Heart of Cooking

Pizza made with Kinnikinnick Frozen Gluten-free Pizza Crust

Bread has always been my downfall.  Pizza crust is even worse.  When I was a kid, I loved all things bread and would snack on a piece of bread and butter.

One of my favorite restaurants was Beau Jo’s pizza, a local and awesome pizzeria that specializes in thick pizza crust and is famous for bringing you honey bears to enjoy with your pizza crust.  It’s kind of like eating a sopapilla with honey as dessert, only thicker and yummier.  This pizza place started in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and has now expanded to several different locations spread out over the Colorado landscape.  If you live in Colorado and love thick crust, this place is for you!

Gluten-free Pizza Crust at Beau Jo’s and Uno’s

News Flash! I just visited Beau Jo’s website and they are now offering not only gluten-free pizza crust but also dairy-free cheese!  I no longer live in Colorado but when I visit, I will be sure to try this. If you live in Colorado and have tried this crust, please leave a comment and let us know how it is!

I recently tried the gluten-free pizza crust at Uno’s and was not that impressed.  Mostly because I don’t like thin crust and that is all that they offer in gluten-free.  I also can’t have cheese so it ended up being a pretty boring pizza to me.

From no pizza to yummy gluten-free pizza crust:

For a long time I just gave up pizza, sadly, believing that it just wasn’t possible.  When friends or family ordered it in my presence, I felt myself shrink and repeat the mantra, “I can’t eat wheat.”

For whatever reason this changed when I decided there must be a way I can enjoy pizza again.

I first tried Bette Hagman’s gluten-free pizza crust recipe in her book, The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods.  I actually didn’t follow the recipe and ended up kneading it like regular dough.  What turned out was an amazing crust that I turned into a calzone, and was thick and doughy like regular crust.  I was impressed and sold on the idea that gluten-free pizza crust was not only possible, but delicious too.  My husband even loved it.  I will be doing a separate post about this recipe very soon.

Quick and Easy Gluten-free Pizza Crust?

But what about the days you don’t have a couple hours to spend making gluten-free pizza crust?  What about the days you get home at 5 and have to have dinner done by 5:30 so that you can feed your hungry kids?

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Did you you know that it used to be common practice to soak flour in cultured milk, buttermilk or cream to make baked goods such as pancakes, muffins and cakes?  For people who are allergic to dairy products, water with a little lemon juice or vinegar can be used.

Why soak the flour?

As many people know, wheat and other grains are one of the hardest things to digest.  This accounts for many of the sensitivities to wheat and grain products that people have today.  However, if the grains and flours are first soaked for 12-24 hours, this begins the “digestion process” well before it hits your stomach.

“Because they are acidic, buttermilk,cultured milk, yogurt and whey (as well as lemon juice and vinegar) activate the enzyme phytase, which works to break down phytic acid in the bran of grains.  Sour milk products also provide lactic acid and lactobacilli that help break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins.  Soaking increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grains more available…”  Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, pg. 476.

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Raw Zucchini Chocolate Cake

For whatever reason, many of the recipes I worked on this week ended up being raw or mostly raw.  In part, I was continuing my quest for some travel-friendly treats for my son and decided to try some raw fruit and nut balls, similar to Larabars.

I was also testing recipes for my menu planners for limited diets free of gluten, grains, dairy, eggs sugar and other common allergens.  Many raw recipes work great for people with a lot of food limitations.  The only drawback I find is that they use nuts extensively, which is a common allergen.  I find though, that seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds can be used in place of nuts in some of these recipes.

As far as eating raw nuts goes, it is really best to soak them for a varied amount of time, depending upon the nut or seed.  This process is what releases their enzyme inhibitors and unlocks their full nutritional value.  In terms of soaking, you can either soak just long enough to germinate, or longer to sprout (however it’s difficult to sprout some nuts).

I have to admit that I didn’t soak the nuts and seeds in the recipes I tested this week.  This was partly due to the recipes not asking me to do this and in part laziness and impatience on my part.  However, if I were to do them again, I would soak the nuts and seeds in these recipes.

Here is a list of some new and yummy things I made this week:

Cashew Apricot Bliss Balls and Cherry-Walnut Bites

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Our lovely cherry tomatoes

I have been enjoying the Tuesday Twister blog posts by Wardeh Harmon at Gnowfglins.com for the past few weeks or so ever since I found her website.   These blog posts have been a synopsis of her week in the kitchen and what has been twisting in her cooking.  I love reading them, mostly because she focuses on nourishing, whole foods!

Last week she announced her new Blog Carnival, the Tuesday Twister Carnival and her invitation to participate in the weekly postings.  I started thinking about doing this and then a couple days ago, inspiration struck I finally decided to give it a go.  I can’t promise I’ll do it every week, but we’ll see what happens.

My Meal Un-Plan

I started thinking about my week in the kitchen and what it is normally like during our busy days.  And what stood out to me the most was the fact that I hardly ever meal plan.

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Like any mom with a child with food restrictions combined with a dose of pickiness, I have been looking for new recipes to feed my son who can’t eat dairy products.  I am also allergic to wheat and gluten so I end up making baked goods wheat and gluten free so I can eat them too.

I recently checked out the book, The Kid-Friendly ADHD and Autism Cookbook at my library to see what new recipes I might find for the GF and CF diet.  I haven’t completely finished perusing the book but for the most part I would highly recommend it.  One great thing about it is that it has many soy, nut, egg and corn-free recipes as well.

One recipe that caught my eye was the “Sensory Sensible Pot Pie Muffins.” This recipe is a muffin for kids who can’t eat gluten and dairy and who may not like to eat regular chicken or vegetables.   To solve this problem, they put the pureed chicken and veggies right into the muffin.

This, I gotta try, I said.  My son used to eat literally anything I put in front of him.  But with the toddler stage, he has become a bit more picky.  He still loves cooked veggies, especially green beans but isn’t too fond of chicken these days.

Also, since we’re on the go a lot, I was looking for a snack that was travel-friendly, healthy, gluten and dairy-free and high in protein.  These muffins seemed like the answer!

Pot Pie Muffins made with Namaste muffin mix

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