No family gathering is complete without my father-in-law’s potato salad. Whether it be Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, a choir concert my niece is in – we gather together for a feast and this potato salad is right there as the staple item. It’s Mr. T’s favorite holiday side dish! Of course with eating low carb it is tough on our plan. 

Mr. T told me one time that his sister and step-brother tried to make it and no one can make it quite the same as the way his dad makes it. This past Thanksgiving I asked his dad if I could get the recipe. So he starts throwing out what’s in it…of course he knows it from memory and doesn’t measure anything. “So many pounds of potatoes, some hard boiled eggs, white onions and equal parts of pickles, Kraft mayo – it can ONLY be Kraft and enough yellow mustard to give it that yellow color, salt and pepper.” I was quickly jotting all of this down on a tiny pink sticky note. He also mentioned that sometimes he adds green onions or some people like sweet pickles. My plan is to do it exactly as he mentioned except replace the potatoes with chopped cooked cauliflower! Voila – instant low carb version – food fit for my dinosaur!

I decided to surprise Mr. T and make his favorite dish this week (why wait for a holiday). He came home for lunch, opens the fridge and said “What’s this!?” – after trying it he gave me rave reviews on how it ROCKS! He was amazed at how it tasted like the real thing! You really can’t even tell it’s cauliflower in there! I basically had to take it away from him or else he’d masticate the whole thing.

It is important to do your cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl…I ended up ruining the one’s I had because they weren’t microwave safe and just got these. Nordic Ware 8 Piece Covered Bowl Set, Multicolor by Nordic Ware (not the one pictured below). We actually bought them for my mother in law and she swears they are the best mixing bowls! The microwave method is my favorite thanks to tips I learned from one of my favorite food blogs: I Breathe I’m Hungry.  I can’t get enough of her variations on this amazing vegetable!

FauxTato Salad

1/2 a head of cauliflower, chopped
1Tbsp heavy cream
2 hard boiled eggs
1/6 white onion, diced
2 baby dill pickles, diced
1/3 cup Kraft mayonnaise
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
Salt and Pepper

Add cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl. Add the Tbsp of cream and salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cover and microwave on high for 9 minutes. It should now be fork tender. Allow to cool.

Chop up hard boiled eggs and add to cooled cauliflower. Add in the rest of the ingredients – I go light on the salt and pepper until after the other ingredients are combined and add to taste. Refrigerate so everything cools off and melds.

Serves 4 for a side dish. 2 if you wanted to eat it as a main…it is hard not to devour the whole thing!

Estimated Nutrition Stats (per side dish serving): Calories – 263 | Fat – 24g | Carbs – 7g | Net carbs – 4g | Fiber – 3g | Protein – 6g

Options: Can top with chopped green onions or swap out the dill pickles for bread and butter pickles for a different twist.

[sgmb id=”1″]