Cauliflower crust pizza!!!!

I saw this recipe today and, since I have a head of cauliflower laying around, thought I MUST try this!  So I am posting it here to be able to remember it.  Perfect for gluten-free pizza!  It has rave reviews too.  And if you want to make it even healthier?  Try doing a 1:1 ratio of steamed broccoli puree with marinara for the sauce!  Recipe here:  http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/2012/05/cauliflower-for-the-pickiest-eaters-yep/

Cauliflower Pizza .
Ingredients
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1/2 Head of cauliflower (mine was a smallish head)
2 C shredded cheese divided (I used mozzarella, but any medium/hard cheese will work)
Italian seasonings (I used oregano, parsley, fresh garlic and some onion)
1 egg
Pizza sauce or marinara sauce of your choosing
Toppings (we used sausage, black olives and pineapple)
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Instructions
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Grate your cauliflower. I used a food processor with the grater blade (cause you don’t want it to become pureed, just shredded). Place the grated cauliflower into a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 6-8 minutes (depending on your microwave). You want to make sure the cauliflower is soft but not mushy. Do NOT add water or anything to the cauliflower.
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While the cauliflower cools off (I put mine in the freezer to cool it quickly), preheat the oven to 450* and prepare a cookie sheet or pizza pan by spraying it with cooking spray. This is also a good time to prepare your toppings – cook your sausage, cut up your pineapple, whatever…
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To the cauliflower add 1 C shredded cheese and spices and combine. Add egg and mix well with your hands. Press the crust onto a pan and shape into a 9-12″ pizza (depending on how thin you want the crust). I did mine closer to a 12″ and it worked great! Spray the top of the crust with cooking spray (to help brown) or brush with oil.
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Bake the crust for 15 minutes (or until golden brown). When you pull out the pizza, turn your oven to broil.
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Add your toppings (we did 1/2 sausage and 1/2 pineapple/black olive) including 1 C cheese and put pizza under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. Just broil it long enough to melt the cheese and caramelize the toppings a bit.
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Seriously delicious! My husband will eat cauliflower, but doesn’t love it. I am one of the pickiest eaters on the planet. My daughter is another one of the pickiest people on the planet. We ALL loved it!! I made this Sunday and they are already asking for it again!! Cauliflower! Who knew??

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I got this recipe off www.utahdealdiva.com and have already made it a few times (and am making it for dinner tonight!).  I've decided it's my favorite thing to make with cauliflower.  You can get this soup at Cafe Zupas too, and we all know how good their food is!

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk**
1 1/2 cups water**
1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, shredded

**Can substitute 1 can {12 oz} evaporated milk and 2 cups water for the 2 cups milk and 1 1/2 cups water.

In a large saucepan, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk in flour and salt. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth, and water.

Add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes.

In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth. {Don't let this step deter you from making the soup! Blending it is really easy and so worth the extra 3 minutes. The most annoying part are the added dishes!}

Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Serve soup with remaining cheese as a garnish.

Enjoy!

Easy Healthy Homemade Granola Bars!

I got this recipe off http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/2011/04/easy-healthy-homemade-granola-bars/.  At first I thought, whatever, it'll have tons of sugar or corn syrup in it, but it doesn't!  Wow!  I haven't made these yet, but I'm fully planning on it!  (And therefore posting it on this blog so I can find it easily.

Chewy Granola Bars
adapted from a Mark Bitman recipe

1/2 cup nut butter (almond or peanut)
1/2 cup honey
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1 cup oats (instant, quick or old fashioned)
1/2 chopped unsalted nuts and/or seeds (any combination you like)
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (any that you like)
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Place nut butter and honey in a small saucepan and heat over low heat just until melted enough to combine thoroughly with a whisk.

Lightly oil a 9X9 or 8X8 cake pan.
Center a piece of plastic wrap that is about 3 times the size of the pan over the pan and smooth it out to line the pan allowing the excess plastic wrap to hang over the sides.

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the combined nut butter and honey. Stir gently until well combined.
Pour mixture into pan and distribute as evenly as possible with the spoon you used to stir with.
Now fold the plastic wrap over the mixture and press firmly and evenly into the pan.

Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Lift the plastic wrap and granola mixture from the pan all at once.
Place on cutting board and cut into 16 equal pieces.

At this point I like to wrap each bar in waxed paper and put them into the freezer. When I’m packing lunches I can just grab one and add it to the lunches. It thaws perfectly for lunch.

For this batch I used natural peanut butter, almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, apricots and cranberries. YUM!

 

Homemade Pizza Crust

I had heard about this easy recipe from a fellow blogger and decided to try it last night for some yummy homemade pizza.  IT WAS SOOOOOOO GOOD!  The recipe is called "Jay's Signature Pizza Crust" and I got it off http://www.allrecipes.com/.  It has 4 1/2 stars and A TON of reviews, so it had to be good right?  Right!
And so easy!  Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
1.In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2.Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3.Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
4.Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
5.Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Here are my add-ins:  I put in some Italian Seasoning and some garlic powder and onion powder in the yeast/oil mixture, right before adding in the flour.  It made it very savory!  I also put pieces of string cheese in the edges of the crust before baking to get that cheesy crust all the pizza places are raving about!  
 
On my homemade pizza, I just use a traditional pasta sauce (special pizza sauce is so overrated!), mozzarella, and whatever veggies and meats I have on hand.  Last night, I topped my pizza with a small can of mushrooms (drained of course), 2 sliced up LARGE tomatoes, some thick cut ham, and a red bell pepper.  I had to cook it on my pizza stone for 20 minutes because of all the juices, but it was so good!  
I ate it again for lunch.  Cold.  Straight from the fridge.  I love eating pizza leftovers!
(Sorry no pictures, my camera battery is dead and is yet to be charged.  I haven't taken pictures for 3 weeks!  lol)

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

I got this recipe off http://www.utahshoppingsecrets.com/.  It just looks so delish and maybe a great way to end out this summer?!  ;)  Here's the original text from the post:
Who doesn't like a delicious ice cream cake in the summertime? If you purchase ice cream cakes from stores and restaurants they are expensive. Try making your own for a fraction of the cost!

For my husband's birthday a few weeks ago I wanted to make him an ice cream cake. But I wanted an ice cream cake that didn't have cake in it (make sense)? I found this superb recipe from Kraft Foods. Just take a look at it!

Oh it was divine! And super easy to make too. It looks like you slaved over a difficult cake when really it only tool minutes to prepare. Here is the original recipe with my changes marked in red.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

24 OREO Cookies, divided
2 cups Strawberry ice cream, softened (I used vanilla instead, and abt 3 cups)
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
2 cups Chocolate ice cream, softened (3 cups also)
2 Tbsp. Hot fudge ice cream topping (I used crushed oreos instead)

LINE 9-inch round pan (I used a 10 in springform pan. Didn't have to use the plastic wrap) with plastic wrap, with ends extending over side of pan. Stand 14 cookies around edge of pan. Crush remaining cookies. Reserve 1/2 cup crumbs for later use; sprinkle remaining crumbs onto bottom of pan. Spread strawberry ice cream over crumbs; top with 1 cup COOL WHIP and reserved crumbs. Cover with chocolate ice cream.
FREEZE 4 hours.
REMOVE dessert from freezer 10 min. before serving. Use plastic wrap handles to lift dessert from pan. Carefully peel off plastic wrap; place dessert on serving plate. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Top with remaining COOL WHIP; drizzle with fudge topping.

Apple Streusel Bars

Okay, so maybe I'm a bit addicted to www.ourbestbites.com. It must be, cause the last few recipes that I've posted here are all from there!

Even better, this recipe is SUPER easy, and you probably have all the ingredients at hand.

Seriously, these are so yummy. A friend of mine brought some over to me, and I HAD to know the recipe. Of course, it was from ourbestbites.com!

SWEET PASTRY:

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. real butter, softened (no substitutions!)

1 egg, beaten

APPLE FILLING:

1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 c. (about 4 medium) sliced, peeled baking apples (I used Gala, and instead of slicing, I chopped them up with my Pampered Chef food chopper)

GLAZE:
2 c. powdered sugar
About 3 Tbsp. milk (whole milk is best)
1 tsp. almond extract

To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Toss with apples and spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. When finished, allow to cool completely.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.

You'd better have someone to share these with, cause otherwise you'll eat the whole pan!

Baked Potato Casserole

I love twice-baked potatoes but have never actually made them. I found this recipe for potato casserole, which is basically just the easy version of twice-baked potatoes, in casserole-form (with my additions in italics).

Baked Potato Casserole (from simplifysupper.com)

6 Small baking potatoes *I used 3 regular russet potatoes
.75 cup cottage cheese *I don't like cottage cheese, so I did 1/2 cottage cheese, 1/2 cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup sour cream *I used fat free and it worked just fine
1/2 cup cheddar or favorite mixed cheeses *I used cheddar and monterey jack
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika, optional

Scrub potatoes with a brush and pat dry. Pierce with a fork and cover each individual potato with aluminum foil, matte side facing out. Bake at 425 40 to 60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Allow to cool slightly until they are cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Then add cottage cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, and paprika. Mix well and add to a greased casserole dish. Add shredded cheese to top. Bake uncovered at 325 for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.


It was delicious! When I showed my sister the recipe, she suggested using cream-of-whatever soup instead of cottage cheese (we both dislike cottage cheese - guess it runs in the pants!). Of course cottage cheese is slightly better for you than creamed soups, so I just decided to mix the 2 on a whim. You could still see the cottage cheese in the casserole but you couldn't taste it. And my husband suggested adding a little more sour cream because "sour cream is good on potatoes." (It was really good just how it was, but more sour cream probably wouldn't hurt either.)