Sausage and Pesto Pizza Pies

This is such a fun, fun, fun recipe. My inspiration is from Kelly The Spunky Coconut's Spinach and Artichoke Pies. I tweaked her original recipe to fit with my own pantry staples and have made it several times, each time changing up the filling to whatever I happen to have on hand and whatever sounds good at the moment (ever the spontaneous cook). This filling happens to be my favorite, a classic paring of sausage and pesto, with a hint of sweet tomato.

I'm telling you though: no matter what you decide on as a filling (try my way first, then once you get the hang of it, experiment a bit), this dough will absolutely transform your gluten free life. I honestly never thought a pizza pie/calzone/pizza pocket/whatever you want to call it, was possible sans gluten. Kelly showed me that, not only is it possible, it is easy and absolutely delicious. I am overjoyed that such a traditionally glutenous meal is now part of my family's mealtime repertoire.

Please note that the chicken sausage I use here is fully cooked (either Amy's or Trader Joe's), which makes the filling come together in very short order. With two young children, I need all the shortcuts I can get. Also note that I always use chicken sausage without a pork casing, because pork is unclean (see Leviticus 11:7), not to mention just plain unhealthy (please read Holy Cow for some amazingly alarming news about swine).

Another great thing about this recipe is that it is kid-friendly. My son tells me at the dinner table the night we ate these, "Huh? Very tasty mommy." (As if he was surprised? That's a four year old, I guess.) Even my baby loved it, and ate half of one all by himself. For leftovers, I packaged each individual pizza pie in a piece of aluminum foil so that it was ready to go in our lunch the next day.

But the best part of this recipe is that it is just fun (haven't I said that already?). Do try!

Sausage and Pesto Pizza Pies

Filling:

1 teaspoon coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion
2 chicken sausage links (such as Amy's or Trader Joe's), about 4 ounces
1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons pesto
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Pizza pie dough:

2 eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/3 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet with coconut oil.

To make the filling, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Chop onion and chicken sausages into bite size pieces and add to hot pan. Add chopped tomatoes. Saute for 5 or so minutes, until onions are translucent. Stir in pesto, turn heat down to low, and simmer until dough is ready.

To make pizza pie dough, whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Melt coconut oil and add to eggs, along with apple cider vinegar. Whisk again to combine. In a separate large bowl, add all dry ingredients and mix. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir with a large spoon until a soft dough ball forms. Divide the dough into 4-5 equal size balls.

Lay out a piece of parchment paper on the counter. Take one dough ball and place on one side of parchment paper. Fold the other side of parchment paper a top of the dough ball. Press down the dough ball with your hand, until it forms a small, even circle. Using a rolling pin, continue to roll out dough until it reaches a 6 inch size circle. Carefully peel off the top piece of parchment paper.

Using a spoon, section the filling into equal size portions, depending on how many dough balls you made. Scoop one portion of the filling onto one half of the dough ball and top with 1/4 cup mozzarella, making sure to leave a 1/4 inch border. Take the parchment paper from the bottom and use it to lift the dough not covered with filling over the top of the filling so it is completely covered, forming the pie. Gently press the edges of the pie together with your fingers.

With the parchment paper underneath, pick up the pie and carefully invert it onto the prepared baking sheet. Peel off parchment paper.

Repeat with remaining dough balls, filling, and mozzarella.

Once all pies are on the baking sheet, bake for 20-22 minutes, until pies are golden brown. Let rest on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes to allow the pie crust to solidify a bit.

Chocolate Cake (with Beets)

This cake is the real deal: chocoately, moist, fluffy, and healthy. Yes, healthy, for a number of reasons. First, there isn't a whole lot of sweetner in here, as compared with most other chocolate cakes out there. Second, it's packed with protein and fiber, thanks to almond flour. And lastly (my favorite part), there are vegetables baked right on in: beets! I recreated Jessica Seinfeld's chocolate cake recipe from her Deceptively Delicious cookbook to be both gluten and sugar free.

If you haven't read her cookbook, I encourage you to grab a copy at your local library and read about her system of keeping pureed veggies and fruits on hand all the time, allowing you to instantly blitz any recipe with nutrients. Then peruse through her fun and creative array of recipes and find a few to try using purees.

I started keeping purees on hand when my oldest was a baby, to use as baby food, and even after he was off of purees and onto solids, I would still keep purees in my freezer and add them to all sorts meals. (Four years and another baby later and you'll still find purees in my freezer!)

I use a bit of a different system than Jessica. Instead of storing purees in plastic bags in the freezer, I freeze my purees in ice cube trays; once frozen, I pop them out and store in a plastic bag, allowing me to have 2 tablespoons of any given puree at any given time (see Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Foods for this method).

This week I was cleaning my freezer and stumbled upon some pureed beets that had been in there for a while. I pulled them out to de-thaw in my fridge for a few days, not really knowing what I was going to do with them at the time. When the baking (and chocolate) urge struck later on in the week, I knew I needed a chocolate cake, so into the cake the beets went!

I do have to warn you though: when you pour the batter into the pan before baking, it will be a nice, deep pinkish color. But once it is baked and cooled, it takes on its natural dark chocolately color that we all expect from chocolate cake, allowing you to be a bit sneaky when feeding this to your kiddos and hubbies alike. I admit, I do love the element of surprise on people's faces when, after they've finished their serving, they find out it has unexpected veggies in it.

Tell me about your experience with pureed fruits and veggies and adding them "deceptively" to other dishes by leaving a comment below...


Chocolate Cake (with Beets)

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons Xylosweet
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
2 tablespoons powdered Xylosweet or sugar (optional)

Wet Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/3 cup pureed beets

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup agave

1/4 cup almond (or other) milk

5 drops liquid stevia (optional)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with coconut oil. 

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. 

Whisk eggs in a separate bowl. Add beets. Melt coconut oil and add to bowl along with the rest of the ingredients (through vanilla). 

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to incorporate, getting rid of most lumps (a few lumps are ok). 

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle powdered Xylosweet or sugar over the top if using. 

Tastes amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Quinoa Millet Bread

I'm alive!!!

I took a blogging hiatus for a while while I was recovering from some cold/flu/sinus infection crap that hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't do a lot of cooking during this period, and really didn't do a whole lot of anything. So when I started to turn the corner late last week and feel better than I had in weeks, my kitchen was calling like a long lost friend. "Come and bake something in me," my oven beckoned to me... And like a true friend, of course, I obliged.

I've been eating a lot of soup lately to warm my body and nourish my bones. So what was I craving to go with that soup? It's perfect companion: bread. Good bread. Good gluten free bread, that is. Timing could not have been more perfect for Amy's Perfect Bread as my inspiration in creating this quinoa millet bread. Actually, this bread is really just a version of my pizza crust 2.0 (which I have been making faithfully every week for my family's Friday night pizza night, and have been so satisfied with the results!).

This bread is great alone, smothered in butter or almond butter, stuffed with cheese for the perfect grilled cheese sandwich, or sliced thick and used for french toast. Whatever your bread craving may be, this bread will be your new favorite.


Quinoa Millet Bread

Dry ingredients:

2/3 cup quinoa flour
2/3 cup millet flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons almond flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
pinch salt

Wet ingredients:

1 1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Grease a 9x5 inch pan with oil.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl.

Warm water to approximately 105 degrees in a separate small bowl . Add yeast and sugar and give it a stir. Let set about 5 minutes, until bubbles and foam start to form on the top.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs, oil, and vinegar in another bowl. Once yeast mixture is foamy, add to egg mixture and stir to combine.

Add wet mixture to dry and stir until dough ball begins to form. Pour dough into prepared bread pan. Set in a warm place to rise for one hour (the dough should double in size).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let stand an additional 30-45 minutes in pan before removing and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Store in fridge for up to five days, or slice and freeze for up to three months.

This recipe is a part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays...

Ginger Orange Chicken

I had a conversation with my girlfriends recently about cooking asian food. Some seemed to think that it was way too difficult and complicated to make at home, opting for take-out every time. I think it is easy to cook asian at home, and have been for years, since I was given a Williams Sonoma cookbook all about stir fries. And this recipe proves that it is easy... and so tasty... and so healthy (think, no MSG, no foreign meats, no who-knows-what-could-have-been-thrown-into-that-dish ingredients!). This is not a recipe from that cookbook, but rather just an off-the-cuff creation in one of my moments of creativity this afternoon. It couldn't have been more delicious. The chunks of ginger and subtle flavor of orange combine so well together. I served it with brown fried rice (with carrots, onions, and peas) and a side of steamed broccoli, making it super easy, super healthy, super balanced meal.

So go ahead... try it the next time your craving for take out strikes and I guarantee you'll be satisfied!


Ginger Orange Chicken

Sauce:

1 medium naval orange

2 tablespoons Bragg's liquid aminos (or gluten free soy sauce)

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar

pinch crushed red pepper

Chicken:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped ginger
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

For the sauce, squeeze all the juice out of orange into bowl. Add Bragg's through crushed red pepper and stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Melt coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Meanwhile mince garlic and cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Once oil is hot, add garlic and ginger to pan. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken to pan, sprinkle arrowroot powder over chicken, and let cook for 7-8 minutes, until underside is cooked. Turn chicken pieces over so the pink side cooks for another 7-8 minutes (chicken should be almost completely cooked at this point).

Add sauce to pan and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon or spatula to deglaze. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook for 3-4 minutes stirring constantly, until sauce is thick.

Serve with brown rice and a side of steamed broccoli for a well rounded meal.

This recipe is a part of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays...

Banana Walnut Pancakes

I've become an avid pancake maker over the last few years, since my oldest son started eating solid foods. He adores pancakes, mostly because he gets to drown them in syrup or agave, and swirl and swirl the pancake around in it, "Like it's driving on a racetrack," he explains. We usually make pancakes at least once on the weekend, when hubby is home and we get to enjoy a lazy breakfast together as a family.

And being as today is Saturday, pancakes were the requested food this morning. But I wanted to try something new, something different from my standby pancake recipe, something that would get my pancakes...

1) a little lighter
2) a little more golden
3) a little fluffier, like the gluten pancakes of my youth
4) sweet and crunchy, to make the pancake multi-dimesional

I think my recipe hits it right on on all accounts. The star ingredients: arrowroot powder, bananas, and walnuts!

I'm so happy to be adding this pancake recipe to my repertoire. I think I'll try it again next week, swapping out the bananas and walnuts for blueberries and pecans... try this recipe as is, then get you creative with the add-ins.


Banana Walnut Pancakes

1 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon Xylosweet (Xylitol)
pinch salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup almond milk, coconut milk, or cream
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 banana
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat nonstick griddle over medium-low heat.

Combine flours, flaxseed, Xylosweet, and salt in bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk eggs and add milk, water, and vanilla and whisk again. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine, getting out most of the lumps (add more milk or water if necessary to thin the batter to a pourable consistency).

Slice banana into thin slices and add to batter, along with chopped walnuts. Stir again to incorporate.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto preheated griddle and cook for 3-4 minutes, until bubbles start to appear. Flip over with a spatula and cook an additional 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes 8-9, 4 inch pancakes.

Mini Blueberry Muffins

I've been striking it right on with the kid-approved food lately. The other night, I made a version of Kelly The Spunkey Coconut's Spinach and Artichoke Pies, and the three of us (me and my three year old and 13 month old sons) devoured half of them for our special dinner in front of the fire. Then this morning, I made these mini blueberry muffins, and as of the time of writing this at 2:15 in the afternoon, 19 of the 24 are gone... (yes they're mini, but 19 in one day for three people? That seems like a lot!).

But it is winter, and we are stuck inside, so I guess snacking on healthy, gluten free, high protein, high fiber, no sugar mini muffins is an ok thing to do.

...Right???!!!...

I'm experimenting more and more with stevia. Dr. Mercola sites it as one of the safest sweetners available; it has no calories and no impact on blood sugar levels. Since avoiding sugar is a major health endeavor of mine and my family, stevia is definitely a good fit. However, you can't just use stevia in the same proportions as you would sugar, as it is 300 times sweeter than sugar. So you have to get a little creative. I upped the stevia amount in these muffins to 1/2 teaspoon to try and decrease the amount of brown rice syrup. I was a bit afraid that the muffins would give off that unpleasant metallic taste that sometimes occurs when using stevia, but not here. It worked beautifully (as evidenced by the number of disappearing muffins on my counter...)! If you don't have stevia or brown rice syrup, you could substitute both of those for 1/4 cup of agave nectar (as agave is sweeter than brown rice syrup).


Mini Blueberry Muffins

Dry:
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
pinch salt

Wet:
1 large egg
1/2 cup almond (or other) milk
1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4-1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 24 mini muffin tin with mini paper liners or grease muffin tin with coconut oil.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, then add almond milk through vanilla and whisk again.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl and stir a few times to incorporate.

Gently set blueberries on top of the muffin mixture and with a large spoon, carefully stir the mixture, starting from the bottom of the bowl, moving it over the blueberries until they are fairly distributed into the mixture (you want to be very slow and gradual in this step so as to keep the blueberries from turning the mixture purple).

Using a tablespoon, scoop out muffin mix and place into prepared muffin tin, coming up to the top of the paper liners.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, until muffins are golden brown on top.

Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes before indulging.

Makes 24 mini muffins.

Part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ Simply Sugar and Gluten Free...

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I am from and currently live in Minnesota, where I'm pretty sure this soup was invented. However, you'd be hard pressed to find a chicken and wild rice soup around here that isn't loaded with cream (and wheat). Not that I don't love a good creamy soup every now and then (especially when I know the cream is raw- straight from grass fed cows- or as minimally processed as my state will allow for it to be sold at my local coop, such as Cedar Summit Farms cream), but I especially enjoy a hearty, broth based soup. It seems so much lighter on my tummy, allowing me to go back for seconds (or thirds... seriously). And I also enjoy simple soups, which this soup definitely is.

I love it so much, I've already made it several times this winter. And it's only January 9th, which means I'll probably be making it several more times since winter isn't anywhere near being over (at least not here in the frozen tundra).

I do recommend serving it with some of your favorite bread or scones. What fun is soup if you have nothing to dip in it?


Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 carrots
2 stalks celery
6 button mushrooms
10 cups homemade chicken stock
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1 lb of chicken breasts (leave whole)
salt, pepper

Heat oil in a large soup pan over medium-low heat. Chop onion and mince garlic. Add to heated pot and stir a few times. Chop carrots, celery, and mushrooms into bite size pieces and add to pot. Cook for 5-6 minutes, until vegetables are slightly tender.

Add stock, wild rice, and chicken breasts to pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for 40-45 minutes, until rice and chicken are cooked. Take the lid off the pot and remove chicken breasts. Shred into pieces with two forks and place back into the pot. Salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of pepper in this soup, so give your grinder lots of really good cranks).

Ladle into soup bowls and enjoy with some hearty, seedy gluten free bread.