How to cook Cassava?

So believe it or not I have never cooked with cassava! Yes I am from the Caribbean and we eat it all the time there, as well as here in South Florida where I am now, but for some reason I myself have never bought and prepared it. Last weekend at the market as I went to pick up my regular potatoes, I noticed this intimidating (to me!) root vegetable, and figured I might as well try it.

So yes I admit I jumped online to search how to cook cassava (also called yucca or manioc). Did I have to peel that tough looking skin? My search revealed that yes you peel the skin, and that boiling or frying the cassava seemed to be the most popular ways to prepare it. I was happy that my flimsy looking vegetable peeler actually peeled off that tough skin. It took a little more muscle to cut it into rounds, but soon I had them boiling away in a pot of salted water. It cooked until tender, about 25 minutes. After I tried to recreate a mojo-like sauce to go on top of it, and came up with my Honey Lime Dressing.

HONEY LIME DRESSING

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

juice from 1 lime

2 tsp honey

a pinch of salt

1. In a small pan over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add onion and garlic, and let cook for 5 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro, lime juice, honey and salt.

3. Drizzle over boiled cassava.

Cauliflower Goodness

So I started looking for a quick and easy recipe to use some cauliflower in my fridge. I found a Paula Deen recipe on foodnetwork.com for Roasted Cauliflower, that looked simple enough and I had most of the ingredients on hand. I tweaked it just a little and below is my version. This cauliflower was so good I could eat a bowl of it just by itself! I highly recommend for a healthy yummy snack :)

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER

2 heads cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp Dijon or spicy brown mustard

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet.

3. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, honey, lemon juice, mustard, thyme, and salt. Add to cauliflower, tossing gently to coat.

4. Bake until the cauliflower is tender, about 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Serve.