By Snickers
Let me tell you, mistakes can be tasty! I was at the nursery stocking up on plants for my garden and bought a lovely bunch of snowball cabbage seedlings. I took them home and planted them in my garden. Imagine my surprise when I realized about a week later that I didn’t have cabbage but cauliflower – the flat had been mislabeled! I found out two things. Young cauliflower looks exactly like young snowball cabbage, and cauliflower can grow in my garden.
I had never bothered to grow cauliflower before, because in my corner of the midwest they don’t usually produce well, but they really took off with our cold, wet spring.
Cauliflower starts to produce in about the same amount of time as cabbage. At about 6-8 weeks I started cutting my first heads of both cauliflower and cabbage. I did find out that you need to cut cauliflower when it’s still cool in the morning or the heads start to dry up. Next time we have a cool, wet spring, I will probably plant cauliflower again. I will plant less however; as the leaves get large they take up space that I usually would use for other things.
I just finished cutting all my heads of cabbage, the heat really turned up here, and I had to get them out of the hot sun. The green peppers and onions are ready, so I will be making some freezer coleslaw, fresh slaw and cabbage rolls!
Cauliflower Hot Dish
1 large head of cauliflower, broken into florets about the same size
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
parsley
Preheat oven to 425.
Spray a large casserole dish (I use a 9 x 13 glass dish).
Place olive oil and garlic in a plastic bag (one that seals), and mix together.
Add cauliflower and shake it until the florets are covered.
Pour into casserole dish then sprinkle with salt and pepper. I cover my casserole with foil but not tightly.
Bake 25 minutes, stirring halfway through (about 12 minutes or so).
Watch closely, as it can cook too fast and I like a little crunch to mine, but depends how you like your veggies cooked.
Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley, and broil 3-5 minutes.
Enjoy!
About the Author:
Snickers is a country gal at heart who loves holidays, quilting, antiques and has a passion for gardening. In her spare time she keeps herself busy as an estate cleaner and volunteers for many organizations. Her bucket list overflows.
This sounds fantastic. Kudos to you for growing your own vegetables. We attempted cucumbers, garlic and green beans this year.
Gardening “mistakes” often taste delicious. I am looking forward to trying your recipe.
I accidentally planted cucumber where I meant to have a squash. I hope I get a payday like you did. The recipe looks yummy.
I made a roasted cauliflower bake that had a delicious and simple tahini-lemon dressing and now I am craving it.
Ann,
Can you share that recipe here?
Snickers, I love your idea of growing cucs in a wire cage. I’ll have to try that next year.
You have a beautiful garden! Love the recipe, looks delicious!
That head of cabbage looks beautiful! You are definitely a talented gardener. I love cauliflower. Can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Your garden is beautiful. Thank you for the recipe.
Your vegetables look great! I haven’t grown cauliflower in years. I stopped growing it because we always get those green worms in it and it just grossed me out.
What beautiful plants and produce. You have a great garden!
Awesome! I wish my garden would start producing again 🙁
You have a beautiful garden! It looks like you have a lot of great things growing. Your recipe sounds really good I am going to have to try it.
Thank you for all your nice comments and for letting me share my garden and flowers with you. I had a group of ladies here this am for coffee and a tour of all my gardens, it’s always fun to share ideas and new plants with everyone, even the mistakes. 🙂 I sent home a bunch of fresh cut lavender with each one of them to enjoy.
Thanks to the IW ladies for always doing such a nice job of putting together my pictures and articles. 🙂
Ann, please share!
Snickers! Guess who decided to pull out the cauliflower tonight? (It’s one of my favorites w. ham/chedder cheese/sr. crm. etc. in a casserole.) Such a magical garden!
Ann – you mentioned LEMON? Puleeze share your recipe! Lemon is my daily seasoning!
Wow! I wish I could grow my own garden. I have two tomato plants and they are not doing anything. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
I wish I had room for a garden! Your vegetables look awesome 🙂
Pam,
I always throw a banana peel in the hole before I put my tomato plant in. I don’t know why it helps, I just did it because my master gardener friend does, and my tomatoes are as beautiful as hers now.
Great post Snickers.
Snickers I wish I was one of the ladies you had over coffee. I just love lavender. Thanks for sharing your garden with us.
That’s a good lookin garden.
What a lovely garden and the recipes sounds simple enough for me to try. My daughter loves veggies so she might enjoy this. She’s always looking for new recipes to try out with her vegetarian lifestyle.
I dont do cauliflower that much. Anything with Parmesan cheese and olive oil has got to taste good!
Montanna,
Thanks for the tip, I wrap my tomato plants around the bottom with newspaper before putting them in the ground. I am going to try your suggestion. I put eggs shells and banana peels around my roses. Seems to be a natural food source for them.
Thanks for the nice comments ladies. The cauliflower dish is really good, if anyone has a recipe to share, please do.
Wow, I am impressed with your cauliflower and the recipe. I had hoped to grow more veggies this year, but we had so much rain! I tried potatoes for the first time. Have you ever tried them?
Awesome for being able to plant your own veggies! I hope to do that one day.
Cynthia,
Yes, I plant potatoes every year, digging reds now, they are very nice. I also plant white, but have stayed away from Russets this year. Let us know how your garden is doing.
HB,
Hello and waving to you friend. Nice to see you! 🙂
Nice to see Sor also!
Waving to HB also and Sor! Nice to see you both.
Your gardens look amazing – & don’t you love the smell of lavender?! One of mine is overtaking the sidewalk after this crazy weather! Thanks so much for sharing….
Julie,
I love lavender, fresh cut and on my table tonight, the scent is just heavenly to have in a room! Thanks for you nice comment, it’s great to share my passion with others.
I always love when you do a post and share pics of your garden and its bounty! I wish my thumb was as green as yours seems to be! Will have to try the recipe. It sounds delish!
I will have to try this; I have to admit that I’m not a big cauliflower fan but it seems like this preparation might work well.
I love cauliflower so I will try this recipe. It sounds delicious and snickers your garden is amazing. Good Midwestern soil.
Waving a big hello to SOR and HB! So good to see you!
Hi SOR & HB ! Isn’t Snickers garden a beautiful place for us to all gather & say Hi !
Hi BH, glad to see you also! The garden spot is the best place to always say hi. 🙂
I was going to start out by saying, you can’t make me eat cauliflower, Uh uh, no way, not happening. But, garlic and Parmesan are two of my favorite things (also my favorite wings from BW3). That doesn’t sound too bad, tasty even. 🙂
Glad your harvest is turning out so well, everything looks so fresh and lovely. Know you’re going to be busy putting up all that good food. I always enjoy your pics and the rose bush is beautiful. Did I mention, I love hearing all about your garden?
I weeded the garden yesterday and gathered the lavender. Our tiny garden is a little late but coming along. The lavender is drying as I write. I shouldn’t have to buy any this winter. Our farmer’s around here had a great year for corn. It’s delicious, just the way corn out to be. I can’t get enough of the fresh stuff.
Snickers, it’s such a treat to take a visit to your garden again. 🙂 Everything is so lovely. Count me as a cauliflower fan. I can’t wait to try your recipe. I like the tip about caging cucumbers too. Thanks to all the others who shared ideas. Tips from friends have always worked out better for me than what I read in books!
Thanks Lilly and Anya,
The recipe is really good Anya, you have to like cauliflower.
The sweet corn is ready here, seems like I just keep moving through the garden, freezing peppers and onions now. We need rain, another dry spell here again.
Love lavender Lily, it’s always something special with my friends who don’t have gardens and flowers.
Snickers,
Everything in your garden looks wonderful again this year. That cabbage is beautiful, makes me hungry for stuffed cabbage rolls.
Hello CJ, good to see you! 🙂 Stuffed cabbage rolls are so good!
I am really sad.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77634162@N03/
I have a cauliflower in the fridge that I bought at the farmer’s market on Saturday…think I’ll make this for dinner tonight!
you have beatiful garden,so pretty!Thanks for great recepie i will try it this weekend.