Low Carb PIzza with Veggies

Ahhhh, who doesn't like pizza. Over the years I've experimented with crust but never making a full home made pizza with my own crust. So today I took a lot of risk and time to make an easy and tasty (and fulfilling)  healthy pizza filled with tasty vegetables including broccoli, red bell peppers, onions and gouda cheese.

Not only is it easy but it's a filling pizza that you will love.

Flaxseed Crust:

• 1 and 1/2 cup of flaxseed meal 
• 1/2 cup of water 
• 1 tablespoon of oil 
• 2-3 eggs 
• 1 tsp of oregano, basil, and garlic seasonings 
• 1 tsp of baking powder 

Pizza toppings:

• Saute 1 teaspoon of fresh garlic clove and onions
• Saute 1 tablespoon of red bell peppers 
• Freshly grated 1 teaspoon of gouda cheese 
• 1 teaspoon of shredded american cheese

Pizza Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon of oil 
• 1 teaspoon of basil and oregano 
• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme  
• Fresh tomatoes or collard greens (i used collard greens in my pizza)
• 1/4 cup of water (or less for thicker sauce consistency)

Directions 

1. Mix all dry ingredients to make the pizza crust. Mix in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes then spread on greased wax paper (take some oil and place on the wax paper before you set the 'dough') on it. 
2. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Check at 15 minutes to see how the dough is rising/cooking. 
3. When crust is finished spread the pizza sauce then arrange all vegetables. 
4. You can either saute veggies while the crust is cooking or place on the crust fresh and let it bake. 
5. Place cheeses and arrange over vegetables. 
6. Cook at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy the pizza and eat knowing you are eating a lot of fiberous vegetables. Flaxseed Meal has 8 grams of fiber in it. You can make your own flaxseed meal by grinding whole flaxseeds (use at least one cup) or you can purchase ground flaxseeds at your local health food store (Trader Joes, Whole Foods and other stores carry the Red Mill brand).

(c) 2013 by Pam Osbey
All Rights Reserved 

Best of the Week Recipes

Sometimes it is the simpliest things that really are delicious and easy to make. Earlier this week, I tried out a few different things and this is one of them. It's fall and I'm looking for ways to continue to eat plant based with some jazz to it. I love to adapt recipes and this one was so easy that I had to share. Imagine grilled collard greens with some sweet pears that are baked to a nice glaze. Later in the week I also made a collard green salad with pickled apples. I will post that recipe soon. You will love both. 

Grilled Collard Greens & Pears

1 -2 pears washed and sliced
5-8 collard green leaves
1/2 tsp of onions (or more to taste)
1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In oven:
Bake pears with a dash of the following: turmeric, oregano with the pears.
Add 1 teaspoon of oil
Bake @ 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

On grill: 
After washing the leaves, grill them with EVOO for 5 minutes.
Once finished arrange on a plate, add the pears.

Goes great with steamed fish or baked chicken. I used tilapia with mines!

(c) 2013 by Pam Osbey
All Rights Reserved  

Pam’s Tex Mex Pizza (as adapted from Vegetarian Times)

Sometimes the most simpliest thing is the most yummiest!Recently I saw a Tex Mex Pizza posted online with the Vegetarian Times website and at first glance I wasn’t sure if I would like portobello mushrooms with salsa, cheese, and other veggies. Although the recipe asked for black beans and sour cream. I only used what I had on hand. Not only was this very nice to eat, it was easy to make. Assembling after prep wasn’t that long and I loved the flavors that came together in odd ways.

Ingredients

4 corn tortillas

1 portobello mushroom

½ cup of grilled green and red bell peppers

½ cup of frozen corn

1 tablespoon of taco seasonings

1 cup of prepared salsa

½ cup of shredded cheese

½ of fresh avocado

Directions

1) Microwave the four corn tortillas, set aside in a pizza pan

2) Boil the frozen corn for 5 - 8 minutes. Drain the corn and set aside for use.

3) Grill the portobello mushroom and bell peppers for 5 minutes.

4) Spread the salsa on the bottom of the corn tortillas (as crust of the recipe), then add the mushroom, corn, and peppers.

5) Slice the avocado and add to the pizza

6)  Sprinkle the taco seasonings on top of the pizza and add the shredded cheese on top

7) Bake @ 400 degrees for 10 minutes

8) Enjoy and serve

Original recipe calls for black beans, sour cream and shredded lettuce which I did not have on hand. It was good!

Enjoy.

© 2013 by Pam Osbey

Simple Vegan Sausage

Although I do not claim to be a vegan I do find value in meatless meals. The last year and a half, I have drawn down on eating a lot of meat and find protein sources in legumes and nuts. With this in mind, I was delighted to find a recipe by Vegan Dad on a vegan version of a ‘sausage’ link. Now, you know I can see myself salivating over this link with some sauteed onions and other condiments. With my sausages, I will either make some sweet potato fries or grilled veggies and rice on the side. What I like is that you can also stretch beans by adding a few ingredients. You will find this very simple. I did not use all ingredients as this recipe is very adaptable so feel free to use what you have in your cabinet.

Ingredients

• ½ cups of canned pinto beans or home cooked pinto beans (rinsed and drained)
• ½ tsp of fennel seeds
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of black beans
• 1 cup of vital gluten flour
• ⅓ cup of water
• 1 tsp of garlic powder or finely chopped garlic cloves
• ½ cup of olive oil
• ½ cup of red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup of nutritional yeast  

Directions

1) Take the drained pinto beans, mash them with a fork then add all other ingredients.

2) Form the ingredients into four ‘sausages’

3) Use four sections of ‘foil” to act as a steaming apparatus and add the ‘sausages’ into a pot of boiling water.

4) Steam for 1 hour then bake for an additional 20 minutes.

5) Baking them will bring a color to the ‘sausages”

6) Place in container for future use.

7) Serve on a bun, with your own condiments. I sauteed onions and placed on them with some ketchup and mustard (with home made french fries).

Black Bean Brownies

So today while roaming around the house, I adapted a vegan brownie recipe I saw online, not entirely original however I did not use all ingredients they listed. Instead I used what I had on hand. Now, I will tell you I have always loved brownies. I have not ever had a brownie that did not have flour or eggs in it. Although I had eggs on hand, I felt ambitious and felt that trying a veganized version would be great. While making this recipe, I also adapted a recipe by Vegan Dad for a "vegan sausage" but that will be a seperate blog entry. 

Anyway, I must say these brownies are so good and moist. The fat that I only  used a few items, was very enjoyable and easy. These are very good. I would say make them with your loved ones or even kids! I used my magic bullet so it made the batter very smooth and you really couldn't tell that I had black beans in them. I would add the cocoa powder for addition next time. Since I did not have that on hand, I did not add to my recipe. 

To do this without the chocolate chips is not recommended. 

Enjoy 

Ingredients:

• 1 Can of Black Beans
• ½ cup of rolled oats
• ⅓ cup of agave nectar
• ½ cup of water (or as desired)
• ½ or ⅔ cup of chocolate chips
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• ½ cup of olive oil
• ½ cup of baking powder

Directions

1. Drain a can of black beans, wash them, and place aside.

2. Add black beans, rolled oats, waer, agave nectar, vanilla extract in a blender until smooth. Set Aside in a bowl

3. Add rolled oats, baking powder to the batch.

4. Add EVOO before you add chocolate chips. Stir chips in the batch and some on the top of the batch

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Bake longer if necessary.

6. Cut bars and serve.

Fried Avocado Tacos

No, these are not your not your normal tacos. Imagine a yummy avocado nestled in a bed of spinach with sauteed corn and fresh tortilla chips. Okay, I know what you're thinking "but isn't that kind of a fatty with the avocado". However, I would remind you that healthy fat is good for you. Also, using healthy oils for this recipe is the key. I wanted to use organic coconut oil but I only had olive oil handy. This meal took a while due to the two parts of the recipe: making homemade tortilla chips and then creating the 'fried avocado tacos'

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado 
• 1/2 cup of frozen corn 
• 1/3 cup of pancake mix 
• 1/2 cup of water 
• 1-2 handfuls of spinach leaves 
• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 tblspoon of olive oil 
• garlic powder and sea salt (to taste) 

Directions: 

1. Microwave two corn tortillas for 30 seconds in the microwave. Set aside. 
2. Wash spinach leaves and add on the corn tortillas. 
3. Cut half of an avocado and dip in a water/pancake mix. 
4. Fry the avocado in olive oil until cooked. Make sure to flip on both sides for even cooking. 
5. Place fried avocado in the middle of the corn tortilla on top of the spinach leaves. 
6. Saute the frozen corn in EVOO adding some garlic powder and sea salt. Once finished, transfer to the  arranged tacos. 
7. Eat tacos when finished. You do not need any sour cream or other condiments. I ate mines bare. It was delish. 

The homemade tortilla recipe will be posted later this month. 

(c) 2013 by Pam Osbey 

All Rights Reserved

Zesty Zucchini Pie 

I love zucchini. Every week I buy them in large portions and work on several different recipes including a pie very now and again. Last week I messed up a perfectly good pie by adding a flaxseed mix which did not go well with my original recipe. So this one, I kept very simple, adding cage free eggs, zucchini chopped up with onions, cayenne, garlic and sea salt. A dab of heavy cream and shredded cheese. On my next go around, I would love to add Daiya Cheese and soy milk just to see if I can get it a tad bit healthier. This one tasted much better than last week's disaster. 

What you need: 

Fresh Zucchini

Chopped onions

Heavy Cream - 1/3 cup

2 cage free eggs

1/2 cup of Shredded Cheese

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of sea or kosher salt

Store bought Pie Crust (or make your own!) 

Directions: 

1. Soak the zucchini in a water wash (part water, part apple cider vinegar for 20 minutes before using). After the soak, drain the water and prep the zucchini by cutting it or using a spinalizer to have thin ringlets of zucchini prepped for the pie. 
2. Chop 1/2 of a onion, set aside. 
3. Take out your store bought pie crust and let it get to room temperature, then start layering the zucchini, onions, and seasonings. 
4. Add 1/3 cup of the heavy cream and part of the shredded cheese. In addition, whip 2 cage free eggs and add to the pie, making sure that all are mixed evenly. Keep adding shredded cheese on the top of the pie. 
5. Bake at 425 degrees for 1 hour. 
6. Serve with a simple salad or eat as a snack. It's yummy! 

(c) 2013 by Pam Osbey 

All Rights Reserved