A Gluten Free Super Bowl!

Superbowl Sunday.  One of the busiest pizza-ordering days of the year. While the nation is gearing up for a great game with dangerously delectable nibbles, I was making gluten-free, healthy goodies.

Dinner and a snack. That sounded good. For a game time nibble, I made my UNBELIEVABLE guacamole. I served it with corn chips, brown rice chips for me (no corn right now) and veggies.

yumm

Just a word of warning. If you make this guac, you WILL become addicted. I mean, you will make it again tomorrow. Its THAT good.

2 ripe avocados

1/4-1/2 red onion

1 clove minced or grated garlic

1 tomato, seeded and diced

cilantro, chopped

juice of 1/2 a lime

salt

In a bowl, mash the avocado and immediately salt and squeeze lime juice over it. (This prevents browning). Stir in the rest of your ingredients, except for the tomatoes.  Fold them in at the very very end so that it doesn’t water the guac down and turn it red. Refrigerate for an hour, or serve immediately if you just can’t wait!

For dinner, we made gluten free, vegan pizza! (with raw goat milk cheese, so its not truuuuly vegan).

gluten free *almost* vegan pizza!

I sautéed onions, mushrooms and garlic; and then I built my pizza.

I used Udi’s pre-made GF pizza crust and it was GREAT! SO convenient, and great texture and flavor. I put organic tomato sauce with salt and pepper as the base. Then, I sprinkled chiffonade basil over it. I covered it with my onion and mushroom mixture. I also added red bell pepper. I sprinkled chopped sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives. Finally, I blanketed the entire pizza in Veggie Shreds Mozzarella Cheeze and shredded goat cheese. I baked it for 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven until the cheese melted. SO DELICIOUS.

mmm mmm good!

Just a note on goat cheese.  Dairy is something to be avoided at all costs when you have ulcerative colitis.  However: raw, unpasteurized goat’s milk cheese is okay. It is on the Maker’s Diet and offers calcium, protein and is y-u-m-m-o! We used Old Kentucky Tomme goat cheese, which is raw, organic, and made at a local farm in Indiana.

To get a beautiful chiffonade, or thin strips, of basil, you need a good, sharp knife. A good chef's knife is an investment, and you will thank yourself time and time again - taking the frustration out of the chopping and dicing. Here's the knife that I use: 

GO Giants!

Gluten Free Vegan Pizza from Scratch!

Pizza gets such a bad wrap nowadays. Seen as a “diet killer” and junk food.  Well I’d like to debunk this pizza myth.

Pizza is actually a nutrition powerhouse IF you eat a sensible pizza in proper portions! *read: no meatlovers’ deluxe* The pizzas I like to make and eat are low fat, bursting with veggies and flavor, and super yummy!

Enter the Veggie Love Pizza Pie!

Veggie Love

Lets start with the crust: you can buy fantastic GF pizza crusts at the store, and I would definitely recommend that if you’d like a delish meal in a snap. But tonight…I felt daring :) Bring on the Gluten Free flours!!!!

Crust:

Start out:

2 1/4 t of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm almond milk

1/2 t sugar

Combine those three into a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, combine:

3/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 c cornstarch

2 t xanthan gum

1/2 t sea salt

1 t dried Italian seasoning

Put those in a food processor and with the processor turned on, pour the next 2 ingredients through the chute.

1 T EVOO

2 t apple cider vinegar

Process for 30 seconds and then add about 1/4 cup (+/-) of brown rice flour until the mixture becomes “doughy.”

Then place the dough on a parchment paper lined pizza pan and with oiled hands, spread the dough out to the edges. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until the crust is almost golden. (Our was thick and so we baked it for about 20). When it comes out, brush the edges with EVOO.

**My notes: this was a great crust, but when we were making it, we thought it was going to be horrible…but don’t let the consistency scare you! When it comes out of the food processor, it will be HOT and it is super hard to get it to spread out…oiled hands are clutch in this situation.

Toppings:

While our crust was baking, I sautéed some onions and mushrooms in 1 t EVOO until tender.

I spread the crust with organic canned tomato sauce (no salt added). I sprinkled sea salt, pepper, a touch of oregano and fresh basil on that; topped it with the onions and mushrooms, diced tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and some non-dairy cheeze! Don’t let that scare you! Daiya cheeze it actually quite wonderful, and it melts pretty well! Pop the pizza back in the oven just until the cheeze “melts”…less than 2 minutes!

This pizza is super nutritious, low fat, and so much fun to eat! We devoured this beauty while watching our Packers get whooped by NY :(

Until next time….C

*Food Processor Alert! This is another food processor recipe! (Remember how I said I have a love affair with my food processor?) I use the CuisineArt Prep 7. You can get it here: