Mar 15, 2010

Creamy Cauliflower Purée




A perfect low carb alternative to mashed potatoes with a creamy buttery taste and less than one point. If you don't have buttermilk, low fat sour cream also works great.

Creamy Cauliflower Purée
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 3/4 cup • Old Points: 1 pt • Points+: 2 pt
Calories: 60.7 • Fat: 2.4 g • Protein: 3.7 g • Carb: 8.6 g • Fiber: 4.2 g

Ingredients:
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, cut up into florets
  • 4 cloves crushed garlic
  • 1/3 cup 1% buttermilk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp light butter 

Directions:

Steam or boil cauliflower and garlic until soft. Drain, add buttermilk, light butter, salt, pepper and purée with a hand blender. If you don't own a hand blender, you should consider getting one. It is one of my most used gadgets in my kitchen, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. A regular blender would work fine as well.
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63 comments:

  1. Yum-o is all I have to say! That looks so incredibly tasty. I have to tell you that I made your spinach stuffed lasgana rolls the other day and boy were they good! Thanks for making so many wonderful recipes for those of us watching our figurines. :)
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  2. Hi Gina, this looks like a great dish. I'm lactose intolerant do you think I can use Lacteeze or soft tofu instead?
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  3. Thanks for posting this Gina! As for the hand blender - I finally went out this weekend and bought a hand blender/food processor combo. I cannot wait to use it!!!
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  4. I make this quite often as a yummy side to have with casseroles or with anything saucy.

    It's also delish with lite cream cheese and chopped chives in lieu of the buttermilk and garlic!
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  5. @Anonymous- I've never used Lacteeze but why not!!

    @Sarah- I can't live without mine. Makes pureeing anything so simple and cleanup is so easy.

    @Annie- Yes, chives!! Cream cheese I bet is great too, thanks for sharing!
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  6. I made your enchiladas tonight....wow there were wonderful!
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  7. YUM! I feel like that is all I say when I come visit you.... guess it could be worse! :) hehe
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  8. this looks SOOOOOOOO good! i love potatoes but have to cut them down to a min. this is awesome!
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  9. This looks fab! Is there an alternative to buttermilk?
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  10. FYI about Brummel &Brown, I used it for years but I have stopped using it due to concerns about trans fats. If you check the label you will see that it has a fraction of them. Unfortunately by federal labeling rules it can be .495 which rounds down to zero, bt those fractions do add up. Everything I have read on trans fats says "stay away!", so I am back to butter, yum.
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  11. oh this looks good!! I am loving your site.. I made the garlic coconut shrimp the other night..not sure what I did wrong- but it was like a soup-- but it was heavenly!! so its a keeper!! and then I made the lasagna with spinich-- WOW-- no one would ever know it was diet food!! Next time I think the addition of mushrooms and onions might be fun to try as well!
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  12. I'm trying to get back on the WW program and was having a lot of trouble...but your recipes are a great help. I love, love, love all the cauliflower ideas. Am eager to try the spinich lasagna.
    Thank you for your generosity in sharing these.
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  13. I also added some ranch seasoning for extra flavor! Yummy!
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  14. Gina, I don't comment much but I get your email updates daily. Thank you for the great ideas. Even if I am not using your recipes that day, them being in my inbox reminds me that I need to stick to my WW points. Thank you!

    This one sounds delish and I can't wait to try it!
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  15. I can close my eyes and think it is mashed potatoes, hehe. I am no fan of cauliflower but the ingredients of this dish sound delicious.
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  16. You've done it again. This looks awesome, and I've been wanting to try making this instead of mashed potatoes. Gonna get on it tonight! :D Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes!
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  17. @Julie- butter's better!! :) Thanks for sharing, I do like using real butter when I cook. I just use it in small quantities!

    @Vicki- the shrimp dish is a stew so you probably did nothing wrong! The addition of mushrooms and onions to the lasagna rolls sounds lovely!

    You can replace the buttermilk with light sour cream if you wish.
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  18. I make something similar to this all the time. My husband and I eat South Beach friendly, so this is top at the list. I don't miss white potatoes at all, though I don't know if he could say the same!
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  19. Very South Beach friendly!! I do low carb, low points every now and then when I need a little jump start and this is a great side dish. Even my daughter likes it and she's not a fan of cauliflower.
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  20. I made this tonight, along w/ corned beef and cabbage. I am dying! The cauliflower is so good!!
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  21. Hi Gina! Would this worked if I used frozen cauliflower?
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  22. I made the califlower dish tonight. All I
    Can say is, it was amazing! I used a 16 oz bag of frozen califlower and it was easy
    N turned out fabulous!
    Gina, you inspire
    Me to stay on track! Thanks for taking the time 2 post such great recipes!
    Susan
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  24. Just found your blog. Thank you so much. Your photographs are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I'm going to try out a whole Easter Menu with your recipes this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes!

    Lizzie
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  25. Where has this recipe been all my life! It tastes just like mashed potatoes and it is barely any points.
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  26. @Christina - Funny how it really tastes like mashed potatoes : )
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  27. Wow. I've heard of this before but I wondered about the taste. I'll have to try it. I hope to get a food processor soon. :)
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  28. i followed the recipe exactly and i couldnt eat it due to the overwhelmingly strong garlic taste, was this supposed to come out almost spicy?
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  29. No, it sounds like your garlic didnt cook long enough. When cooked (boiled in this case) the garlic has a very mild flavor.
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  30. this is awesome! i didn't have buttermilk, so i used skim, and just added some "i can't believe it's not butter" spray at the end. delicious, filling and super-low on points!
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  31. This is delicious! I've made it several times now, even my kids ask for it :)
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  32. Gina - this is a fantastic website and I am so glad I found it. The recipes are awesome! And being point friendly really helps too. The pictures are gorgeous and inspire me to cook new and different things. I have also heard alot about the cauliflower dish and have never tried it but will now. Your enchilada recipes are delicious! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
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  34. Can I say yummy!! Made this last night and my kids loved it. My older son does not like mash potatoes but loves this. He even went back for 2nd's. Thanks for the idea
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  35. I don't like cauliflower (or thought I didn't) but could live on mashed potatoes the rest of my life.

    Gina - this recipe is AWESOME, if I didn't cook it myself I would think it had real potatoes in it.

    I absolutely love your website, you have done an excellent job with it!!!! I have to say it's my favorite site when it comes to recipes....

    Please don't stop!!! :)

    Thanks again!!!
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  36. I enjoy this dish so much, i have already made it twice since starting WW last month.
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  37. Do you think this would be a good sidedish for the Chicken Cordon Bleu???
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  38. Sure, this would be a great side for Chicken Cordon Bleu.

    I'm glad you are all enjoying this! Crazy how it tastes so much like mashed potatoes!! :)
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  39. I made this last night and really enjoyed it. I used 2% milk and I thought it worked fine. I also used white pepper. A definite keeper! Thank you!
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  40. Made this tonight, so yummy.
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  41. Made this tonight with your pork chops with mushrooms... Yummy!
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  43. Would the point value stay the same on this recipe for the Points Plus program?
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  45. My boyfriend loves mashed potatoes but hates the pooch on his stomach. He was so excited when I showed him this recipe and your website. Especially after he had the roasted red bell pepper soup I made from your website yesterday. We love it!!!!!! We love that you use fresh ingredients, that you post the nutritional information, and that you are an novice photographer. Just know that we are loving and using your recipes and look for more comments from us.
    ~Thank you
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  47. Hi there
    do you think that I can use this instead of mashed potatoes in the turkey croquettes? making mine as chicken... but didn't know if the cauliflower would have enough body to hold?
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  48. I don't think it would hold well, maybe a mix of both?
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  49. This looks really good Gina! I was wondering though, do you have any idea what the calories would be if you got rid of the garlic? I am allergic to it. Thanks :)
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  50. These are the best! As a carboholic, I could eat mashed potatoes for every meal 7 days a week. This recipe gives me my mashed potato fix without the guilt (or increase on the scale). I almost never have buttermilk in my fridge, but use Fage 0% greek yogurt instead. It adds creaminess and tang and is still really healthy. Yummy!
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  51. If I don't have buttermilk or sour cream on hand, could I use milk or a combo of milk and heavy cream? Thanks! These look delicious, I can't wait to try them :)
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  52. Emily, never tried it with yogurt!

    You could use a combo of mik and heavy cream but that will increase the fat, calories and points.
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  53. I tried it with sour cream instead of buttermilk (because I don't have buttermilk) tonight and really liked them. I don't think the family was too excited about them, but oh-well! More for me!!!
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  54. Cooked this with chicken broth and saved 1/3 cup of the liquid to mash the cauliflower in, added chives and 1/3 cup low fat mexi cheese to it. Great. Thanks

    Jacque
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  55. Yay. Finally found a healthy food site that works for my family. I have so many healthy food cook books but the ingredients are rediculously long. Thank you, thank you for making it easy for us busy moms. Just tried the potato and cauliflower soup tonight. It was a big hit.
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  57. This one needs to be fixed up more for greater taste because I found it rather bland -- very unusual for me with Gina's wonderful recipes. I will keep the garlic, but next time use light sour cream, ff Greek yogurt or light flavored cream cheese instead of buttermilk. Also would add chives. I also made a mistake of simply pouring in the liquid without checking for consistency which caused it to be too watery and then had to thicken with a little corn starch. A good start to a healthy recipe, however; so I will keep trying.
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  58. This is an amazing recipe. I found it very tasty and healthy. I'm lactose intolerant so I changed it up a bit- instead of using buttermilk I used coconut milk with apple cider vinegar. I found this tip online- for 1 cup of coconut/soy/rice/whatever milk you add 2-3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for 10 minutes then add it to your recipe. Turned out great!
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  59. I just put this recipe into my recipe maker on Weight Watchers because I wanted to change it up a bit, but noticed the recipe was still only 1 points plus - even with 2% buttermilk!
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  60. How many cups of cauliflower florets should 1 medium head be? Thanks!
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  61. Gina!! I have to post my surprise combination side dish I had tonight! OMG! I made the creamy cauliflower and was having the cream of zucchini soup too. I thought the two flavors were very compatible. Do I decided to try them like mashed potatoes and gravy. OMG! If it were a blind taste test I would swear it was mashed potatoes and chicken gravy! I hope someone else tries this! Close your eyes however or eat it in the dark! Green gravy!
    I had to post this and will post it at the other site too!
    Susie
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  62. Buttermilk is naturally light : )

    Sarah, wish I would have checked at the time.

    Susie, nice find!
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  63. I love this recipe.. I use a dab of mayo and green onion in mine.. and its delish!
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