Frozen Cauliflower Rice at Trader Joes
 

SCORE!

I've been reading Munchy's comments on making and using cauliflower rice and it's had me curious. Hubby and I both don't really care for cauliflower that much. We'll eat it raw but that's about it. Still though the idea of a healthy rice sub has me hooked.

I was wandering thru Trader Joes tonite and heard a clerk direct a shopper to the frozen Cauliflower rice. I followed her and grabbed a bag!

Since I rarely buy cauliflower I don't know if the price was good or not - it was (I think) $1.99 for a 12 oz bag. I consider this the lazy woman's way to test something that sounds interesting. Minimal labor and investment for the test drive. If I love it, I'll make it from now on gladly. And if we hate it, it goes back to TJs for a refund!

Yay! Try it as fried rice first!

Ohhhh - great suggestion! I think I saw a recipe the other day that looked good.

I'm also thinking of trying it as the rice in a stuffed bell pepper soup that we love. It's raining today so it's soupy kind of weather :chef:

Vickie, that is why I tried it, its the best and so less time consuming .... Huge thumbs up!! :)

Munchy that's exactly what I used it for :)

Walmart has the Green Giant steam-able Crumbles that I used to make mock potato salad. :drool:

I love cauliflower and want to try this so much but my TJ's has been out of it every time I've stopped by! This madness must stop.

Tai, maybe check the customer service desk and see when they have deliveries scheduled? I have pretty good luck with my Trader Joes in that regard. They don't just off-handedly tell you they get shipments every day. They'll take the time to look up the specific item and know whether or not it's coming in.

I'll say this was a winner for me. I actually preferred it over the rice we normally use in the soup. It had a lot more crunch and not a strong cauliflower taste. The only downside to me was when cooking it before hand there was definitely the aroma of cooking cauliflower. It's a smell I'm not overly fond of.

I think my next experiment with it will be red beans and rice. My husband makes a killer red beans and rice but we don't do it that often because of the rice. I suspect we'll probably continue to eat rice occasionally as a small side but the cauli-rice is a definite win for adding to a soup.

Vickie, keep us posted on the red beans and cauli-rice. I'd love to know before hand what you thought. Also I do agree with you on the smell. My son came in from work and said what's that smell :lol:

Thank you so much for this suggestion Vickie! I will definitely ask on my next trip.

Lovetobe150 - as of right now, it's on the menu for Thursday. :D I'll keep you posted.

I totally understand your son's reaction to the smell. Not pleasant I tell ya!

Thanks Vickie, looking forward to it :)

So the verdict is in and it's equally good as rice in the red beans and rice. Again, actually even better IMO. I really like the texture better in soup kind of dishes. There's a bit more body to the cauli-rice than regular rice.

The downside here is that Red Beans and Rice is still gonna be a rare meal. It's an absolute sodium BOMB and fairly carby as well because of the beans. We do use a fairly low-cal chicken sausage from Trader Joes but it's still high in sodium as are the spices he uses. Ahhhh well, it was still delish!

I think my next experiment with the cauli-rice will be stuffed bell peppers.

Thanks Vickie, I may just give it a try. I steer clear of rice as much as possible. As far as the sodium goes I'm gonna take into account the fiber that I really need ;) I have only had stuffed peppers once as a kid and I hated them (I also hated green peppers but now eat them). I wonder if I'd like stuffed peppers now?

You should post your recipes for both, please and thank you :D

Hi! I tried the Green Giant cauliflower crumbles today, and I didn't realize how quickly they cook in comparison to whole cut up cauliflower! I started out with a whole pan, and ended up with one little crispy bowl full (I like to roast mine with a little sea salt, pepper, paprika, and olive oil. I'll have to keep in mind a much shorter cooking time next time I make this.

Wow! You lot over the pond certainly have a better variety of food than us Brits! I just heard about minced up cauliflower to put into the microwave and make "rice",_the other day on the TV. I have to do my grocery shopping online so decided to get a bag of frozen cauliflower (I live on my own). Any ideas how I could turn frozen cauliflower into cauliflower rice?

guacamole, I bought two bags the first I over cooked and ended up putting it in a soup. The second was perfect for my salad :)

Jan I would probably google that. But I would try - defrost it, rice it and steam for a very small amount of time, just my thoughts though :)

I love cauliflower, and make it every week...I look forward to fine tuning my cooking skills for the crumbles.

I made "fried rice" for dinner and it was delicious!

Cauliflower is about $5 per head right now so this is super convenient and saving me quite a bit of money!

Thanks for that. I don't think I thought this through!!! Lol I don't have a ricer gadget.

BTW....is there some kind of alert on here, if someone has replied to me? I had to come on and specifically look at my cauliflower posting before I saw your reply. Happened yesterday too, with another reply.
Thanks ☺

Jan, check out post #9 by Munchy in this thread: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/food...ml#post5221057

I don't think you use a ricer. Just run it thru a food processor until the crumbles are approximately rice size. I will say though that the crumbles in the frozen bag I purchased are about twice the size of a grain of rice. I suspect running thru a ricer might make it too fine or mushy. One of the things that I've liked about it is that is maintains some crunch!

love2b150, I'll look up the list of things that go in hubby's red beans and rice and post them tomorrow.

For the Stuffed Bell Peppers, honestly I just sort of wing it depending on my mood! I start by cutting the tops off the peppers and slightly par-boiling them. Then it's about 1 lb browned crumbled ground turkey, about 8 oz tomato sauce and whatever spices grab me at the time. Sometimes it's onion, parsley and garlic. Occasionally I'll throw in some italian seasoning. You can add hotter spices as well if you like that flavor profile. Then mix in your rice (or cauliflower rice!) and stuff in the peppers. It can be cooked until completed in the oven or a slow cooker.

Re: the peppers, I do like green ones but love red, yellow and orange. They're much sweeter! You might prefer the taste of the other colors more.

Oh Vickie, I think the pepper recipe is a keeper, yumm :) Thanks

Jan click on thread tools top right under the page numbers and click subscribe to thread :) and I think I've heard of people using a grater, I just broke mine up by hand :)

Red Beans and Rice

3 cups dry small red beans
1/4 to 1/5 cup cider vinegar
3 T servings Franks Red Hot sauce
2 small bell peppers roughly chopped
4-6 links Trader joe's Chicken Sausage* (spicy italian is good! so is Sun Dried Tomato chicken sausage) sliced into approx 1/2 pieces
1 cup great value no salt added tomato sauce (small can)
1 can (14 oz) kirkland organic diced tomatoes
1 T better than bouillon beef base (optional but it adds to the taste)
1 t Tony Chachere's creole seasoning

Cook beans in approx 6-8 cups water in pressure cooker or slow cooker until approx 3/4 done. Add all items listed above. Depending on your taste preferences you can use more or less of each item or add in chile powder, tomato paste, etc. We like it with a vinegary and spicy bite. After each addition of seasoning, it may take 10-15 minutes cooking until the spices meld and you really get the true flavor. Cook until beans are done and serve over cauli-rice.

Because of the sodium in the Franks, sausage and Better than Bullion Beef base, this is a sodium bomb. The recipe as shown makes approx 10 cups @ 154 cal/cup.

*The sausage in the plastic wrapper has fewer calories than the one in the wrapped tray.

Vickie this sounds so good ... I wish I had everything in here to make it now :) thanks for the recipe ;)

You're very welcome! Enjoy. You may want to go half way with the spices and vinegar listed and add things as you progress. The tomato paste is good for helping to add a little sweetness. Sometimes it can get almost a little too hot for me. The husband sometimes gets a little heavy handed with the creole seasoning and chilie powder. He's been known to throw in red chile flakes as well.

Im betting everyone has recipes like this - they never turn out the same way twice in a row! ;)

The soup that I did first to test the cauli-rice was this one: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/12/s...pper-soup.html
I always sub lean ground turkey for the beef. This is one of my favorite soups and I loved the cauli-rice in it.

Hi
Could you tell me the oven temp and how long you roast the cauliflower rice for?
Thanks :)

Sorry, I just saw this now!

I ended up steaming the Green Giant cauliflower crumbles in the bag they come in according to directions - it's only like 5-10 minutes. I never mastered roasting the rice, but probably 10 minutes at 400 degrees would work. I left mine in the oven way too long that first time, and never tried the roasting method again. Sometimes if the rice gets too mushy in the microwave I mash it up with garlic powder, pepper, paprika, and a bit of salt for "mashed potatoes."

Every week I roast fresh heads of cauliflower cut into florets for about 60-90 minutes for 1 large head or 2 smaller heads. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, paprika, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and mix. The first 25 minutes I roast in a 400 degree oven uncovered, and the remainder of the roasting time I cover the pan with foil and poke steam holes in the foil with a fork. After about an hour I check for tenderness, and if it is soft, I take it out of the oven to cool a bit.

Hope this helps.

I made cauliflower crust pizza for dinner tonight! It was really REALLY good!

I bought a bag of the Trader Joe's riced caulifower recently, and tried it as a base for spooning a curry over. It was a great low cal/carb substitute! I will probably try it with other sauce dishes and stir fries. My husband doesn't like cauliflower much and doesn't need to be careful with carbs so convenience is important for me to be able to have some pre-made riced cauliflower while my husband has brown rice.

I just discovered these and feel like I hit the dieting jackpot! Before, I was making my own with a food processor and it was a pain in the butt to clean up afterwards.

Try it lightly fried up with coconut oil and with a little garam masala and salt- totally yummy