Short Ribs and Cruciferous Vegetables for the Sickly, Gassy

My boyfriend had hip surgery last week.

No, I'm not dating a 70-year-old.

He has a fairly uncommon hip bone situation that I'm not educated enough about to give you more information. I can barely pronounce the condition, okay?? Let's just say, the "Winter of Kyle" is quickly turning into the "Enslavement of Melissa", complete with doing all the grocery shopping and cooking.

{Mmmm, barely roasted short ribs covered in freshly ground pepper--yes, FRESHLY ground by me!}

Kyle's mom came in town last week for the first few days following his surgery. When she left on Friday night, I felt inspired to do something special and comforting for the guy who bought me this, so I made Ina Garten's short ribs (minus the leek, fennel, and rosemary, since I didn't have any and wasn't venturing out in the freezing cold to get any!) and served it atop mashed cauliflower.

{Any recipe that calls for a bottle of wine is probably a good one.}

You could easily do this with mashed potatoes, or even egg noodles, but Kyle and I are doing another Paleo challenge to kick of the new year. It really warrants its own post, but the Paleo diet is basically the best thing you can do for yourself. I would say "and others around you", but considering the amount of cruciferous vegetables you're likely to consume on said diet, it's really more cruel than anything else. I'll profile it in more detail for you another time, but just know that this short rib recipe is pretty Paleo, minus the wine, which by the way, you could omit.

{These pictures were taken with my new Canon Rebel XTi!! Can you tell I'm excited??}

Whether you're doing Paleo or not, mashed cauliflower is a great way to introduce more vegetables into your diet. You can do the same thing with parsnips too. Just stay away from people you care about 30 minutes after you eat them. What I'm trying to say is, you'll be farting...a lot.

Recipe below.

Mashed Cauliflower

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 Tbsp butter (optional)

1-2 Tbsp milk or cream

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. While you wait for the water to come to a boil, chop cauliflower into 1/2" chunks. It doesn't matter how you chop them--you're going to dump them in a food processor anyway!

3. Boil cauliflower for about 25 minutes, or until the cauliflower is soft enough to cut with a wooden spoon.

4. Drain cauliflower very well. I usually let it sit in the strainer for about 5 minutes, then take the back of a wooden spoon and press the cauliflower to get as much water out as possible. Watery mashed cauliflower is not what you're going for.

5. After drained well, dump the cauliflower into a food processor. Add the other ingredients* (butter is optional, but you really need the milk/cream to get the mixture moving) and pulse until you've reached your desired consistency. The smoother the better.

This stores well in the refrigerator for no more than 2 days.

*Try experimenting with other ingredients like green onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese, etc., but keep in mind, they'll add calories/might not be paleo. I'm pretty sure it will be incredibly delicious though!