BBQ Chicken Pizza

I went out to lunch with 5 friends yesterday. Really, really fun. We ordered a BBQ chicken flatbread as an appetizer. Mine is better. And gluten-free.

The flatbread that we ordered was tasteless, the toppings pretty skimpy, and although it looked exoctic… and it was also exoctically priced…it was just “okay”.

Here’s my version.

• Rice/potato pizza crust,
• Bull’s Eye BBQ sauce,
• organic refried beans,
• sauteed-carmelized white onion and 3 cloves of garlic,
• BBQ chicken pieces,
• cilantro is nice if you have it.(sprinkle it around on top)
• Cheese is optional. If I HAVE TO have cheese, I just sprinkle a little bit of shredded mozzerella around on top before I bake it. Cheese is over rated.

BBQ Chicken: bake chunks of skinless-boneless chicken at 425 for 35 minutes covered in a glass pan. Drain any liquid that remains, and toss chicken pieces with Bull’s Eye Original BBQ sauce until well coated. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered, or until glazed.

Pizza crust: I have several “from scratch” bread recipes that work, but I  almost always use the ‘Nature’s Highlights’ frozen pizza crust I find in the freezer section at Whole Foods. Let it thaw out, brush it with a little oil and bake it for 5 minutes, then top it with BBQ sauce, refried beans, sauteed-carmelized onions/garlic, baked BBQ chicken, some cilantro and a little sprinkle of mozzerella if you want cheese.

Bake 8 minutes and slice and serve. Just like the lunch flatbread at the expensive lunch place, but better!

Houston, we have bagels.

My unending search for gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free bagels is over. I think. Maybe.(update: yes. these are great.)

yum

These are as close to the wheat laden bagels as I think I remember…it’s been over a year since I went wheat-free, so maybe I just don’t remember.  Your mileage may vary.

The basis of the recipe I found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-gluten-free-bagel.html

• I modified the “eggs” to egg replacer powder + hot water in the first batch and in the second batch I used flax seed + hot water as an egg replacer both worked fine
• I modified the “milk” to coconut milk powder and sweet rice flour in the first batch and in the second batch I subbed staight sweet rice flour – worked fine.
• I modified the “magarine” to safflower oil.

*POOF* , gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free bagels. Otherwise I followed the recipe directions.

I cannot begin to tell you how yummy they are with raspberry jam. mmmmmmmmmmm bagel-ly.

Here’s what I did:

• 1 1/4 C rice flour
• 1 C + 1 T tapioca starch
• 1 T coconut milk powder + 1 T sweet rice flour/ or/ 2 T sweet rice flour
• 1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 T organic sugar
• 3/4 to 1 C hot water as needed
• 1 packet red star yeast
• 2 T safflower oil
• 1/4 C hot water
• egg replacer powder + hot water to equal 2 eggs/ or/ flax seed gel = 2 eggs
• Optional: 2 T ground flax seed to give the bagels a more “wheat-like” appearance

 

• 1. Bowl #1: Mixed yeast with sugar and 1/4 C water.
• 2. Bowl #2: Mixed egg replacer for 2 eggs
• 3. Added oil to bowl 2
• 4. Stirred bowl 1 and 2 contents together.
• 5. Added dry ingredients.
• 6. Added just enough hot water to make it “dough like”
• 7. Mixed it for 4 minutes with mixer on medium

Shaped bagels and let them rise for 30 minutes. Boiled them for 30 seconds on each side and baked them on parchment paper for 24 minutes at 425.

Note: Let them sit and cool before slicing. The gluten free nature of bread is *gummy* if you don’t let them cool and continue to cook out before slicing…. just a thought.

The second batch that I made with the flax seed as eggs trick turned out more like an english muffin bread texture…. mmmmm bagels.

579

It’s been discussed. It’s been tested. Now it’s official. Finally. Finally. Finally.

579 with moderate (not mild, oh no.) 263 just for fun. And then sprinkle in some serious 281 and 692.9 in there too. Alrighty then. And I actually feel better than before. LOL.

Loaded Veg Lasagna

Well, finally there is something to eat around here that actually reminds me of “food”. Oh, sure, there have been things “to eat” for sure….but not on the level of comfort food. Lasagna is serious. And this works. It’s a long way to get there, but the end result is:

• a.) good  (OMG. It’s like real food.)
• b.) makes great leftovers, and best of all
• c.) freezes well for later. YAY!

Step one: Make Vegetable Chili (see notes below)

Step two: Add organic pasta sauce to premade chili (I used Full Circle Brand)

Step three:  Layer mixed sauce with rice lasagna noodles and mozzerella cheese. The first one of these lasagna experiments,  I also crumbled little BabyBel cheeses into the cheese layer. That helped too, but wasn’t totally necessary.

Of course this is only gluten-free, not casein free. Whatever. I am concentrating on the GF part for right now. One pan of lasagna deserves (tolerated) cheese once in a blue moon. I am serious. This was really good. And it made tremendous leftovers. I plan to serve this soon to some unknowing gluten eaters and dare them to tell the difference.

NOTES: To make the veggie chili.

Blenderize beyond recognition:

• one can of drained green beans
• one can of drained chickpeas
• 1 cup cooked/steamed broccoli

Add:

• one can (drained) pinto beans
• one can (drained) red kidney beans
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• as much chopped fresh spinach leaves as you can stand (1 bag)
• 4 peeled, chopped zucchini
• 2 C cooked lentils
• 2 C organic vegetable broth

Add to taste:

• chopped garlic
• onion powder (or chop an onion and throw it in there too)
• chili powder
• white pepper
• sea salt
• oregano leaves
• basil leaves

I let that all simmer for awhile to mingle everything and the froze it in portions for quick lunches.

To make the lasagna: layer chili+pasta sauce mixed, cheeses and dry (yes-dry) rice lasagna noodles as many times as will fit your pan. Bread loaf pans make great deep dish lasagna.

Bake 30-45 minutes @350 or until browned and bubbly.

I threatened to make a sausage version.. and add some cooked, crumbled sausage into the layers, but that hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this weekend… hmmmmm.

Make some garlic flaxseed bread (recipe in another post) to go with. Whip up a green salad and you have a feast.