Purple Cauliflower "Hummus" (Paleo / Whole 30 Approved)
Purple cauliflower. It’s a thing! We posted a sneak peek of this recipe to our Instagram and pretty much everybody thought we’d used food dye to get this gorgeous purple color, but no. It’s 100% just the color of the cauliflower, and the color was bold enough to make me stop in the grocery store and say “I’m going you into a delicious spread.” The boy stocking the shelf right there was a little startled, but I’m sure he’s over it by now. And hey, look, if the purple thing isn’t as important to you or if you can’t find this variation, you can obviously use any cauliflower you want for this recipe.
So this is like hummus, but it’s not hummus, but you can treat it like hummus. As one of our Instagram friends pointed out, “hummus” just means “chickpea” and since I’m doing Whole 30 with some folks from my gym and since no legumes are allowed on Whole 30, there are no chickpeas in this hummus. So … it’s not hummus. It’s a purple cauliflower situation that is kinda beautiful and low on carbs and technically fits within the confines of paleo and Whole 30 eating styles. (Assuming you don’t cover it in feta and pita bread like Beau did. He’s not on Whole 30 and loves to rub it in my face.)
So, yeah, did you know I’m doing Whole 30? If you like really know me, you’d be proud that I’m doing it so well, considering I’m a firm believer that a glass of wine per day minimum is the key to health and happiness. Also, my monthly cheeseburger intake could probably singlehandedly keep a small beef farmer in business. So it’s kind of been hard for me to cut out all grains, dairy, added sugars, etc. I have been making lots of delicious recipes that I’ve loved, but also I feel like I’m now constantly eating but never full? How is that possible? Am I a monster?
The whole situation has meant I’ve been going to the grocery store a lot more often, sometimes multiple times a day if I decide to just not plan. It’s also forced me to be a lot more aware of what exactly I’m putting into my body at pretty much all times, which is actually really refreshing info to have. I do feel a little neurotic reading every single ingredient label of every item I buy, but now I know that so many products have added sugar—maybe I was just better off not knowing that. Oh well.
Anyway, this recipe has come in handy a LOT over this whole intense month-ish of clean eating, but it’s something I’d happily eat even if I weren’t following this weird way of eating. We’ve had it a few times with our crispy baked za’atar chicken thighs but mostly I’ll just pull it out when I need a snack and dunk some carrots or cucumbers into it and be perfectly happy with my healthy little life and definitely NOT wishing I were stuffing my face with cheesy bacon garlic bread. Anyway, recipe below. :)
Purple Cauliflower “Hummus”
serves 2-4 as a snack, takes about 10 minutes to prepare
1.5 cups raw cauliflower florets (preferably purple cauliflower, duh)
3 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1 lemon
6 tablespoons tahini
1/2 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
(Optional) red pepper flakes to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust as needed, with the option to add more oil (a 1/2 tablespoons at a time) for a thinner spread.
Thanks for stopping by the blog! Let us know if you give this recipe a try ;)
xoxo Matt