Cauliflower Wings

Good morning! Here we are, Wednesday. We're at the halfway point for the week (go us!). I wish I felt more chipper today. I am pretty sure I got about 3 hours of sleep last night. If I had been wearing my Fitbit, I'm sure it would've reported that I was awake a total of 4 hours and had fitful sleep for 3. It was awful. Maybe I'm just an anxious person (which I most certainly am) but I just kept thinking about what could possibly happen during my trip. Will someone break into my apartment? Will the cats be alright? What if I forget (insert insignificant item here), what will I do then?! Like I said, it was horrible.


However, before this I indulged in one of my favorite things: buffalo wings. Even before my recent acceptance of a plant-based diet, I never ate bone-in wings. I don't know why but meat on the bone makes me uncomfortable, always has. Therefore, the switch from boneless wings to cauliflower wings wasn't all that difficult. Plus for me it's always been about the tangy and spicy buffalo sauce and the cool and creamy blue cheese to dip in. Seriously, I will put wing sauce on ANYTHING. Potatoes? Yep. Eggs? Uh huh. Vegetables? Damn straight. You get the picture.


Cauliflower Wings

1 C skim milk
4 Tsp apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Panko breadcrumbs
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
Buffalo sauce


 Did you know if you don't have buttermilk on hand you can make it by combining milk and vinegar? Yeah, totally crazy, right?! So I used my stock of buttermilk creating my Bang Bang Broccoli Tacos but I needed to batter my cauliflower to get the correct crispy texture so I decided to give this a try and I have to say it worked really well!


In a large bowl, stir together milk and vinegar and allow to sit for 10 minutes. The milk will begin to thicken (cool, huh?) Add 4-6 dashes of buffalo sauce to the milk mixture; or if you're me about 10 dashes. Season with salt and pepper.


After your batter is created, dump in your cauliflower florets and stir to coat. Allow the florets to sit for 5 minutes.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Coat generously with cooking spray.


Now, super neat trick I came up with. Who here hates to coat things in breadcrumbs? Yeah, me too. Who likes to have club hands and a messy counter? Not I. So I decided "huh, Lindsey, you need to coat these florets in breadcrumbs and that's a pain. What if you try putting them in a big storage container and then just tossing them around?" By George, you're a genius, Lindsey! Yeah, I know I am. So I got my largest storage container, threw in about 1/2 C of Panko breadcrumbs, added in about a third of the cauliflower and shook like Hell! The cauliflower was perfected coated. Repeat this step until all cauliflower is coated, adding in more breadcrumbs as necessary. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet.


Bake cauliflower for 25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.


Now, since I thought my breading idea was so brilliant, why not attribute that to my saucing? Again, Lindsey your intelligence knows no bounds. Toss in a portion of cauliflower, a few dashes (or half a cup) of buffalo wing sauce and "shake it like a Polaroid picture," (OutKast, "Hey Ya", Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003). The cauliflower was exactly what I was hoping! Frankly, I may like this more than actual boneless chicken wings. Goodness it was heavenly and paired perfectly with my sudden urge to listen to 1950s rock and roll music. Lucky for me I have more than half the portion in the freezer patiently waiting my return from my mystery trip.


Stay tuned for my travel blogs!