# Cauliflower.
The simplest, and most commonly used low carb potato substitute is the cauliflower. This underutilized vegetable has the right color to pass for potatoes, even if it lacks the starchy mouth feel. But as a low carb potato substitute, cauliflower is also easy to get, easy to cook, and easy to disguise. Be creative in finding new ways to eat cauliflower, and you may find that you like it more than you used to. Put it in your food processor with butter, salt and pepper, and you have a simple mashed potato alternative. Add some cheddar cheese, heavy whipping cream, sour cream, and chives or bacon bits for a richer flavor. While the approximate taste of a twice-baked potato or even potato salad can be achieved using cauliflower, some never get past the texture, and turn to other root vegetables in their quest for a low carb potato substitute. Below, you'll find a list of those.
'Mashed Cauliflower'
Mashed cauliflower can serve as a stand-in for mashed potatoes, especially if you jazz them up with butter, sour cream, and all the fixings. Best of all, it's easy to prepare. Just take a bag of frozen cauliflower and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Zap the cauliflower for about 12 minutes on high, until it's mushy. Then use a masher or food processor until it's the consistency you like. Add salt, pepper, and butter for a simple cauliflower dish. Add bacon bits, cheddar, and chives for a richer way to eat cauliflower.
'Riced Cauliflower'
Put through a ricer, a food-processor, or even grated by hand, cauliflower can be used as an excellent substitute for rice. On the stove-top, it keeps the consistency of brown rice when not overcooked. Fried until tender with some soy sauce, green onion, and sesame oil, it will give you a new way to eat cauliflower with your favorite Asian dishes. Shredded cauliflower can also mimic rice in casseroles if not overcooked. Why not try to make a broccoli-rice casserole with cauliflower? Add a little tuna and you have a whole new way to eat cauliflower that might even please those who don't normally like the vegetable. It's one way to eat cauliflower in your favorite dishes while reducing their caloric and carbohydrate content.
'Mock “Potato” Salad'
At barbeques, veggies often get shunned in favor of home-style favorites like potato salad, fries, and macaroni. Sometimes the only veggie on the plate might be the ketchup on your burger. But cauliflower salad can change all that. By steaming it until tender, and chopping it into bite-sized pieces, it can replace potatoes in your favorite potato salad recipe. This will give you a new way to eat cauliflower, and win over those who normally dislike the vegetable.
'Scalloped Cauliflower'
Everyone knows that veggies taste better in a cheese sauce, but you may have gotten tired of plain old cheddar. Why not experiment with new ways to eat cauliflower by adding them to more traditional and elegant cheese dishes. Scalloped cauliflower is excellent, and using swiss or other rich cheeses can make all the difference in making a vegetable casserole that everyone can enjoy.
# Turnips. Turnips are a low carb root vegetable that can take on the texture of a potato, particularly in soups, stews, or when deep fried. The flesh of a turnip is even white, like a potato, and can be made to crisp up when cooked properly. The catch? Some people are especially sensitive to what they experience as a sharp mustard-like undertone to the turnip that does not please their taste buds.
# Rutabagas. Like the turnip, the rutabaga is another low carb root vegetable that can be used as a low carb potato substitute. The rutabaga looks like a larger turnip, but the flesh is yellow. Of all the lower carb root vegetable potato substitutes, rutabagas have the best texture, complete with the starchy mouth-feel of a potato. The taste is distinctive, but seems to be experienced differently by people. One might describe it as a spicy potato. Another might describe it as a cross between a carrot and a potato. Still others detect a slight undercurrent of cabbage. One thing that most potato lovers agree upon, however, is that the main drawback to a rutabaga is the long cook time. When using a rutabaga in a scalloped potato recipe (which, by the way, is an extremely tasty way to enjoy them), one should expect to bake the rutabagas for double or even triple the time that one would cook a potato. One way to put a rutabaga to work for you without worrying about the long cooking time, is to throw it in a crock pot under a roast. It'll come out with a milder flavor, and make an excellent low carb potato substitute.
# Celeriac. For those who find the rutabaga's taste a little too distinctive, celeriac, also known as celery root, might be the way to go. Celeriac also has a long cook time, but it's flavor is more subtle than the rutabaga. It can definitely take on a starchy mouth-feel, though you'll need a good food processor to mash it properly. And the best description of the taste of celeriac is that it's a cross between a potato and celery.
source: http://voices.yahoo.com/new-ways-eat-cauliflower-232869.html?cat=22 http://voices.yahoo.com/top-five-low-carb-potato-substitutes-507637.html?cat=51