Vegan Cauliflower Gratin

The “New Year’s Resolution Phenomenon” is quite interesting to watch. Especially from a fitness and nutrition perspective. We all know this is the time of year when gyms are completely packed, and grocery stores can’t keep up with the demand of “cleansing” products like cayenne pepper, maple syrup and lemon juice.
I wish people would understand that, improving your overall health can be much more simple and less painful than that. But it doesn’t happen overnight either! Literally jumping into the next fitness craze and starving yourself for 3 days, drinking some miraculous potion might work temporarily, but will never offer long lasting results.

Yes, staying active is a must. 12 months a year! And when it comes to diet, little changes go a long way.
When we started this blog, we knew that one of our goal was to show people how to do what we call recipe “makeovers”. Which basically means adapting traditional recipes to fit different types of diets. All by easily swapping a few ingredients.

This recipe is a clear example. Inspired by our mom’s “Pasta au gratin”, an amazing, super cheesy pasta dish she used to make for us as kids, we came up with this more special-diet-friendly version. And these are the benefits:

- By using cauliflower instead of pasta, the dish becomes lower in calories and carbohydrates, and higher in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber

- By swapping all the dairy products (butter, milk and cheese) for non dairy alternatives, it automatically becomes free of cholesterol, lower in saturated fat, and more “heart friendly”. We used olive oil instead of butter, cashew milk instead of dairy milk (any other nut milk will work too) and instead of cheese, GO Veggie! Dairy Free Mexican Shreds (their Mozzarella flavor works great too!)

The result is a super flavorful and satisfying dish, that will make it easy for you to stick to your resolutions… all year long!

Need more ideas? Check out these recipes too!

Vegan Cauliflower Gratin

Prep time: 10 mins  | Cook time:45 | Total time: 55 mins

Ingredients

1 medium size cauliflower head
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp salt
For the vegan bechamel sauce
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp flour
2 cups plain unsweetened cashew milk (or any other non dairy milk)
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp pepper
1/ vegetable bouillon
¾ cup GO Veggie! Dairy Free Mexican Shreds (you can also use Mozzarella)
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat a large baking dish with cooking spray
2. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt and toss well. Transfer to prepared baking dish and bake at 375F for 20 minutes
3. In the meantime, prepare the "bechamel" sauce. In a large non stick sauce pan, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add flour and cook over medium heat stirring constantly, until it starts to brown lightly, 2-3 minutes
4. Slowly pour cashew milk, whisking constantly, until the flour is completely blended in. Season with salt, pepper and vegetable bouillon. Cook over medium low heat for 3-4 minutes, until it starts to thicken, whisking constantly. Add Mexican Shreds and continue whisking and cooking until melted
5. Pour sauce over cooked cauliflower sprinkle, with extra shreds (optional) and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes