WILD CARD

First off, I just want to say I had no Idea that Thursday was national peanut butter day and I posted my peanut butter protein pancakes! What a coincidence!

Recently my sister just started working at a cancer hospital as a nurse. She works four days a week for twelve hours. She sees everything...and I mean everything. The other day she came home and told me she had a patient with a tumor in his butt that looked like cauliflower (sorry if that ruined cauli for you), and a woman's dead tongue fall out of her mouth. I don't know how she does it.

Needless to say, her job is really stressful and she is on her feel 24/7. Being stressed is not fun and I could tell it was getting to her. Especially when we got in a fight over noodles...it went a little like this:

Lesley: Are these the noodles mom made for spaghetti? Why didn't she make spaghetti noodles?

Me: I don't know Lesley. They are just noodles...(probably a little snappier than I should have been)

Lesley: Oh my god Lauren I'm just asking. Your such a BITCH. (half true)

And ended up with me barging into her room while she was getting dressed and both of us crying, apologizing, and hugging while she was still half naked...haha we are so weird and both agreed the fight was completely ridiculous.

I know first hand that when I'm at work and I get stressed It's usually because I am hungry and haven't had a chance to eat. Work gets really busy sometimes and I am unable to get a break. Fortunately, my sister does get a lunch break but she is always working so her lunch usually consists of a protein bar and half assed PB&J.

Since she doesn't have the time to pack a proper lunch I decided to play good sister and pack lunches for her! I even surprised her with dinner! 

She gets home so late from work and has absolutely no patients so she usually just goes to bed hungry. Not a good idea.

Dinner was a test. I'll call it a wild card recipe. I was not sure if she was going to love or completely hate what I made her so I was a little nervous.

I kept seeing recipes for cauliflower pizza crust and just had to try it. I found the recipe on the blog Hello Healthy. It was amazing! She loved it and was shocked by the ingredients it was made out of. 

Yes, I am giving you a recipe using cauliflower even though I ruined it for you. Toughen up kid.

Here is her recipe adapted:

WILD CARD

Cauliflower pizza crust

1. 2 cups of riced cauliflower. You can put it in a food processor and pulse until rice  consistency or grate it.

2. 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (I used fat free)

3. one egg white

4. salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

First cook the cauliflower in a sauté pan until tender. About 10 minutes. Next, combine with all the ingredients. 

Line and spray pan with non stick cook spray. Divide "dough" in half, It will be really liquidy, and make crust. Don't make it to thin because it will be really hard to remove. Mine was probably 1/4 of an inch or less. I also make two crusts with this one because if it is too big it will brake. 

Cook at 400 until edges are golden.

Carefully with a spatula, loosen the edges. Be patient because it will most likely stick to the foil.

I like mine a little crunchy so I flip it over and cook for a little longer and top with desired ingredients.

For my sister, I stacked both crusts and topped with homemade marinara, black olives, caramelized onion, and pineapple.

For mine, I made a fat free pesto-ish sauce and topped it with roasted tomato, caramelized onion, then drizzled it with balsamic vinegar.

I saved my other crust for later!

Marinara:

1. Simmered one big can of diced tomatoes and one tablespoon of tomato paste for about 30 minutes. I also threw in some basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and of course garlic.

Pesto-isht

1. 1 cup FRESH basil

2. handfull of spinach

3. roasted eggplant

4. 1 tsp nutritional yeast 

(very high in B vitamins, fiber, and so much more! I buy mine at whole foods)

5. 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

6. salt, pepper, garlic to taste

I just threw everything into a food processor and added some liquid. It comes out very thick.

Now Lunch!

Lunch # 1

1. balsalmic roasted eggplant with homemade marinara

2. spinach, carmelized onion, and mushroom fritatta, with a laughing cow wedge and      sugar free ketchup (she eats ketchup on her ketchup)

3. mixed fruit (raspberries, back berries, strawberries, and half a clementine

4. Chocolate chocolate chip protein muffin

I didn't take pictures of any of the food so you'll just have to wait for the recipes on this one!

Lunch #2

1. Chicken with biryani spices (They sell mine at the grocery store)

2. Roasted sweet potato coins topped with PB2 cottage cheese sauce, and raspberries (this was the wild card)

3. Roasted green beans (with ketchup!)

4. Chocolate chocolate chip protein muffin

WILD CARD

Sweet potatoes:

1. one small sweet potato cut into coins about as thick as your pinkie

2. 2 tablespoons PB2

3. 1 tablespoon of pureed fat free cottage cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line and coat baking sheet with foil and non stick cooking spray.

2. place potatoes on baking sheet spray with non stick cook spray and roast until tender. 

3. Meanwhile mix the PB2 with cottage cheese and water until saucy consistency. 

4. Top potatoes with sauce and raspberries and eat!

I love making people food! Especially when its the food that has been given hidden looks like, WTF? My family always is saying to me "You're mixing that with that?" now that my sister is trying my creations she sees I'm not so entirely weird after all. ;D Hey, don't knock it till you try it!