Cauliflower has been gaining quite a following recently! A couple years ago when I was on the ITG Diet Plan, my cravings for pizza and rice were satisfied with the substitution of cauliflower. I began buying heads of cauliflower to try recipes in the ITG Recipe Section: Cauliflower Flat Bread Pizza, Cauliflower Fried Rice, and Buffalo Cauliflower, among others. I still to this day use this versatile veggie long after I reached my goal weight, especially since I never felt weighed down or "puffy" after eating several cups of it, which tends to happen with regular rice and dough!

Now, cauliflower isn't exactly the neatest vegetable to work with in the kitchen by a long shot; it tends to crumble and break apart easily, gets messy to cut and separate into florets, and likes to fall all over the kitchen floor. In the beginning, I tediously quartered my cauliflower and used a large cheese grater to create fine "rice" that could be used in the flat bread recipe or in a stir-fry. Then, I found the NutriBullet blender and began processing handfuls at a time. This was much quicker, but it still took the better half of an evening to achieve my culinary creation.

A while back I noticed bags of riced cauliflower in the fresh produce section of my local grocery stores and thought wow, what a convenience! Now get ready for this if you haven't seen it already - just recently a few big national vegetable producers now offer a frozen bag of cauliflower rice that can be steam cooked in the bag, in the microwave, within 6-8 minutes. What a dream! Plus it doesn't go bad after a few days of sitting in the refrigerator. I have been buying bags upon bags of the stuff each week and it has really aided in keeping me at my goal weight. In my area I've noticed some shortages on occasion when I go shopping, so I let a manager know that I suggest the cauliflower rice to ITG Dieters in the area - it would be in their best interest to keep it stockpiled!

Each bag typically contains 4 cups of riced cauliflower (check the nutrition facts label for servings contained in each bag) and I eat at least half the bag for lunch - and sometimes for dinner as well the same day. I always add a salad on the side, a lean protein of my choice, and some extra vegetables for variety. Add a little bit of sea salt, pepper, and garlic along with a tasty protein to create a super-quick meal that is both delicious and nutritious, and keeps you from getting that puffy or over-stuffed feeling after you finish a full bowl.

Try it out as a substitute for your family one night, and don't tell them you made the switch. They may not really notice the difference, especially when adding sauces for them or using it in recipes that call for real rice. You can help them lower their carb intake by making small changes like this. I used the cauliflower rice with lean ground beef and diced tomatoes in a stuffed green pepper, and the consistency was spot on to mimicking a typical stuffed pepper dish minus the rice, and with barely any carbs. I don't think I'll ever eat regular rice again!

Here are some other great ITG Recipe ideas to put that cauliflower to use while on the ITG Diet Plan, and try using the frozen cauliflower rice for convenience:

Cauliflower Flat Bread Pizza

Cauliflower and Chicken Fried Rice

Cauliflower Mashed "Potatoes"

Buffalo Cauliflower

Lemon Pepper Cauliflower Rice

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

Breadless Stuffing