Basil Cheese Pizza

Friday night pizza is such a great tradition in the family.  When you add the challenge of gluten free, you add planning.  It is still easy, inexpensive and do able.  You do need to think about it sooner than 20 minutes before you want to eat.

To begin with, I make one to two batches of Pamela's Product Chewy Pizza Crust.  As you may guess, I buy a lot of Pamela's Product flour mix.  It comes in a 4 lb bag and a 25 lb bag.  In the summertime when I bake less, I buy a case at a time of the 4lb bags.  In the winter, I buy the 25lb bag from Amazon.com.

Pamela's Chewy Pizza Crust

3-1/2 cups Pamela's Bread/Flour mix
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 package
1/4 cup oil ( I used Grape seed Oil)
1-1/2 cups warm water
1-2 T corn meal.

Sauce
1 can tomato sauce
1 T honey
2 T garlic and herbs

6-9 nice leaves of basil

2 cups cheese- mixed or not a mixture.

This makes two crusts.  Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.  Combine dry mix, yeast, oil and water.  Mix on medium for 2 minutes.  Grease a flat pan.  I find the a flat pan without side works the best.  It is harder to pick up the pieces if you use a cookie sheet.  I use a stone pan.  Sprinkle some corn meal on the oil.  I had purple corn meal at home, so, my dough looked a bit odd.  The corn meal adds fiber and is considered to be a poor protein source.  It is a complex carbohydrate.  Grease you hands and flatten the dough.  It will be sticky.  This is normal.  I use a rolling pressing motion when I flatten the dough.  Let it rest for one hour.  I usually place a wet paper towel over the dough to keep it from drying out and a hand towel over it.  Sometimes it rests for one hour sometimes more, depending on when else I am accomplishing while thinking about dinner.

After one hour, bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  This is really important because otherwise the dough is raw and gooey in the middle.

Sauce

You have several options here, pizza sauce, doctored spaghetti sauce or plain Jane tomato sauce.  I had plane Jane tomato sauce at my  homer.  I poured 1 cup or half the can in a small bowl.  I added about 1 T honey and 1T garlic and herbs.  mix and spread on the crust after it has begun cooking.

Place the pizza sauce and top of the crusts. Then add fresh basil you can cut it up or leave it whole.  Spread cheese all around.  There as several other options I sometimes add.
2-4 garlic cloves smashed with a garlic press and spread over the whole pizza.
14 olives chopped
onions 1/2 cup
2 cup cheese

Bake again for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

Sweet Potato Bread

What a lovely cool evening last Friday. I usually stop using the oven sometime in May. But, because we had such cool weather, the AC was off and the doors were wide open. I decided to bake bread as a treat. My children had been mentioning that they would like a peanut butter and jelly “sandwich” and not rice cake. I just love baking bread. Making gluten free bread is even easier than regular bread because you miss one step, punching it down. I use my dehydrator like a warming tray for raising the bread. Tonight we had mashed sweet potatoes. So I decided to add them as today food enhancer. The sweet potatoes are a wonderful vegetable filled with Vitamin C and B6, manganese, copper, biotin, pantothenic acid, Vitamin B2 and fiber.  Plus sweet potatoes have an excellent antioxident effect.  Sweet potatoes are classified as and "antidiabetic" food.

Sweet Potato Bread



3 ½ cups of Pamela Bread Flour mix
1 cup of mashed sweet potatoes
¼ cup oil (I use grape seed or coconut oil)
2 eggs and water
2 ¼ tsps dry active yeast

In a 2 cup measuring cup add the oil and eggs and warm water until you have 2 cups of liquid. Place the flour, yeast and sweet potatoes into a mixer. Then add the liquid and mix. Do not use the bread hook. Mix for 3-5 minutes. Oil a bread pan 8” x 4”. Place into the pan. Let dough rest for one hour. I usually place over my food dehydrator. I have let is rise for many hours with no problems. Set oven to 3450 degrees. Bake bread for 70 minutes. Let it sit for 10 minutes and remove.

If you want dinner rolls use a oiled muffin tin instead of the bread pan. Bake for 25 minutes instead.

There you have it simple easy and delicious.

Peanut Sauce

Peanut sauce




I just love this sauce. It is so easy and versatile to use. It stores well in the refirgerator.  I think of this sauce when bugs start going around.  The raw garlic is great for improving the immune system.

8 cloves of garlic, peeled
4T toasted sesame oil
2T Dr. Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
4T organic peanut butter
2T Dr. Braggs Liquid Aminos or Coconut secret liquid aminos
3T honey



I put all the ingredients into my little mini food processor. Blend and taste. This can be placed over noodles, over stir fired vegetable alone or with a meat.

Cole Slaw Extraordiaire

Cole slaw Extraordinaire


This is a great springtime slaw that is easy to fix and everyone loves. It is also very inexpensive to fix. This side is about $5.00. This is enough to feed my family of six twice.

I love this salad because it is filled with nutrients. It is raw so we receive the highest nutrients.

The carrots are an excellent source of antioxidants. Beets are excellent sources of folic acid, manganese and potassium. This is great for detoxifying the liver. The cabbage is nutrient dense, low calorie food. It contains anticancer compounds called glucosinate, plus it has Vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, vitamin B6, biotin, calcium, magnesium, and manganese.

2 carrots grated
½- 1 beet grated
1 cup cabbage grated
½ inch ginger grated (optional)
¼ cup Dr. Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ cup organic maple syrup or raw honey or raisins
1 tsp turmeric

Toss and refrigerate until dinner
 If you don't want it to be red, eliminate the beets. 

Penne Pasta with Basil and arugula

This is a quick and easy pasta dinner that is quick and easy for a warm spring dinner. This meal cost me about $13.00.  It fed my whole family of six with left overs.   I adapted this recipe from Fine Cooking

1 lb dried penne pasta (my favorite rice pasta is from Tinkyada)
8 oz raw milk feta cheese, crumbled
1cup Italian Asiago Shredded, plus more for serving
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 drops of lemon oil or 2 tsp lemon zest
   freshly ground pepper
1 bunch arugula, (about 2 loosely packed cups), coarsely chopped
1.5 oz fresh basil (about 1 cup), coarsely chopped
1 leek sliced
3 cloves of garlic sliced
 
Bring a large pot of water to boil over hot heat.  Cook the pasta until a dente.  Drain and rice the pasta.
 
In a medium bowl mix the feta crumbled, Asiago, 1 T of the olive oil, lemon zest or oil, 1/2 tsp salt, basil, and 3/4 tsp pepper.
 
Heat the remaining 1 T oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the leeks, garlic, and then the arugula.  Heat until just wilted, about 1-2 minutes.  Transfer the mix to the feta mix and mix well.
 
Add the hot pasta and toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve passing the Asiago  at the table.

Kale Chips

Kale


For the last several winters and springs I have tried to eat kale. I tried it both raw and cooked, Yuck. I tried several different ways. If I didn’t like it, I just couldn’t convince my children to eat it. I really wanted to eat Kale because it is so high in nutrition. The more I have read about it, the better it sounds, if only I could get it into myself and family.

Curly kale has ruffled leaves and a fibrous stalk and is usually deep green in color. It has a lively pungent flavor with delicious bitter peppery qualities.

Ornamental kale is a more recently cultivated species that is oftentimes referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may either be green, white or purple and its stalks coalesce to form a loosely knit head. Ornamental kale has a more mellow flavor and tender texture.

Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale.

Select and Store

Look for kale with firm, deeply colored leaves and moist hardy stems. Kale should be displayed in a cool environment since warm temperatures will cause it to wilt and will negatively affect its flavor. The leaves should look fresh, be unwilted, and be free from signs of browning, yellowing and small holes. Choose kale with smaller-sized leaves since these will be tenderer and have a milder flavor than those with larger leaves. Kale is available throughout the year, although it is more widely available, and at its peak, from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring.

Kale should be wrapped in a damp paper towel, placed in a plastic bag and stored in the refrigerator crisper. It should not be washed before storing since this may cause it to become limp. Kale can be kept in the refrigerator for several days, although it is best when eaten within one or two days after purchase since the longer it is stored, the more bitter its flavor becomes.

Kale Chips

½ cup Lemon Juice
1 Onion
6 heads of garlic Garlic peeled
½ cup Cashews
1 tsp Salt
2T curry
2T Honey

In a blender, place all these ingredients and blend to a liquid. Pour into a large bowl. Devein the kale and rip into 1-3 inch pieces. Dip the kale into the sauce. Try not to coat too thickly. I usually rub some of the sauce off. Place the kale on a dehydrator tray or a cookie sheet. Lightly oil the tray or sheet. In your dehydrator place the temperature at 150 degrees. In your oven, place the temperature at 200 degrees. The lower the temperature, the slower it dries but also keeps the nutrients. In the oven dry the kale for about one hour. In the dehydrator dry the kale for two hours.

Once the kale is dry, place it in zip lock bags. This will keep the moisture out and keep it crunchy.


Nutritional Profile

Density World's Healthiest

vitamin K 1062.10 mcg
vitamin A 9620.00 IU
vitamin C 53.30 mg
manganese 0.54 mg
dietary fiber 2.60 g
copper 0.20 mg
tryptophan 0.03 g
calcium 93.60 mg