Sauteed Coconut Cauliflower with Black Bean Salad

I’ve been absolutely submerged in a stack of Country Living magazines that my sweetie’s mum and gram have passed on to me.  Ok, it’s not JUST Country Living.....there’s also some Martha Stewart and Good Housekeeping, but I love them.  I have about 100 pages dog eared of crafty endeavors I’d like to implement while my honey is away.....let me tell you, this do-it-yourselfer can do a lot of damage in seven weeks! ;)

Anyway, one of the things I read was something on a group of super veggies that are supposed to be totally amazing and healthy for you (which is my other favorite thing to read about) and cauliflower was among them, so the next time I was at the store I picked some up.  I’ve been allowing my meals to be tremendously simple, just cooking for myself, but they’ve still managed to be tasty and nourishing so far!

I made the cauliflower my main dish, really just wanting to enjoy the unique flavor that I don’t get to taste very often (and when one usually eats cauliflower it’s raw on a plastic tray with some sort of uber creamy dip).  My big splurge for the day was organic unrefined coconut oil ($11 for a 16 oz jar) and cooking the cauliflower in it seemed like the best idea ever, so I did.  First things first though, I steamed the bite sized florets in a colander over boiling water for about 5 minutes before putting them in a pan with a few spoonfuls of oil.

Then I went outside to continue waging war on fire ant hills (in bare feet because this week’s swarm attack rendered me unable to wear shoes for a few days), and ended up leaving the pan unattended for longer than I meant to.  I swear I’m not irresponsible.....it was on low.....I mean, the worst thing that could happen was burning my dinner.  And it turns out that a little burning was exactly what my dinner needed.  Lightly blackened, if you will (and only on one side of course :)

I added a splash of Bragg’s (which I’ve gone back to--just for cooking--after realizing that we go through a bottle of soy sauce in, um, NO time at all), and a spoonful of nutritional yeast once the pan was turned off.  It got topped off with fresh green onions from the porch and served with a black bean salad (which is my fancy way of saying salad with black beans on it).

Aaaaaaaaand this is probably what I will make every night until the rations are gone.  

Sauteed Coconut Cauliflower with Black Bean Salad

Approximate Price: $5

Backyard Deviled Eggs

ok, so i really just wanted to show off a picture of deviled eggs made by my happy babies in the backyard!  how cool is that!  :)

deviled eggs are super easy.  i put four eggs covered by water in a sauce pan and boiled them for ten minutes, switching them over to a bowl of cold water to cool down.

i cracked the shells against the cutting board in a few places around the wide end, as i find it’s easier to peel from the little pocket of air that ends up down there.

i rinsed them off and sliced them in half (carefully, so as not to tear them), and got out the mayo, mustard and cilantro.  i took the yolks out and put them into a bowl, mixing with a spoonful of mayo, mustard and a bit of mama’s miracle dressing (which you will now see in probably everything i do from here on out! :) 

you can season it however you like, which is the beauty of everything i do here at shit in a pot!  :)  then just scoop it back out into the perfect little half circles just waiting to be filled back in.  paprika is the traditional topping for them, but i thought cilantro would do just fine....

backyard deviled eggs

approximate price: $2