Individual Primal Pizzas

I came up with this idea while I was at the grocery store a few weeks back. Pizza has always been somewhat of a staple in our house... both homemade and buying it from our awesome local pizzeria, Rocky's. Now that we're eating mostly primal, pizza doesn't really fit into our health goals. So, I had to figure out a way to try to satisfy those pizza cravings we all have. I've seen some homemade primal pizza dough recipes online that use coconut or almond flours - and I hope to try them someday - but that's not what I wanted a few weeks back. So I decided to pick up some large portobella mushrooms and use those as my base. I had some cooked ground beef in the freezer that I pulled out and then just used a random assortment of veggies from our refrigerator. I layered everything up with some homemade tomato sauce and some shredded cheese and voila! Individual primal pizzas. These were a total hit! Carson scarfed his down and wanted more. Kevin ate a few and said he thought they were great. I loved them. These were super easy to make, too... and will definitely be a regular thing on our menus from now on!

Individual Primal Pizzas

large portobella mushroom caps
veggies of your choice
cooked ground beef
tomato sauce, preferably homemade
shredded cheese
olive oil

Place your mushroom caps and whatever raw veggies you are using on a baking sheet. I ended up using some orange and green bell peppers, broccoli, carrot shreds, and spinach leaves. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast at 375 for about 8 minutes.

Pile up your veggies on the portobella mushroom caps. Next top with some cooked ground beef. Then some tomato sauce. Finally, sprinkle on some shredded cheese.

Place back in the oven at 375 and bake until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health

Crockpot Pizza Soup

I was going through some draft posts I'd saved a while back and realize I never posted this recipe. I made this back in April. Its from A Year of Slow Cooking and it is so good! It really does taste like pizza in a bowl. We all loved it! I'll update with my picture of it if I find it...

Crockpot Pizza Soup

1 jar (14 oz) of pizza sauce
3 empty jars full of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (I used 1 can diced tomatoes)
2 already-cooked Italian sausage (I used 2 sweet Italian sausages (uncooked), cut/broken in chunks (casing removed))
1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 Tbsp. dried)
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (I used organic whole wheat penne)
shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4 hungry adults, or 2 hungry adults and 2 kids with enough leftovers to feed them all again.

Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

We all love pizza at our house, but we're trying to cut back on ordering it. For two main reasons - to cut out some junk since we don't know what the stuff from our local pizza joint really contains... and to save money. I saw this in one of my Rachael Ray magazines and thought it might be something we'd like and would satisfy the cravings that Kevin and Carson have for pizza. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, too, but I don't get hungry for it like the boys in my house do. So anyway, these were very quick and simple to make and they taste pretty good, too. And they're better for you than the local pizza joint, though still not the best for you.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small cubes (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 red bell pepper, sliced

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through, then stir in 1 tablespoon basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the remaining 1 tablespoon basil. Serve the puffs and red pepper slices with the pizza sauce for dipping.

You can also freeze the baked puffs (I did) in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag. To reheat, bake the frozen puffs on a baking sheet in a 350° oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Pizza on the Grill

I used the ABin5 dough (the master Boule recipe) to do grilled pizzas on the grill for dinner tonight. YUM! They were so good! (Note: I also used this dough to make calzones on Tuesday and they were very good, too!) I love grilled pizzas at restaurants, but I'd never tried them at home. I was a little uncertain as to how they'd turn out, but they turned out great! I made a few different kinds (small pizzas), a chicken pesto pizza (pesto, chicken, feta, mozzarella, parmesan), a margherita (olive oil, marinated tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, plus a little feta sprinkled over top) pizza, and a more traditional one with pepperoni, mozzarella, and parmesan. They were all very yummy! Kevin liked the traditional one best, but I loved the margherita and pesto pizzas (margherita pizza being my favorite). Carson loved them all - he just loves any kind of pizza. :) But I think the margherita pizza was probably his favorite, too. We had these for our main course, but these would be great appetizers for a party, too. Very quick and very easy to make!

I didn't follow recipes, just made my own combos, but I did read up on the technique to use when grilling with this very wet ABin5 dough. If you're interested in making these at home, be sure to read this Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Discussion Board.