Halloween freaks me out.  I am a huge scaredy cat and everywhere I look I am terrified.  I can’t drive down my street without seeing my neighbor’s decorations of skull heads and monsters.  I turn on the TV and there are hair-raising marathons of Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.

It will only be worse next week when as the holiday gets closer and I see costumed witches and vampires roaming the aisles of the store in search for deals on candy and gruesome treats to bring to work.

This eerie feeling keeps me on the constant look out for zombies, ghosts or in-laws!  (Oooo, those are really scary because they haunt you year round!)

I started to think that I needed to put on my big girl undies and face some fears.  This will be the year that I am not be intimidated by things that go bump in the night!

So I turned out all the lights, grabbed a flashlight and put it under my chin.  I looked in the mirror and in my eeriest voice I said the scariest thing I could think of…I am going to eat cauliflower!!!    Ahhhhh!!!!  The horror!!!!  (Seriously, you know that just gave you the shivers!)

As much as I try to be a reformed picky eater, there are still some vegetables that scare the bejesus out of me.  For some reason, cauliflower was one of those vegetable fears that I couldn’t seem overcome….UNTIL this past week!!!

I am an avid reader of BON APPÉTIT magazine and trust that they will never lead me astray especially when it comes to trying new things.  Recently, BA posted a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower.

In my food expansion adventures, I have discovered that roasting a vegetable is a good way to learn to enjoy the different flavors.  I love to roast peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, fennel, and marshmallows.  (Okay, marshmallows aren’t a vegetable but roasted vegetables seem to mimic that caramelized flavor that makes a marshmallow irresistible.)

After reading the recipe and looking at their picture, I thought I would give it a go. (I did cheat and purchase cut up cauliflower because I still think cauliflower looks like a brain and that is a creepy factor I cant’ get past.)

I followed the directions and then faced my fear…I ate a huge helping of roasted cauliflower.  (Insert the music from Psycho.)

It was delicious!!!  It had nice nutty, sweet flavor and the brown roasty bits almost tasted like candy!  (Well, like candy the dentist on your block would toss in your Halloween bag.)

The only scary thing that happened was when I went back for seconds there was none left!!  (I bet a vegetarian zombie snuck into my house and stole it!)

Facing your fears is always a daunting task.  The angst and trepidation are often worse than the outcome.  In addition, the time you squander on thinking about worst case scenarios could be spent doing something you may just love!  (Like eating cauliflower!)