Recipe Fiasco Friday - Baked Caulitots

This recipe is courtesy of the Cupcakes and Kale Chips blog.  I wasn't sure I should call it a fiasco or not because I only managed to screw up one part of the recipe. Thus, I would say that it actually IS a very easy recipe. But, I couldn't call it a find either, because we all pretty much agreed that I wouldn't make it again. The boys said they prefer store bought tater tots and John said while it was okay, it wouldn't be something he'd want to eat again. I guess the taste was just sort of bland, even with the cheese included in the recipe.

Baked Caulitots

3 cups (1/2 head) cauliflower, shredded
4 oz. (1 C.) shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg
1/4 C. cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground mustard

Spray mini muffin tins. Place cauliflower in towel and squeeze out moisture (I skipped this step with no real problems). Combine ingredients in large bowl with fork. Press down firmly into muffin cups. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

So, what did I screw up? Well the blog post doesn't specify the cauliflower state and I assumed that it would be steamed cauliflower. So, I began steaming 1/2 a head of cauliflower. Then, in the middle of the steaming process, I thought ... "I should check the comments and see if it specifies how the cauliflower starts." Sure enough, down in the comments another reader asked and the blogger responded that the cauliflower is RAW. Thus, I ate a half portion of steamed cauliflower for dinner in addition to the caulitots.

The shredding of the raw cauliflower was messy, but would have been a cinch if I had a food processor with a shredding setting as mentioned on the Cupcakes and Kale Chips blog. Adding the other ingredients was a breeze. I only have one mini muffin tin, so I used the rest of the batch in a regular cupcake tin and believe those came out of the tin much easier than the smaller ones. While they didn't look as much like tots, they tasted the same and were less hassle to extract from the pan.

When it all comes down to it, though, hubby and I both preferred the steamed cauliflower dipped in ranch dressing. Cauliflower is pretty bland on its own. Still, if you are crazy about cauliflower or all about slipping nutritious vegetables into your child's diet, you might want to try this recipe out (easy enough for a kitchen klutz like me)!

Actually, despite the dissatisfaction with this recipe, I might try another one Cupcakes and Kale Chips tweaked from a recipe on Momma's Meals for Zucchini Tater Tots. I even have some shredded zucchini in the freezer right now. (Cupcakes and Kale Chips made it gluten-free, but since I don't really need to do that I jotted down Momma's Meals' recipe, which seems simpler since it calls for Simply Potatoes hash browns instead of shredding the potato yourself. I'm all about making things simpler!)