Broccoli and Cauliflower pizza crust

I have been looking at many ideas, blogs and recipes on making gluten free pizza crust. My dilemma is that I cannot have any flour so replacing wheat flour with bean flour isn't an option. I decided to try vegetable crust, after all I love the veggie used in it, so I should like it, right?

Here's what I did:

Take 1/4 head of cauliflower and stick it in a food processor to 'rice' it. Do the same with 2 large broccoli crowns. Microwave them for 5 minutes, stirring every 1.5 minutes or so to release and evaporate as much water as possible.

Purée 1/4 cup whole almonds in food processor and then add to the cooked veggies. Let cool slightly and then add 1 beaten egg and 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.

Press 'dough' into a baking stone or pizza pan. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes or until sides start to look toasted. Remove from oven. Top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. Bake as usual and enjoy!

It isn't the same as flour crust, but for those of us who want to eliminate flours from our diet, it's pretty dang good! If you hate the texture of 'Cream of Wheat', you won't like this either.

I recommend going all out on your toppings and picking veggies you love. I doubt my hubby will even try it, but I am thankful to have pizza without just eating the top for a change, so I covered it in mushrooms to ensure it all to myself ;)

Let me know what you think!

Chocolate dipped Strawberries

Okay, here is yet again the same basic chocolate recipe used in another way. I have started thinking of chocolate as my favorite accessory for food :). It has a million uses and goes with just about anything, kind of like your favorite pair of shoes.

Ingredients:

1 carton fresh strawberries
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
Dash salt
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt the coconut oil. Whisk in cocoa powder, salt, honey and vanilla. Dip strawberries one at a time and set into a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Put into fridge to harden for an hour. Enjoy!

Homemade Orange Chocolates

Okay, I know this is just another variation of the same recipe, but it is sooooo good! The smell alone is worth a blogpost! I can't stop thinking up combinations, like raspberry-lemon or peanut butter-banana. So, I'd be lying if I said this was the last post on homemade chocolates your going to see from me ;)

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp half n half
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 Tbsp raw honey
The zest of 1 small orange
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Melt the oil and butter. Whisk in the honey, cream, cocoa, vanilla and pure orange extract. Pour into a pie plate lined with waxed paper. Sprinkle on the orange zest, cranberries and almonds. Place in the fridge to harden for at least one hour. Remove waxed paper from the pan and slice chocolates with a pizza cutter. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Almond, Cranberry chocolate bark

Looking for a new sweet treat? I love chocolate and cranberries and this combination is just heavenly in my book. It only takes a few minutes to make these and you get to enjoy them until they are gone.

Ingredients:
1 cup coconut oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp half n half
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
Dash salt
1/3 cup almond slivers
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Melt oil and butter. Whisk in cream, honey, vanilla, cocoa, and salt. I use a pie pan with waxed paper to line it. Pour into dish. Sprinkle almonds and cranberries on top. Put in the fridge to set. Remove from fridge when it has hardened, pull the each paper and chocolate from the pie pan. Slice with a knife or cutter into bite size pieces. Store in the fridge in airtight container. Will last 2 weeks....yeah right! Not in this house :)

Spaghetti Squash and Sausage

It took a year, but I finally got (almost) everyone to admit that spaghetti squash is good! Proving the simple truth that if you put sausage in anything my husband will like it. I personally love spaghetti squash. I think it is one of those amazing foods that show the creativity of our Creator! Here is how I make it for the less adventurous in our family.

1 lb. sausage
1 small diced onion
1 jar sugar free spaghetti sauce (or homemade)
1 small can stewed tomatoes
1 large spaghetti squash
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Split the squash. I microwave mine for 5-8 minutes to soften the skin before cutting. Cook the squash. You can cook it in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes or steam them in a steamer for 25 minutes. Scoop out the squash and put in a casserole dish.

Sauté sausage and onions in pan, drain. Add sauce and tomatoes. Pour over the squash and top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Serve warm.

Chocolate covered bananas. :)-

Looking for a fabulous chocolate-covered-healthy treat? Try these super simple and super tasty frozen bananas. Now all we need is some sunshine!

4 frozen bananas
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tsp. raw honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup almond butter

Slice the bananas, place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and put into the freezer for 30 minutes.

Take the bananas from the freezer and spread a small dab of almond butter on top of each slice. Freeze for 30 more minutes.

Melt the coconut oil, add the cocoa powder and honey. Mix well. Dip each banana slice in the chocolate and set onto waxed paper. Store in the freezer.

Take a few out at a time and let set for 5-10 minutes before serving them.....mmmm perfect!

Baked Apple Slices: No pop corn movie treat!

I took the teenagers to the movies last night and since we are all on the detox we had to plan ahead to avoid popcorn and Junior Mint temptation. I was looking for something semi-sweet, but with a crunch. We went for sliced green apples slightly dried and sprinkled with cinnamon. They were perfect and we saved at least $12.50 on popcorn not to mention the empty calories of theater snacks. We also opted for unsweetened iced tea instead of soda. Overall, a successful night out and we made choices we can feel good about.

Ingredients:

3 Granny Smith Apples
Cinnamon

Slice your apples and place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake/dry in a 200 degree oven for 3 hours, flipping them half way through. It was just the right amount of time so they were dry, sweet and crunchy. Any longer and I think they would have been too soft.

Frozen yogurt and Magic Shell!!!

The kids keep asking for dessert so I decided to try some of my homemade yogurt frozen with blended fruit. The result was excellent, but next time I will add some cream so it isn't so icey. The kids didn't notice, but I did.

The magic shell was.....well, magical! The flavors were perfect, but the possible combinations are endless! The quart was gone in about 15 minutes and had everyone asking for more.

Frozen yogurt Ingredients:

2 cups yogurt
1 cup organic strawberries
2 bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream

-Blend on blender and pour into container with lid, freeze at least 4 hours.

Magic Shell chocolate syrup:

1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder

- mix ingredients together and pour over scoops of frozen yogurt. Watch it harden in about 30 seconds! Magic!

Stuffed Green Peppers

My husband helped me make 2 full weeks if meal ideas and this was one of his requests. I haven't made them but a few times in our 19 years together, and never without rice. They turned out really good! We didn't miss the rice and they stayed firm, not mushy.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef
4 large green peppers
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
1 small onion
5-6 baby sweet peppers
1/2 cup shredded cheese

(Taco seasoning for ground beef)
1/4 tsp each: garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika
1/4 cup water

Brown ground beef, drain and add taco seasoning and water. Add onions, can of tomatoes (drained) and sweet peppers. Simmer for 10 minutes. Slice off tops of green peppers, set aside. Scoop out seeds and fill with ground beef mixture. Place in baking dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with cheese. Bake an additional 5-20 minutes. Serve with tops on.

Zucchini and squash Au Gratin

I was really craving Au Gratin potatoes today so I decided to use squashes instead. It turned our magnificently!

Ingredients:
3 med zucchini
3 med yellow squash
1 onion
1 cup shredded cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil

Slice the vegetables thin. I dried them on a paper towel for 10 minutes. Pour and coat baking dish with oil. Arrange zucchini and squash in pan. I had the kids line them yellow-green-yellow-green :). It kept them busy and looked so pretty! Sprinkle on top sliced onions and cheese. Bake at a 425 oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm. Delicious!

Day 1 done right: Surf n Turf

Okay so this was our dinner from Day 1 of the sugar detox diet. I figured if we were going to do it, we should do it right! I steamed the crab legs and shrimp, my husband grilled the steak and we served it on a green leafy salad. Not bad, huh :)

Mexican Chicken chili

Ingredients:

1 baked chicken
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can mild chili beans
1 can black beans
1 chopped jalapeño (for spicier)
3 cups chicken broth

Bake a whole chicken at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and let cool. Shred chicken. Add broth and chicken to soup pot.

(At this point I start a second pot of broth with onions and diced carrots for the kids who won't eat chili and can have noodles and add half the chicken.)

Add the other half of chicken and the rest of the ingredients to the chili pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and enjoy!!!

Grilled shrimp, zucchini and bacon wrapped chicken

Here's more ways to use bacon! The kids wanted shrimp the other night so I added some bacon and chicken to the skewers, too.

On the other side of the grill I roasted squash, zucchini and onions with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, wow was it good!

Not really a recipe, this is just an idea to share for eating low-carb and healthy. :)

Chicken and broccoli casserole

I began by searching for a replacement for my old chicken and broccoli casserole, for one without the cream of chicken soup. I started making it with corn starch, broth and melted cheese for the sauce. After a while I learned to ditch the cornstarch and thicken the sauce with flour and butter (a classic roux). Now we are a non flour family so I had to adjust my recipe once again. So here it is: chicken and broccoli casserole- no wheat, corn starch or condensed processed soup!!!!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken
2 lbs cut broccoli
1 cup chicken stock/broth
1/2 cup water
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Bake the chicken in the oven (I use an iron skillet) at 350 for 1-2 hours, until the meat thermometer says its done or the legs pull off easily and juices run clear. Remove from oven and let cool on carving board.

Slice broccoli and arrange in bottom of baking dish (like you used to with noodles :). Pull apart chicken and layer on top. Using the skillet with the chicken droppings, add broth and water, bring to a boil scraping off the caramelized bits and stir them into the sauce. Add cheese and continue to stir until melted and the sauce starts to thicken. Pour over chicken and broccoli, bake for 20 minutes at 350. Serve warm.

I usually throw the chicken in the oven after breakfast and by lunchtime I am pulling the chicken apart. It works out nicely to have little hands grabbing chicken for lunch and I still have plenty of meat for the casserole that I put in the oven at dinner time! So I really get 2 meals out of this recipe. The first time I made this I wasn't home for dinner, but put the dish in the oven and went to a meeting when my husband got home. I returned to a completely empty pan and a very full family! Always a good sign.


Update: my mother in law tried this recipe last night and unlike my chicken that had very little drippings in the pan, their's had a ton. When she followed the recipe and added water and broth it ended up being too much liquid to ever thicken up. Although they loved the flavor and casserole anyway. So, you may want to see how much liquid to add depending on the drippings left. Remember you are not using anything but cheese to thicken this so adjust accordingly.

Italian sausage and stir fried sweet peppers

We did the 21 day sugar and wheat detox and are technically on day 25. We have found out that we love eating this way and feel so much better. My husband and I both had achey joints and terrible acid reflux, both of which are now completely gone. I haven't eaten a TUMS in 3 weeks!!!! One challenge we've found with excluding wheat is balancing your meal with vegetables. Tonight's dinner was a winner and we will make it again soon, I'm sure.

1 package Italian sausage links
1 sliced onion
1 small bag fresh tri-color sweet peppers
1 large green pepper
1 tsp. fresh garlic

Cook the sausages in the pan. (I add a little water to steam them and find that it also helps in caramelizing the veggies before it evaporated out) Slice the vegetables into strips and add to the pan. Stir fry the vegetables. Serve warm.

Grilled chicken, acorn squash and apples!!!!

Nothing beats the grill. Hands down when you grill a food it always tastes better! The other night I was grilling chicken and decided to throw my steamed acorn squash on at the end. Technically they weren't completely cooked on the grill,they were steamed first, but my husband ate the squash because it had grill marks on it! I was so proud of my idea that I decided to try an apple too. It was so good I had to go back out to the grill and do two more apples :). Now the kids keep asking for more grilled apples, please!

I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever grill an apple, but I thought I'd share the idea anyway!

Once during a power outage after a hurricane I grilled an apple pie! What's the craziest thing you've ever grilled?

Gluten free tacos - Mockos

I thought when I gave up wheat and sugar I would have to give up fun foods like tacos and burritos too, but nooooooo! I substitute the tortilla with a large lettuce leaf and don't even miss it! Last night I made our 'mock-tacos'(or mockos) for the second time this month and they were gobbled up quicker than you can hang a piñata. I gave the smaller leaves to my 5 year old with a small bowl of ground beef and told her to use them like a spoon. She loved it! I even watched my non lettuce loving teenagers eating mocko after mocko. That makes me very happy :)

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
1/4 tsp. each: garlic salt, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, cumin
1/4 cup water

Toppings:
Large and firm romain leaf lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Chopped avocado
Salsa
Sour cream
Onions
Olives
Refried beans

Brown your ground beef, drain off fat. Add seasonings and water (never need to buy that unhealthy seasoning packet ever again). Assemble you mocko on a lettuce leaf, fill with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Bacon wrapped green beans....yes, please!!!

While on the 21 day sugar and wheat detox we were allowed bacon, so to keep my husband interested I tried to use bacon in everything! One night I wrapped green bean bundles in bacon and baked them in the oven. Duh, it was wonderful, why didn't I ever think of it before? My husband even took some leftovers in his lunch the next day. When was the last time he took green beans in his lunch.....uh never!!!!!

Ingredients:

Bacon
Green beans

Take a handful if green beans and wrap with a slice of bacon. It works best if you wrap in a spiral from top to bottom of the bunch. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once. Serve warm.

I served them with grilled pork tenderloin, but think they would be an excellent side dish to fish, chicken, or beef.

Chicken 'Parmesan' with zucchini noodles

Well we are on day 2 of a sugar and wheat detox and I must say that I enjoy eating a Paleo type diet, I enjoy cooking from scratch, but I don't know how in the world I am going to be able to keep it up for 19 more days! Tonight's dinner was a ton of work, but very good so I thought I'd share (and remember I am new at this type of eating :)

First, I made homemade mozzarella (did that yesterday) this step is not necessary, but I wanted the challenge and I did it! It tastes amazing and will be something I do for special occasions, but probably not for everyday eating.

Tonight I put a jar of (sugar free) spaghetti sauce, one can organic stewed tomatoes, and one small can of tomato paste into a baking pan. I placed it on a burner on low and kept simmering it as I prepared the rest of the meal.

Next, I used a vegetable peeler and turned 4 zucchini into a huge pile of noodle like strips. I stirred them into the sauce and continued to simmer on low.

For the chicken, I took 3 breasts and cut them into tenderloins, pounded them gently, and fried them in extra virgin olive oil. I sprinkled garlic and onion powder on them and browned each side. Then, I set them on top of the zucchini noodles and sauce, topped it with slices of mozzarella and then browned it at a 375 oven for 30 minutes.

The result I thought was very good. My husband who is not a fan of zucchini even ate the 'noodles'. I will definitely make this again, but will probably add parmesan cheese as I fry the chicken, make more zucchini noodles and add sliced onions as well.

I loved the freshness of the mozzarella and even though I said I probably wouldn't make it from scratch again, I have a feeling I will!

That recipe will be next.....so stay tuned.........