Pancake Pizzas- A mistake turned AWESOME.

So today I started out to try something new that I saw on Pintrest- Crock Pot Pizza-
 ( In case you wanna know-you make pizza dough, cover bottom of crock pot with some sauce, put in the pizza dough, top with sauce and toppings including cheese-2hrs on high) I am always looking for fast, or crockpot meals with soccer being so early and taking up all evenings...
BUT...I mixed up my dough recipe with a pancake recipe..basically I started out with a pizza recipe on the side of the box and midway through started reading from the pancake recipe....AAAAAHHHH, my brain these days.
GLUTEN FREE FLOUR is precious and pricey--so I had to save this right?
 So there was already garlic seasoning and oregano in it, and it was thinish...it had milk instead of water, and too much of it...wrong amount of eggs... UGGGHHH. 
So I said to myself, SELF-what could I do with this mess????
 Pancake PIZZAS???- I started to get excited!!!!!!
But who knew if the MESS in my mixer would do anything. So I heated up the griddle to sizzling hot, liberally spread olive oil, and poured some of my mess , I mean dough right on it. AND GUESS WHAT???? drumbroll please........

IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have invented Pancake PIZZAS!! (I think? has anyone seen it before?)

So here is the recipe if anyone is intrigued- super easy and fast dinner!:

Jack shoving it down happily!

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR this ROCKS--Cheesy Cauliflower Garlic "Bread"

 

Good Gravy---SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!

We experienced a first tonight. Tonight I made spaghetti with meat sauce, a fav around here- but guess what? Something miraculous happened.

 My children, yes every one of them, ate more cauliflower than they did pasta tonight. I mean an ENTIRE head of cauliflower downed- I mean they were asking for seconds and thirds before they even ate 2 bites of spaghetti. I have leftover pasta and ZERO leftover cauliflower.

On cheesy bread number 3- look how much pasta he still has!!!!!

JUMBO EGG MUFFINS for the MEATLOVER (and sweet potato souffle)

 My oldest has testing today at school. So I made a special breakfast...
We decided on Egg Muffins and Sweet Potatoes. I have leftover sweet potato from last nights dinner- so I think I will just fry up patties of cold sweet potato mash in Bacon Fat for the side. (Jack usually drinks water for breakfast.)

JUMBO EGG MUFFINS for the 

MEAT LOVER 

(that would be Jack my son- he loves him some meat!!!!)

Preparing for EASTER (I mean the easter baskets and kids part here)

I know one the biggest questions most people have is HOW TO I FEED MY KIDS? on a Modified Paleo lifestyle plan???

This question really comes front and center with Holidays... Halloween=Candy right?? and Easter baskets? Well aren't they filled to the brim with candy????

I thought I would do a quick post on KIDS eating a REAL FOODS (modified paleo) lifestyle. I  know it can seem so overwhelming...
Where do you start???  I came up with a littlest..... KIDS VERSION top 10 list

Making Kids Lunches....

The hardest thing for me when I changed the way we eat....towards a more Paleoish, GLUTEN FREE  lifestyle... WHAT DO I GIVE MY KIDS FOR LUNCH AND SNACKS??

I think that is one of people's naturally biggest questions....
What they used to eat for lunches--- PB and J on whole wheat, cheese, or yogurt, and a fruit usually... sometimes crackers to dip in applesauce... ALWAYS a whole wheat carb! Sometimes warm meals like spagetti leftovers, or leftover whatever else in a little thermos with above sides....
Snacks-- often processed options I have to say. Granola Bars, Fruit Bars, Grahem crackers, some other kinds of crackers, and yes fruit-lots of fruit.

NOW a typical days Lunch is-

• Some type of meat ( cut up chicken, cut up steak, pepporoni's is a fav, lunchmeat "Roll Ups"-nitrate free)
• Some type of fruit- usually berries or sugar free applesauce
• A full fat dairy- either yogurt or cheese stick
• Sometimes a handful of nut
• Sometimes I include a muffin....I make them sugar free, and usually with very minimal sugar content from smll amount of honey, and chopped fruit

SNACKS-

• meat roll ups
• fruit
• nuts
• Cliff Rope twists ( I guess processed, but as naturally as possible- I can recognise all the ingredients on the SHORT list)-these are not daily
• Sharkies ( an organic gummy bear type thing--- again as natural as possible- these are not daily
• Trail mix
• Beef Jerky
• Sometimes homeade GF crackers, or muffins
• Raisens ( tiny box)
• Cheese
• Yogurt

Thats our basics.... We are still learning, and I am not anti-dairy at all...( I do buy antibiotic and hormone free). I try to make everything from scratch, but you need a few go tos for fast...thts why I let the CLif and Sharkies in..and beef jerky I am buying right now, but I want to get a dehydrator and do this myself!

Southern Fried Chicken Fingers- Gluten Free Parmesan Crusted Style

 Parmesan/Whole Wheat GF Chicken Fingers
( my chicken fingers have an orangish oil here because I used Palm oil as I was out of coconut oil the day I made these- just so you know!!!)

My kids have always LOVED chicken fingers, what kid doesn't???? So I have made many versions of the beloved chicken finger at home.

This is my first Gluten Free Chicken Finger.

(I served these with some homemade tomato sauce and broccoli slaw salad (recipe for that to come soon)

Gluten Free Southern Fried Parmesan Chicken Fingers

(this is more of a method than a recipe)

Chicken breast, cut up into bite size pieces

Finely grated good quality parmesan cheese and Gluten Free Breadcrumbs- (throw GF bread in a food processor and make breadcrumbs) combined together in a dish - add some salt/pepper and italian spices together here

Egg and Small amt Heavy Cream whisked together and placed in a wide dish

Heavy cream in a dish

Now you are ready to get started...

1. Dredge chicken in Heavy Cream.
2. Place in Breadcrumbs and coat lightly then place into egg mixture.
3. Finally place back into breadcrumbs and make sure to coat well.
4. Heat coconut oil to a high frying temp. Brown each side of chicken well. Drain on a plate covered with papers towels and Then place onto a well greased baking sheet and into a preheated oven at 350 F. Cook until cooked through, usually about 7-10 min. (Be careful not to overcook or they will be tough.)

Dipping Tomato Sauce-  Saute some finely diced onion and a clove or two of garlic. Add home canned, or store bought crushed tomatoes. Throw in some Italian spices and a bay leaf. Simmer at a low slow temp for at least an hour, a couple would be better. If you have a rind from a good Parmesan in your freezer throw that in while its simmering, it imparts a great flavor. The longer you simmer the thicker it will get and it will get a stronger better flavor. Now take out the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind and discard them. Next, using an immersion blender blend the sauce till all parts thoroughly combined. Now its ready to serve as a sauce- great for dipping sauce, chicken parm sauce too!

Coconut Curried Lamb with Coconut "Naan"

  I hesitated to put the pic, doesn't look that great, but it really was super tasty.

I made Coconut Naan for the kids to use to scoop up the sauce, or to pile to lamb mixture in...
It was a pretty big hit and oh so simple!

Coconut Curried Lamb with GF Coconut "Naan"

2lb grass fed lamb stew meat

l large can crushed tomatoes ( i used my canned whole tomatoes and just crushed them)

1 tsp curry powder

1 handful fresh cilantro, coarse chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 can coconut milk

Place all in CROCKPOT. Cook all day on low, or 4 or so hours on high.

Coconut Naan

4 whole eggs
1/4 c coconut oil
2 pinches salt
1/2 c coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2/3 to 1/2 c coconut milk or water
Combine the flour, oil, baking powder, salt and eggs in a food processor. process until a thick batter forms. add enough liquid to make a somewhat loose batter.  Preheat griddle to med-high. Grease griddle very well with butter or coconut oil. Pour 1/4 c on a griddle cook till bubbling, flip and cook on other side.
makes 5
( you can use these as tortillas too if you wish too, though they are not my fave as a tortilla)

MAMA MIA PIZZA PIZZA

Do you see how it folds over?? It doesn't fall apart, it folds in two like a real pizza!!!!!

THIS PIZZA ROCKED.

The kids and I made it for lunch today. I had bought the mix at the local health food store, just to try out a mix...I am really more into making my own stuff from scratch. Truthfully I have yet to find a recipe for a homeade dough that I LOVE.
This one took only a short short time to put together, roll out and walaa, a pizza crust.
We did use the best ingredients. I made my own quick sauce.e used fresh mozz cheese...some feta, good quality parmesan, sundried tomatoes, steak and bacon as toppings (per my son's choice).


Doesn't this look wonderful??? I was shocked that this was so great from a gluten free mix. Rock on Bob's Red Mill!!!!!!! I will be buying this again and again. I will not stop in my quest to get my own perfect pizza crust from scratch, but this one was great. And my kids faces tell its all!

An Empty Table, Empty Plates, Full Bellies, Smiling Faces!!!!

• one tip, when you bake this on the baking stone make sure to put some cornmeal down first, my pizza did stick in a few spots because I forgot this step!!!
• I ALWAYS use a baking stone and always preheat it in the oven for atleast 30 to 45 min prior to placing your pizza on it!!!!!

My Rant of Why Gluten FREE is A MUST for a Healthy Long LIfe, Plus a RECIPE for AMAZING CHEESE CRACKER-for real Ya'll

I am proud of these puppies if I do say so myself. And these are almost Paleo- well so close, so a good cheat when you need a little crunch.
As I have been saying, I am going closer to Paleo for myself, and a little less stringent with my family with the lower carbs, but very strict with the gluten free. I really feel that there are major health benefits for everyone to be gluten free, regardless of whether you have allergy reasons. The anti-nutrient properties of Flours, and really all gluten products are just astounding...so INFLAMMATORY to our bodies...no wonder so many people have some kind of issue or another related to gluten with more and more popping up daily at doctors offices. Gut permeability, LEAKY GUT, which is what is so often caused when we consume gluten products in our diet can lead to SO MANY health issues. More and more about this is being discovered in research, and in fact they are actually in production for a DRUG for leaky gut as I write this. As they found out that LEAKY GUT is an issue, they went to work on how they could manipulate this issue pharmacological. I have mixed feelings here. When you stop things from crossing this barrier, it may very well start to heal, but what all is getting stopped, could the good nutrients get stopped by not natural, pharmacologically produced drugs also???? And on the opposite spectrum, now that they know how this barrier works, they are also in formulation of drugs to actually CAUSE a leaky gut. That right folks. The idea is if they cause this leaky gut situation then the drugs they create can then cross this gut barrier into the blood system, solved x,y, or z problem...but at what cost???? WE already know that when a leaky gut occurs all sorts of issues can occur, GI problems, skin issues such as eczema, possibly its being linked to metabolic syndrome, and the list goes on. Its a scary world out there!!!!! OK, that was a heck of a tangent....
This was supposed to be about

OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD GLUTEN FREE CHEESE CRACKERS

(adapted from a recipe on www.lifeasaplate.com)

2 c almond flour

1/2 c whole wheat GF mix of choice

1 1/2 cups good quality cheddar ( I used hoop cheddar)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp finely grated Parmesan Regiano 

2 eggs

3 T olive oil ( or coconut oil )

Mix together flours, salt, and baking soda. 

Add in cheeses.

Add in the egg and then slowly drizzle in the oil.

Beat slowly until mixture is doughy. Should be mostly firm and make a ball easily.

( I do all of this in my Kitchenaid mixer.)

• Preheat oven to 350degrees F.

 

Place a long sheet of aluminum foil on your counter, rub with small amount of cooking oil. Place your ball of dough on center of sheet and flatten to rectangular shape with your hands. Cover with sheet of plastic wrap. Slowly roll out the dough as thinly as possible in a rectangular shape. Remove plastic wrap and using a pizza cutter or ravioli cutter lightly cut out your crackers into the shape you want them, as in above picture. Now on each individual cracker using a tooth pic, or skewer poke hole in each in a pattern ( this allows for more air circulation therfore crisper crackers). 

Next you will place the aluminum foil with cracker dough directly on a preheated baking stone in your oven and bake for 10 min in your oven, or until darkened and crispy. ( If you don't have a stone, just place on a baking sheet.)

Enjoy!!!!!

I swaney ya'll, these are the real thing- they are so yummy!!! My kids, my hubbie, my parents, my friends, all gave a huge thumbs up!!!!

Whole Wheat Mix Gluten Free- Make up a big Batch Today!

I am learning more everyday about the properties of different Gluten Free Flours...

Some seem so heavy, some so light, which ones I just don't love, which ones are quickly becoming my favorites...

I HEART SORGHUM Flour! I think it may be my favorite  to add to a mix. I also like sweet rice and even brown rice flours a lot.

So, as I say in almost every post, I learned so much of how to get started with this from Shauna and Danny at GlutenFreeGirl and the Chef. Their blog and cookbook are so helpful! They gave me courage to push up my sleeves and dig in.

So this weekend I made a batch of a Whole Wheat Gluten Free Mix using what I had learned from reading Shauna's page, and what I am learning about ratios and using grams/oz rather than cups to measure....

My Current Favorite

 WHOLE WHEAT GLUTEN FREE MIX

Formula: 700g total flours +300g total starches = GF baking mix

Combine the following
250g Sorghum flour
150gm sweet white rice flour
150g brown rice flour
150 g amaranath flour
with
150g Tapioca Flour
150g Potato Starch

Now Stir all together very well and put in a well sealed container and you have your whole grain gluten free flour mix for future use!!!!

(you can do this on your own using your own combinations very easily using the formula above)

Using this I made both Muffins and Pancakes today. My recipes are below!

WHOLE GRAIN GF  Banana MUFFINS

350g whole- grain flour mix

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

100g honey

1 tsp kosher salt

2 eggs

300 g whole milk

100g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract, GF

2 mashed bananas

Preheat oven to 350. 

Grease a large muffin tin well.

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and whisk ingredients together well. ( I used this combo for my whole wheat flour mix- 250g sorghum flour, 150 sweet rice, 150 brown rice, 150 amaranth, 150 tapioca flour, 150 potato starch)

Combine wet ingredients in a smaller bowl and mix till well combined.

Add these to dry ingredients and whisk till fully combined. At this point you can throw in some chopped nuts if you so desire!

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Slide into oven. Bake until browned with a bit of crunch, the tops spring back to touch. 25-35 min.

Eat.

Makes 15-18 muffins.

• these muffins are a good basic muffin. you can add any fruit, fresh, frozen or dried.
• you can add chopped nuts
• you could add diff spices to change up the taste
• basically its just a great BASIC muffin recipe to add to!

Whole Grain GF PANCAKES, with A Cinnamon Bun Twist

7 oz whole grain flour mix

1 oz ground flax seed

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

8 oz milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

2 oz melted butter

cinn bunn icing

1 cup confectioners sugar

3T milk

3T molasses

Combine Dry ingredients. Whisk well.

Combine Wet ingredients all except melted butter(except for icing ingredients) and whisk well. 

Pour liquid ingredients into well in center of dry and whisk until well combined. Add melted butter and stir until entirely combined.

To make icing stir ingredients till well combined. If too thick add more milk very slowly till its a good icing consistency. If too thin, add some more confectioners sugar. Next put this icing in a plastic sandwhich baggie and cut a very small whole at one end. You have now made a piping bag.

Make these pancakes over a med-high heat. Grease pan liberally with butter. Pour about 1/4 cup batter at a time. Next take your tube of Icing and Pipe in a Swirl Formation onto your pancake. When bubble formed and popping its time to flip.

Your pancake will have the look of a "cinnamon bun".

If you leave out the icing step you will have great basic whole grain GF pancakes!!!!

This makes enough for 4 servings.

CrockPot Apricot Chicken

Here is a fast, easy CrockPot Paleo Meal!!!!! HOORAY!!!!
The crock pot is my friend. These days so many of our evenings are full of sports practices, or church events...the crock pot comes in handy!!!!

CROCK POT APRICOT CHICKEN

5 chicken breast (bone in or boneless both work)

1/2 cup roughly chopped dried apricots

2 Tbsp Gluten Free Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Mustard ( I used a white wine mustard)

 1 tsp ginger

pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Place Chicken in bottom of pot. (If you are using boneless breast add a couple TBSP cocconut oil or butter to bottom)

Combine all other ingredients together and pour over chicken. 

Place in crock pot and cook on low 5-6 hours (boneless) or approx 8 for bone in chicken.

( may cook on high for a shorter cook time- I just tend to throw mine together first thing in the am, then turn to warm when ready and leave it till dinner...)

Serving Suggestions: 

• shredded over top "cauliflower rice" with the sauce
•  shredded and serve in lettuce leaves with the sauce in the bottom of the crock pot
• even with real white rice- if you eat it (sometimes my hubbie and kids still eat white rice)
• or leave chicken pieces whole, and serve with roasted veggies

VERDICT:This was very yummy. The sugars in the apricots make this dish rather sweet, but the kids LOVE that! - SUPER KID MEAL!