For many, cauliflower is a solid standby vegetable — something to pick up in the grocery store when you're not in the mood for anything else and can't make a decision. It's time to learn how multifaceted cauliflower really is and to incorporate this member of the cabbage family into more meals. Blitzed in a food processor, cauliflower becomes a rice substitute, boiled and mashed it’s a stand-in for mashed potatoes, while thickly sliced and grilled cauliflower steaks are a summertime Meatless Monday dream. Best of all? It's packed with vitamins C and K and is a good source of fiber and potassium.

Check out a quick video tutorial on how to buy, store and prepare cauliflower before digging into these 25 ways to use it.

• Raid your pantry for black olives and sun-dried tomatoes in Laura Calder’s Cauliflower Salad.
• Step up your pickle game with Bal Arneson’s Cauliflower Pickles (pictured above). Use these on sandwiches or as a side dish in place of hot giardiniera.
• Michael Symon takes Roasted Cauliflower to a new level by adding honey, orange zest, anchovies and capers to strike a sweet-savory balance. This side dish will blow your mind.
• Prepare vegetarian-friendly Cauliflower and Potato Samosas the night before you want to serve them. A quick trip to the deep fryer will have these dough pockets of veggies ready to eat in less than 10 minutes.
• Nutritional yeast brings the cheesy flavor without the dairy in Cheesy Cauliflower “Popcorn.”
• Cauliflower Mac and Cheese is a classic comfort dish with lots of flavor from mustard, fresh sage and three different types of cheese.

• Nadia G lightens up everyone’s favorite side dish with Crispy Baked Cauliflower Tater Tots.
• Whether it’s Meatless Monday or Tortilla Tuesday, Cauliflower-Lentil Tacos with Fresh Guacamole are going to hit the spot.
• Cauliflower rice is a paleo dream; one head of cauliflower makes about six portions, which is enough for the base of a week’s worth of lunches. Cut up a head of cauliflower and blitz it in a food processor until you get a ricelike consistency. Then you just have to season and cook the cauliflower either in the microwave or on the stovetop to enjoy.
• Take over potato salad duty for your next picnic or barbecue and swap potatoes for cauliflower with Hungry Girl’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Potato Salad recipe.
• Alton Brown’s Hurry Curry Cauliflower quick pickles come together in a few minutes, but the flavor develops throughout the course of a week.
• Giada’s Parmesan Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad makes for a flavorful light lunch that will taste good hot or cold.
• Cauliflower-Green Pea Coconut Curry utilizes frozen peas, canned tomato soup and store-bought vindaloo curry paste for a quick-cooking vegetarian meal.
• Chuck Hughes adds a bit of indulgence to his Cauliflower and Arugula Salad with crispy bacon pieces.
• Buffalo wings meet their Meatless Monday match with Buffalo-Style Cauliflower with Cashew-Dill Dipping Sauce.

• Gluten-free Prosciutto Pizza with Cauliflower Crust maintains all the flavor of the Italian staple, but without any flour. The trick is to wring out the crust mixture with a clean kitchen towel to remove as much moisture as possible.
• Cut thick cross-sectional slices of cauliflower to make these Cauliflower Steaks with Beans and Tomatoes, a filling meatless meal. You’ll be left with some florets, so be sure to use those as a side dish for another meal.
• Pan-Roasted Pacific Halibut, Sicilian Cauliflower, Capers, Raisins and Orange Brown Butter will rock your date night. Although it sounds complicated, this dinner will be ready to eat in just about 30 minutes.
• No greater words have come together than Guiltless Cheesy Mac. Bobby Deen lightens up mac and cheese with skim milk, reduced-fat sour cream, cauliflower and egg whites.
• Fill Anoop’s Weekend Roti, an Indian flatbread, with a spiced (think ginger, cilantro, coriander and chiles) cauliflower filling.
• Veggie Balls, a mixture of chickpeas, pine nuts, raisins, broccoli and cauliflower, are held together with breadcrumbs and eggs. Keep the prep time to a minimum by pulsing everything in a food processor for easy chopping.
• For the best flavor, make the giardiniera in Nadia G.’s Italian Sausage Sandwiches with Sweet and Spicy Giardiniera two days before you want to chow down.
• How do you improve hummus? It seems impossible, but Bobby Deen’s Lighter Hummus cuts calories by subbing in some cauliflower.
• While you’ve got the grill going at your next barbecue, toss some veggies in a marinade and then onto the fire for Rocco DiSpirito’s Grilled Vegetable Antipasti.

More 25 Ways:

• 25 Ways to Use Quinoa
• 25 Ways to Use Avocados
• 25 Ways to Use Cottage Cheese
• 25 Ways to Use Artichokes