Warning- this dish is no joke. This is the richiest, cheesiest, most fabulous things your carb deprived lips will touch. Seriously, this stuff is amazing, but heavy. I made it intending it to be an entree but then one bite I was like helllll no. This is a great side dish for something carb free, like grilled chicken. Or you could bake/boil some chicken and mix it into the cheese sauce for an entree. I ate this with chicken for dinner like 2 hours ago, and I’m still ridiculously full! But oh my god, it’s heaven to my taste buds 🙂 And the clean up is super easy- it’s all in one pot!

What is great about this is the flexibility- feel free to switch out my favorite veggies with some of your own. I just like the mushroom, cauliflower, eggplant, pepper combo because I feel they work perfectly together.

Nutritional Information, per serving (1/12th of recipe): Here’s the math: 74% fat, 13% protein, 12% carbs. At 4.8 effective carbs- this is a little carb heavy. To stay Keto, you’ll have to limit this to a side dish, and you can’t come back for seconds. I might be brazen enough to suggest you only eat this on the days you work out. But hot damn, it’s good. You won’t regret it.

Cost me: $1.33 per serving

All you need is:

2.5 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

1 tbsp butter

Head of cauliflower, cut up

1.5 cup chopped red bell pepper

8oz Mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini purely because they were on sale.)

3.5 cups of eggplant, cubed

7oz cheddar cheese

4oz Pepper Jack Cheese

2oz Swiss cheese

1oz Monterey Jack Cheese

1/2 package of Monterey Jack, Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese blend (because it was sitting in my fridge and why not!)

Paprica

Cayenne Pepper

Salt and Pepper

Step 1: Bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer in a large pot, stirring regularly. Avoid letting it boil! Add your cauliflower, and let it cook in the cream for about 6-7 minutes. Add your mushrooms, let it cook for 2-3 minutes, then add peppers for 2-3 minutes, then finally the eggplant.

Step 2: Once your veggies are soft and easy to eat, turn the heat to low and start throwing in your cheese, a little at a time. Let it melt, then add more, tasting along the way. Season with Paprika (I used a good amount- like 4 or 5 solid shakes into the pot), Cayenne Pepper (2 or 3 solid shakes), pepper, and salt. This is really whatever you like. I actually added a little bit of a spicy sauce I bought at our local market, because I like powerful flavor in my creamy dishes.

Step 3: This step is optional. I chose to put my creation in a baking pan and bake it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. That’s totally a personal preference on my part, but it still would be delicious right off the stove (how awesome is that easy clean up, by the way? One pot!)

All together, I spent $15.96 for this recipe, and it made a LOT. In the future, I would probably halve it and add boiled chicken. I might even consider taking the same sauce and making a chicken cauliflower casserole or a broccoli cheddar soup. I love trying new Keto meals!



PS- Have a lot of these Veggies n’ Cheese left over? Try this easy one skillet meal idea!

Be sure to leave comments on how the recipe when for you. Good luck on staying ketolicious!