Scraps and Snippets ~ Cauli"Chick" Salad

I might be catching the cauliflower puree train late in the game. And, honestly, I may be overusing it. I mean three soups and a sauce and now as a base for a "chicken" salad. Weird. But stinking delicious. Really. Like who knew cauliflower was bigger than as an addition to mashed potatoes and as a base for ranch or cheese sauce??? 

So forgive me if my new discovery, my cruciferous epiphany, is so 1990's. But it's new to me, and it's a wonderful addition to my kitchen repertoire. 

I used the cauliflower puree with a smidgen of mustard in place of mayo in this salad. I smeared it on toasted marble rye, but it would be delicious with whole grain crackers, in a tortilla as a roll-up or wrap or stuffed in a hollowed out pepper or tomato, served with celery... etc.

Cauliflower puree

1 head of cauliflower chunked (use most of the stem as well)

3 medium to large cloves garlic 

1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice

sea salt to taste (1/2 teaspoon or so) 

Steam cauliflower and garlic cloves until fork tender. (about 15 minutes)
Cool a bit.
Put the steamer contents into a food processor and add salt and lemon juice and puree until a creamy consistency.

To one cup of cauliflower puree. (Put the rest in a fridge for dinner another night).

Add: This is the fun part. 1/4ish cup of each

rotten picture of a side view of the cut sandwich. 

minced fresh celery and/or minced onions
chopped nuts (I used pecans)
dried or fresh fruit (I used dried apples and cranberries) 
chicken substitute of choice. (chickpeas would be great, or chopped, seasoned tempeh).
I added 1 teaspoon of mustard. 

Additional ideas....endless.
Some rolling around in my brain....

buffalo sauce to taste with chickpeas, minced celery and onions and parsley
A few sprinkles of Italian spices with chopped sun dried tomatoes, onions, olives 
Some shakes of lemon pepper with onion, lemon zest, almonds 
A teaspoon or so of curry with chickpeas, onions, chopped kale.

This recipe was shared at Ricki Heller's Wellness Weekend.