Yummy Pizza Goodness

So, I can’t eat gluten.  That means that I can’t have pizza, right?  Oh, so very, very wrong.  You see, there are lots of things this nerd can live without, but pizza isn’t one of them.  No way, no how, uh-uh.  Before learning that I couldn’t have gluten, I had three favorite foods.  1.  Pizza.  2.  Burgers.  3.  Tacos.  Numbers two and three transitioned easily enough.  Tacos, well, just skip wheat tinged seasonings and and make sure that the chips or shells are gluten free.  Nowadays, I don’t even really use the chips or shells, I just have a big honkin’ salad.  Although sometimes, I like to get crazy and put all that goodness on a baked potato.  Burgers are easy enough, too.  The bun was really only a vehicle to get the beef, cheese and foolish amount of toppings I would put on a burger to my mouth.  My burgers used to resemble a salad stuck inside a bun.  Now it is just a salad wrapped up in more salad.

But the pizza.  Oh, the pizza.  I have tried many different things.  And trust me when I say there are lots of ideas out there on how to go about making a gluten free pizza.  I tried gluten free doughs, but they all tasted a bit off or they left a weird film in my mouth.  I also tried the cauliflower crust.  Now that was amazing, but a calorie bomb with crazy amounts of cheese.  Not that I have a problem with that, really, but the frequency with which I would like to enjoy pizza makes that a bit of a problem.  So,  enter into my life portobella pizzas.  I attempted to take a picture of this goodness, but it looked rather… unappealing.  To say the least.  BUT, it was delicious.

You use the mushroom to make the “crust”, by baking in the oven for a bit.  Next time around, I  will drizzle balsamic vinegar at this step to give it a bit more kick.  I may even add a bit of pepper flake.  Then you load it up just like you would a pizza, sauce, peppers, olives, ect.  You can skip the mushrooms though.  You’ve got that covered.  Toss it back in under the broiler to melt the cheesy goodness and then (and here’s the important part) DON’T FORGET IT.  I did.  Oops.  But it still tasted great.  I see this going into a regular Friday night rotation in this household.  Next time, if I don’t forget about it, I’ll take a picture.  But you gotta try this.  Even if gluten isn’t an issue for you.  Here’s a link for one recipe, but you can google it and find loads more.  Bon appetit!

Collards made eas(ier).

I love collards.  Really.  But cooking them can be kind of a pain.  No more.  If you have a pressure cooker you are in business, friend, and you can have a bunch in less that 20 minutes from the time you put ‘em in the pot.  You still have to go through the routine of cleaning them and removing the stem and tearing or chopping them up.  But then just put them in the pressure cooker for 7 minutes on high and let it come back down naturally after you take it off the heat.  Delicious.  I use the zest from an orange and bit of bacon drippings for flavor.  As an added bonus, it cuts down on the funky smell that cooking plants from this family can create.  Simple and even the carnivore in the household thinks they are yummy.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.