Cauliflower Pizza Crust (Gluten Free!)

It has been quite a few weeks since my friend Susan first gave me this recipe. And after losing it 3 times and running out of cauliflower twice, I finally got it made! It was good, although I altered the recipe a bit. I have an idea for a version that will blend this recipe with the other gluten free crust recipe. Once I get that figured out, I'll definitely post! This was good, filling and yet without all the heaviness of "real" pizza. It made 2 pizzas, 4 slices each, and 2 slices was definitely enough per person.

Gluten Free Cauliflower Pizza

2 c shredded cauliflower (about 1/2 head of cauliflower, shredded using cheese grater and then steamed)
2 eggs
2 c shredded mozzarella (I used a bag of Organic Valley Italian blend which is 1 1/2 c and then 1/2 c Parmesan)
dash each of oregano, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, salt

sauce, cheese, toppings of choice

Preheat oven to 450 degree. Place parchment paper on 2 baking sheets. Mix all ingredients together. Divide and form into 2 large circles.

Bake about 20 minutes. About halfway through I turned the crusts and switched the racks for even baking. Here's what it looked like after baking:

Add sauce (I use Nature's Promise organic sauces), spices (onion, garlic), cheese (Organic Valley Mozzarella), toppings (onion and pepper) and more spices (oregano and parsley). Bake at 350 for a few minutes to melt cheese, it will not take long. Enjoy!

Crab Cakes, Cheddar Biscuits and Spaghetti Squash

I love all three of the foods listed in the title. I just HAD to figure out how to make gluten free garlic cheddar biscuits. So, here's the yummy recipes (thanks again to Susan for the squash recipe!).

Crab Cakes (adapted from the recipe on the back of the Old Bay container)

1 lb crab meat (I was so thankful to have picked mine out of crabs we had last summer!)
2 T mayo
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp Old Bay (but I really didn't measure)
1/3 c gluten free bread crumbs (I didn't measure this either, just sprinkled a little in to help hold it together, I really wanted to have as little as possible.)
2 tsp parsley (yeah, didn't measure this either)

Mix all ingredients together. Form into small round patties (I got 8 out of one pound of meat). Heat skillet on medium heat (too hot and you'll sear the outside but the inside will be cool). Cook on both sides until brown. You can also broil but for some reason I have never done that. Enjoy! These also reheat well on foil in the oven (as you can see from the pic).

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

2 eggs
1 c milk
2 c Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour
1 T baking soda
1/2 c melted palm shortening
dash salt
garlic powder (as much as you like)
1/2 c shredded garlic

melted butter, garlic, parsley, salt grinder

Mix all ingredients and drop on greased cookie sheet (I did not use parchment paper but perhaps should have). Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown on top. When they are almost done, brush with mixture of melted butter, garlic, parsley and salt and return to oven for last few minutes.

The batter was runnier than I thought, and I might eliminate the eggs next time (they were really in there by accident this time). And DO NOT lick the batter- yuck! Don't know what it is, but most of my gluten free batters have tasted horrible! The result was not bad, but not as good as my other, non gf kind. I'll try another incarnation at some point and let you know how it goes!

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin (to be honest I had no idea how this would turn out, but loved it!)

1 medium spaghetti squash (I wash, cut in 1/2 and boil until soft, then use 2 large forks to scrape out the flesh)
2 T butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 c sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Saute squash, onion and butter in skillet about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and add sour cream and 1/2 cheese. Place in baking dish (I used a glass bread pan which worked well) and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. I liked a little pepper on mine as well.

I know this picture doesn't do it justice but I forgot to take a picture of it in the pan. This also reheats well in the oven!

Chunky Monkey Muffins

I owe the finding of this recipe to my friend Susan. The recipe came from Tropical Tradition's free recipe site. It is SO yummy and absolutely does not have the texture of a gluten free muffin at all. I did make a few tweaks, and mine haven't looked at all like the picture on the site, which is kind of funny. One side affect of these muffins is you may randomly go around saying "chunky monkey, chunky monkey" just for fun. Don't ask how I know ;)

Chunky Monkey Muffins

1/2 c coconut flour
dash salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash cinnamon
6 eggs
1/3 c honey
1/3 c coconut oil, melted (I usually place in a small glass dish and place in the oven so it can melt while the oven preheats)
1 T vanilla
3/4 c mashed banana or applesauce (or a combo of both...oooh, this might be yummy with pumpkin!)
1/2 c walnuts, broken in small pieces
1/3 c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. In a large bowl, mix together banana, eggs, honey, oil, and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet till thoroughly mixed. Fold in walnuts, coconut and chocolate.Scoop batter into muffin tins to 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Microwave?

 

In our fast-paced society, we want everything done quicker. This, of course, has carried over into our food and cooking. I have been leery of  the microwave for a few years now and have tried to cut back my usage. After reading this article I don't care if I never use it again! Yuck! I have always known of the radiation issues, but there is so much more! Here's the skinny, but I encourage you to read the full article.

"Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence."

Scared yet? And how often are we using the microwave? Most likely multiple times per day. And even if some of these claims are false, what is the chance that they all are? To be safe, I'm done with it. The last holdout for me was bacon, since I could never seem to get it quite right in the pan and always did it in the microwave.

I have found that broiling it on a cooling rack at 350 for a few minutes, then flipping the bacon and increasing the temp to 375 gets it done without much more time and just as good of crunchiness. Swab off the grease with a paper towel and you are good to go!

Update: I have recently switch from cooking the bacon on the cooling rack to having it on aluminum foil right on the pan. Sometimes the rack was tricky to clean and the bacon comes out just as nicely! Just broil at 375 or 400 and flip every 5 minutes until done to you crunchiness. I have found when the bacon is close, if I turn off the oven and let it finish it does best.

Of course don't get me started on conventional bacon, that has enough issues (nitrates or nitrites anyone?). We eat Applegate Farms bacon and can get it reasonably priced at BJ's.

Yum, Yum, and YUM! GF Choco Chip PB Cookies

A while back I found a recipe for gluten free chocolate chip cookies (this was before I started eating GF but I wanted to make them for my dad). I needed to purchase quinoa flakes and it took me a while to find them (in the cereal section of Sonnewald) and then after purchasing them, it took me a while to make because the recipe called for 1 cup of peanut butter and that seemed like a lot for a batch of cookies. So I waited, and waited. Then I finally decided to make them for a family get-together. And I couldn't find the recipe. Ugh. Figures! Then, to my surprise, there was a recipe on the back of the quinoa flake box so I used that as my base and made some of the most delicious cookies ever, gluten free or not! The dough was to die for, I could have eaten it all raw! I think that they would make a great raw cookie dough cake pop, covered in chocolate! And these are also vegan! Interestingly enough these were called "crispy" cookies on the recipe, but they turned out chewy for me, perhaps because I shortened the baking time a bit, didn't want them to burn! They have the consistency of an oatmeal cookie due to the quinoa flakes.

GF Chewy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from the recipe on the back of the Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flake Box
Made 18 large cookies

1/2 c raw and/or local honey
1/3 c sucanat
1/2 c (1 stick) Earth Balance vegan butter, softened or melted
1/2 c peanut butter (I want to try w/ almond butter next)
1 T vanilla
1 c rice flour
3/4 c quinoa flakes
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
dash of cinnamon
1/2 c chocolate chips (or nuts/raisins, but I wanted chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat honey, sucanat, sugar, butter, peanut butter and vanilla. (I did not use a mixer or hand beater, just a wooden spoon :) Combine flour, flakes, soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Add to first mixture and beat until well blended. Add chocolate chips and stir. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet (I used both parchment paper and a greased cookie sheet and preferred the parchment paper). Bake about 12-15 minutes. Cool 1 minute on pan and then cool on baker's rack. Enjoy! And don't forget to lick the bowl!

Gluten Free Pizza

I have a bunch of GF pizza crust recipes I'd like to try. Problem is, many of them have a LONG list of ingredients, and I'm just not into that so much. Unfortunately I think that is the downside of GF baking b/c a greater variety of flours are needed to make a quality product. Other than the coconut muffins, I really haven't baked that much recently. And after baking some more things this week, I feel like I need to get back to the salad/cooked veggie routine and avoid baking, even GF. It's just not what my body needs/wants the most!

Either way, I need to have a way to eat pizza at least every once in a while and this turned out MUCH better than I thought it would after looking at the ingredient list. I used this recipe from the Free Coconut Recipes site by Tropical Traditions. There is a plethora of recipes, many of which are GF. I love ordering from Tropical Traditions, especially when they are having a free shipping sale or a sale on their coconut oil.

Gluten Free Pizza- I found the recipe made 4 slices, but not enough for 4 servings if it was the only food being served. With a salad, though, one slice filled you up! (Although I still ate 2 slices...) Use your favorite sauce (I used Nature's Promise Organic Garden Veggie) and toppings (organic moz and Parmesan, garlic, onion, parsley, oregano).

2 cups whole milk organic mozzarella cheese, shredded (I used an Organic Valley Italian blend)
2 large organic eggs
2 tablespoons flax meal (ground)
2 tablespoons coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper out for baking sheet. (Try to get one that is unbleached.)

Mix cheese, eggs, flax, coconut flour, and baking powder together until a sticky wet dough is formed. Spread with a spatula to ¼ inch thickness on a baking sheet lined with one piece of parchment paper. (I'm sure mine was thicker than this.)

Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven. Halfway through the baking process, flip crust over by sliding it off the baking sheet with the parchment paper, placing the second piece on the sheet, and turning the crust over unto the new sheet and peeling the old paper off. (I was skeptical that this would work, but it did using a spatula to help turn so I didn't burn my hand- the crust was very hot!) Return to oven until done baking.

Remove from oven, slide off of parchment paper, and flip over again for cooling. Once crust is cooled (I did not wait for it to cool), top with sauce, pre-cooked veggies or meats, and cheese. Set crust with toppings under the broiler on high for a minute or two until cheese is melted and bubbly (Watch carefully! I left in a bit too long and the very edge of the crust was a little burnt). Slice and serve.

Artichoke Adventure

I am on a quest to include a greater variety of fruits and vegetables to my diet. I recently started eating (and enjoying) fresh steamed green beans (something I never liked before). At Sonnewald the other week, there were artichokes for just a little over a dollar each so I figured I'd give them a try. I just bought one, that way I wouldn't be out too much money in case we hated it! Almost every recipe I found online said to put olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic cloves on the artichoke (after cutting off the stem and the top) and bake for over an hour wrapped in foil. Well, I did that. It smelled great. It looked amazing. It tasted alright. But the texture- yuck! You could chew on one leaf forever! I felt like a cow chewing the cud. So I don't know if I didn't cook it long enough, if I picked an artichoke that was not quite ready, or what the deal was. Any ideas? Needless to say I'm going to take a break from artichokes for the moment. Hopefully I can figure out what went wrong and try it again!