Grecian Pizza

I have been lacking in both time and inspiration with posting recipes lately. Of course I have been cooking as the folks at my house have this nasty habit of getting hungry every 4 or 5 hours (some every 1/2 hour). But, cooking with the intention of posting about it later is very different from must cooking. For one, I have to actually measure ingredients so I can write the recipe down! The there is remembering to take some pictures (if the recipe actually turned out!). Well, I got it together today and I am going to share one of the recipes on our summer menu: Grecian Pizza. It is gluten free, of course - but also dairy free. I think the crust could be made without eggs if you use the flax egg replacer.

This recipe makes one large baking sheet of pizza (mine is 12x17 with sides) which should serve 4-6 people, depending how hungry they are. ;)


Crust:

1 cup rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup water
1 egg
3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Add milk, eggs and oil - mix well to combine.
Grease baking sheet and spread batter evenly over the sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool while you slice topping ingredients.



Pizza Topping:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 8oz package fresh mushrooms, sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups fresh spinach, washed and torn
1 cup sliced black olives (my favorite are the smokey tasting sun dried olives)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 small tin pizza sauce (or make your own)
1 red pepper, sliced thin
1/4 large pineapple, sliced thin (can used canned, but fresh is SO good)
1 lb sliced ham or other gluten/dairy free meat
any other topping of choice - onions, green pepper, etc

In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until tender. Stir in the oregano to the mushrooms and scrape warm mushrooms over the torn spinach. Toss to mix.

Spread cooled crust with sauce and layer ham evenly over the sauce.


Next, evenly spread red pepper, olives and pineapple.


Top with spinach mixture - this will help hold the other ingredients together.


Place baking sheet in 375 degree oven and bake pizza for 30-45 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve. Enjoy!

I Finally Tried This Recipe... "Spring Rolls"

I have been wanting to try this for quite some time and I finally pulled the time and ingredients together. I had originally posted this recipe back in August. I also baked instead of frying as this recipe suggested. I didn't use her filling recipe though. Instead, this is the recipe that I used for the filling.

I used rice paper for my spring rolls. METHOD:

-I dipped one piece of rice paper in warm water, holding under for about 5 seconds.

-I laid the softened piece of rice paper flat on a damp tea towel.

-I scooped about 3 tbsp. of filling onto the edge of the rice paper.

-Then I rolled it once, folded up the edges, and finished rolling in a log shape.

-Repeating until all the filling was gone, I then laid the finished rolls on a baking sheet, leaving a space between each one.

-I then brushed each roll liberally with olive oil.

-Bake at 450 degrees for about 30 min, or until browned and crisp. You may want to finish with the broiler for a few minutes to brown. I served them with a red sauce.

Everyone enjoyed them... even Wafe who is not usually veggie fan.