Cauliflower Crust Cheese Pizza

One of my favorite foods is pizza.  Love pizza.  Especially if there is meat on it. I’m not big on veggies at all.  But I had to find a low-carb low calorie crust for my pizza.  I came across a recipe for cauliflower crust pizza on pinterest and decided to give it a try. After messing around with the ingredients, I found a combination that I absolutely love.  It doesn’t taste like cauliflower and the pizza holds together relatively well, especially after it cools.  You  can even hold it like you would a normal piece of pizza without it falling apart if you are careful.

For the Crust:

• 1 cup cooked cauliflower
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese NOT THE POWDERED CHEESE use freshly grated cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp italian seasoning
• 1 tbsp of minced garlic – I’m a garlic freak – if you aren’t you can use less
• 1/2 tsp salt

Toppings:

• Pizza Sauce
• Cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Cook the cauliflower until it is soft.  I usually use frozen and pop it in the microwave.  I then put the cauliflower on a lint free tea towel and squeeze the moisture out of it.  Be careful though because at this point the cauliflower is HOT so don’t burn yourself.  Then add the cauliflower, egg, garlic, italian seasonings and salt to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until everything is combined and the cauliflower resembles rice.  Add in both cheeses and stir.

Take your pizza pan and spread a dab of olive oil over the surface.  Cover the oiled pan with parchment paper.  You need to use parchment paper for this.  Do not use a silicone baking mat.  Spread the cauliflower mixture on the parchment paper and bake for about 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown on the top.  Remove from oven, add toppings, and place back in oven for about 5 minutes or until your cheese is melted. Do not add any raw toppings to the pizza as they will not be cooked in the oven.  I usually just add pizza sauce and cheese to mine.  Sometimes I go crazy and add hormel turkey pepperoni.

Transfer the pizza to a wire rack and cool for at least five minutes.  The pizza holds together better after cooling for a bit.

Baked Pizza Crust without Toppings

Pizza Crust with Sauce and Cheese

Hodge Podge

Well this week has just been one of those weeks where you are busy but really don’t seem to get anything done.

Tuesday I went to a new eye doctor and I have decided to upgrade to contacts.

Wednesday I went and got a new hair cut. So I pretty much got a new makeover last week. I am still not used to the new hair.

Today I went on pinterest to see about possibly making my own face wash. I saw a ton of posts about using ground up oats. I am still not sure about this one.  I am a little worried that it may clog the sink. All you do is grab a handful of the ground up oats, wet it, rub it on your face then rinse. I tried it and my face feels clean but it is weird.

I also made some Salted Caramel Peanut Butter. This stuff is heavenly. Next time I am going to make a chocolate version.

To make the peanut butter take a can of Planter’s Salted Caramel Peanuts

Open the can and pour them into the bowl of a  food processor.

Process until creamy.

That’s it! Super yummy peanut butter!

So that is pretty much my week in a nutshell.

My camera should be coming back to me next week so hopefully I will be able to start taking better pictures.

Going the Distance

One of my favorite things to do for exercise is to run. I love running outside, on trails, sidewalks and streets. By no means am I an accomplished athlete though and I am relatively new to running.  Running also relaxes me and is a huge stress reliever for me, especially after a particularly grueling day at work.  Dealing with people can stress me out big time and I need time alone to recoup. I also love food.  I really need this shirt:

I have found some apps that I absolutely love, to help make running a little bit more enjoyable. I love to see how far I can run and what my pace is.  

I am currently using the Rundouble app, which has a couch to 5k running program on it, right now to get me back up to doing a 5k, as my running stopped when I went to Europe, because I was lazy on my vacation and I wasn’t sure where I could go to run where I was staying. I love using this app as you can run it simultaneously with pandora, and it tells you how far you have gone and what your pace is after each interval.  It also instructs you over any music you are playing when to start and stop running.  

I also use mapmyfitness, when I’m not using the rundouble app.  Mapmyfitness tracks your walks/runs, tells you your pace every mile, maps your route and you can also run Pandora simultaneously with it.  

I love being able to listen to my own music when I run.  It makes it so much more enjoyable and takes my mind off of how I look, because I’m pretty sure it is probably similar to this:

I use a fitbit to track all of my steps, including my runs, it will also sync with my smartphone so I can track my steps throughout the day without having to remove it. The fitbit tracks not only steps, but flights of stairs (only going up though), calories burned throughout the day, and you can use it to track how long you sleep at night.  It also has an activity meter that indicates how active you are throughout the day. It is hands down one of the best gifts I have ever received.  It is also fun if you have friends who have one, so that you can compete with them, to see who is getting the most steps.  Fitbit also has great customer service.  I had my fitbit ultra a year and a half and accidentally washed it.  It no longer would track hills, so I contacted fitbit and they gave me 50% off a brand new fitbit one.  

I also love using achievemint to track my exercise.  You actually earn rewards for exercising.  It is awesome. I have already earned $50 by using this website.  You sync it with your apps, I use it with my fitbit, rundouble and map my fitness.  You get points for how far you walk/run and how often you exercise and once you gain enough points you can exchange them for $25 gift cards.

I try to track my food with myfitnesspal.  They have a huge database with just about every food you can imagine in it, and you can also use your smartphone to scan barcodes of any food you are eating.  I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to track the junk food I brought back from Europe, but the chips I bought in Croatia were in there as were the Oplatky (sugar wafers) I bought in Prague.  I’m not going to lie though – I have been lazy beyond belief with this and my weight is suffering because of it. I need to get back on track and am working towards that end, but it is so much easier to say I’m going to do it than it is to actually do it.  But I have come a long way in the last four years. I lost a total of 170 lbs, and I don’t want to go back.  The thought of gaining it all back scares me half to death.  Which is why I run and track my food and give all my baked goods to my coworkers to eat.

So there you have it.  Those are the main apps I use for tracking my food and exercise.

 

Monster Cookies

I love monster cookies.  Looooove them.  They have a soft and chewy texture and are chocolaty and peanut buttery and just so good.  I decided to make these at the last minute on Wednesday, for a potluck we were having at work on Thursday.  Luckily I had just enough oats for 1/4 of a batch.  It still made 8 dozen cookies.  I kid you not.  The dough from a full batch fills my mega tupperware bowl to the rim.  I didn’t need quite that many cookies this time so I cut the recipe down to a 1/4 of the original.  It still made eight dozen.

Just look at those cookies.  Yummy peanut buttery cookies. It is almost impossible to just eat one and leave the rest.  So glad I left the rest at work today instead of bringing them home.

For the recipe, gather up all of your ingredients.

I used quick oats this time because I had those on hand and  I was way to lazy to go to the store to get the old fashioned oats and I wasn’t paying attention when I bought the quick oats to begin with as I don’t care for them and normally don’t buy them. But believe me, get the old fashioned oats, not quick oats.  Both cookies are delicious, but the old fashioned oats make the cookies look like a traditional oatmeal cookie and the texture of the cookie is chewier.

You will also want to set out your butter ahead of time to soften it up a bit. I like to set out the eggs when I set out the butter so both are closer to room temperature when I start mixing. You can also preheat your oven to 350 now.

Don’t judge my m & m’s….

Combine the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and corn syrup in a mixing bowl until light, fluffy and creamy, being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

 Then add your eggs and baking soda.

Mix until combined, be sure to scrape the bowl and mix again, before you start adding in your oats.

Bruce, my mixer, is working hard mixing up all of this.  Yes. I name my appliances.

Add your candy and mix. I used milk chocolate m & m’s, but you can use anything you want. I have made these with butterscotch chips and they are amazing.  White Chocolate m & m’s, peanut butter m & m’s, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, you can use any combination you want.  The cookies are pretty versatile that way.

Once the dough is all mixed up, drop onto a cookie sheet and bake.

I used a cookie scoop that holds two tablespoons of dough to do mine.  They are smaller cookies, but I don’t want massive cookies.  You can always use a larger scoop, just add a minute or two onto the bake times.  Also I bake the cookies two sheets at a time and I rotate and flip the cookie sheets halfway through baking.  My oven is junk so if I don’t flip and rotate I get charcoal at the back and half done cookies in the front.  It isn’t pretty.  I bake them for 8 – 10 minutes total, just until they are light brown around the edges, but still mostly pale.  You do not want to overbake these.

And here they are freshly baked, just begging to be eaten.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about four or five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Once cooled you can store them in a sealed container and they will keep for a few days at room temperature.  They also freeze well although if I’m going to freeze them I prefer to freeze the dough and then bake them after I thaw it out. But the cookies do freeze well after baking them and they do retain the soft and chewy texture after being frozen as a friend of mine makes these and freezes the baked cookies.

Monster Cookies

• 1 stick of butter
• 12 oz peanut butter (approx. 1 1/3 cups)
• 8 oz brown sugar (1 cup and 2 tbsp)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon of corn syrup
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 4.5 cups oatmeal – use an additional 1/2 cup if using quick oats
• 1/2 lb M & M’s
• 6 oz chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the first 6 ingredients. Add the baking soda and eggs and mix.  Add the oatmeal and mix. Fold in the chocolate.  Scoop the dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8 – 10 minutes. Makes about eight dozen cookies, using two tablespoons of dough per cookie.

Smoked Paprika Chicken Drumsticks

While in the Czech Republic and in Austria I ran across all sorts of different snacks. The potato chip flavors especially were different. I found bacon, fromage, what I think was grilled chicken, and my personal favorite paprika. The paprika chips are what inspired me to make this chicken.

These are just amazing.

To flavor the chicken I used smoked Paprika, garlic powder and salt. The chicken turned out to be moist and the flavor wasn’t over powering. I left the skin on the chicken and I lined the pan with Reynolds pan liner.

This recipe is pretty easy and I also used the seasoning on some potatoes. Gather all your ingredients. Onion would be a nice addition to this, but I thought about that later. Preheat the oven to 350.

Take your chicken and coat it with oil after you take off the yucky stuff. I used my fingers to help coat it.

Once the chicken is coated with oil liberally sprinkle it with the smoked Paprika, garlic powder and salt. Really get in there with it. Also if you are leaving the skin on be sure to get under the skin with the seasonings.

Once all the chicken has been seasoned on both sides and is in the baking dish, pop it in the oven and bake for about an hour.

Halfway through baking turn the chicken over and season it again. Bake until the chicken is cooked and the juices running out of the chicken are clear.

I let it rest for about five minutes before I served it.

Smoked Paprika Chicken Drumsticks

Chicken Drumsticks
Olive oil
Smoked Paprika
Garlic Powder
Salt

Preheat oven to 350. Clean chicken and coat with olive oil. Season liberally with smoked Paprika, garlic powder and salt. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven, turn chicken over, season with the smoked Paprika, garlic powder and salt again, return the chicken to the oven and cook for an additional 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Let rest for about five minutes and enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

It has been way to long since I have posted anything on here. Wow. July was amazing though and I can’t wait to share some of my experiences with you all.

Oh and I just need to say that the new Lay’s chips flavors aren’t that great. I mean really cappuccino? That one wasn’t the worst though. The mango salsa ones were just plain disgusting. At least they have cheddar bacon mac and cheese flavored ones. Those were pretty tasty. After taste testing all these new flavors I think we all need some classic cookie bars.

First assemble the ingredients and preheat your oven to 375. I forgot to get out the chocolate chips for the picture. Whoops.

Next add the sugar, brown sugar, butter, egg and vanilla to your mixing bowl.

I usually cream it on a lower speed for about 30 seconds, I stop to scrape the bowl,  then crank it up to medium for another 30 seconds to a minute until it looks like this:

Meanwhile in a separate bowl combine your salt, baking soda and flour.

Slowly add it to the creamed mixture, mixing between additions, so you don’t end up with a flour dust storm in your kitchen. Scrape the bowl occasionally also.

Once it is all incorporated add in your chocolate chips.

Instead of making cookies I opted for bars this time.

I baked them for about 20 minutes. But I started checking them every five minutes after the first 15 minutes. If you want to do cookies place them by tablespoon on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 – 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups all purpose flour
11.5 oz chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375. Cream together the sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg.  Once creamed scrape bowl and mix until everything is combined. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl. Once all of the flour mixture is incorporated add the chocolate chips. Grease a 9 X 13 pan.  Add in your dough and pat it down to spread it in the pan. Bake for about 18 – 22 minutes, checking after 15 minutes. Bars should be dark brown around the edges and golden brown on top.