Macaroni and cheese style cauliflower

Even though this dish is laden with cheese, it still clocks in as lower calorie than your standard macaroni casserole. The substitution of par-boiled cauliflower for high-carb macaroni cuts this dish down to a lean 273 cal per 1-cup serving.

Mats
1 1/2 lbs cauliflower (about 6 cups) cut into 2 inch chunks.
2 1/2 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2c skim milk
2c extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2c nutritional yeast
1c breadcrumbs
2 tsp salt

Heat your oven to 350

Bring a very large pot of water (enough to hold all the cauliflower at once) to a boil over very high heat. Add the salt and cauliflower and boil for 6 minutes.

Drain the pot and reserve 1c of the boiling liquid. Put the cauliflower aside.

In the pot you used to boil the cauliflower, melt the butter over medium-low heat. One all the large butter lumps are melted, add the flour and whisk (it's a roux again). Cook this mixture for 1 minute, whisking constantly.

Add the 2c milk, 1c reserved cauliflower liquid and 2 cloves of crushed garlic (you've just turned your roux into a bechamel sauce). Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, whisking constantly. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot and the sides with your whisk to keep the milk from scorching. If the milk begins to boil, turn the heat down to low.

After 10 minutes, your sauce will have thickened considerably. Turn the heat completely off and whisk in the cheddar cheese (now your bechamel sauce is a Morney sauce. Aren't you the fancy French cook?) and the nutritional yeast. Whisk it well until the cheese is melted and the yeast is dissolved.

Dump the cooked cauliflower in the pot and stir it well in the sauce so all the florets are evenly coated with the sauce.

Take a deep baking dish and coat the bottom and sides with cooking spray. Pour the cauliflower and cheese sauce into the dish and spread it evenly in the pan.

Sprinkle the 1c of breadcrumbs evenly over the top of the casserole, then spray the breadcrumbs lightly with the cooking spray

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are browned and the cheese sauce is bubbling.