Cauliflower Pizza

This has generated a lot of interest on Facebook, where I mentioned in a few places that I got the kids to try it and they liked it (well, Shaylee really liked it, Ethan said he could taste the cauliflower but that is probably only because he knew it was in there).  Mark thought it was way better than the traditional crust pizza I also made.  I admit I snuck a bite to compare and he was right.  The flour (well, whole wheat and spelt) crust was bland and it was the pizza Shaylee put together so there wasn't much sauce on it, so it was kind of dry.

I used to make this before when I was low carbing.  I heard there is a similar recipe on the Dr. Oz site but it has little cheese and it is a low fat one at that.  You need fat, baby!    Cleochatra from  Low Carb Friends was the one who first came up with the recipe and shared it with the world.  It caught on like wildfire because it was good, gluten free, it was the perfect neutral base for pizza, it was very low in carbs (suitable for induction for those on Atkins) and what isn't there to love about a good tasting pizza that has a vegetable for its base!  If you get the excess moisture out of the cauliflower, you will be able to pick it up and eat it like pizza (sometimes even if you don't).

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

• 1 cup cooked, mashed cauliflower (make sure it isn't too watery; it doesn't have to be packed down)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• italian spice to taste (I usually don't bother)

Mix well and pat into a pizza pan.  I usually cover with parchment paper to make for easier removal otherwise you should grease the pan.  It will cover a 12 inch pan  just pat it down well and make sure it is thin and even.  

Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes or until it is golden brown.  

Take it out of the oven, cover in sauce and top how you like (meat, veggies, cheese, ect... make sure there is nothing that needs cooking, like meat as it is not in there long enough to cook the second time around).  Put it back in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted.  

Remove, let sit about 5 minutes, slice and eat!!  Yum yum!  It's even good cold, as I am experiencing right now.  

I also made garlic fingers but they weren't as good.  I just put some garlicy butter and cheese on top before the second bake.  I used granules so real garlic would of been better as would the addition of bacon!

This would make a very good freezer meal.  I used to make the crusts and freeze them so they would be ready to top when I wanted pizza.  Cauliflower is only $1.99 this week at Sobeys so I bought three mainly for this reason.  I may have to buy more!  I plan to cook it and freeze in one cup portions as it is also good for other recipes, as I will soon share :)

Promised Recipes

Here I promised recipes last week and I didn't come though.  Well, today I will finally post a couple since I am feeling better and I want to do something other than clean the house and do the dishes I keep putting off, lol!

White Castle Hamburger Pie is one of my favorite recipes.  I found it on Linda Sue's website ages ago and it is a staple when I low carb.  I always add a lot more eggs to it and use real onion because I'm not too picky about vegetable carbs.  Here is my version:

White Castle Hamburger Pie

• 1 pound ground beef 
• 1 medium onion, grated (or you can use a seasoning packet or onion powder and dried onion flakes to taste)
• 6 eggs 
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise 
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or full fat yogurt
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated 
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Brown the hamburger with about half  onion or seasonings and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add remaining onion, stir and place into a casserole dish (a deep dish pie plate works well or an 8x8 baking dish). Stir in half of the cheese, then top with the remaining cheese. Whisk the eggs, mayonnaise, cream and a dash of pepper well; pour evenly over the meat. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


The Cabbage (un)Roll casserole came about because I used to love cabbage rolls.  It was actually the meal I ate on our 10th anniversary at the Steak and Stein restaurant in Halifax.  When I was a child, one of my neighbors would often make it and I didn't know I wasn't supposed to like it (the stereotype that kids won't eat that kind of thing).  This is more of a flinging it all together thing as I wanted something without egg as the structure of the dish.  My only complaint is it didn't have a strong enough tomato taste and I wasn't sure how to season it.  So you can season it to taste and maybe add some tomato paste if you want a stronger tomato flavor.

The Cabbage (un)Roll Casserole 

• 1 lbs hamburger
• 0.5 lbs spicy italian sausage
• 1/2 head thinly sliced cabbage
• 1 cup grated raw cauliflower
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1 large can tomatoes
• seasonings to taste

Remove the sausage from the casing if applicable and brown with the hamburger until cooked through.  Add remaining ingredients and place in a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the cabbage and cauliflower is cooked through.

Very easy recipes.  They freeze well and are great for lunches.  I think we'll be having the cabbage casserole for lunch with some more tomatoes added and a salad on the side.  I love me some veggies lately!

The Big Cook

Ha, ha!  I just saw a double meaning in my post title.  The big cook had a big cooking spree on Monday.  I've been putting off writing about it because I have a ton of pictures to post and for some reason, I hate posting pictures.  I would love to be one of those people who could do step by step tutorials of everything, with lovely pictures. I do what I can.

So I spend most of the day on Monday cooking.  I prepped all my vegetables and browned meats while watching La Bamba on Netflix.  Then I baked, baked, baked.  It is a fun process where you are constantly making something.

Last Friday I made a turkey.  The first thing I did was strip the meat off and freeze the bones.  Then I cup up the veggies.  Next I sauteed the veggies with sausage for the turkey casseroles.  I put them together and baked while I browned the hamburger for the hamburger pies and cabbage casseroles.  I took out the hamburger for the pies and baked those with the meatloaf muffins while I sauteed the cabbage and other veggies for the casserole.  I assembled the muffins and they went in the oven with the cabbage casserole when the second batch of oven goodies came out.  When I had spare moments, I whipped up the ketchup, assembled the extracts and drained the soaked almonds.

I broke down and bought 5lbs of lean ground beef at the grocery store because it was on sale for $1.99/lbs and we are nearly out.  What a waste.  I doubt I even got 3lbs of meat out of it due to waste and shrinkage (they say its lean but there sure is a lot of fat in it!).  When I was able to present the evidence to Mark, I think he finally saw what I meant when ground beef from the farmer is a much better deal at $2.50 or even $3.00 a pound as there is no waste.  It is not injected with water and it is pretty much the same volume when done, not to mention it tastes so much better and is way healthier, better for the planet and local economy too!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I also finally made my extracts.  I don't know why I put it off.  It was so easy.

So without further ado, here's the fruit of my labour:

Here is a wide view of everything I made.  Lots of delicious, yummy low carb food for the freezer and immediate use.  Don't mind my messy kitchen as I had so much stuff on the go (as you can see).  To the left are the cabbage (un)roll casseroles.  Then the white castle hamburger pies are in the front. In the large pan to the back of the fridge is the turkey and "stuffing".  The row next to it are my extracts, salmon muffins and tuna muffins and my soaked almonds.  Finally, the mushroom turkey and stuffing casserole and the meatloaf muffins.  The ketchup I made isn't in the picture.



This is a close up of the white castle hamburger pie.  I've probably mentioned it tons of times as it's my favorite low carb casserole.  So good!  Yes, I took a little bite in the corner.  Quality control, you know ;).  I made one pan this size and four small ones which are each about a serving size.

Too lazy to turn picture

Here is a close up of the cabbage (un)roll casserole. I will be posting the recipe soon as it was very good.  I would of liked a stronger tomato taste but that is easy to adjust.  These are the little baking dishes I mentioned in my previous post.  They remind me so much of the Le Creuset petite stoneware baking dishes that I had to buy them.  They were $2 each at the dollar store and are perfect for a single serving and heat up great in the toaster oven!

Search Amazon.com for le creuset petite stoneware

Soaked Almonds that I shelled myself

For these meatloaf muffins, I just filled the muffin cups with ground beef that I worked a bit.  These were level to the top when I baked and they shrunk a lot!  It is very easy to add extra ingredients.  I like them with spinach and feta cheese or you could put a piece of cheese in the middle or wrap in bacon.  Seasonings add endless variety.  I was going for simple though :)

This is one of the turkey stuffing pies I made.  The only difference between the two is one has cauliflower and the other one doesn't.  See, not much difference.  They are very good and it was a good way to use up the leftover turkey I had on hand.

Again, too lazy to turn picture.  I'm too used to face book where you can just rotate pictures after you upload them.  Some day I will remember.  So the top half are salmon muffins, just using salmon instead of tuna in the recipe.  I decided to put some in large ramekin dishes which would be enough for a good sized meal, easily heated and add a veggie or salad.  The bottom ones are a half batch of tuna muffins.

These are my lovely extracts.  I have two vanilla, one lemon, one star anise and one waiting to be turned into orange.  I would like to make some mint but I think I will wait until it is fresher.  I have dried but I am not sure how it will turn out.  After 24 hours, the lemon and the anise smelled amazing!  You could barely smell the alcohol.  I especially love the anise one!  Yum :)

Sitting on the stove until I can find room in the cupboard

 I had a lot of fun doing all this cooking.  I love it because you can reuse pots and bowls and there aren't many dishes when you are done.  It is also good for saving energy as you can cook several things at a time and save time by doing everything in big batches.  What I love most about it is there is lots of food for me to eat when I don't feel like cooking something low carb for me.  It makes it easier to stay on plan.

I will be posting recipes for the new things soon.  I linked most to Linda Sue's site in my previous post but as always, I made some alterations.  That's the best part about cooking; it's pretty flexible!

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I am in the midst of a big freezer cook and will be back later to write about it and come up with a meal plan for the week. What am I making?

-white castle hamburger pie

-mushroom turkey and sausage casserole

-turkey and stuffing quiche

-meatloaf muffins

-cabbage un-roll casserole

-salmon and tuna muffins
-ketchup

As usual, I've made adjustments to these recipes so I'll post more about them later and also show pics of the cute little baking dishes I got!  They are so cool!

Tuna Muffins

Well there.  I made a bunch of freezer meals which should feed me for quite a while.  I made tuna muffins, white castle hamburger pie, curried turkey wings and taco bake.  All low carb and made with real food ingredients.  I modified the recipes to use what I have on hand because I did not want to go to the grocery store.  I was a little dismayed to discover we do not have much ground beef on hand.  I think we mostly got stew meat from our quarter (which is getting used up).  I may have to call the farmer to see if I can get some more meat and I think we will definitely need to get a whole side next time!

 Since we ate tuna muffins for lunch, I am going to post that recipe first.  I will post the other recipes over the next few days.  This is a big batch and you could easily halve it.  I chose tuna because we have tons of cans of it on hand that need to get used up.  You could also use salmon, which I am sure would be very yummy!

Tuna muffins with sauerkraut and cabbage & mayo.

Tuna Muffins

• 4 cans water packed tuna, drained
• 6 oz grated cheese
• 6 large eggs
• 2 small onions, diced or grated
• old bay seasoning to taste
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Break up the tuna in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.  Pour into muffin tins or silicone liners and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and cooked through, about 30-40 minutes.  Makes 18.

Part of Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Special Low Carb/Gluten Free Real Food Wednesday!!

Back To School

I have been feeling really down lately because we're poor. I had hoped to make a big market trip to several markets today but when I checked the bank account and saw how low it was, I wanted to find a corner and cry. It has been hard with the kids in school, the extra expense of that, the extra expense of the car, the $625+ insurance bill that's overdue and other things. I didn't want to complain in my main blog because all my family reads it but I don't think this one is as well read. This at a time when I want to invest in healthy food, an investment of health and well being.

It was easy to fall into the trap of buying cheap snacky foods for the kids lunches. They don't take enough time to eat since they want to play so I want things that they can eat quickly. I have been sending thermoses filled with soup or pasta since I know how nice it is to have something hot at school. But I have also been sending snacky food that I want to replace with homemade, wholesome goodies.

I haven't been feeling like doing much this week so I haven't been making much good to eat. I want to start though. I sure can't complain I don't have time anymore.

I had a great farmers market week! We went to the Thursday market in Tusket. There I got two huge bunches of green onions (I am going to make salted onions with these), two bags of delicious organic tomatoes, some cucumbers, lettuce, a bag of carrots (little ones) and some other things we must have eaten and I spent less than $10! All organic, something I couldn't do at that price in a grocery store.

This morning, I got 11lbs of turnip, real turnip not rutabagas like they sell in the store, for $3! One of them was 5lbs! (I got three, $1 each) I also got a few heads of garlic, 2lbs of ground beef, swiss chard and a big bag of salad greens, all organic! This came to about $10 as well. Then we went to Wallace Brothers where we picked a huge basket of apples, which was about 35 or so lbs for only $7! They were soo good, so fresh and crisp, yumm! We ate a ton in the car, I"m surprised we don't all have belly aches, lol! Then we went to the Belliveaus Farmers Market but it was so cold there were hardly any vendors there. I did get to try some chicken fricot. I'll have to try to make it some day. At the Comeau's Farm Market, I got two big english cukes, a big bunch of bananas, a bag of parsnips, a half peck of pears ($1!), 3 packs of natural bacon, a package of Fox Hill Cheese and slushies for the three kids for about $18.

So we have a lot of food around the house, all local and natural. I love eating like this. I must admit it is not really easy for me. I want to eat bad but I know for the sake of our budget and health, I need to eat good food. I want my kids to grow up liking it and appreciating it. They are so picky that it's hard. I must find a way.

My struggles for this week will be:

- cutting down the junk in the kids lunches and replacing it with more nourishing food.

-cooking more from scratch.

-preserving some foods, probably with dehydrating and some fridge pickling

-using what we have on hand and eating down the freezer so we have room

-doing some baking/cooking for the freezer to have some stuff on hand when I don't feel like baking or cooking

-using food up before it goes bad (this is really hard; I had to throw out a lot of good food gone bad because it got shoved to the back of the fridge)

It will be a challenge but something that I need to work on.

Finding My Way

It has been quite a while since I have posted. I have come a long way and want to go a long way yet! I have had Traditional Foods on my mind lately. Local eating is a big concern. Organic...well, we can't afford it but when we can, we try. Food storage and emergency preparedness is still on my mind.

We have had a big problem I am having to deal with. Our food storage. There is a lot of food we will never eat. Remember to store what you eat because you will be eating what you store!! Now grated, I did not know I would be gluten free. I didn't know when I stored BPA would be a big concern. I didn't know a lot of what I canned we would never eat. I didn't know that I would buy too many beans and my intentions of using them would go awry.

I have been going through our stores and picking out what we won't use that is still good to donate to the food bank. This still leaves us with a lot.

Today, I went through our basement freezers and condensed all the food into one. I have a lot to toss that is no longer any good. I also kept track of everything so that I can meal plan. I want to eat the freezer down so we can invest in the side of beef and side of pork again this fall. I don't want to keep relying on the grocery store for our food and want to get it from the farmer where ever possible!

So, here are the contents of our freezer. I didn't write every little thing down (like the popsicles, juice and seed/nut meals).

Fruit

1 large bag of woods strawberries

2 bags raspberries

1 bag jumbleberry mix

2 jars strawberry freezer jam

Vegetables

3 1kg bags of broccoli

4 1kg cauliflower

1 1kg peas

1 1kg peas and carrots

4 bags of veggie blends (500-600g)

2kg bag california mied veggies (I don't know if these are still good)

300g package of spinach (may not be good for use)

Cheese and Dairy

4 110g packages swiss cheese

2 pkg provelone

3 blocks cream cheese

6 180g pkgs organic feta

1 jar 100% fresh parmesean

2 large packages of mozza cheese strings (I use these to make low carb garlic "bread")

2 200g packages of organic sharp cheddar

1 cup grated mozza

3 500g blocks mozza

5 1lbs blocks of butter

Pork

3 shoulders, approx. 1.5kg each

2 small packs of pork chops (0.5 lbs each)

5 large packs of pork loin chops

11 packs of loin roast (these are all about a pound each)

4 smoked shoulders

1 rack of ribs (2kg)

1 pack larsens sausages

13 packs of bacon

Beef

Hamburger, 2lbs natural, 0.5lbs pack, 2kg pack and 1.40kg pack from store

2 packs of liver (about a pound each)

1.125 pot roast

1 small steak

Chicken

1 large pack of breasts (1.25kg)

2 small packs of breasts (0.65kg each)

3 bags of 4 quarters

4 small whole chickens

Turkey

4 whole turkeys

1 pack of 2 small turkey drumsticks

1 small pack of turkey tenderloin slices (1lbs)

Other

Hot Dogs 5.5 packs of 12

1 1lbs package of moose meat

1 3.5 oz pouch of scallops

1 small whole wild salmon (2 or 3 lbs)

1lbs pack of wild salmon

2 frozen pizzas

1 small garlic fingers

4 tubs of 150g slivered almonds

1 pouch minced onion

Whew. That doesn't include what is in the fridge freezer. I know there is some in there I need to toss.

Here are some things that I have learned today:

Today I have learned today is not to prepare food for the freezer unless it is part of a meal plan. I am going to have to toss a lot of soup and other things I made that didn't freeze well.

Another thing is that some foods do not freeze well. For instance, I bought and froze a lot of cottage cheese over a year ago. It doesn't freeze well (unless you use it in a recipe, but I know I won't. Good thing it was really cheap).

Only buy items out of the ordinary to freeze if we plan to use it soon. Sometimes Mark or I will buy something different and it never gets used. We will save a lot of money by doing this.

Use older things first. I have a lot of food that is a lot older than recent items that we have eaten. Rotating is especially important for freezer food.

Only buy frozen veggies as I need them. These get freezer burnt pretty fast. I have a lot of cauliflower as I planned to make a lot of cauliflower crust pizza. I probably still will. It is yummy :)

I couldn't help thinking of my Great Grammy D who used to joke about having food that was old enough to vote, lol! I hope I never get anything that old in my freezer. She would of happily used up any old thing as she let nothing to waste.

So I need to come up with a meal plan to make sure we use our food before we start bringing more in.

I also want to be more accountable for what we buy and use as food. I need to keep better track of how much money we spend. I have been doing a lot better. We cannot afford to waste food.

I have so much to write about so I won't write it all today. This will be fun again!

Freezer Fun!

I'm going to write about this here since I sometimes wonder if people are getting tired of reading about food storage in my main blog, lol!

We got a second freezer last night! I can never again complain that we have nothing to eat, lol! It may just take some time and preparation, but I plan to really take advantage of our new situation.

I spent some time sorting the freezer out this morning and boy, were there some treasures! A gallon of organic milk! (yay! Our favorite. It's one of the few things I can really tell the difference between conventional and organic) Raspberries, yum! Chicken strips. Our poor turkeys stuck on the bottom. Tons of ham, chicken, bacon, hamburger I forgot about, hot dogs galore, tons of veggies and on and on.

I am dividing the different types of food into bags. I have a bag of single type frozen veggies, a bag of mixes (like California, winter, peas & carrots, ect..), a bag of hot dogs, chicken, ham and so on. I tried boxes and baskets, which were hard for me to get a hold of and shopping bags break. So I'm using some of our reusable shopping bags since they have handles, can hold a lot and are flexible.

Even if I don't buy anything for a while, we'll be good. I was thinking of buying a side of beef (actually a quarter), but I think it will just be too expensive. It would be about $900 for 300 lbs of hanging weight, which works out to under 200lbs of meat. First of all, that's a lot of meat! Second, that's a lot of money and a lot per pound. I'll keep buying the store stuff and try not to think about where it came from, lol! When Emin's has another side of pork sale, I think I will take advantage of that. $99 for a side of pork is much more doable and a greater value. Plus Mark likes pork products a lot better, I think.

So I'll probably be busy sorting for a while. I also want to keep a list on the freezer of what we have and keep track of what we use. That way we will no longer have any lost food.

I also plan on making lots of freezer meals. That way when I don't feel like cooking, I can just pop something out of the freezer and we have something good quick! I just need to find a day where I feel like cooking large quantities of food ;)