Appetizer Face-Off: Low Carb Onion Rings Vs. BBQ Cauliflower Bites

These two apps were quite the competitors and had I done things a little differently the outcome may have been different, but we will have to go with the exact recipes I chose for scoring. For those of you who do not know what the appetizer face off is all about please click here. For the rest of you keep reading the goods. 


First up: BBQ CAULIFLOWER BITES

TASTE: 6

For the score of taste, the bites are getting a 6. There are some things that I would do differently next time around to make the score  a bit higher, but there is no turning back now. Over all they were tasty, but there were a few things that needed some tweaking. For example, I used whole wheat flour instead of  regular flour. I noticed that the taste of the whole wheat flower was very noticeable and not in a good way. In the future I would like to try this recipe again with either coconut or almond flour.

I also just grabbed a random regular BBQ sauce from the whole foods shelf that I had never tried before. I was not a big fan of the sauce that I chose. Next time around I would love to try the recipe with some sort of honey BBQ sauce. I feel like that will give a nice taste to the bites.

Overall, this recipe had the potential to be very good. Done right, the cauliflower bites would taste just like general Tso's chicken without the chicken. Next time I will make the necessary changes and let you all know how it turns out!

EASINESS OF RECIPE: 7

Finding the ingredients in the super market proved very easy. The overall the prep time was about 15 minutes and cooking time was 20 minutes. The recipe lost a few points because it got a little messy there for a minute or two while I was dunking the cauliflower pieces into the mixture, but hey, what's cooking without getting a messy! The final score for the bites in the easiness category was a 7. Easy to shop, make, and in only 35 minutes total. 

Yield: 25 Cauliflower bites         Servings: 4                Prep time: 15m                Cook Time: 20m

NUTRITIONAL VALUE: Once I tweak this recipe and get the bites to taste like general Tso's chicken, I would say the nutritional value would be amazing. Until then, I will not score this category. 

COST: 7

The cost for this recipe was not bad at all. I had a lot of the spices already so all I really needed to purchase was the cauliflower, coconut milk, brown sugar, and BBQ sauce. These are all things I will use again too so it was perfect. Overall, the cost of those ingredients was about $15. I divided 15 by the number of bites 25 to get about .60 cents per bite. That's like Fitty Cent plus 10. The fact that I only used a small portion of what I bought, and would use those things in my every day life also had an affect on the score. 

The final score for the BBQ Cauliflower Bites was a 6.7!

Next up: LOW CARB BAKED ONION RINGS


TASTE: 9

I am a huge fan of onion rings in general, so when you provide me with a healthier option, I am right on top of that Rose. I LOVED the way that the breading tasted, and would never know they were better for me had I not been the chef. An issue I ran into was getting the breading to stick, but that worked out better when I used the optional oat flour. The only bad thing about that is it also increases the carb content. I will be using this recipe again in the future, probably once a week because I am obsessed. 

EASINESS OF RECIPE: 7

The recipe was actually pretty easy to make, but I am taking away points because I ABSOLUTELY HATE cutting onions. I feel like I am affected worse than anyone I know. I would probably rather be stabbed with needles than cut onions, but I found a way around that. ( see pic left)

 Finding all the ingredients was a piece of cake. All I needed from the store was yellow onions, eggs, and oat flour. Also, prep and cook time was only about 20 minutes making for an extremely easy recipe. If cutting onions was not so painful for me, the score would have been higher!


NUTRITIONAL VALUE: Once again skipping. Don't judge.

COST: 9

This was also a cheap recipe to make. I had all the spices required, so only needed to purchase the onions, eggs, and oat flour. The total cost of those ingredients was about $6. The recipe made about 25 rings, so I divided 6 by 25 and came up with about .24 cents per ring. You can't beat that price! The rings get a 9 in this category.


The overall score of the Low Carb Baked Onion Rings was an 8.3 because they were delicious to eat, as well as cheap and easy to make! 

The onion rings came out on top in this face off, but be sure to check in next week for two more apps!

                                                                WINNER!