Coconut Flour Flatbread Pizza

My family gets together for every single birthday on my mom's side of the family.  For every single birthday my grandmother makes homemade pizza, i'm talking the perfect thin crispy crust with just the right amount of  homemade sauce &cheese.  While this is a memorable family tradition, which will probably continue for years to come, for a carb/cheese lover trying to maintain a clean diet, this is absolute torture!!  Sometimes I sit at the table eating my salad while the rest of my family eats pizza with thoughts running through my head like " Why is this worth it??" " I'm eating f&$*ing veggies and everyone else gets pizza!" Sometimes the thoughts get to me and I will give in and have some.  When I do give in, within an hour I realize why eating a clean diet is allllll worth it.  When the bloating, stomach cramping, carb hang over,( not to mention guilt) kicks in, that's when I realize why I avoid the best food in the world, Pizza.  If foods like pizza, don't have a negative affect on your body like they do mine, then enjoy it once in a while.  For those like me, here is a better option, I'm not going to say its as good as pizza, because its not.  But it is still yummy and its also a fun to build your own pizza.

I used this recipe and split into two  pizzas.  I used two baking dishes because I don't have a pizza dish.  I made one with tomato paste, chicken sausage, and mushrooms.  The other with sundried tomatoes, spinach, and grilled chicken.  They were both delish!!

You will need:

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup coconut milk (whole fat) I've only been able to find this @ stop & shop in the baking section of the organic aisle. 

- 1/2 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 2-3 tbs olive oil

-** parchment paper- this is necessary, the mixture is more of a batter than a dough so it gets pretty sticky.

-Any toppings of your choice

1. Preheat oven at 375

2. mix all dry ingredients together, coconut flour tends to clump together when you add wet ingredients to try and get it as smooth as possible.

3. mix wet ingredients-- sometimes coconut milk is a little chunky when you open the can, so make sure you stir until its smooth.

4. mix wet and dry ingredients together

5. line whatever dish you are using with parchment paper and then brush olive oil onto parchment paper.

6. evenly spread mixture into the bottom of pan, put as much as you want for your desired crust thickness, but this crust is more fragile so it might fall apart if its too thin.

7. bake crust for about 20 minutes

8. Take crust out and transfer to a cookie sheet, carefully peeling off the parchment paper

9.  Set your oven to Broil

10. add your sauce ( I used tomato paste because its lesss watery than sauce, this helped keep the crust more crunchy)

11. add your pre-cooked veggies/meats/other toppings

12. stick back in the oven on broil for about 2 minutes to crisp up the crust



lost the corner of one crust from pulling the parchment paper off too fast



Enjoy!

~Nicki PizzaLover Peet

Roast Beef

Hi Guys, remember me? Nicki Peet?  I know, i've been slacking on recipes lately, but it's been a pretty busy past couple of weeks.  But I am now officially a Registered Nurse! No more homework, no more studying = much more time for cooking( and once I get a job, much more money for cooking)  But I am living proof that you can find ways to maintain a healthy diet/lifestyle even when the budget is tight. Anywho, it was finally cool enough today to cook in my A/C-less kitchen.  I found a recipe for a slow-cooker beef roast on the Every Day Paleo Site, but Nicki didn't get to the grocery store until about 430 today, so slow cooker was out of the question.  So I used her recipe for a dry rub, and roasted it in the oven.

Speaking of Every Day Paleo, I really enjoyed this blog post Sarah posted the other day. You Can't Fix a Body You Hate  I have had this conversation many a times with friends/fellow gym members, usually women of course, but sometimes no matter how hard we work and no matter how good of shape we are in, we are never satisfied with our bodies.  Are you guilty of this?  I know I am.  Check out her post, it may give you a different perspective.

Ok here's what you need:

- 2 1/2 lbs beef roast
- one yellow onion
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 tsp chipolte powder
- 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbs oregano
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt-- it turned out pretty salty so use less if you don't enjoy salt. I have an unhealthy love for salt.



Beef from Trader Joe's





all the spices for the dry rub

 1.) preheat oven to 420
2.) mix all spices together
3.) massage spices into the beef-- give this thing a good rub down.  If you had a run in with the pull-up bar this week, I don't recommend bare handing the raw meat and spices with ripped hands.  Throw a zip lock bag on your hands like I did!

4.  Chop up an onion, toss it in about a tbs of olive oil
5. Put your spiced up beef roast in a pan, and toss the chopped onion ontop of the meat and around it in the baking dish.
6. I cooked my meat medium- so I cooked it at 420 degreees for about 45 mins total/ until the temp of the meat read 140 degrees.
7. Take the meat out and lightly cover with a piece of tin foil for another 10-15 mins.  The meat will continue to cook in the center and you want the internal temp to rise to about 150 degrees.  Again this is for cooking it medium. Cook for less time if you want it more rare.

8. slice & serve!

*** I took the Juices from the Roast Beef and mixed them with a couple of teaspoons of Coconut flour to make a yummy gravy!

Enjoy!
~ Your Long Lost Friend,
Nicki Peet, RN  ( sorry that's the first time I got to write my name that way, I had to throw the RN in there)