Foodie Friday: PIzza my Pizza

Who doesn't love pizza? Oh, that smell! Something easy to grab and eat, and of course it’s great to be able to order it and have someone else do the cooking. It's been many years since I've eaten 'regular' pizza. I just can’t get past the inferior ingredients that cause my body problems. I've become so used to eating food that makes me feel better rather than worse, that to eat something I know will do harm is unthinkable. No matter how good it smells or looks, I have become adept at looking deeper into what the ingredients are, how those ingredients help, or harm, the body. It’s an important skill to learn. While every body responds differently to foods, certain principles apply to everyone. None of us can eat sugary snacks, foods void of nutritional value, or pesticide laden foods with impunity forever.

 But we usually don’t connect what we eat with how we feel. It makes sense that if you put in inferior fuel, you won’t get the best results. We know this for our cars, but we ignore this for our bodies. Many people will tell me they can eat whatever they want and don’t have any problems. And then go on to complain of allergies, constipation, skin problems, inflammatory diseases not realizing that these are all signs of the very problem they are denying. I know it requires something of a paradigm shift, but the pay-off is well worth the effort.  

 Back to my pizza. Since I no longer eat grains, I've experimented with various alternative pizza crusts. I've found that I really love this combo, giving it a chewy, dense satisfying flavor. We've found that we seldom eat more than half this pizza at a meal, it's that filling! It makes for great leftovers.

Recipe: 

Mix together:

1 cup almond flour 

1/2 cup cassava flour (or you can increase the amount of almond flour by this much) 

1/2 cup ground flaxseed 

1/8 cup (2 TBSP) coconut flour 

1/8 cup (2 TBSP) psyllium seed ground

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

 

In another bowl thoroughly mix: 

1 egg 

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup water 

Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until evenly distributed. It might be slightly crumbly, but that's fine. With oiled fingers, spread onto a 12" pizza pan. I like to leave a bit of a thicker edge around the outside edge. Bake this for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Remove and add toppings. (If you forget to bake the crust first like I sometimes do, it still works, it's just harder to eat by hand)

Sauce: 

1 small can tomato sauce 

pizza seasonings like basil, Italian seasonings, fennel seeds about a tsp of each 

Optional:

Since I try to keep the weight down in my RV, I used dried tomato powder for my sauce: 

1/3 cup dried tomato powder 

1/2 cup water 

Toppings: 

this is what I put on mine, but you can put anything you like on yours

Trader Joe's Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage cut into slices 

Onion slices

Olives 

sliced tomatoes

topped with mozzarella cheese

Bake this until edges are browned and cheese is melted. 15 to 20 min. Sometimes if my toppings are thick it takes longer, and I cook it just a few minutes more, check it and cook it some more until it looks done. If I forget to cook the crust first, it can take 25 minutes or more for it to get done. 

Let me know if you tried it. What worked well? What didn't work? What did you do differently from me? How well did you like it?