Posted In Eat

No fat, no interest. The new cauliflower cheese!

6th November 2015

Fat is not your enemy. Science has proven that fat is not the cause of weight gain or heart disease and can actually be beneficial to your body. More info here.

We really have a big problem with skimmed and fat free dairy products.  It is hard for anyone trained in nutrition to believe that “low-fat” is still a dietary recommendation at a national or international level – science has proven that fat is not the cause of weight gain or heart disease. If you want an enemy, it’s sugar. Healthy fats are actually beneficial for the body, helping to fuel normal body function and they can actually aid weight loss. When you strip dairy products of the fat, not only can your body not absorb all of the dairy vitamins (as these are fat soluble vitamins so the body needs fat present to be able to absorb them), they won’t satiate you, leading you grabbing for snacks and reaching for sugar.

One thing I almost always have in my fridge is natural cottage cheese (not the fat free one!). Cottage cheese is naturally low in fat anyway but is an easy source of high quality protein. I use it in baked sweet potatoes for a quick lunch, dinner or side dish. I love trying to think of healthy spins on old favourites.  This is a flour-free spin on cauliflower cheese. The best part is that it takes about 5 minutes to make.

CAULIFLOWER CHEESE

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 small bunch of spring onions
250g cottage cheese
2tbs coconut oil
1tsp chives
Optional: freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Remove leaves and put cauliflower into food processor and blend until it’s the texture of couscous or rice.

Fry off spring onions until soft and turning brown, then add chives and cauliflower continue to cook for 3 minutes stirring continuously. Remove from heat and add cottage cheese to warm through. As ever in cooking, feel free to improvise and add your healthy favourites or leftovers! I put tomatoes, peppers, basil or feta cheese in this recipe sometimes.

Add salt, pepper and parmesan to taste.

Serves two as main course and four as a side dish or starter.