Mashed Potato Pizza (Vegetarian/Gluten Free)

I was just going through some pictures of old meals and it sure is crazy how different my diet is now from back then. I recently made a pizza using coconut flour that didn't turn out too great, it was good and it served it's purpose as food, but I'm just starting out on this SCD and everything is just trial and error at this point. Luckily, I got some practice being Gluten Free first so it hasn't been as hard of a transition as that was. One of my favorite recipes that I can't eat anymore is a Mashed Potato Pizza that is Gluten Free and Vegetarian, it is one of my favorite pizzas. I wish that I could have a slice right now! But since you found this post you must be able to eat potatoes and rice and other starchy things and you must be wondering about what a mashed potato pizza would taste like. Delicious. That's what it tastes like. Almost like pure magic gold. Well, if you use Yukons >.< YUM! and you can top it with a lot of different kinds of veggies too!!! What am I doing babbling? here's the recipe!

Mashed Potato Pizza

Pizza Crust (I used Gluten Free Pantry)

4-5 small Potatoes, cubed

3-4 Garlic Cloves

1/2 cup Almond Milk (or other milk substitute)

(for the veg you can put however much you want, I just used what I had on hand)

Spinach

Broccoli

Mushrooms

Artichoke Heart

Mushrooms

Roasted Red Bell Pepper

2 tbs. Olive Oil

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning

Veg Cheese

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (or what your crust says) 

Prepare the crust according to directions. 

Boil potatoes and garlic cloves in salted water until fork tender. 

Slice mushrooms, broccoli, roasted red pepper, and artichoke. 

Sprinkle cornmeal on your pie pan. 

Flatten the dough on to the pan. 

Oil pizza and season with Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning. 

Drain potatoes, mash and add milk (pour in a little at a time, so it doesn't get to runny) salt to taste.  Spread the potatoes over the crust and top with the chopped veg. then top with cheese. 

Bake for 15 mins(or whatever your crust says) Put on broil for the last 2 mins to crisp the top.

Please try this, so that I can live vicariously through you! Remind me how delicious it is!

Mushroom, Green Bean and Avocado Summer Salad

 I recently bought 3 avocados. And let me just say, all 3 were delicious!!! perfect ripeness. creamy. deliciousness. I love avocados! I could eat a whole one every day probably. Unfortunately, my current budget does not allow for such splurges. A girl can dream though. When I do get my hands on them I do not take them for granted. Out of these 3, I made Guacamole, Avocado, Egg and Spinach Breakfast (2 days worth), Roasted Eggplant and Avocado Salad, and (the recipe I'm going to share today) Mushroom, Green Bean, and Avocado Summer Salad. I'm feeding 2 people so when I make meals I use only a half of the avocado to make it stretch. I use either a lemon or lime and squeeze the juice on the open cut side and put it in a plastic container with lid in the fridge. It might still turn a little brown but if I eat it with in 2 or so days of cutting it, it's still great, sometimes even a little more ripe and creamier.
So this salad that I'm going to share with you today is just something that I whipped together because I didn't have much time and it's too hot to cook anything. So I opted for a salad and I had to use only what I had. I was a little weary because I don't usually use raw mushroom, they're a food I will snack on raw while I'm cooking and I like it, but never think about actually using them raw. But I had them, I also had green beans, something else I don't usually eat raw. So I thought what the heck, you only live once let's eat some raw mushrooms and green beans! And you know, it was so good I had to tell you about it!

Mushroom, Green Bean and Avocado Summer Salad
(this recipe made 2 salads for me, but you can add as much or as little as each veggie as you want!)
1/2 cup Green Beans, cut in half
1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Avocado, sliced
1/4 Lime, for each salad
salt, pepper, garlic powder (to taste)
All on top of a bed of Romaine
Fresh Cilantro
Pinch the ends off the green beans and cut in half. Slice the mushrooms and the avocado. Quarter the lime. Put romaine in bowls and top with the veggies, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Garnish with cilantro.

I served it with sliced avocado but when I actually ate it, I squeezed the lime over it and mashed it which made a sort of avocado dressing. It was so simple yet so tasty!

enjoy. and please let me know how it turns out. And if you have any interesting ideas to do with avocados feel free to share!

Fresh Coconut Macaroons with Salted Chocolate Caramel (Gluten Free/Dairy Free/SCD/Paleo)

Well I've finally done it! I've been thinking about doing a blog for...ummm....3 years. The idea started when I found out I had a gluten sensitivity, I started doing a ton of research and realized there are a lot of people who don't understand what's healthy or they think it's too expensive. So I came up with this awesome idea for a blog that would list age groups and I would design meals for each certain age group according to what vitamins they needed and make it budget friendly. But the more research I did the more overwhelmed I got, because well....I'm not a Nutritionist. To do what I was trying to do I would need to go back to school and though I do possibly want to do that some time in my future, now is not the right time...but I still had this urge to do a blog. I have to cook dinner for myself every night because of my diet (I have Ulcerative Colitis and I've recently began the SCD, no starch or sugars, I'm also allergic to Gluten/Corn/Dairy/Soy) So I figure, I've gotten inspiration from other bloggers and I take pictures of what I do, why haven't I just done a blog, nothing fancy...nothing that's going to stress me out. Just me and what I eat from day to day. So here it is!

And for my first post I want to share these awesome macaroons I made a few days ago! I seen some delicious looking raw Coco-Roons at Chamberlin's but they were horribly expensive so I decided to make my own (mine are not raw, I didn't have the right ingredients). I made them with fresh coconut, the shredded stuff I had leftover after making coconut milk(I'll share that recipe another day) but you can use dried shredded coconut too.
Fresh Coconut Macaroons
3/4 cup of shredded coconut (about half of a medium coconut)
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tbs. honey
1 egg, beaten
2 tbs. water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Spoon or scoop onto a silicon mat or parchment paper, I got 12-1 oz. cookies. Bake for 10-15 mins or until firm and slightly browning.
Salted Chocolate Caramel Sauce
1 tbs cacao nibs (or cocoa powder)
1/2 tbs coconut oil
1 1/2 tbs. coconut sugar
pinch of salt (or to taste, I added a bit more)
If using caco nibs, grind a bit in a food processor (i left a few chunks for the crunch). Mix all ingredients together in a non-stick pan and cook on med until bubbly, stirring constantly. Turn off heat continuing to stir until bubbles are gone and sauce is thick. After you take the macaroons out, evenly distribute the sauce over them.


I hope you guys enjoy these cookies! you can do a lot with this recipe, I peeped at the coco-roons website and they have some great ideas and you would just have to add a few more ingredients, like cocoa powder for Brownie, peanut (or almond) butter and pureed strawberries for PB&J or dried apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, clove, ginger, chili powder, and lemon for Apple Pie. There are so many options! Let me know what you think of the recipe and if you make any crazy delicious concoctions!