Since the cauliflower stands up well to heat, it still retains a nice bite to it that sort of mimics the texture of meat.  Not that you will fool your tastebuds, but it's a nice texture and flavor.  I really believe the secret to vegetarian or vegan dishes, though, is not to sub in a vegetable for meat and expect the same result.  You will 100% of the time be disappointed if you're expecting the flavor of chicken, shrimp, or beef, and you're eating cauliflower or beans or whatever.  The secret is instead to prepare the vegetable in such a way that it is the star and not a stand-in.  This dish does a really good job of doing just that.  The cauliflower has a good amount of fiber, so it's filling, and when paired with a grain, such as quinoa or rice, it's a good meal in and of itself.

Being a stir fry, this is a quick and easy to prepare dish, so you can have this meal in about 15 minutes, not counting the time it takes you to cook your grain.

Spicy Stir-Fried Cauliflower
from the Pioneer Woman

serves 2

1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tb. soy sauce
1 lime, juiced (or about 1-2 Tb Rice Vinegar)
2-3 green onions, sliced thin
1 Tb. Sriracha or hot sauce

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high to high heat. Add the oil, then the cauliflower and garlic. Stir the cauliflower around the pan, allowing it to get very brown in some areas. Cook for 3 minutes, then turn heat to low. Add soy sauce, squeeze in the juice of the lime, and add most of the sliced green onion, reserving the rest for serving. Stir and allow to cook for 1 minute, then squeeze the hot sauce over the cauliflower. Stir until the hot sauce has been incorporated. Add a little more hot sauce if you want a deeper color and flavor.
Serve hot in a bowl. Sprinkle extra sliced green onions on top, and serve with a lime wedge.

For a more filling meal, serve with 1 cup quinoa or rice.

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted, divided
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
1/4 cup warm milk (105–115°F)
1 tablespoon mild honey or sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 large eggs, divided, plus 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon water

Butter muffin cups with 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Stir together yeast, warm milk, and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Mix flour, salt, pumpkin, 1 whole egg, yolk, orange zest and juice, and remaining 5 tablespoon butter into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Roll half of dough on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands into a 12-inch-long log (keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap).

Cut log into 6 equal pieces, then cut each piece into thirds. Roll each piece into a 1-inch ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Put 3 balls side by side in each of 6 muffin cups.

Make more rolls with remaining dough in same manner. Cover rolls with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough is about 1 inch above rim of muffin cups, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together remaining egg and water and brush on tops of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash.)

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer rolls to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.

recipe note:
Rolls are best the day they’re made but can be frozen (cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.

• I had 3 large sweet potatoes and still got about half a dozen balls out of it.  
• Next time I will cut back a bit on the sugar, and even just a bit on the orange juice.  It was very good, but cutting back on the two will make it a little more savory.  

Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (varies on oven) or until the eggs are just set.

Notes

• Learn from my mistakes.  Oil or line your muffin tin if it is not "non-stick."  Even if it is, it's still not the worst idea.  I spent FOREVER cleaning out that tin.
• These work in mini muffin tins too- baking time is shorter
• The base of this muffin is the egg.  All other add-ins are optional.  What else might you try?  Olives?  Jalapenos?  Feta Cheese?  I had a combination- some contained cheese, greens, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and sausage, while others had just cheese and slow roasted tomatoes. 
• These are good, and I loved that I can store them in the fridge or freezer and reheat them.  I am not completely convinced that they're at optimum, but I could have overbaked them or maybe they need a little more to be perfect textured.  Either way, they're pretty good.  

I then topped it with sliced Romaine lettuce, avocado, and more cheese, because more cheese is always a good thing.  It was so good!  Make this soon for a fun way to use up some of your big batch chili leftovers.

Taco Pizza
all ingredients may be adjusted to feed your crowd.

1 pizza dough ball or prepared pizza crust
1-2 cups chili
1 cup cheddar or other cheese of your choice
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/2 avocado, diced
Salsa or taco sauce

Preheat your oven to its highest setting and place a pizza stone in the oven on the center rack.  Allow it to preheat for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prep your crust according to recipe or package directions.  Top with a thin layer of chili and cheese and bake for about 10 minutes, or until crust is browned and toppings are melted and bubbly.

Remove from oven  and allow the pizza to rest on a cooling rack about 2-3 minutes.  Top with lettuce, some remaining cheese, and the diced avocado.  You can also top with salsa or taco sauce for additional taco flavor.  Slice and serve.

• If you're a sort of regular reader, you've probably read before about how I'll choose foods I can cook in stages, and this dish is another good example of breaking up the prep over different days or times of day.  I roasted the squash the night before and stuck it in the fridge.  The next day, I picked up with the rest of the prep and served it.  It turned what would have been about an hour or so prep into two sets of 30 minutes or so each.
• You don't want the squash super, super soft (though tender) after roasting, because you want to make sure the skins or shells hold up.
• The original recipe called for ricotta cheese.  When I went shopping, the store was out of ricotta, so I took a cue from my favorite lasagna recipe and used cottage cheese.  It worked well, but I wonder if the ricotta would yield a slightly smoother and maybe creamier end result.