Healthy Fettucine Alfredo

I got this recipe off the Dr. Oz show; alfredo sauce made from cauliflower.  I will admit I was pretty skeptical about this recipe being actually edible, but the ingredient list was simple and the recipe was not time-consuming, so why not give it a go?

Aside from the fact that I find the smell of cauliflower similar to how my dog smells when he is having "issues", I really liked this dish. The texture,of course, is different from alfredo but the flavour is similar. As usual, I played with the recipe; I made two minor changes to make it a vegan recipe and added garlic.

1/2 lb. cooked whole wheat pasta
1/2 head cauliflower, core removed and broken into small florets
2 tbsp olive oil
2 green onions, minced
1/2 cup vegan parmesan cheese  (recipe below)
1/2 cup vegetarian "chicken" stock ( at Bulk Barn)
Pepper to taste (I added garlic powder, too)

Steam the cauliflower 20 minutes or until very soft. In sauce pan, heat olive oil and cook onions until soft. Add stock and cook for 5 minutes longer. Set aside to cool.

In food processor or blender, combine caulifower and stock and garlic powder and puree until silky smooth. Our puree into the sauce pan and heat over medium heat until steaming.  Toss with the cooked pasta and add parmesan "cheese". Season with pepper.

Vegan  Parmesan

1/4 cup nutritional yeast      1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 tsp salt (I used seasoning salt)

*This recipe says you can use a food processor or coffee grinder, but I found the coffee grinder worked MUCH better.

Grind the yeast, sesame seeds and salt until completely milled. Store in clean, dry container.

This was so easy and so good, I wish I had actually read this recipe book through when I got it years ago!  Ground sesame seeds are actually a very bio-available source of calcium!  I am going to try this cheese on homemade pizza too!