0 Cauliflower Pizza Crust

This is no joke.  I hate cauliflower.  I love this pizza!

This is a diabetic pizza dream.  There are so few carbohydrates in this pizza crust, it is almost sinful.

You can eat as much as you want. We will break down the carb count at the end of the post if you want more information.  

Let's get started on this pizza recipe.  I have seen a lot of cauliflower pizza crust recipes floating around in cyber space.  I took some information from a few different sites.  If you are interested in checking them out here they are:

 crazyforcaroline.blogspot.com

alextcooks.com 

.topfoodcenter.com 

createthelifenow.blogspot.com 

First go out and get a large head of cauliflower.  Chop up the florets into small pieces that will easily fit into your food processor.  You can chop your cauliflower up by hand if you wish.

 You are going to want your final product to be about the same size as a grain of rice.  As you can see this looks like a bowl of white rice below.

 Now we get to the other ingredients.  I will list them here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 head of cauliflower

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

salt to taste

Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix by hand.  I literally mixed and mushed with my fingers.  You want to incorporate all the wet ingredients into the cauliflower.  Now if you are anything like me at this point you are thinking that this recipe will never work and that you are just waisting your time.  Never fear this will come together.  

I have found over the years that aesthetics work wonders.  My kids will try any new food if it looks good.  I am trying to get this crust to look as close to a regular pizza dough as possible.  After many failed attempts at making round crusts I came up with this brilliant idea.

 For the mini pizzas I used a large round cookie cutter or english muffin baking ring.  For the large crust I used a spring-form cake pan without the bottom inside.  Follow the pictures below to see how to make a perfectly round crust!

 

 Now you are going to bake this crust at 350* for about 20 minutes, or until slightly brown around the edges.  You are then going to flip the crust and bake the bottom up for around ten minutes. 

 As you can see the crust is coming together, it doesn't break and holds it's shape!  Don't let these pictures fool you though, the crusts do stick to the parchment paper and have to be eased off the pan by going gently around the sides.  I used a large crepe spatula to flip the large pizza crust, or just turned the parchment paper upside down onto another pan and peeled the paper off. 

 Once the crust are nice and golden brown on both sides you take the pizzas out and add a thin layer of pizza sauce and a small amount of cheese.  Then pop it back into the oven and watch it until the cheese is nicely melted and slightly browned. Then they are done!

 AMAZING right?

So now we get to the carbohydrate count.  I made two large pizzas and six small pizzas out of one head of cauliflower.  One large head of cauliflower has about 44g of carbs in it.  There is about 25g of fiber so you can decrease the carb count to 20g.  This is virtually a carb free pizza! The sugars are going to hit you so much slower. 

Here is some in-depth information on the nutrition in cauliflower whfoods.com

Detail: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

0 Good Food in a Flash

Cooking and baking for multiple food allergies and a type 1 diabetic is so time consuming.  I have come across a few time savers, and quick tips that I have found invaluable these last two years.  This isn't rocket science and you have probably seen or have done most of these ideas before.  This will either be a reminder or give you another technique to try. 

FREEZE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT PUREE

 

I cooked a few butternut squash and pureed them in the blender then poured the puree into some icecube trays.  I did this with some raw pureed beets and carrots too!  These are great additions to a fruit smoothie, pasta sauce, muffin mixes, and applesauce.

FREEZE APPLE PIE FILLING

 I used about 5-6 Granny Smith apples for this recipe.  It makes a medium size pie.  The best thing about freezing the apples is that it breaks them down and they cook better in the pie.  To make the pie simply defrost the apple filling and add to your crust.  Bake as you would normally! You can add vanilla extract instead of the vanilla bean powder.  I personally think the powder tastes better.

I have a couple of these mixes in my freezer now, you will be amazed at how many more pies you will make if you get the work of the filling out of the way!  I did a review on a great pie crust by Gluten Free Mama CLICK HERE to see that.  I am going to try and make the whole pie up and freeze it before I bake it.  That would be AMAZING, pull it out of the freezer, thaw, and bake.....ahhhh what would I do with my time?

YES!!! The whole pie made up and frozen totally works.  If you want to go this route simply prepare everything as if you were making a fresh pie without baking it.  Wrap it tightly in some sort of covering (I vacuum sealed mine) and pop it into the freezer.  On baking day simply take your pie out of the freezer and let it defrost then bake it up as normal.  I LOVE IT.  It is like a present to myself.  I made up 6 pies at once using dollar store pie tins.  Then I froze them!  These would make great gifts to that new mom, or a working mother who doesn't have time for all the steps.

 MAKE BAGS OF SMOOTHIE INGREDIENTS

 This has been WONDERFUL, I have each bag full of measured portions of frozen fruit.  Everything is carb counted for a fast diabetic snack/meal.  YES YOU CAN FREEZE BANANAS, peel them first.  The key is not to let the frozen fruit defrost while you are making up the bags, you want everything loose so it blends well when you make your smoothie later.  I have frozen fresh fruit ahead of time on trays then made up the bags.  Nothing says disaster like a huge chunk of frozen pineapple sticking to the bag. 

FREEZE LEMON JUICE 

 This is such an easy one.  Buy lots and lots of lemons when they are cheep.  Juice all of them and freeze them in icecube trays.  Anytime you want some fresh squeezed lemon juice simply defrost a cube or two.  Check out my lemon soda recipe CLICK HERE and my lemon ice recipe, it is carb free.....CLICK HERE

Frozen Black Beans

Make up a crock-pot of black beans.  Then freeze the beans in individual bags or containers.  Whenever you need some beans for a side-dish or to make black bean brownies simply defrost and use.  I froze my beans in an ice-cube tray to make defrosting them easier. I did a post earlier about making dry black beans in your crock pot CLICK HERE to see that.  The frozen beans are so easy to heat up in a microwave or in a pot with a little bit of water.  It is like the convenience of a can of beans without all the worries of the BPA can lining.

Quick Frozen Waffles

Make extra waffles and freeze them.  They are sooooo easy to defrost in the toaster.  I have a great low carb waffle recipe that I double so I can freeze half.  My kids enjoy P.B & J waffle sandwiches for lunch sometimes.

     You can also apply this technique to muffins.  Simply make a double recipe and freeze half.  It is nice to pop one or two muffins out of the freezer for a little snack or last minute breakfast. 

Detail: Good Food in a Flash

0 Crock Pot Beans

I have made beans from scratch in the past without success.  This recipe looked easy enough and promised success.  CLICK HERE to visit the site with the original recipe. Dry bulk beans are cheaper and easy to store.  The best part is that you can make a whole pot of these beans and freeze the extra portions for an easy meal in the future.

 

For this demonstration I am soaking about 4 cups of black beans.  I added 8 cups of water.

At about two hours later the beans were at the top of the bowl and the water was almost completely absorbed.  I changed out the water, it was pretty black.  Six hours later the beans had absorbed some more water and were ready to go into the crock pot.  I rinsed the beans out in a colander.  I put the beans into the empty crock pot and added enough clean new water to cover them.  For a tiny bit of flavor I added 4 cloves of crushed garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Now the beans just cook away into the crock pot for about 8 hours on low.  This is something you have to plan ahead for dinner the night before.

If you like having beans on hand for dinner right away try freezing them.  I froze my in an ice cube tray.  Whenever you want beans simply throw some bean cubes into a microwave safe bowl or heat over the stove top carefully stirring through the whole process.

CHECK IT OUT!  I dehydrated a few cups of crock pot cooked beans.   Here is how I did it.

 

First you do the soak, cook in the crock-pot and cool, then spread your beans on a dehydrator tray.  Dehydrate on medium for about 4 hours or until they are completely dry. 

CONCLUSION:

Just because they can be dehydrated doesn't mean that they taste great.  It would work in a cataclysmic disaster as food but I would rather have them thawed out from frozen than re-hydrated.  The taste is lacking, Just say-en. It could possibly work in a soup mix if the beans weren't the main flavor carrier.  

Detail: Crock Pot Beans

0 Lettuce Tacos

Yes, the name says it......I am cutting out the corn tortilla in my slow move to cut out the grain in my families diet.  I find that a slow move away from grain is my best option.  I start replacing my grain laden recipes and meals with new or improved dishes.

The ingredients are simple: Romain Lettuce, guacamole, bell peppers, cilantro, chopped onions, meat, and salsa.  You can add beans, olives, and sliced avocado too.  BE CREATIVE, HAVE FUN WITH THIS.

 A little word of warning, you will tend to fill your lettuce taco too full, so remember you can have multiple tacos, don't fill it too full.  STEP #1 use refried beans or guacamole as your first layer so you can stick the remaining ingredients to the bottom so they don't slide out.  STEP #2 add your meat and smaller chopped ingredients.  STEP #3 add your garnish.  And have another, and another, and another.

 I served these little gems to my dad, he liked them.  He did comment that they were a little messy.  Yes, you will need to have a few napkins handy for each person.  We are still doing some corn chips as you can see.  My family needs a little crunch with their meal.........

 

My Type 1 diabetic daughter likes these lettuce tacos.  These are virtually carb free if you omit the beans. It is nice to give her free reign to have as much as she wants for at least one meal.   Not that any meal can't be covered, but that she doesn't have to count any carbs and worry about insulin for this one. 

Detail: Lettuce Tacos

0 Covert Vegetables Part #1

My kids don't like vegetable sidedishes, they don't look forward to salad and salmon night.  I want to get these veggies into them so they can benifit from all the nutriets.  After reading through the cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld I got a few ideas.  These ideas folded right into what we are already doing, so it was super easy.

IDEA #1

Add some pureed beets to your pasta sauce, same red color masked in the Italian seasonings.

Nutrients in
Beets
1.00 cup raw (136.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

folate37%

manganese22.5%

fiber15.2%

potassium12.6%

vitamin C11.1%

tryptophan9.3%

magnesium7.8%

iron6%

phosphorus5.4%

copper5%

Calories (58)3%

CLICK HERE  to visit the site I got the nutritional information from for all the veggies.

CLICK HERE to visit another post I did about uses for beet puree.

IDEA #2

Add some pureed sweet potatoes into pancakes, pumpkin or banana bread muffins, oatmeal cookies or cake recipes.  Simply decrease the oil/fat a little and add about 1/2 cup puree.  

CLICK HERE  to get some fun school pages about the sweet potato. 

Nutrients in
Sweet Potato
1.00 cup baked (114.00 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

vitamin A438.1%

vitamin C37.2%

manganese28.4%

vitamin B616.5%

tryptophan15.6%

potassium15.4%

fiber15%

vitamin B510.1%

copper9%

vitamin B38.5%

Calories (102)5%

CLICK HERE for a post I did on pumpkin pie, you can easily make it into a sweet potato pie. 
 CLICK HERE for a post on almond muffins that you can easily add sweet potato puree to.
CLICK HERE for a SUPER GREAT sweet potato cookie recipe. 

Remember you can throw all sorts of vegetables into smoothies.  Sky is the limit, or I should say your sense of taste is the limit.  Happy baking.

Detail: Covert Vegetables Part #1

0 Gluten, Dairy, and Low Carb Thanksgiving

Yes, the holiday of food, Thanksgiving.  Don't worry about a thing.  I have the perfect menu planned for all you who are avoiding gluten, dairy, soy, and are trying to stay low carb.  It can be done!  It can be delicious!  You don't even have to tell your visiting family that you are serving an allergen friendly meal.  They won't miss out on flavor, just the gluten and dairy!

To start things off the day before, you can make up all your desserts.  Here are some great ideas from my past posts.

Magic Cookie Bars  

Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

Lemon Dream Pie

The side-dishes I have listed below are to take the place of the typical bready things you would find on a Thanksgiving table.  These can be made the morning of or the day before.

 Cornbread

Almond Bread

Dinner Rolls




Now go make some turkey and yams!  I just took care of the problem food for this holiday.  May the Lord bless you and keep you this wonderful holiday season.  And now for some great Thanksgiving clip-art to get you in the mood. 

Detail: Gluten, Dairy, and Low Carb Thanksgiving