Are you wondering why my PIZZA post displays a flash of lightning? Well, here’s why… Last night I uploaded all of my pizza pictures just before we had a good ol’ North Carolina thunderstorm. It didn’t sound too bad outside… just rain and a little thunder… so we did not rush around to unplug things. Unfortunately, my Macbook Pro was plugged into a regular wall outlet, and was the recipient of a power surge. After a full morning at the Apple Store, I learned that the logic-board is fried, and a repair would cost almost as much as ordering a brand new system (which is what we chose).
So… until our new system comes in and we get the hard drive files transferred, I have no pictures of our Paleo Pizza! Sad, right? I know… and they were really good pictures, too.
On a happier note, the pizza was DELICIOUS! I used Sarah Fragoso‘s recipe for the crust, and it came out better than I expected.
Crust:
2 cups almond meal
2 eggs
3 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary chopped (I used dried basil instead)
Preheat your oven to 350. Using a spoon mix all crust ingredients together until it becomes very thick. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball. Lightly grease a pizza pan or a cookie sheet with olive oil. Place the ball of dough in the center of your cookie sheet or pizza pan and using your hands, push and pat the dough down into the shape of a circle (or an oval in my case…). You want to make the dough as thin as possible. Your pizza will be about 12 inches across. Bake JUST the crust in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
As a sauce, I took the advice of a Facebook Fan and used the Garlic Eggplant Spread from Trader Joe’s (pictured in this post). I am now in love with that spread… it is full of flavor, and the ingredients are squeaky-clean! I wish I had some right now. I’m hungry! Thanks for the suggestion, Chris Smith!
For toppings, I browned ground grass-fed beef with onions and mushrooms in a little olive oil. On top of that, I added diced tomatoes, chopped spinach, and some black pepper.
After the crust if done, remove from the oven and evenly spread the sauce over the crust. Add the meat and all remaining toppings evenly over the sauce and bake again for an additional 25-30 minutes.
I was really pleased with how it turned out! I will be honest and tell you that it is not like the Papa John’s pizza that I used to inhale. The crust is not crumbly, but the slices can’t really be picked up and eaten (well, not gracefully at least). There is no hot, stringy cheese on top (though goat cheese would have been a delicious addition… maybe next time!). However, the crust does have a nice, crispy texture, and the toppings piled high made the entire dinner delicious!
Did I miss my old pizza days, you ask? The answer is no. While my demented taste buds thought that it was amazing even last year this time, I remember how disgusting a slice of greasy pizza made me feel. The bloating… the queasy too-much-grease feeling in my stomach… the occasional constipation from too much cheese (TMI? Sorry!)… the feelings of regret after over-eating… feeling “fat.” No, I don’t miss any of that! In fact, after my yummy pizza experience a few nights ago, I am perfectly content with a healthy almond-meal crust, a huge pile of grass-fed beef, and a ton of vegetables. I felt good about what I ate (mentally AND physically), and I’ll be making it again soon!
By the way… did you know that GLUTEN is what makes a pizza crust so pliable flexible? It’s like gummy elastic. Doesn’t that sound yummy to your tummy? Yikes.