Cauliflower isn’t exactly the most exciting vegetable in the world. It’s colorless, it doesn’t have much of a smell, and if it’s boiled or steamed it has a very bland flavor. Oh yeah, and it’s appearance resembles a whitewashed human brain.

The only way I ever remember enjoying cauliflower as a kid was when it was served as Cauliflower Cheese. My parents are both English, and this classic English side dish is basically boiled cauliflower smothered in cheese sauce (sort of like a cauliflower version of mac ‘n’ cheese). Not very healthy, and absolutely packed with calories.

But there’s no need to disguise the bland flavor of healthy, low calorie cauliflower with unhealthy, calorie laden sauces. In fact there’s a very simple way to change the flavor, texture and appearance of cauliflower for the better — roast it. When it’s brushed with a little olive oil, the outside browns as it cooks and it develops a wonderful nutty flavor. And it only takes 15 minutes!

Cauliflower cooked this way makes a perfect addition to pasta dishes, risottos and stews, and with little effort you can also turn it into this very flavorsome and warming Mediterranean-style soup.

Here’s the recipe.

I was reading Time magazine online today and saw an article titled Top 10 Notable New Diet Books, which I thought I’d check out. I wanted to see what new diet “breakthroughsâ€� were in store for those looking to get in shape in 2010.

After reading a synopsis of each diet I had an eerie feeling of deja vu. A year ago I wrote a short post for another blog called “Forget Diets, Think Healthy Lifestyle Change� where I looked at the new crop of diet books for 2009.

Reading about these so-called “notableâ€� new diets for 2010 just reinforced how I felt back then — so I thought I’d share the post with you on this blog:

Forget Diets, Think Healthy Lifestyle Change

As usual this time of year, a whole new crop of diet books have appeared on bookstore shelves. I’m seeing lots of newspaper articles and news reports talking about these “new” diets.
Well as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing new about any of these diets. Like all the diets I’ve seen in the past, this new crop is full of restrictions, bland meals, and lots of rules and regulations.

Here’s my prediction. Millions of people will try these diets — many will even lose weight in the short term — but in the long term most of them will get sick and tired of being restricted and go back to their old eating habits.

How can I be so confident of my prediction? Because the same thing has been happening year after year, for decades and decades. In fact, as far back as 1956 McCalls magazine featured an article titled “Why Fad Diets Fail.”

Now, more than 50 years later, there are more diets out there than ever before, and guess what? We’re fatter than ever before. I think this pretty much shows that diets just don’t work in the long term.

So if diets don’t work, what is the answer?

Quite simply, it has to be a permanent healthy lifestyle change instead of a temporary diet. And the only way that most people will ever make a permanent lifestyle change is if it’s enjoyable.

And that’s the main reason Trudy and I have been able to follow a MediterrAsian lifestyle for well over a decade — because it’s so thoroughly enjoyable. The fact it keeps us lean, healthy and full of energy is just a very nice bonus!