Paleo Pizza

I've tried a couple versions of paleo pizza. I wasn't impressed. One recipe used almond flour but the crust was too soggy and you couldn't hold it in your hand. I tried to save some leftovers but that was a disaster! There is another "primal/paleo" pizza recipe for a cauliflower crust but it uses a ton of cheese just for the crust alone.

Then along came this recipe. It's awesome. It might be a weekly event in the Trzop-Vos, Vos household as the hubs says. It is easy to make and versitile. I think you could even freeze the crust for future use but haven't tried this yet. You can hold the pizza slice in your hand like "normal" pizza or use a knife and fork. The crust was really tasty too! I call this my almost paleo pizza because I did use some raw milk mozzarella cheese, but you can omit if you are trying to avoid dairy.

Another Mark's Daily Apple Hit - Perfect Primal Pizza The link is actually a video, so below is the transcribed version of the video with some added commentary from me!

Seriously, enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crust:
4 eggs
1/3c coconut flour **make sure you sift to avoid lumps
1/3c flax meal
1/2c coconut milk
spice (optional: I used parsley,basil and garlic powder and highly recommend it!)


Method:

Mix eggs, flour, meal and milk in a bowl until it looks like pancake batter consistency. Don't worry it won't be too thin! Add spices if using.

Place parchment on a cookie sheet. **This is a key step! At the 10-minute mark you will need to flip the crust over and parchment paper makes this sooo much easier! I ran out and only had aluminum foil which did not work very well!

Pour batter onto cookie sheet and form into the shape you desire. Any shape will do. I did a rectangle because it was really easy but a circle or square or triangle will work too!

Put crust in the oven for 10 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, remove crust from oven and flip over. Place crust back in oven for 10 more minutes.

While the crust is cooking, prepare your toppings. I used sausage, ham, pepperoni (nitrate/nitrite etc free), onions and mushrooms. I cooked the meats in a skillet and threw in the veggies toward the end just to let them soften a little while my crust was cooking.



At 20 minutes remove the crust from the oven. Top with your favorite sauce (or make your own!), toppings (meats/veggies) and cheese if using.



Put the oven on broil and put the pizza back in the oven for 60 seconds or until the cheese it melted.




Remove from oven, slice, serve and devour!!

** Update! 10/26/2010 - The hubs and I had this for dinner last night. It truly is a great recipe. It's so easy and quick and oh so delicious. I got some more parchment paper and it really made all the difference. It was so much easier to flip. A couple of things I noticed: make sure you don't leave the dough/batter to thick on the cookie sheet otherwise it won't be as crispy as you may like it. Also, don't be afraid to spread the batter a little thinner and cover more area on your cookie sheet. Still a delish recipe and I highly recommend it!! **

Menu: March 16-23

Here is my attempt at planning a healthful week of dinner!

SUN: Rich Cooks! BLTs, Roasted Asparagus, and Baked Sweet Potatoes (check out howtobakeapotato.com for the best way to bake a potato)

MON: Pizza - Ultra-Thin-Crust Pizza with Onions, Mushrooms, and Ricotta (everyday food magazine 2/07 page 98) and salad

TUE: Weight Watcher's Shrimp Scampi with thin spaghetti (5 Ingredient 15 minute Cookbook Feb 2007 Pg 49)

WED: Chicken and Rice Casserole

THURS: Ellie Krieger's (Food Network) Chix Fingers, Fries, Sauteed Asparagus

FRI: Leftovers or Rich Cooks!! Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas

SAT: Easter Dinner: Ham (Smithfield makes a "Paula Deen" Ham), Spinach Salad, Broccoli & Cauliflower salad, scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad delight desert, and home made carrot cake

SUN: Leftovers!!!

The Recipes:

Ultra-Thin-Crust Pizza with Onions, Mushrooms, and Ricotta Recipe

Olive oil
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 tortillas - I used whole wheat found in the "Mexican" Aisle
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (about 2 ounces)
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
6 mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced - I used baby bellas
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a small sauté pan on medium hight heat. Add the sliced onions and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften. Cook for a few more minutes until the onions are thoroughly softened and translucent. Remove from heat.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and brush with olive oil. Place a tortilla on each baking sheet and brush each with olive oil.

Sprinkle each tortilla with half a cup of shredded Asiago cheese. Add bits of ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup for each tortilla. Sprinkle with mushrooms and with the slightly caramelized onions. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Place the baking sheets in the oven. Bake until the crust is crisp and brown all over (the time varies, depending on the oven and if your cookie sheet has already been heated, start with 10 minutes and check), rotating the sheets to ensure even baking.

A seriously delicious pizza. Not at all traditional, but so yummy!

SHRIMP SCAMPI

1 & 1/2 T olive oil
1 & 1/2 t bottled minced garlic (or about 7 cloves of fresh minced garlic)
1 & 1/2 lbs peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp (I just used the already cooked bagged variety)
1/4 c finely chopped fresh parsley
1 & 1/2 T lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1/8 t ground red pepper

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat; add garlic, and cook 1 minute. Add shrimp, and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring occasionally; remove pan from heat. Stir in parsley and remaining ingredients. Serve over top of cooked angel hair or thin spaghetti.

Chix and Rice Casserole:

1/2 cup light butter or margarine (I didn't use this much!! I only used about 6 tsp)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 c rice (I used brown rice), uncooked
1 can reduced fat cream of chix coup (i substituted cream of mushroom b/c that is what I had)
1 & 3/4 soup cans of water
4 to 5 chix breast

Grease deep casserole dish with margarine and cut remaining margarine in pieces, leaving it in bottom of casserole. Cover this with dry onion soup mix. Add rice.

Dilute chix soup with water and pour in casserole. Mix lightly. Mixture will be thin. Arrange chix on top, being sure each pice is coated with the liquid first.

Bake in dish at 400 degrees for 1 hr and 15 min.

Very, very yummy!!!

CHX FINGERS:

1 1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut across into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
Cooking spray
4 cups whole-grain corn cereal (recommended: Corn Chex or cornflakes)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish. Cover and chill for 15 minutes.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Put the cereal in a sealed plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow dish. Season the chicken with the salt and a few grinds of pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in the cereal to fully coat and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Leave the chicken on the baking sheet to cool slightly. It will become crispier.

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_34076,00.html)

My New Favorite Pizza

This is so very yummy! And, it's low in calories but very high in yumminess!

1 flat pita bread (not the pita pockets)
Sauce (I use Ragu Garden Primavera b/c it's got big chunks of veggies)
additional toppings (I used fresh mushrooms)
part-skim mozzerella cheese (for an added bang, i usually put a little bit of cheddar on it too)

Preheat oven to 375. Place pita bread directly on the rack in the oven. Bake for about 3-5 min - until desired crispiness. Removed from oven add sauce (I like mine w/ a lot of sauce), additional toppings, and cheese. Return to oven until cheese is melted!

Enjoy! I know this is so very simple, but the pita makes this unique. Not to mention that they are "personal" size, so if someone is on a diet they can be as healthful as they like and others don't have to "suffer" their dieting!

Pizza Twist

This is a fun "twist" to pizza. It is similar to a calzone in that you dip the slices into sauce. You can add any ingredients you want. Usually I do pepperoni, mushrooms, and pineapple! Yum! It may seem complicated, but it is very easy and delicious to make. Just remember to firmly pinch to close the seams and to do a tight crisscross. I'll post a picture the very next time I make this dish!

The Recipe:
1 pkg pepperoni slices
2 T snipped fresh parsley
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 T all -purpose flour
1 garlic clove pressed ( I usually omit)
2 pkgs refrigerated French bread dough
1 egg
1 t italian seasoning mix
2 T fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 can pizza sauce, warmed

Preheat Oven to 375. Dice pepperoni and other "toppings" finely. Snip parsley. In a bowl combine toppings, parsley, mozzarella cheese, flour and garlic (pressed). Mix well.

Place bread dough seam sides up on smooth side of a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice each loaf lengthwise, end to end cutting halfway through to center of loaf, spread open flat. Lightly sprinkle additional flour evenly over dough. Roll dough crosswise creating a well down the center half of each loaf (usually I do this with my fingers)

Spoon half of the toppings mixture down the center of each loaf. Gather up the edges over filling pinching firmly to seal. Place loaves, seam side down in an X pattern on a baking sheet or stone (line the baking sheet with parchment paper). Crisscross ends of dough to form a large figure 8, keeping ends of dough 1 inch from the edge of the pan.

Separate egg, beat egg white and seasoning mix lightly brush over dough using a pastry brush ( a fork will substitute well). Using serrated knife, cut a 3 inch slit in each of the top sections of the twist to reveal filling

Sprinkle grated parmesean cheese over the loaf .

Bake 30-32 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove to rack and cool 10 min. Cut into slices as desired. Serve with warm pizza sauce.