My husband grew up on Beef Stroganoff and trained me in how to make his tried and true recipe. By no means is this recipe the healthiest of choices, but it certainly is delicious. Yet after the new year, my husband and I both made some health goals that would require eliminating wheat from our diet. There are a number of reasons that I really should blog about, but in a nutshell– he is allergic to it, I’m intolerant to it, and it would probably help us lose that extra butter roll around our middle sections. 🙂

Still–we refuse to be unhappy with our cooking and we want to still maintain some of those “soul-food” recipes that we find comfort in. And as a working mom, I have come to appreciate making this meal for my family because it is fast and hearty. When I come home from a long day at work and have to make dinner, I’m not interested in spending more than 30 minutes or so in that kitchen.

So I started researching what the Paleo people out there are eating for some inspiration. I had heard about Cauliflower rice but have never tried it. So I started messing around with it and have now fallen absolutely in love! Best yet, my husband loves it as well because he can still eat his family favorite meal– Beef Stroganoff and not get completely congested, plus can feel good knowing he got a big serving of veggies to go along with it.

This meal is great for busy moms because you can make it ahead of time and freeze it. Freezer meals are life-savers for busy moms. Even if you don’t freeze it, it makes an easy and relatively healthy one pan meal. For those of you who are very anti-processed food, you will want to tweak this recipe so it doesn’t include the canned soup or dry soup mix. I myself try to stay away from processed food most of the time, but given this is my husband’s favorite recipe from growing up, I stick to it. We feel that if it not a daily element of the diet, then we don’t feel too guilty about it.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 large head of cauliflower, chopped rice style or sliced into small florets
• 2 lbs of ground beef
• 2 cups of chopped mushrooms
• half a yellow onion, chopped
• 1 packet of onion soup mix (otherwise make your own with beef broth base, salt, and onion powder)
• 1 family-sized can of cream of mushroom soup (or make your own with  chicken broth, mushrooms, milk, flour, and some garlic salt)
• 2 tablespoons of real butter, olive oil, or avocado oil.

Directions:

1. I chop up my cauliflower first in my blender on low while I’m browning the ground beef and onions in a large frying pan or wok.
2. Then I cook the cauliflower in a big pan either butter or oil like olive or avocado along with the mushrooms. I cook it until the cauliflower is soft but not mushy (takes about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the pan. The mushrooms turn out great this way as well–nice and soft.
3. I then pour in the onion soup mix and the cream of mushroom soup into the ground beef and onions and stir until the soup mix is blended evenly into the meat and creamed soup.
4. Transfer the cauliflower and mushrooms into the wok with the beef and sauce.

Mix and serve nice and hot. (Better yet–serve with a nice green salad).

I also make a great Chicken Alfredo with cauliflower instead of pasta. What are some of your tweaks on pasta dishes so that they are pasta-free? Any great and easy casserole recipes you could share with me to help my 5 o’clock scramble? Please share in the comments below and share this post with some of your busy friends who could use a break without the pasta. 🙂

Like this recipe? Read more from Theresa at her new blog http://mamaguts.com