Cauliflower Gratin

Last week, Tim and I had a sweet little date at home. There was wine, and our "french cafe music" pandora station, and some delicious dinner. We had, courtesy of Tim, oven-roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower gratin. It was delicious, and simple, and a nice vegetarian Thursday. The cheese sauce, which is really all it was, and not a true gratin, was smooth and creamy, salty and with just the right tang. Tim's roasted brussel sprouts were the perfect accompaniment, the sprinkling of salt over the crisp leaves divine. It really felt like our own Parisien cafe!

We've been trying to eat healthier and simpler in the post holiday madness, slimming our waistlines a bit. We had baked potatoes with homemade (lightened!) wedge salads one evening, some black bean and spinach soup another - note: spinach ruins black bean soup. One night recently we had big spinach salads with hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers with a  meyer lemon-honey-mustard vinaigrette. While the salad was delicious, and the perfect light end to a day, the true star of the meal was the GGB (ghetto garlic bread) made from rosemary and garlic loaf. Not homemade, but so completely delicious and wonderful. I could have eaten the entire loaf in one sitting.

So far, simple and low-key has been the motto of 2011. And I'm loving every minute of it.