Vegetables are now carbs. And they’re protein too. I know that doesn’t make sense, but please bear with me while we appreciate 19 of the weirdest food swaps of 2017.

Why can’t we just let a cauliflower be a cauliflower anymore? And yes, there is a difference between turning cauliflower into cauliflower cheese and crumbling it into… ‘rice’. Have you tried any of these swaps yourself? I’m sure a lot of this can turn out to be more than edible, and maybe even really nice – but there’s no denying that some of these food swaps are just plain strange.

1. Cauliflower steaks

“Sal is vegetarian – her boyfriend definitely isn’t, but he does love her cauliflower steaks.” Does he really though?

 

2. Cauliflower rice

So, let’s say I wanted a steak and rice for dinner, I could actually end up with an entire plate of cauliflower?

 

3. Butternut Squash Fusilli

Italians may wish to look away now. I sincerely apologise for what we have done to your fine cuisine.

 

4. Butternut Squash Crinkle Cut Chips

Well, this looks strangely familiar. Can we please make our minds up? Is this fusilli or chips?

 

5. Butternut Squash Lasagne Sheets

Sorry again Italians. We just really love to obliterate our 5 a day.

 

6.  Broccoli Rice

Can you imagine a delicious curry on top of this? … No, me neither.

 

7. Courgette Spaghetti

 

In a salad, maybe. In a spaghetti bolognese? No thanks.

 

8.  Butternut Squash Noodles

Fancy a chow mein with boodles? Hmm, that’s gonna have to be another no.

 

9. Sweet Potato Tagliatelle

What next? Aubergine rigatoni? Butternut Squash gnocchi? Oh wait…

 

10. Carrot and Swede Gnocchi

This really puts the ‘no’ in gnocchi. I saw this once in the supermarket and haven’t seen it since, so I think Tesco would rather just forget about this one.

 

11. Rainbow Couscous

Blitzed vegetables = couscous. Don’t question it.

 

12. Cauliflower pizza bases

It’s still a healthy swap if I top it with eight packets of pepperoni, right?

 

13. Lettuce leaf fajitas/tacos

If this is supposed to be a gluten free version of fajitas, then I think I’d rather eat gluten and curl up into a ball for a few days.

 

14. Carrot Spaghetti

What’s that really popular ingredient that Italians always use in their cooking? Oh yeah, of course. How could I forget? Carrots.

 

15. Courgette Lasagne Sheets

If this is supposed to be a ‘healthy’ swap, it’s probably not the pasta in lasagne you should be worried about.

 

16. Beetroot Rice

 

I’m starting to become lost for words so I’ll just react to this one with this gif:

 

17. Butternut Squaffles

I’m not entirely sure what you’re swapping out for these, but I just loved saying the word ‘squaffles’.

18. Mushotto

Mushroom (and celeriac) ‘rice’ with a mushroom cheese sauce topped with mushrooms. Wow. I don’t think they left ‘mushroom’ for any other ingredients.

 

19. Cauliflower Couscous

Wait, I thought we agreed that this is rice? Oh, I give up!

Congratulations! You have just survived 19 weird food swaps…

Well that’s that then! Did I miss any other weird food swaps out? Have you seen any new ones on the supermarket shelves lately? Please let me know by leaving a Facebook comment below.

I didn’t really want to go into an in depth discussion of whether or not these swaps are actually ‘healthier’ (or even maybe tastier) than their carb counterparts. At the end of the day, I think: if you like eating it, then eat it!

I actually use courgetti and spiralised carrot all the time in my cooking… just not as ‘swaps’. I’ll use spiralised carrot in my stir fries as it’s really thin and cooks quickly in the wok. We also use chopped up spiralised courgette in our spag bol for a little extra bulk… but with gluten free spaghetti too of course! Also, the butternut squaffles taste amazing when roasted in the oven.

I guess I’m not really into the whole ‘healthy’ swaps thing and I’m not a fan of them being presented as gluten free options either. But do let me know if I’m missing out or not!

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx