Holiday squash boats with cauliflower rice

Holiday squash boats with cauliflower rice

The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol diet (AIP) can appear to be pretty boring to someone who can eat whatever they want. After all, you have to eliminate many foods, including dairy, grains, legumes, nightshade vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds.

This past week, I went on a business trip that required 14 hours of driving over the course of two days. Past trips of this kind left me in crippling pain and digestive distress for weeks afterwards. I stuck to the AIP and carried along all my own food. Bottom line, the trip didn't set me back one bit.

One of our associates on the trip remarked that eating like I do must be "pretty boring." I thought to myself, "Yes, it may be boring but look who's soaring" in terms of recovering from formerly debilitating symptoms.

I did exist on soup and butternut squash pudding I packed along in an ice chest while I was away from home. But I'll trade boring food any day for having reduced pain.

Once back in my kitchen, I whipped up a festive, colorful and anything-but-boring dish, called Holiday Squash Boats with Cauliflower Rice.

Here's what you need for two servngs:

1 delicata squash or other winter squash
1/2 medium cauliflower
2 stalks celery
1/4 yellow onion
1 small carrot
olive oil
salt and pepper
small handful of fresh cranberries
1 beet, sliced
2 hand fulls of baby greens
1/2 avocado

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Use "roast" setting if available. Gather 2 baking sheets and line them with parchment paper.

Prepare your veggies. Cut delicata squash in half and scoop out seeds. Peel and dice carrot. Dice and slice onion and celery. Rice your cauliflower in your food processor. Scrub the beet and cut into slices.

Place squash face down on one baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put into the oven for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Spread the beets out on another baking sheet. Sprinkle the cranberries on this sheet as well. Spritz with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven. Roast until tender, about 25-30 minutes for the beets, and 10 minutes for the cranberries.

In the meantime, saute the onion, carrot and celery in olive oil in a large skillet. Once the veggies are tender, add the riced cauliflower and continue cooking.

Dice up the avocado and set aside.

"Mom, your food's not boring but then again, I think this drippy water faucet is fascinating!"

For serving, peel the skin from the squash. Lay each squash boat on a bed of greens and spoon cauliflower pilaf into the cavity of the squash.Sprinkle on avocado, cranberries and beets, cut into matchsticks. I hope you'll agree this is anything but boring food!

Recipe contributed to:  http://www.rickiheller.com/2013/12/wellness-weekend-december-19-23-2013/#more-21512

http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/12/18/paleo-aip-recipe-roundtable-7/#more-8052

 http://wholenewmom.com/traditional-tuesday/grain-free-double-chocolate-cookies-gf-thin-mint-cookies-paleo-ginger-molasses-cookies-and-pumpkin-oat-flour-waffles/