Cauliflower Crust

Last month I found a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust.  I figured it would be a good thing to try since David likes pizza but we're trying to do gluten free (and succeeding pretty well...until this week when we HAD to eat our wedding cake.  BTW, it froze GREAT!).  It was quite the interesting process getting the cauliflower ready.  First you have to chop into TINY pieces the uncooked cauliflower then cook in the microwave...cauli-rice as she called it.

Then you SQEEEEEE-EEEEEZE all the water out of the cauliflower.  Don't I look like I'm having fun?! 

There was so much water!  Then you mix up the cauliflower with egg and cheese.  Um, yum!  I just topped it with our normal pizza stuff.  SO GOOD!  K liked it...

and David said he got used to it. 

Don't let that fool you.  He still took it to work for lunch later that week.  I don't think it bothered him too much.  Though I know he enjoyed the "regular" gluten free crust better.  Despite that, I still want to try the cheesy "bread" sticks recipe I found.  Lots of cheese on top....yes and yum!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza from Cook Lisa Cook
 1 head of cauliflower
Make Cauli-rice as below:
Remove the leaves and hard center core of the cauliflower.  Cut into florets.  Wash and then allow the cauliflower to dry completely.  (You want the cauliflower completely dry and you will NOT be adding any water when cooking, this helps to cut down on the boiled cauliflower taste and smell.)  Once dry, fill the bowl of a food processor about half full and using the chopping blade and the pulse action, process the cauliflower until it looks like the size of grains of rice.  Add the processed cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl and repeat with the remaining cauliflower.  Once all the Cauliflower has been processed and added to the microwave safe bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a lid.  Microwave on high for 7 minutes. 

1 egg
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella (I used part skimmed)

1 TBS. parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Toppings of your choice, tomato, pesto or Alfredo sauce, cheese, precooked meats* & precooked veggies*

Preheat oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with either a Silpat or parchment paper.
Place the cooked Cauli-Rice into a tea towel and squeeze all the water out of the Cauli-Rice.  It is important to get the rice as dry as possible so that there won’t be extra moisture in the crust which will prevent it from crisping up properly.

In a medium bowl combine the dry Cauli-Rice, egg, 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper and mix to combine well.  Press the cauliflower mixture into an even thickness on the prepared pan, either into a round or rectangular shaped pizza. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the crust is firm and golden brown.  Remove the pan from the oven.  Top the cooked crust with sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.  Place back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted and starting to brown. Enjoy!

Savory Pies...YUM!

This month's Daring Baker's challenge was a bit different.  Typically a baking challenge is something that is sweet. Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.  When I told David that this was the challenge his immediate reaction was "sigh."  He's convinced he doesn't like chicken pot pie.  I quickly ensured him that the challenge wasn't for chicken pot pie but for a savory pot pie.  We had fun with this one.  I made two pot pies. 

The first one was a pizza pot pie.  I just made a batch of my pizza crust and rolled it out thin. 

Then I placed the dough in a pie plate.  I used pepperoni, roasted veggies and cheese as filling.

 We all liked it fine but decided we prefer regular pizza. 

The next pie I made was a breakfast pie.  I used a gluten free biscuit recipe because we are going to be trying a couple of weeks of gluten free meals.

 It was actually really good and David said that he liked the pie better than my traditional Christmas breakfast casserole.  Wow! 

I just scrambled eggs then layered biscuit, eggs, sausage, cheese, and biscuits and cooked it until the biscuits were done.  It was SO good!  I will definitely be making this one again!

Pizza Pot Pie
Daddy's Pizza crust
Mix and sift:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour
2 heaping teaspoons yeast (or one packet)
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

Add a scant cup of hot water. Mix. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add 1/2 cups of flour as needed (usually around 2 times). Knead. Place dough in an oiled bowl. Place this bowl in a larger bowl with warm water. Microwave for 2 minutes at power level 2, rest for 5 minutes (or longer if needed). Punch down and knead a couple of times. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Allow the dough to rest then roll out fairly thin.  Put in a pie plate.  Put pizza sauce on the bottom of crust.  Then layer with your desired toppings.  I used turkey pepperoni and roasted veggies.  Place cheese on top then fold the extra dough over the top and pinch the layers closed.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is done.

Breakfast Pot Pie
You need scrambled eggs (6 eggs), sausage (about 2/3 bag of precooked turkey sausage), cheese, and one recipe of biscuits.

Scramble eggs (6 eggs was perfect).  Make your desired biscuit recipe.  I used this one:

1½ cups superfine white or brown rice flour plus more for rolling
¾ cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
6 tablespoons cold fat (such as butter, Earth Balance or shortening), cut into small pieces
¾ cup milk (any kind including dairy free) - I think I used a bit more than this


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Whisk together the flour, starch baking powder and salt. Cut the fat into the flour either with a pastry cutter, two knives or by rubbing the fat into the flour with your fingers. Make sure you leave some larger pieces of fat. Add the liquid, starting with ½ a cup and gradually adding a little more at a time, mixing until the dough comes together. Put a little flour on a work surface and dump out the dough. Knead 3 or 4 times then either roll or pat it out to about ½ inch thick.

In a pie plate, put half of the biscuit dough and press over the plate.  Put scrambled eggs on top of the biscuit dough.  Then put a layer of sausage, then a layer of cheese.  Spread the remaining portion of biscuit on top.  Place plate in oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes until it is golden.  Enjoy!

It's ah Pizza-ah.

Before I get to the pizza, I want to make you aware of a simple way that you can help someone in need. Kristen, of Dine and Dish, has a friend, Ann, who is battling breast cancer. As you can imagine, there are lots of struggles that come along with this, one of which is money. Any time you visit Kristen's site some she "earns" money, which she is donating to Ann's family. So, stop by and help Ann out through Clicks-4-a-Cause. Now the pizza...I've been seeing several people making these wonderful looking vegetable pizzas. Well, I decided to join in and make a roasted veggie pizza. It was pretty good but I think that my yeast was pretty dead because the crust was fairly flat, whereas it is normally delicious! I didn't put much sauce ON the pizza because I was putting tomatoes on there, but after the fact, I think sauce on the crust would have been better. I ended up dipping it in sauce like you would stromboli. I used goat cheese on the pizza and it was pretty good. I'm going to have to revisit this sometime.Recipe...well, basically you make the crust linked above, roast the desired veggies (I did zucchini, squash, peppers, mushrooms and I think eggplant). Then spread sauce on, put the veggies on, add some tomatoes and cheese and bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

A Fiesta in Your Mouth

Remember those nachos that Philip created awhile back? Well, I think I was inspired by the refried beans! Last week I created a yummy Mexican pizza. It's pretty simple and makes for a healthy dinner. The tortilla I used is one of the La Tortilla Factory tortillas. I used the whole wheat version but the herb and garlic would be good, too. This even provides its own crunch as the edges of the tortilla crisp up in the toaster oven. The only thing, well only TWO things, that would have made this better would be black olives (which I bought at Target tonight!) and sour cream (or Greek yogurt). You can even customize to your tastes...add what you like, take off what you don't. If you like your Mexican spicy, add some jalapenos. If you like that strong taste but not spicy, add some green chiles. If you just HAVE to have meat, add some browned ground beef...grilled chicken would be good, too! Just make a fiesta in your mouth! Mexican Pizza

1 tortilla refried beans
roasted bell pepper
roasted onion
sliced tomatoes
cheese
salsa

Spread refried beans on tortilla. Place onions and peppers on top of beans. Place tomatoes on top of this. Sprinkle cheese over all. If you want to add something different, I'd probably put it under the cheese. If adding meat, I'd put it on top of the beans. Once dressed the way you want it (no sombreros, please!), place the tortilla on a pan and toast in a toaster oven (or bake in an oven until cheese is nice and bubbly! Serve with salsa and sour cream. Kiwis go well with this.

Pizza by Philip!

I don't know whether it started when he and Kenna started dating or when he moved into his apartment, but Philip, my brother, has a few specialties in the kitchen. One of them is a semi-homemade calzone. When he came home for Thanksgiving, surprising me Tuesday night...I was NOT expecting anyone when the garage door started going up...he started looking through the fridge for something to eat. Well, my mom had not stocked up, knowing that we'd have lots of food for Thanksgiving. There really was nothing to eat unless you had eggs or cereal! So, he went out to the grocery store and returned to make his calzone...while I napped on the couch at 8pm! I think that the concept is really good but my calzone would be QUITE different from Philip's...think lots of veggies and less cheese! However, because he's the chef for this meal, I'll give you his recipe!
Philip's Calzone
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough
1 pack of pepperoni
1/4 lb sausage ("depending on how much you want" per Philip)
1 small can olives
1 bag (I believe the 2 cup variety) mozzarella cheese
pizza sauce

Preheat oven to temperature indicated on the dough package. In a skillet, brown the sausage; drain. Roll out the dough on a cookie sheet or stone (Philip prefers the sheet). On half the dough, pile all of your ingredients, spreading out the pepperoni and cheese. Fold other half over the filling and roll the sides to close edges. Put in oven and bake for time instructed on dough...I'm really not sure on this, Philip didn't tell me. Just be sure the crust is done and brown. I'm thinking 15-20 minutes. Let cool for a little bit so you don't have too many juices come out. Cut to the size piece you want (Philip ate half) and serve with pizza/marinara sauce on the side. Enjoy!