 tbsp all-purpose flour; 1/4 tsp garlic salt; 1/4 tsp paprika; 1/4 tsp ground pepper; 2 1/2 C corn flakes, crushed; 2 egg whites; For the Aioli (dipping sauce):; 1/2 C mayonnaise; 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice; 1 to 2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Even though it’s February and some resolutions are falling by the wayside, I’m still trying to eat a little better and a little lighter.

I have several ‘Light’ cookbooks and have been sampling a few recipes from each. Some of the recipes have been total flops, but these Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets (adapted from Taste Of Home’s Guilt-Free cookbook) are the best of the bunch. Outstandingly delicious!

These light, crispy cauliflower pieces get the crunchiness from the crushed corn flakes held together by a little flour and egg white. I love cauliflower anyway and this recipe kicks up the goodness a notch.

I ate about half of them for lunch, dipped in that creamy, lightly spicy aioli. You can leave the aioli off if you’re trying to cut back – totally optional.

As I was munching down on them for lunch, I almost felt like I was eating a main dish because they’re quite substantial. These Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets are reminiscent of chicken nuggets, but much, much better and healthier! Love that crispy coating.

I think you’ll love these simple cauliflower nuggets. The hardest part is cutting up the cauliflower, so if you want to cheat and get it pre-cut, that’ll save you some time.

Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets (Cooking Light)

Yield: 3 - 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Cornflakes make for a crispy crunchy coating and the aioli (optional) finishes them off nicely.

Ingredients

1 medium/large cauliflower (about 4 heaping cups)
6 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 1/2 C corn flakes, crushed
2 egg whites
For the Aioli (dipping sauce):
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray.
Break cauliflower into a little larger than bite-sized pieces (too small and they'll fall apart after cooked). Put 1/2 C water into a medium sauce pan and add the cauliflower. Put a lid on the pan and cook cauliflower over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain well and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the flour, garlic salt, paprika and pepper. In another shallow bowl, put the egg whites. In a third shallow bowl, put the crushed corn flakes.
When cauliflower is still warm, but cool enough to handle, dip each piece into the flour (shaking of excess), dip and roll in the egg white (shaking off excess), then roll in the crushed corn flakes. Set on the prepared baking sheet and continue with the rest of the cauliflower.
Bake the cauliflower for 15-18 minutes, turning it over half way through baking so the bottoms don't burn and they cook evenly. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt if desired.
For the aioli: while the cauliflower is baking, mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and sriracha (to taste) together until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until cauliflower is ready.
Serve immediately out of the oven with the side of aioli (or drizzle aioli over the tops of the cauliflower). If you have any leftover, refrigerate after cooled and warm up in a 350° oven for 10 minutes so it will stay crispy.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

For a lighter dish, serve without the aioli (but it's reeaaaaalllly good with it).

To crush the corn flakes, put them in a ziplock bag and pound gently with the bottom of a glass until pretty finely crushed, but still with a little texture. That helps the cauliflower be really crispy right out of the oven.

Serve these warm, definitely.

You can find sriracha sauce by the hot sauces in any grocery store now, but if you'd rather use Tabasco, that's fine. Just a little different taste.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 338Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 520mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 7g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

Growing up, one of my favorite dishes was Mother’s scalloped potatoes. I don’t know how she made them and unfortunately her recipe didn’t make it to the little recipe box of hers that I inherited.

Over the years I’ve had other scalloped potatoes, but they all tasted boxed or bland and I gave up on ever having really good ones again. That is, until I was browsing through Southern Living’s 2011 Annual Recipes.

After looking at this Creamy Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes recipe I thought, man that looks like it may be close to Mother’s recipe. It’s similar but, I hate to say, is much better. It has three cups of whipping cream in it – how could it go wrong? Here’s the before and after:

It’s fairly easy to throw together. I got out my trusty mandolin and fought with it for awhile until the perfectly sliced (almost) potatoes were produced. Bret stood by with band-aids in case my knuckles decided to join in. All is well though.

I changed the Southern Living recipe a bit and it could not have come out more perfect and creamy! I kept thinking the flavor reminded me of something and decided it was like a really great alfredo sauce, but thicker.

We love the crusty topping that the parmesan cheese makes and the soft and creamy Yukon gold potatoes are the perfect choice for this dish.

We had these Creamy Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes with a tasty beef tenderloin (see Tips and Stuff for a quick steak tutorial if you like the way it looks in the photo).

We both agree that this dinner was a success and yes, please, it will be made again.