This warm, cozy breakfast may look a lot like a bowl of oatmeal, but there’s a secret ingredient in there that makes it totally grain-free and paleo. I’m guessing it won’t come as a huge surprise, given the fact that I use this ingredient all the time, but this “N’Oatmeal” is made with… drumroll please… cauliflower rice! 😲Now before you click out of here and tell me that you’d rather not eat cauliflower for breakfast (and I totally get that, btw), let me just assure you that it’s so much more delicious and so much less strange than it sounds! Since cauliflower doesn’t have a ton of flavor on it’s own, it’s a really easy veggie to transform into a lot of the foods that we crave like gnocchi, fried rice, mashed potatoes, pizza, etc. So I figure, why not take a break from the savory route and turn cauliflower into a slightly sweet, comforting recipe that we can add to our healthy morning routine?
So, I gave it a try (and another try and another try until I got it just right), and the result was kind of like a rice pudding meets oatmeal – seriously DELISH! The perfect breakfast to cozy up to on these colder mornings when a smoothie just isn’t cutting it. I’ve been really craving something warm and comforting in the mornings lately, and since I’ve been on hyper alert staying away from oats due to glyphosate (and also the fact that oatmeal honestly just doesn’t keep me full for very long), I had to come up with another option. Not only does this N’Oatmeal look like a bowl of steel-cut oats, it has a pretty similar texture to it too, and you can really make it taste however you’d like depending what you add into it! I kept it simple when I created for the January Back to Basics Challenge – a little cinnamon, some vanilla, some added protein and fiber to keep us nice and full – and I’m happy to report that it was a huge hit! Since everyone loved it so much, I figured I absolutely had to share the recipe here.
Ingredients
3 cups riced cauliflower
1 cup full-fat coconut milk*
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 serving vanilla protein powder (I love it with my favorite Primal Kitchen Vanilla Collagen Fuel – if you use this one, you’ll need 2 scoops to get 20 grams of protein.)
Toppings – you choose!: berries, banana, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, cinnamon, a splash of almond milk
*Canned coconut milk may need to be mixed if the liquid has separated from the cream in the can. You can either shake it up while it’s in the can, or open it, pour it into a bowl, and whisk it together before measuring.
Serves 2.
- Add riced cauliflower and coconut milk into a pot and stir together over medium-high heat.
- Add cinnamon, vanilla, ground flax seeds, and maple syrup. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, making sure to stir every couple minutes.
- Once thickened, stir in protein powder.
- Optional (but encouraged) – use an immersion blender to blend the n’oatmeal a bit – you don’t want it to be totally smooth and you still want it to have that “oatmeal” texture, but a little bit of blending makes it feel a bit more like oatmeal and less like cauliflower rice. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can either skip this step, or put half of the n’oatmeal in a regular blender for a couple seconds, and then stir it back in with the rest of the n’oatmeal!)
- Divvy up into two bowls and top with toppings of your choice – I recommend a dash of cinnamon, 1/4 cup berries or 1/2 a sliced banana, a sprinkle of nuts or shredded coconut, and a splash of unsweetened almond milk.
If you have leftovers, you can store it in the fridge and reheat the next day OR enjoy cold! It tastes like a dessert when it’s cold right out of the fridge – highly recommend!
You guys, trust me on that little tip about trying it out cold! This is a great thing to make in advance and keep in the fridge for a quick breakfast in the morning. You can always add a little extra almond milk in the morning and heat it up in the microwave or on the stove, but I have to say, there’s something about it cold, straight from the fridge, too!! Like a sweet, healthy rice pudding! Enjoy 🙂
