These low carb detox cauliflower mushroom bowls are packed with veggies and a delicious almond pesto! They’re a whole30 compliant, vegan and paleo friendly meal that is only 200 calories!
You’re about to hate me in 3…2….1
The Holiday season is OVER.
No more waking up to a Disney Princess advent calendar (Hi I’m Taylor, and I’m 5) OR gorging yourself on healthy ginger snaps, pecan pie paleo cookies OR cranberry almond paleo cookies.
We haven’t REALLY talked about it yet, because I didn’t want to face reality. But, two weeks in…..we need to finally acknowledge this.
Are you sad? Because, I’m SAD.
WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT WAKING UP TO EATING CHOCOLATE OUT OF CINDERELLA’S FACE?
That might be slightly over dramatic. Life will PROBABLY go on. But, you guys know how I get about things that I think are doom and gloom and generally feel like dark-cloud-badness.
BUTBUTBUT, the ONE upside to not having an excuse to down an impressive amounts of soft, chewy, spicy-sweet cookies at EXCESSIVE speeds is that now our bodies can actually start to, you know, RUN properly due to getting good nourishment and all that stuff that comes along with it being January.
You have every excuse to eat a Kale Salad Recipe OR a bowl of tender-crisp cauliflower, meaty mushrooms and the most insanely flavorful, herb-packed pesto for lunch, and your coworkers won’t secretly call you a “granola cruncher” behind your back.
Someone called me that once. You know what I told them?
“Granola is the shiznat.” Exact words.
My lack of offense took them by surprise. Try it sometime. It’s fun.
Anyway. We’re going to park our faces on the above mentioned bowl of cauliflower, mushrooms and pesto… with POMEGRANATE seeds. <– More on those later.
You’re not at all confused that I am putting a bowl of cauliflower rice in front of your faces and singing it’s vegetably-delicious praises. Cauliflower rice is my jam. My soul-food. My spirt-veg. My E’RYTHANG.
Which, unlike the above exaggeration, is not an exaggeration at all. I could eat it for every meal.
But, mushrooms? We don’t eat those often. Mostly because I only sometimes like them. Do you ever have weird moments in your life where some days a food just sends your taste buds into a pitter patter, and some days it sends them into hiding? SO WEIRD RIGHT?!
Today though, it’s a “mushroom day.”
Mushrooms make this otherwise super light and vegetal-packed bowl feel MEATY and super filling swirling around inside your hungry belly. They add the mandatory “chew factor” that makes you NOT feel like you’re eating a bowl of detoxifying, superfresh and INSANELY healthy things that rabbits probably eat too.
The pesto. OH THE PESTO. It looks eerily similar to the pesto from the lentil coconut curry with cashew cilantro pesto we ate awhile back, except with almonds. If I could smear this pesto all over both our faces in some sort of bonding ritual, I would. It would bring us closer together because it is THAT good.
The fresh mint really tones down the earthiness of the mushrooms, so that you get just a sense of forest-like undertones mingling through each garlicky bite. Of course the pesto is also heavy on the cilantro because when is any food I tell you to eat NOT?
Cilantro. It’s the GOOD STUFF.
I promised you more words on pomegranates, which is really just going to be a confession: I had random leftover pomegranate seeds in my fridge so I put them on the bowl because my eyeballs told me that there was just TOOMUCHGREEN happening, with no idea how it would work in my mouth.
And, liiiike, it happened to actually taste YUM, add some addicting crunchy crunchy texture AND an extra dose of superfoods which adds to the level of “healthy-detox-making-your-skin-glow” that is all up and inside this bowl of veggies.
Extra pretty. Extra healthy. Extra reasons to nail down your lunch plans.
Ingredients
For the pesto:
- 1/4 cup Almonds About 42 grams
- 1 cup Fresh Cilantro Packed and roughly chopped, plus additional for garnish
- 1/4 cup Fresh Mint Lightly packed and roughly chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon Minced Fresh Jalapeño
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- pinch of Black Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
For the bowl:
- 6 cups Cauliflower Florets
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil Divided
- Salt and Pepper
- 3 cups Cremini Mushrooms
- 2 teaspoons Minced Fresh Garlic
- 8 cups Spinach Packed
- 1/2 cup Pomegranate Seeds
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 375°F. Spread the almonds onto a small baking sheet and bake until golden brown and “nutty” smelling, about 7-10 minutes. Set aside.
- Place the cauliflower into a large food processor and process until rice-like.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and add in the cauliflower rice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a separate medium pan on medium heat. Add in the sliced mushrooms, garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden brown and fork tender, about 8-10 minutes.
- While the vegetables cook, add the toasted almonds into a SMALL food processor (mine is 3 cups) and pulse until broken down into small crumbs. Add in the cilantro, mint, jalapeno, lime juice, salt, and pepper and process until the herbs are broken down.
- With the food processor running, stream in 2 tablespoons water and olive oil, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary, until the pesto is smooth and creamy.
- Add the spinach into the pot with the cauliflower rice (but don’t mix it in, just let it sit on top of the cauliflower) and cover. Let the spinach sit for 2-3 minutes until it lightly wilts.
- Divide the spinach between 4 bowls, followed by the cauliflower rice, mushrooms, and the pesto. Finally, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with extra cilantro.
- Mix around and DEVOUR!
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
Kay says
Just made this recipe and it is so yummy!! I added a bit of balsamic vinegar to the mushrooms, since I only had white mushrooms and they aren’t as flavourful. So good! I have some leftover pesto, how long would it last in the fridge?
Taylor Kiser says
Yum! I only think a couple of days!
Pamela says
Awe! This looks absolutely delicious and healthy 🙂
Taylor Kiser says
Thank you Pamela!
Lindsay says
Only 4 grams of protein for a meal?
Taylor Kiser says
Feel free to add something on the side. I do that!
[email protected] says
Just made this recipe and it is so yummy!
Taylor Kiser says
So glad to hear this! YAY! Thanks so much!