Cauliflower Crust Veggie Pizza

I adore pizza, always have. However, I was skeptical of the cauliflower crust pizza recipes cycling around on the internet these days. I only decided to actually try this when a co-worker of mine mentioned this to me and said it was good. Since I am gluten intolerant and am often missing pizza, I had to give this a try and put my own spin on this. This is especially for those who are gluten intolerant, are watching their carbs, or have celiac. This can also be a tasty way to sneak in more veggies and fiber into your day. I attempted my own version of this roughly based on the recipe here: http://gapsdietjourney.com/2012/04/recipe-review-cauliflower-pizza-crust-dairy-free-and-gaps-legal/. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Cauliflower Crust Veggie Pizza - Serves 1-2 people

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 3 1/2 cups of fresh cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 1 whole egg or egg beater equivalent
• 1 TBSP of Parmesan Romano Cheese (grated kind from pasta aisle is fine)
• 1/8 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp of italian seasoning
• Wax or parchment paper
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter for greasing the pan

Toppings:

• 1/3 cup of pizza sauce or tomato sauce of your choice
• 1/2 cup of shredded part skim mozzarella
• 1/2 cup of veggies of your choice (I used broccoli)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place cauliflower in your food processor. Pulse until cauliflower is about the size of rice grains.
3. Steam cauliflower in the microwave on high for 5-6 minutes.
4. Drain cauliflower in strainer and then place cauliflower into a dish towel and squeeze out the excess liquid.
5. Place cauliflower into a small bowl and mix in eggs, parmesan romano cheese, garlic powder, basil, and oregano.
6. Put cauliflower mixture onto small cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper and spray liberally with cooking spray.
7. Shape "dough" into circle and make sure dough is on the thinner side. This will help the crust to crisp up.
8. Place crust into the oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned on the edges.
9. Remove Parchment paper, spray pan liberally, and place crust directly on the cookie sheet.
10. Put sauce, cheese, and toppings on the crust.
11. Place pizza back in the oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
12. Remove from oven, slice and enjoy!

* My verdict is that this was good and I would make it again, but would not replace pizza for me all the time. Another words, this is good in its own right and does taste like a pizza, but it is not identical to a "real" pizza.

Deviled Egg Salad

I really enjoy eggs, they are one of my favorite breakfast foods that I eat on the weekends and some weekdays. Nothing like over easy eggs or a omelet served with hashbrowns, maybe some breakfast meat like bacon or turkey sausage, and wheat toast for a big breakfast. On the go I also enjoy a good breakfast sandwich either homemade or from somewhere good.

I also enjoy this egg salad recipe I made up and am going to share with you all. I have been making my own egg salad using dijon or spicy mustard for years in place of the mayonaise since I do not like mayonaise at all. To me it tastes good and I even had my mom try some that I made once and she enjoyed it as well. I considered that a compliment since she likes mayonaise. This is a variation of my normal egg salad I came up with recently that incorporates black pepper and paprika like you see in deviled eggs. Came out great and similar to eating deviled eggs.  Here is the recipe:

Deviled Egg Salad - Serves 4 smaller portions or 2 large portions

Ingredients:

* 4 eggs, hard boiled
* 1 TBSP of dijon mustard
* 1/8 tsp of paprika
* 1/8 tsp of black pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mash eggs with a fork.
2. Add mustard, paprika, and black pepper.
3. Throughly Mix eggs, mustard and spices together until everything is mixed together.
4. Serve as a sandwich using your favorite bread, in a wrap, stuffed into pita bread, or on a bed of lettuce. and enjoy.

Buffalo Style Grilled Chicken

One of my husband's favorite appetizers when we go out to eat is buffalo wings. While buffalo wings are usually greasy and unhealthy, this chicken is not. I made a homemade marinade that is similar to the one usually used on buffalo wings, except I tweaked it a bit to have less butter and still have a good balanced, hot wing flavor. I also switched out the wings for boneless, skinless chicken.This recipe will give you a mild to medium spicy buffalo chicken, which is what I prefer and most people I know like. If you use the optional cayenne pepper on the chicken, it will be on the hot side, but not "suicide" hot. Here is the recipe:

Buffalo Style Grilled Chicken - Serves 4

Ingredients:

* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
* 1 cup of hot sauce
* 2 TBSP of butter or margarine, melted
* 1 TBSP of white vinegar
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 1/4 tsp garlic powder
* Cooking Spray
* a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix hot sauce, melted butter, vinegar, black pepper, and garlic powder together to make your buffalo sauce marinade.
2. Put chicken in a large container or bowl and pour marinade over the chicken.

3. Cover chicken and marinade chicken in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

4. Spray the pan with cooking spray and put chicken in a large pan over low to medium heat. Lightly sprinkle chicken with cayenne pepper if you want your buffalo chicken on the spicier side.

5. Cook 7-8 minutes and then flip each piece of chicken.  Lightly sprinkle chicken again with cayenne pepper if you want your buffalo chicken to be hot and spicy.

6. Cook another 7-8 minutes or until juices run clear.

7. Serve on its own with your favorite side dishes, with ranch or blue cheese dressing on side, or on a bun with ranch or blue cheese dressing as a sandwich.

Meatloaf Burger Patties

Think about a burger and then think about meatloaf. This recipe brings the two together and makes meatloaf something you can make for a quick weeknight dinner. I kept it burger consistency while added meatloaf components to make this have the "meatloaf" taste. Also becomes the perfect shape for meatloaf sandwiches.

Meatloaf Burger Patties - Serves 4

Ingredients:

* 1lb of lean ground meat (can use any kind you like, but I used 93% lean ground beef)
* 1 TBSP of worchester sauce (if you are allergic to fish and/or seafood like my husband you can use Annies organic worchester sauce, its vegan)
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 1/4 tsp sea salt
* 1/4 tsp garlic powder
* 1/4 tsp onion powder
* Cooking spray or oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Defrost ground meat before starting your recipe.
2. Mix worchester sauce in with ground meat in a mixing bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients to ground meat and throughly mix everything together.
4. Form meat into 4 burger patties.
5. Cook in a large pan or skillet on medium-high heat for about 12-15 minutes, flipping patties halfway through. They will be ready when they are lightly browned and the juices run brown and clearish. (If using ground turkey or extra lean meats, lightly coat the pan with oil or cooking spray, not needed for lean beef though).
6. Serve on a bun or 2 slices of bread with ketchup or on your plate as you would traditional meatloaf. I ate mine with a baked sweet potato and veggies as you can see below:

 

Enjoy and feel free to grill or oven bake these if you choose, I bet they would also be great cooked using these methods. Let me know if you try this recipe.

Thanksgiving Stuffing Bake

With Thanksgiving coming very soon, stuffing is one of the things I have been wanting lately. Here is a one-dish meal that is easy to put together and enjoy for dinner or double the recipe and take it to a potluck:

Thanksgiving Stuffing Bake - Serves 4

Ingredients:


* 3 chicken breasts of thighs (I used chicken thighs)
* Cooking Spray (I used canola oil cooking spray)
* 1 box of stuffing mix (I used a box of whole wheat chicken stove top).
* 1 1/3 cups of water
* 1 TBSP of butter or margarine (I used unsalted butter)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Boil 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 TBSP of butter in a medium saucepan.
3. Add stuffing mix and stir.
4. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
5. Spray 8x8 square pan with cooking spray.
6. Add chicken to the bottom of the pan in a relatively even layer.
7. Add stuffing on top of chicken, making sure the layer is even.
8. Place pan in oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.
9. Slice and serve with your favorite gravy and veggies, enjoy!

Honey Mustard Chicken

I came up with this recipe tonight after a long, hard workout today. I have been battling a cold all week and today was the first day that I felt like my normal self. I am dedicating this one to one of my oldest and best friends Susan who loves honey mustard, which I also happen to like a lot. I am not a fan of mayo and have always enjoyed mustard on my sandwiches, especially spicy and honey mustard.

Ingredients:

* 4 chicken breasts, thawed
* 4 TBSP of honey mustard dressing (I used Ken's Lite Honey Mustard)
* 1/8 tsp of black pepper
* Canola oil cooking spray

Directions:

1. Put honey mustard, spicy mustard, and black pepper in a small bowl and mix both of them together.

2. Coat chicken with honey mustard mixture one at a time. Make sure the chicken is thoroughly coated. Cover chicken and marinade chicken in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

3. Spray the pan with cooking spray and put chicken in a large pan over low to medium heat.

4. Cook 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear, flipping chicken halfway through.

5. Serve on its own with favorite side dishes or use chicken in a salad, sandwich, or wrap with additional dressing. Enjoy!

Tuna Burgers

This will be the first fish/seafood recipe on this blog. Also the first burger recipe in general. This is a cross between a crab cake and a salmon burger. These can be eaten like a crab cake with aioli or tartar sauce or like a burger using tuna melt fixings like cheese and tomato. I don't cook a lot of seafood or fish at home since my husband is very allergic to all fish and seafood. However, every now and then I make these and a few other seafood/fish dishes when he is not home. I do enjoy seafood and fish, but don't eat either of these more than a few times a month due to my husband's allergies and the fact that most seafood and fish is expensive. These are budget friendly for a fish dish though and are easy to make, enjoy!

Tuna Burgers - Makes 2 large burgers or 4 smaller burgers

Ingredients:

* 5 oz can of tuna in water
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup of italian seasoned bread crumbs
* 1/4 tsp of garlic powder or to taste
* 1/4 tsp of black pepper or to taste
* 1/4 tsp of onion powder or to taste
* Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

1. Open can and drain tuna.
2. Add  tuna and eggs into a medium sized bowl and mix them together.
3. Add bread crumbs, garlic powder, black pepper, and onion powder and mix everything together.
4. Form patties and spray a large pan so they don't stick.
5. Cook burger in pan on medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown.
6. Serve on a bun or on your plate with fixings of your choice.

Leftover burgers can be refrigerated or frozen for later use. Enjoy!

Italian Style Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken

Recently I was given a challenge to come up with a clean eating or gluten free recipe to feature on their blog. I decided to rise to the challenge. I also noticed there aren't any protein rich dishes on the blog yet. Here is a gluten free and clean eating chicken recipe which will pair well with asparagus, green beans, or spinach and some rice. This also would pair well with the Spinach Parmesan Orzo recipe that was featured on Monday. I am having this with brown rice and spinach tonight.

Italian Style Mozzarella Mushroom Chicken - Serves 4


Ingredients:

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 1 1/3 cups of fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used already sliced baby bella mushrooms)
* 2 TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1 tsp dried basil
* 1/2 tsp sea salt
* 4 Slices of part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over low to medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet, and season with garlic powder, basil, sea salt, and black pepper on both sides. Cook 10-15 minutes or until juices run clear, flipping chicken halfway through. Set chicken aside on a plate and cover the plate to keep the chicken warm.

2. Stir mushrooms into the skillet, and cook until tender, stirring them with a spoon to cook them evenly. Return chicken to skillet and top each piece of chicken with mushrooms and then with a slice of cheese (feel free to cut slice to fit each piece if needed) . Cover skillet, and continue cooking 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

3. Serve with favorite side dishes and enjoy. Here is a picture of the chicken with brown rice and baby spinach.

That was my dinner tonight, let me know your thoughts on this dish! I thoroughly enjoyed this chicken.