It's Time: Minimally Modified Primal Pizzas

Yes, I've been gone for another three months.  I blame the whole getting married thing.  Oh, yeah, I got married!  But that's a story for another time.

THIS post contains recipes for the much requested primal pizza crusts I make.  No, they will not be fluffy or bread-like.  Yes, they will fulfill their role as a crust and hold your favorite toppings and even allow careful dipping into ranch dressing.  It will also leave you feeling much less bloated and gross AND lets you use all that eggplant, zucchini, or summer squash you have stockpiling from your crop-share.  Read your mind, didn't I?  So, since I have been MIA for so long I am going to get right to the point.  In order from our favorite to least (based on taste, ease of making, and crust abilities), here they are!

Ready?!  I am! 

Zucchini or Eggplant Crust

• 1 lb (2-3 cups) grated zucchini/eggplant
• 1/3 cup parm cheese
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1-2 tbsp coconut flour (for moisture)
• 1 egg

Step one: take your grated veggie, salt it, and wrap it in some paper towels.  Repeat this twice over the course of a few hours for best results.  Not necessary, but makes the crust crispier.  The examples below are all of eggplant, but zucchini follows the same rules.

 When ready to make pizza, preheat oven 450 degrees.  Combine all ingredients.  Add a light sprinkle of coconut flour if still super moist.

Lay parchment paper on a pre-oiled baking sheet.  Oil parchment paper as well.  using your hands, a fork, or spatula, carefully spread the ball of "dough" slowly outward, making it thin (no thicker than 1 cm).

When it looks similar to the picture above (this one is zucchini), put it in the oven for 15 minutes.  I should look like the below picture.  If not, put it back in until it does.

Then remove pan, flip crust, and 5ut it back in for another 5 minutes or until it looks like the below picture..

Take crust out, add toppings (pre cook any non-cured meat), cook at 350 until cheese is melted, and eat!

 

Before we go any further;

topping suggestions for ALL pizzas:

Pepperoni, chicken sausage, sauteed kale/peppers/onions, broccoli, bacon (!), mushrooms, pesto, garlic, mozzarella cheese, meatballs, buffalo chicken, buffalo chicken meatballs... the list could go on.

This next one is from this website, modified minimally.  Try as we might this one always ends slightly floppy.

Flax Seed Pizza Crust

• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs

Mix the flax meal and parmesan cheese in a medium bowl.  Add the eggs and stir until a dough is formed.  It will be sticky, like really really obnoxiously sticky.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes or so until it's easier to work with. Wet your hands with water to help keep the dough from sticking to them and press onto parchment papered cookie sheet about 1/3 inch thick in a circle.

You should get about a 10 inch circular crust out of it... if it's a lot smaller than that you are making it too thick.  Bake crust at 350 for 8 minutes, or until top is lightly browned.  Remove an add toppings.  For this one I made buffalo chicken meatballs and spinach!  Bake for another 15 minutes at 350.  Remove when cheese is melty and delicious (sorry, no picture of that part!).

Okay, this one has been in my files for a while, but for the life of me I cannot find any notes besides:

1) I made it and added a few modifications

2) It was the least favorite

3) The original recipe comes from The Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam.

Then I tried to find the original and couldn't.  Good story, I know.  Anyways, try it for yourself, perhaps you will have better luck!

Almond Flour Pizza Crust

• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 

Mix ingredients well, using your hands to form a ball.  Again, it will be sticky.  Place the ball between two sheets of parchment paper and pat it out into a crust shape.  Place on a well sprayed pizza stone OR parchment lined baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until lightly brown.

As with the others when it's ready remove, add toppings, and wait for melting goodness.

These isn't it, but still.  Yum.  Oh, and enjoy!

Primal Salad (It's All About the Thighs)

Sometimes you are just hungry and need to eat lots of food.  You know what I mean... that gnawing, angry beast in the pit of your stomach making you drool over anything and everything you just can't have?  Yeah, that kind of hungry.  So, you ask, what happens to a primal cave-couple like us when that intense hunger strikes?  To the salad mobile!

Now don't stop reading, be reasonable.  Salads CAN be filling.  To be honest I never thought they were either until I stumbled across one magical ingredient; chicken.  Or to be more exact, chicken thighs!

Again, keep reading.  For the primal person (or really anyone) chicken thighs are much healthier than you think.  We have been taught they aren't, that if you eat meats high in fat it doesn't get used and instead gets stored as, well, fat.  There is truth to this if you are eating lots of inefficient-in-creating-energy but easy-to-access carbohydrates such as rice, bread, etc.  But when you are on the primal diet (or active and not eating loads of crap), your body instead learns how to break apart fats for the same energy-creating purposes that carbs usually serve.  Plus it's much more efficient and does not spike your blood sugar.  I could go on, but long story short, thighs are fine, and as Eric and I have discovered so much better than breasts (we are talking about chickens here, get your mind out of the gutter!)

The first time we used thighs was after a long debacle at the grocery store.  As I mentioned before I had always leaned towards the primal lifestyle without knowing it.  The major different for me was my training.  By training I mean years of being told that high fat content in meats was bad.  Eric wanted bacon.  I wanted turkey bacon.  Eric wanted thighs.  I wanted breasts (you heard it here first).  Finally I gave in.  The chicken thighs came home, got chopped into itty bitty little pieces, cooked, and devoured very very quickly.  It was melt in your mouth.  It was heaven.  The bacon was too, but more on that later.

So, without further ado... the one and only primal salad!

Primal Salad

Sidenote: The best part of this meal is that it is quick. 

• 4-5 slices cut into bits
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2 inch pieces, salt and pepper)
• 1 avocado – peeled, pitted and cut into 1-inch chunks
• salad mix of your choice (we like baby spinach and arugula)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (again, you choose)
• 1/4 cup Trader Joe's goat cheese crumbles

In a pan over medium heat, cook the bacon “bits” until crisp.  Remove and set aside, but save the bacon grease in the pan. Next, add the chopped and seasoned chicken thighs to the pan and sauté in the bacon grease (just do it, my next blog is all about this bacon crazyness). Cook the chicken and turn so that every side is browned.

When done, let cool for 5 minutes while you toss the salad mix, avocado, cheese, and bacon together.  Drizzle the dressing your choice.  Ours is 1 part balsamic vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, and a dash of mustard.

Now, everyone likes different things in their salads, and who am I to judge?  Eric likes raw chopped red pepper, myself I prefer everything straight up without a lot of veggie mess.  But I love cheese (yea yea I know), nuts (no jokes), and avocados... I guess that's one of the great things about salads, everyone can have what they want with minimal prep!  I am giving you the basics here, the rest is up to you... I trust you, as long as you don't throw bread on the top.  Maybe try an almond biscuit instead :)

modified from http://www.marksdailyapple.com