Cauliflower!

First, I should mention that I always want to spell it "cauliflauer."  I always second guess myself, but I cannot get that initial impulse to spell it incorrectly out of my head!  

I decided that the Fam needed a change of pace from all the take-out and frozen pizzas we've had lately, so I whipped up a batch of my brother's special meatloaf last night.  I know, I know, it's hard to see the specialness of meatloaf, but let me be the first to tell you - my brother stumbled upon a great recipe several years ago that has found a permanent home in my cookbook.  The reason I don't make it more often is solely because it requires a lot of ingredients that I don't necessarily keep on hand - like chives, half and half, bacon...  Yep, you read that right - bacon.  We have a hard time remembering to use up even the smallest package of bacon before it goes bad.  Do you know how long it takes bacon to go bad?  A while!  Anyway, I made the magnificent meatloaf knowing that it would last us for at least two dinners and probably two lunches.  Since I put so much effort into the meatloaf itself the first night, I bought pre-made mashed potatoes.  *Gasp*  I know, first the bacon going bad, and then I can't be bothered to make my own mashed potatoes?  Well, for the potatoes, I will blame my current kitchen.  Our bathroom is bigger than the kitchen.  And since I try to use as little foil, saran wrap and ziplock baggies as possible, we always have a lot of dishes to wash.  It doesn't take long for us to acquire a lot of dishes that need washing.  Which take up a lot of room.  In the kitchen.  Which really and truly is about half the size of our bathroom.  

Back to the meatloaf!  Okay, tonight was "take 2" on the glorious meatloaf, and since I was reheating it, I decided to put forth some effort on the side dish.  This is where the cauliflower comes in to play.  My handsome sous chef, a/k/a Noah, washed and cut it up for me.  Then I steamed it and mashed it up with cream cheese and chives.  Look at me being all crafty with leftover ingredients from the meatloaf! Chives.  Woohoo!  I'm a genius!  Okay, maybe not.  I'm sure someone else has probably made this before, but I winged it and came up with a decent side dish.  Noah even went back for seconds on the cauliflower.  I'm so proud of myself!  The Little Dude, of course, was not a fan, so back to the drawing board for me...