Ŧhe Spëlt Pizźa

The Bodamite and I are pretty big fans of pizza.  Even to the point of eating gluten filled piece after gluten filled piece, to the point of regret. That has only happened once or twice and I wasn't actually involved, my Bodamite had a brief moment of "I don't care if I get glutemated, I want it, I'll sleep it off." Self control is generally our strong point, but we still falter sometimes.

Preparing the Chicken

So, while we were in Pawleys Island, for my birthday weekend, the pizza craving reared it's ugly head. It didn't matter that it was almost nine o'clock at night or that we had to stop by the store for some of the ingredients. We were going to make pizza!

We used Spelt Flour to avoid glutemation. This recipe is super easy.


Ingredients for dough

3 c. Spelt Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 packet Dry Active Yeast

We dissolved ours in a measuring cup

To start, dissolve the yeast in 1 c. of hot water. Follow directions on back of Yeast packet, it's very simple. It will take about ten minutes for the yeast to dissolve.

When the yeast has dissolved, combine it with the Spelt flour, salt, and olive oil in a bowl and get to mixing.

It is important to note: You are suppose to let the dough sit for about an hour so the yeast can work it's magic. We neglected this step..oops!  So I honestly am not sure if the yeast is necessary if you choose to forge ahead as we did.

Place the dough on a pizza pan or a cookie sheet. We had neither. I'm still not sure what kind of "pan" it was, but it did the trick.

This part if fun. Shape the dough into a circle or square or even a rectangle, like ours. It is completely up to you what shape your pizza is.

We used Italian sausage pasta sauce on our pizza.

For the toppings on our pizza we went with sauteėd onions, mushrooms, and zucchini, as well as sauteėd  lemon pepper chicken. We topped that with fresh spinach and shredded cheddar cheese.

Ingredients for toppings

1 container mushrooms- chopped
1 small onion - diced
1 large zucchini - sliced
2 chicken thighs - chopped into chunks
1 bag spinach
shredded cheddar cheese
lemon pepper seasoning

Coat the bottom of a medium to large size skillet with olive oil. Add the mushrooms, onions, and zucchini and sauteė on medium/high heat until the onion is translucent. You let the veggies go a bit longer is you want them caramelized. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Hein, the Bodamite's co-worker
added some chicken sausage
to the pizza.
 It was a yummy addition

For the chicken you do basically the same thing. First you have to prep the chicken, though. We cut the chicken into medium chunks and added lots of lemon pepper seasoning. Then we sauteėd the chicken in a large skillet until fully cooked and tender. As always, coat the bottom of your skillet with olive oil before you add the chicken.

When all of your ingredients are cooked and ready to go you can assemble your pizza!

You can see how we assembled our pizza, in the picture.
Sauce then veggies and then the meat. We topped all of that goodness with spinach and the shredded cheddar cheese.

The pizza needs the cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

It turned out to be the most amazing pizza we had ever eaten! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Happy Eating!

We ate the entire thing!


  

Sm∞thies

Smoothies are a favorite treat of mine. Preferably there is chocolate involved, but alas these recipes are for fruit smoothies. Truthfully, they are so simple they hardly count as recipes.

But I will get to the recipe part in a minute.

First, I must tell you about my birthday present! Mimi, my grandmother, loves to give gifts. She always wants to get you whatever it is you desire most. This can be a problem considering she has the money to do so. I never want to take advantage. Honestly, I am content if she just comes over for cake and ice cream on my birthday. But as always she purchased a gift. A little birdie (my mother) told her that I had been pining away for a KitchenAid blender. 

She showed up at the house with the largest gift bag I have ever seen in my life! Inside was the exact blender I had been wanting. It was so generous! And I got right to work blending all kinds of yummy treats.

That leads me to the recipes. These two recipes are the favorites in the house.

Pear/Pomegranate and Kiwi/Apple

You will need a blender that won't fry when you crush the ice.

Ingredients: Pear/Pomegranate

1 pear - peeled and diced

1/4 apple - peeled and diced

3/4 c. Pomegranate juice

ice cubes

Ingredients: Kiwi/Apple

Pear/Pomegranate smoothie

1 kiwi - peeled and chopped

1 apple - peeled and diced

3/4 c. orange juice

ice cubes

                                                   

The blending part is of course the same for both smoothies. Combined all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. If your blender has crush ice mode then start with that. After the ice is crushed switch to mix mode. Let everything mix until perfectly smooth.

It was a big hit!

Bodalicious Bite ••• Both Kiwi and Pomegranate can be a bit tart. If tart is not your thing, add 1 teaspoon of Agave Nectar to the other ingredients in the blender. It will take the edge off the tartness. Of course you can use honey too. I just prefer the sweetness of Agave Nectar with these particular ingredients.  

§carlet Nectår

Pomegranate juice… I'll admit I was skeptical.

 But the moment that scarlet nectar hit my taste buds, I was in love.

The Bodamite introduced me to Pom juice. He likes to cut his with water so he doesn't take in as much sugar. As with any fruit juice it contains sugar. So, to bring the intake down simply go with half Pomegranate juice and half water.                                 

As always, I have plenty of juicy info on its health benefits.

Beyond being incredibly yummy, Pom juice also…

Lowers Cholesterol. It lowers LDL, which is bad cholesterol. And it raises HDL, the good cholesterol.

Lowers Blood Pressure. 1.7 ounces of Pom juice a day can lower your blood pressure as much as five percent.

Protects your arteries. It prevents plaque from building up in your arteries.

The next health benefit is especially dear to my heart.

Fights Breast Cancer. Studies done in Israel show that Pom juice destroys breast cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. It may also prevent breast cancer cells from forming.

This is dear to my heart because my precious Grandma died from breast cancer. So it is a cancer I am very aware of.

Those are just four of the health benefits that Pomegranate juice provides.

If you have not tried the scarlet nectar, then you very simply are greatly missing out!

This is my newest Delicious Find. Check out all of the wonderful flavor combos Pom Wonderful has to offer pomwonderful.com

I will be posting two smoothie recipes in a few days that call for Pomegranate juice. Keep an eye out!

What Delicious Finds have you discovered lately?       

Håve your cåke an∂ eat it too!

First, let me apologize. The internet connection, at the apartment in Pawleys Island, dropped after I posted Birthday Weekend. Hence, I was unable to post this recipe later that evening as I said I would.

But here it is. Better late then never!

Ingredients for cake

This part is really up to you. You can use any gluten-free cake mix you like. I personally prefer Bob's Red Mill gluten-free products. They have a good base flavor to work with.   •Bob's Red Mill-Gluten Free• 


Follow baking instructions on back. I use honey to sweeten my batter. I also like to use olive or coconut oil instead of butter, it makes the batter lighter. Use a light hand with the oil. If you put too much the batter will be to runny. The best way to judge the amount would be to measure out half of the amount of butter the instructions call for.

Ingredients for Filling


This filling is the whipped peanut butter cream cheese frosting recipe, which is the New Recipe at the top right of this blogs home page.

The original recipe belongs to Jennie. Here is the link to her blog with the original recipe. •injennieskitchen.com-for mikey•

The filling. All ingredients folded together
Including whipped cream

I tweaked the recipe just a bit.

1c. heavy cream
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
1/2 c. honey (organic)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (gluten free)
1tsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. milk

In a large mixing bowl beat the heavy cream, with a hand mixer, until small peaks form. Do not over beat the cream. Just beat it till it holds small stiff peaks. Place in a smaller bowl and chill in the refrigerator until ready for use.

Place the cream cheese, peanut butter, and honey in mixing bowl and stir vigorously until well blended. Then add vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix well. Next, add the milk a little bit at a time. Do not pour it in all at once. This will make it harder to blend together. If you prefer your filling to be a little richer, replace the milk with a healthy splash of heavy cream.

Once all of the ingredients have been well combined, fold in the heavy cream that has been chilling in the refrigerator. Fold gently please. If you stir in the whipped cream too vigorously it tends to deflate.
Place the filling in the refirgerator to set up a little.

This  jar of goodness
was purchased at Publix.

Ingredients for Frosting

The frosting! I was most fond
of the frosting.

1 c. heavy cream                                            
1/2 c. dark chocolate almond butter spread
1 tsp honey
3 drops vanilla extract

This is super easy!
Pour the heavy cream and 3 drops of vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and beat until small stiff peaks form, just as you did for the filling. Set aside in a separate bowl.

Mix together the dark chocolate almond butter spread and honey. Now fold in the heavy cream. Remember, fold gently. Place in refrigerator to chill until ready for use.

When the cake has cooled you can add the filling and frost it!

Happy Eating!!

It is important to note: If the filling has not been allowed to set up or the cake is not completely cool, the filling will be too runny. You may need to chill the cake in the freezer for ten to fifteen minutes to ensure it is cool enough.

ßirthdåy Weeken∂

Bonding over homemade pizza dough

Hello all my little foodamites!

I hit the road to Pawleys Island, this weekend, to spend my birthday with the Bodamite. I don't know about you, but I love going out of town on mini vacations. There are always the touristy shops to wander around in ( I find this activity to be quite fun!) and quaint little restaurants where you can indulge in something new. Maybe you're the picky type...I totally understand. It took me some time to embrace the "try something new" theory. It is actually a blast!

This birthday marks two decades of living life and making memories with the people I love. It also marks two decades of homemade birthday cakes. Chocolate of course!


This year I am lending a helping hand in the construction of the cake.

The cake itself is a gluten free chocolate cake mix. The filling will be the Whipped peanut butter cream cheese frosting, which is the New Recipe of the week. I will post the recipe for the frosting in a separate post.

I am a little behind in my posts. Six days to be exact. I am a college student, so when I'm not blogging, cooking or making memories with the Bodamite, I'm studying! So just bare with me as I juggle all of my activities.

Now, where was I...ah yes, the frosting for the outside of the cake!
•Dark chocolate almond butter whipped cream• Oh how I love birthdays. I will post the recipe later this evening after it has been baked and pictures have been taken.

Måshed §weet Potatoes

I am quite fond of potatoes. You can "boil 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew.." Okay I'm quoting Lord of the Rings, but it's true none the less.

Mashed potatoes and I could be the best of friends but, alas, potatoes are not a food to be consumed in large quantities or frequently. Every once in a while I do indulge in mashed sweet potatoes because sweet potatoes are a good source of the antioxidant beta-carotene. They also contain anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Most people lump all potatoes into one category. Potatoes are actually quite different in terms of their taste, texture and nutrients. 

Potatoes are known for being starchy root vegetables. Of course, that doesn't make them very helpful in controlling blood sugar levels. What is so lovely about sweet potatoes is their ability to actually improve blood sugar regulation. They contain a good amount of deitary fiber as well. So be sure to add these wonderful naturally sweet vegetables to your meals once in a while.

Some people like their mashed sweet potatoes almost "candied". I am a firm believer that sweet potatoes should taste like sweet potatoes, not butter and brown sugar. Not to mention that "candied" is not healthy. 

So, here is my recipe for 'non-candied' mashed sweet potatoes.

It is important to note: I'm a 'dash of this, a dash of that' kind of cook. I like to eyeball things. I will try my best to give you measurements for this recipe. But feel free to add a dash extra of the ingredients to taste.

4 large sweet potatoes

1/3 cup of heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp butter or margarine

2 1/2 tsp honey

First, peel your sweet potatoes. This will be easier if you wet them first or peel them under running water. Dice sweet potatoes into medium size cubes and place in a pot; cover the potatoes with enough water so the cubes can float freely. Boil the potatoes until tender. This should only take about 20 to 25 minutes. 

While the potatoes boil, add some cinnamon and nutmeg to the water, like you would salt pasta water, this will infuse the sweet potatoes with the delicious, warm flavor of cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. Do try not to be heavy handed with the nutmeg, it can be a bit overwhelming.

When the potatoes are tender, remove from heat and drain off the water.

Next, add your butter or margarine, cinnamon, nutmeg and heavy cream. Now get to mashing! All of the ingredients will blend together as you mash the potatoes. When everything is well blended stir in the honey. The honey will add a very subtle undertone of sweetness.

Give your mashed sweet potatoes a taste. If you feel they need a dash more of cinnamon or nutmeg, then dash away. You can add a touch more heavy cream, as well as butter or margarine, to give a little more richness.

Serve with whatever dinner you like to have mashed potatoes with. These mashed potatoes won't taste like dessert, so they will work very well as a regular side dish.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. 

Happy eating!

Chøcø-spressø-beåns

I have fallen prey to chocolate covered espresso beans…from whole foods of course!

If you have never had a chocolate covered espresso bean, then you are missing out on a delightful caffeine buzz. They will turn you into the energizer bunny! They are little nuggets of nervous energy, wrapped in bittersweet bliss.. 

 … Okay, I am exaggerating quite a bit about the caffeine buzz.

Now, you may be asking yourself, how do they fit into our organic, gluten free, no refined sugar world?

These particular chocolate covered expresso beans have NO added sugar. They are covered in dark chocolate which also has some health benefits. They are considered a 'cheat'. Yes, we have cheats. But, they always have some health benefit, and are organic and gluten free. Not all cheats have to give you a sugar high and glutemate (gloo•te•mate) you. I also search out low calorie/low fat cheats. 

Don't worry, nothing on this blog with add inches.

Sometimes you just need a little treat!

So, the health benefits of this cheat aren't huge. But they are absolutely there. A handful of Choco-spresso-beans is an acceptable cheat-treat. 

Dark chocolate is rich in cell protecting antioxidants, which are natural compounds found in veggies, fruits, nuts and grains. Dark chocolate also has a low glycemic index (it does not spike your blood sugar) very similar to oatmeal.

Espresso beans…are just an extension of coffee beans. They are simply more powerful and of course are used to create espresso. They (coffee/espresso beans) are very much like cocoa beans ( ah chocolate!). They are very rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

So there you go! A cheat you don't have to feel bad about. Of course with any 'cheat' moderation is key! The health benefits become moot after five servings…

Bodalicious bite •• When you're looking for a cheat-treat make sure the ingredients are all organic, no added sugar and no added preservatives. It's much healthier sans the 'added'

£ittle ∑den

I love Whole Foods! It's like a little eden. They have every organic food that you can possibly imagine.

Not to mention the fresh made Gelato station! Yeah… that's my favorite part.

Anywho, Whole Foods is a new discovery for me. You see, the only Whole Foods around here is an hour away. I finally got the opportunity, over Labor Day weekend, to venture into the little eden. Ah bliss.

We found these wonderful little gems. Salmon Burgers. They were delightful and no where near as heavy as beef. Throw a little swiss on top and slap that puppy between an Ezekiel 4:9 (FoodForLife http://www.foodforlife.com/) english muffin… Success!

BBQ & Teriyaki Salmon Burgers. Organic and gluten free! 

A litte sea salt and olive oil
make these miniature heads of lettuce heavenly

 








The Bodamite was sweet enough to cook the burgers and toss together a yummy broccoli/ brussels sprout medley for us. And he makes the best brussels sprouts!







So the moral is: Find a Whole Foods (little eden) and never look back!