Brocco-Cauli Tots

It's an age old question- How do you get your kiddos to effortlessly eat their veggies? Brace yourself! Your little taters will be popping these tots like a champ! You care about the essential omega-3s, fiber and complex carbohydrates, they care about the sweet potato-y goodness they are scarfing down. It's a dinner WIN!

Ingredients

Setup

  • 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
  • 4 1/2 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 head of cauliflower
  • 1/2 head of broccoli
  • 2 cups bulgur wheat
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (optional)*
  • 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (I used panko)
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425-degrees F.

Whisk together the flax and the water in a small bowl and set it aside for 10-15 minutes. It will become gelatinous and will act as your "egg" binder.

Cut up the cauliflower and the broccoli into somewhat equal pieces and steam for 6-7 minutes. Cool by spraying cold water on the florets or dunk in an ice bath. Shake the water off as much as you can and transfer to a food processor (you'll have to do this in batches). Pulse only a few times until you get something that resembles the size of rice - it will produce roughly 3 cups. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add one cup of bulgur and two cups of water to a sauce pan. Bring up to a boil and down to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. When the bulgur is finished and the water has been soaked up, transfer to another bowl to all it to cool.

To cook the potato: pierce it, wrap it in foil and cook it in a 450-degree oven for 40 minutes OR pierce it and place in microwave for 7 minutes. Cut open and allow to cool. Scoop out the inside and place in a separate bowl.

When all of your cooked ingredients have cooled, mix them together  (I used my hands) in a large bowl, add the flax "egg", the breadcrumbs, the nutritional yeast (if using) and the spices.

Pick off about a 2" piece of the mix, roll in your hands and flatten two ends creating the shape of a tater tot.

Place each tot on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, flipping the tater tots halfway through the baking time.

They will become more dense as they cool down.

Makes 18 tater tots

NOTE:
*The nutritional yeast will give the tots a slightly cheesy taste
If you have a gluten intolerance, you can substitute in quinoa for the bulgur wheat and use gluten free breadcrumbs.

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