Sun-Dried Tomato and Garlic Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I am sure you have heard of this pizza crust. A miracle to replace your gluten filled pizza nights. I have experimented with it quite a bit and have come up with the perfect ingredients and steps to make it delicious and able to be held in your hand like a real piece of pizza. I even gave my husband a slice for our "pizza night" and he said "Wow, this is good!" to which I replied...."Its made from cauliflower! HA!"Always the trickster.....anyways, here it is!

Sun-Dried Tomato and Garlic Cauliflower Pizza Crust

1 1/2 cup cauliflower florets

1/2 cup reduced fat mozzarella, grated

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, diced

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon no-salt vegetable seasoning

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Place cauliflower and garlic in a food processor and pulse until it resembles a coarse sand. Remove from food processor and place on a paper towel. Place another paper towel on top and squeeze out all of the excess moisture you can. This may be the most important step. If your cauliflower is not adequately pressed you will have to eat your pizza with a fork. Still taste good, but not really pizza! 

After pressed add to a large mixing bowl. Add cheeses, eggs, sun-dried tomatoes and seasoning. Stir well to combine. 

Spoon mixture onto a no stick baking sheet, or prepared pizza pan. Using your hands, form into a round around 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and middle is set.

After this your can freeze it or make a pizza right away. Just top like a regular crust and bake for about 10 minutes at 400, until your cheese is melted.

Fresh Herb Spring Rolls

My friend Jadene and I had a little fresh spring roll making fest the other week, and ever since then all I want is more spring rolls!! I love making these with fresh herbs and veggies, and they are completely gluten free. They are also vegetarian! I made this with a yummy sweet chili sauce, but I think that it could use a little tweaking, so I will save it until later. You can put whatever you like in these, but this is just a guideline with a few of the basics in it! 

Fresh Herb Spring Rolls

12 rice paper wraps

1 cup cooked rice vermicelli noodles

2 eggs

1 mini cucumber

2 green onions

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 red bell pepper

Fresh mint, basil, & cilantro leaves

Makes 12 rolls

Slice cucumbers, carrots, bell pepper, and green onions into thin matchsticks. 

Pick mint, basil, and cilantro leaves from stems and set aside. 

Heat a small pan over medium high heat. Scramble eggs and add to greased pan. Cook until set, careful to keep in 1 piece. Remove onto a cutting board, and slice into pieces a similar length of other vegetables. 

To roll spring rolls:

1.) Soak a rice wrapper in warm water for 20-30 seconds until soft. 

2.) Lay on a flat surface or cutting board.

3.) Add 2 to 3 strips or cucumber, red pepper, carrots, and green onion. 

4.) Next add a small amount of rice noodles and 1 strip of scrambled egg. 

5.) Begin to roll, pulling tight as you roll. 

6.) Halfway through, add your choice of fresh herbs. 

7.) Fold sides over on top of herbs and continue to roll tightly until completely rolled up! 

While you finish rolls, keep finished spring rolls under a damp paper towel to keep moist. 

Spicy Barbecued Shrimp with Cheddar Polenta

Another attempt at a restaurant re-creation! This time from the waterfront Elliot's Oyster House in 

downtown Seattle. Their BBQ shrimp with cheddar polenta is so good. Sweet and spicy shrimp and cool creamy polenta are sure please anyone with taste buds. Polenta is basically cornmeal. Well I used cornmeal because real polenta is hard to come by, and it works just as well. It is quick and easy to cook, and a great alternative for people who are sensitive to gluten! You can cook your shrimp anyway you like...but isn't everything better on the barbecue?

Spicy Barbecued Shrimp with Cheddar Polenta

1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal

4 cups water

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons cream cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

20-24 shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek ground chili paste

1 cup barbecue sauce

Turn on your grill to medium high heat. 

Begin by threading your shrimp onto metal skewers. Be sure to get the shrimp is 2 places so they dont fall off. Lay flat on a cutting board and drizzle with olive oil. Then crack sea salt and black pepper over top.

Place shrimp on grill and cook for about 2 minutes. Flip over and brush with barbecue sauce, cooking another 2 minutes. Flip again and brush with barbecue sauce. The point here is to cook the shrimp, then coat with barbecue sauce and cook some more. They taste so good once you have a nice sticky coating with a little char as well.

After your shrimp have cooked you can place in the oven at a low temperature to keep warm while you cook the polenta. 

Your ideal barbecue goal :)

To make polenta:

1.)In a medium pot, boil 4 cups of water. 

2.)When water is boiling add cornmeal and butter, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10- 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

3.)Once cooked, add your cheddar cheese, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Whisk quickly to combine until cheese is melted and immediately serve. Polenta turns from creamy goodness to sticky mess really quick, so the sooner the better!!

To plate, add around 1 cup of polenta to your dish. Top with 1 skewer of shrimp and drizzle with a spicy barbecue sauce. 

I use 1 teaspoon on chili paste (super spicy) combined with 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce, to make my spicy sauce. I made a ton of the sauce from an earlier recipe, below, and just used it for the entire recipe!

 Barbecue Sauce from BBQ Pulled Chicken

Impossible Chocolate Cake

I have been DYING to try this recipe for months after finding it on Stumble Upon. It is not impossible because it is hard to make. It is impossible because it is flour and refined sugar free.  I made it last night for a little girls night get together. It is a delicious chocolate cake with a secret, but I didn't tell anyone the secret until after they ate it, because they might have not even tried it. I had my doubts but it turned out so moist and tasty, you couldn't even tell that is was good for you. I modified her recipe a bit, because I think Stevia is way too expensive to be putting in a cake. I would rather frame it and never use it for the price you pay. Her recipe is the link below mine, but I think mine is a little easier :)

Diet Chocolate Cake

1 can of plain black beans - 15 ounce

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup salted butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup Splenda

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 325 degrees and prepare an 8x8 cake pan with cooking spray or butter. You can also sprinkle the pan with cocoa powder and tap to coat for an easy removal.

Original Recipe:

Healthy Chocolate Cake with a Secret

Secret ingredient :)

The first step is to transform your black beans into something more appetizing.

1.)First rinse and drain the black beans. 

2.)In a blender or food processor add 3 of your eggs, rinsed black beans, vanilla, and splenda.

Blend until smooth. REALLY SMOOTH. You don't want bean chunks in your cake, then everyone would know your secret :)

After beans are smooth add to a large mixing bowl. 

In a smaller bowl add room temperature butter and honey and beat until fluffy. Add the remaining 2 eggs and mix well. Then add this mixture to your pureed black beans and mix well. 

In another small bowl whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Slowly add your dry mixture to the beans, and beat until fully incorporated.

 Next add the mixture you your prepared pan and smooth out. Place in oven for 40-45 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. You can let cool and eat plain, or frost. 

It is really good plain, but even better with frosting :) I found the frosting hard to do without sugar. You can attempt her recipe but I sort of used half her recipe, and half of a regular recipe for chocolate frosting. Obviously if you make regular frosting it is no longer refined sweetener free, but there is still very little refined sugar. Here is the recipe I made up:

1/2 cup room temperature butter

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup splenda

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and vanilla until fluffy. In a separate bowl mix sugar, splenda, and cocoa powder. Slowly add to butter until fully combined. Add whipping cream and beat until smooth and fluffy. This is enough to frost the entire 8x8 cake, or like I did because my cake broke in half when I turned my pan over, a mini cake loaf with 2 layers :)

Gluten Free Baked Chicken Strips

A while ago I got a request to do a gluten free meal. Surprisingly, when I though about it, I actually knew quite a few people who had a gluten sensitivity. I actually have a ton of gluten free recipes on this blog, but this is really one to center a meal around. While I don't eat them, I make these for my husband all of the time. They are just as crispy and tender and deep fried chicken strip, but with no guilt after eating them. While the combination of pecans, soy milk, cornmeal, and rice cracker may seem random, they are a unique and delicious way to coat your chicken!

Gluten Free Baked Chicken Strips

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

2 eggs

1 cup vanilla soy milk

1 cup brown rice flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup crushed rice crackers

1/3 cup ground pecans

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and pat dry chicken breast. Cut in strips about one in thick. In a bowl add soy milk and eggs, whisking together to combine. Add chicken and refrigerate for about an hour, or as much time as you have. Marinating the chicken in the soy milk makes it tender and using vanilla flavored soy milk give it a hint of sweetness. 

While chicken is marinating, pour rice flour in one bowl. In a separate bowl add corn meal, ground pecans, a crushed rice crackers. Season with garlic salt, onion powder and black pepper to taste. Mix to combine.

Remove chicken from refrigerator. Remove chicken from bowl and place on a plate of cutting board. Dip chicken strip into rice flour, then into milk mixture again, then into cornmeal/ pecan mixture. Repeat with all chicken strips and place onto baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until juices run clear. 

Garlic and Cherry Tomato Pasta

5 years ago in the town of Penticton, British Columbia I had a pasta dish at a little restaurant named Villa Rosa. It was angel hair pasta, with a light tomato, basil, garlic (a LOT of garlic) sauce. It was good. So good that I have literally tried to re-create that dish in my kitchen for the last 5 years. For some reason it never turns out as light and delicious (or garlicky) as I remember it. But I have discovered the secret, totally by accident...and now I am going to share it. A thin rice vermicelli, and a combination of cooked and raw garlic turn this dish into a garlic lovers paradise.  The pasta is so light you cannot tell it is rice instead of wheat, and when paired with a sauce that is heavy on fresh vegetables and light on the blended sauce, it almost recreates what I remember. And since I doubt I will get any closer, here it is!

(Bonus- gluten free Italian, unheard of!)

Garlic & Cherry Tomato Pasta

Vermicelli brown rice noodles

1 cup cherry tomatoes -roughly chopped

1 large hothouse tomato

6-7 cloves garlic

1/2 yellow onion

5-6 basil leaves finely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

1.) Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large pot or pan. Finely chop onion and garlic and add to pan, reserving 1 clove of garlic. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
 2.) Add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and Italian seasoning. Chop and add hothouse tomato and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
3.) While sauce is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add vermicelli rice noodles and cook until tender.
4.) When noodle are just about done add chopped cherry tomatoes, half of the basil, and remaining chopped garlic to sauce and return to a simmer.
5.)When sauce is heated through, drain pasta and toss in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Top with sauce and sprinkle with remaining basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.