Grilled Broccoli Pizza

Been having a really crazy life lately, working on a move/house prep and sale, school started back, boys started school, Mike started school, we evacuated for a couple days from Hurricane Isaac (no damage!) etc. So we were a bit stressed - enter: pizza!

Pizza is almost always one of my main default comfort foods, and this one really hit the spot. Dear Hubby said it's the best I've ever made... yay!

I know you'll enjoy it equally.


Grilled Broccoli Pizza

1 Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, I used "MamaMia"
½ jar pizza sauce
⅔ cup broccoli
1 small onion
2 tablespoons cilantro
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
½ can ripe green olives
1 cup mozzarella cheese, my favorite is "Daiya"

1. Preheat oven to 475.

2. Heat oil on high. Chop broccoli small and use all the way up the stem. Cut onion into wedges. When oil is very hot, toss in onions, stir, and cover. Stir about every minute until onions begin to brown. Stir in broccoli, cilantro, and salt and continue covering, then stirring, covering, then stirring for about 3 more minutes. Set aside.

3. Chop olives and set aside.

4. Spread pizza sauce as far out to the edge as possible, and then sprinkle broccoli mixture and olives evenly over pizza. Then top with cheese. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 475.


The ripe green olives are very different from regular green olives. They're milder (and, in my opinion, more delicious) than either green or black olives. For years they were nearly $4 a can at finer grocery stores, but this year I noticed that Walmart has started carrying them for $1.66 a can - much improved!

Daiya cheese is my very, very favorite, but you can use whatever mozzarella you can find! http://www.daiyafoods.com/

This definitely would be great gluten-free if you have a favorite crust, and for my calorie-gals, it's much better than store bought pizza, but still not a sixteen-slice favorite. :-)

Breakfast Buffet Mushrooms - Easy and Amazing

Some people have mixed emotions on mushrooms, but these are amazing - a true family favorite. We always eat the whole recipe along with a breakfast of grits, biscuits and gravy, a little hash browns and fruit. Delicious breakfast!

These little guys also taste wonderful on a sandwich.

Breakfast Buffet Mushrooms

1 pound mushrooms , sliced
1 onion, julienned
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon oil
a little water

1. Heat oil on high heat for a minute or two. Toss in (washed but dry) onions and stir briefly.

2. Cook onions, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and salt and turn heat down to medium.

3. Cover and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms darken and soften, about five minutes (May have to add a bit of water to complete - if so, you may uncover as the water evaporates).


Gluten free, and not too fattening for my calorie counting buddies. :-)

Creamed Peas over Toast

Now this is some true country goodness! It reminds me very much of the kind of dishes my Grandma Blythe used to make. She never cooked fancy or gourmet, but there's just something so wonderfully comforting about good country vegetable kinds of dishes!

Creamed Peas over Toast
1 pound frozen peas
4 cups water
2 cups unbleached flour
3-4 tablespoon oil
1 ½ teaspoons salt
6 cups hot water
2 vegetable boullion cube, or chicken-style seasoning

1. Place bouillon cube or 1 tablespoon of chicken-style seasoning in 6 cups hot water and set aside.

2. In a large pot, boil peas in four cups water until soft.

3. While peas are boiling, heat oil over high heat. Pour flour evenly over hot oil and allow to warm through (Don't brown!). With a wire whisk, quickly (and carefully) stir in hot water and boullion, trying to prevent lumps.

4. Turn heat to medium, combine all and stir until smooth and thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Serve over crunchy whole grain toast!

Healthy, and not fattening - for my gals who always ask for this bit of info! :-)

Picnic Black Bean Chili

Fall is the time to take things along and spend time enjoying the outdoors! I learned as a teenager - when picnicking with my family my all-time favorite family activity - that you don't have to have sandwiches for a great picnic! Just take along a potluck-packaged casserole and bag of salad (Don't forget the plasticware and paper plates!) or a new-fangled seal-able to-go crock pot. Fantastic!

Hopefully it'll be cool enough to take chili along soon - love chili!


Picnic Black Bean Chili

1 pound black beans
1 pound bulgur taco meat, See the last post
8 cups water
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, opt
¼ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons salt
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cups water

1. Mix cornstarch in with a little of the water, pressing out lumps until smooth and put with dry beans, bulgar taco meat, and spices (on low) in a crock pot overnight. You can fry up the chopped onion in the oil at this point (quickly, on high heat, until browned), or you can toss in the onions to cook overnight with the chili mixture.

2. Mix 2 cups of water and tomato paste until smooth and add to chili. Can continue to cook or serve immediately.

Cinnamon Rolls and Delinquence

So sorry I've been a bit delinquent! I've been sick and have been facing some really big changes in my life... thankfully, all while on break from school for a few days!

So to prove I haven't forgotten you, I'm posting a recipe borrowed from my dear Mama. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

1 T yeast
¼ c. sugar
1 c. water
2 T oil
½ T salt
2 ½ c. flour, ww pastry flour/white flour mix
TOPPING:
1 stick margarine
⅔ c. brown sugar
½ c. honey
½ - ¾ c. nuts, chopped

Servings/Yield: 9 servings | 8 x 8 pan

1. Dissolve yeast, water and sugar together. Add rest of ingredients and knead until elastic. Roll out in a flat rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with margarine. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll into a log. Slice into 9 pieces. Place on top of the topping.

2. TOPPING: Bring margarine, brown sugar, and honey to a boil. Add nuts. Pour into 8 x 8 inch pan. Bake at 350 about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Fajita Casserole

Sometimes the best way to cook is to work on incorporating in the leftovers, right? At my house, leftovers are the mothers of invention. So I had "ye randome eggplant" (What do I do with one? Sorry - we're big eaters around here!), a zucchini, and some beans... here it is!

Fajita Casserole

2 tablespoons oil
1 small Eggplant
1 teaspoon salt
1 zucchini
2 cups water
1 large onion
1 cup water
1 bell pepper
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 fresh tomatoes, or one small can
1-2 hot pepper, optional
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
½ cup mozzarella cheese, soy, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large skillet on high heat, sauté eggplant and salt in oil until oil is about gone. Then turn down down to medium heat and add 2 cups water, onion and zucchini and cook, covered until water is "gone" and eggplant softens. Approximately half each of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and paprika and stir in. Set aside.

3. Cook peppers and remaining water, covered, until the water seems to disappear, stirring occasionally. Drain beans and stir into pepper mixture. Add remaining spices.

4. Spread eggplant/zucchini mixture around the edges of a 9 x 13" casserole dish and then put bean mixture in the middle. Sprinkle with cheese and heat in oven until melted, about 15 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips.


It's gluten free and low-calorie.

Easiest, Tastiest, Healthy Tacos Imagineable!

You want easy and delicious (again)? I've got it for you! Actually, I wasn't planning to blog this at all - it's just so simple I didn't think of it. But my friends Andrea and Jill were insistent that I should share this. It's really hard to get cheaper or easier - and it works well with enchiladas, too. Let me know if you try it with other things... Maybe even send me a picture!

By the way, middle son just came up and saw this picture and said, "Mmmm... That looks good! I'm going to go make myself another one!" The highest form of flattery? :-)


Bulgar Wheat Taco Meat

1 cup bulgur wheat
hot water, to cover, plus a little bit
1 tablespoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder,
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon chicken-style seasoning
2 tablespoons oil

You can get this with the specialty grain items at Walmart or a health food store.

1. Soak bulgar wheat in hot water until soft, 4-6 hours. Drain excess water and mix in all herbs.

2. Heat pan and oil on medium heat and add bulgar wheat mix. Allow to brown slightly, about 4-5 minutes, then stir and brown again, several times until very fragrant.

3. Serve in warm, toasty taco shells with all the fixin's!

This is not gluten free, but it is super light and "low-fat-friendly."

Summer Fun/Fear, Anyone?

By the way, I always said I don't scary for entertainment, but I guess I do like a little scary for entertainment. Pretty scarifying - eh? ;-)

 Just for some fun... I saw this on Pinterest and was delighted by how simple and comical it was. It took me about 45 minutes to complete, so I won't be repeating it frequently, but my kids and company got such a kick out of it! It was, overall, quite easy to create, but it got a little confusing on the teeth (so the mouth ended up about one row of teeth bigger than I had envisioned!). The key ended up being to cut off a band of green the height of the teeth to where there was only a band of "white" showing, then cutting the zig-zag that would make teeth. Then I removed the sections that weren't teeth all the way back. To make the eye, just cut a little hole in the green and stick in a watermelon seed - though I just feel like there's a bigger, better eye idea out there... And, just so you know, if a tooth falls off, just grab one of the other sections and use a toothpick to stick it on instead. My company (as well as myself) was tickled when firstborn (age 10) said, "One fell off, we had to do a root canal!"

Sweet Rice and Mango Breakfast

This breakfast was inspired by a very pricey (and much sweeter) dessert that a friend ordered for me at an amazing little Thai restaurant in Albuquerque. I was sold from the first bite and now it's a favorite breakfast of mine! When I find mangoes for a good price I try to snag a few and make a rice based meal (with extra) the day before. That makes whipping up this meal quick and oh-so-rewarding!

Sweet Rice and Mango Breakfast

4 cups brown rice, cooked
½ can coconut milk
½ cup sugar
2 mangoes

1. Boil coconut milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Stir warm rice and coconut "cream" together and serve with a beautifully sliced half-mango and enjoy!

For great info on mangoes - and how to cut one like in my picture, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLdPjpELyU

Gluten free and not very fattening - the fat that is in it is the amazing-good-for-you kind.

Warm Cherry Goodness

I am always looking for ways to eat hot cereal that I don't gag on. Sorry - but that's just me, and thick pasty porridge has never been appealing! So here's one more breakfast I've invented that the whole family enjoyed - yay! It's fast and full of cherry goodness.

Multigrain Cherries



3 cups water
1 ⅓ cups oats
⅓ cup yellow corn meal
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond flavor
1 cup cherries, cut away from seeds
coconut , shredded, for garnish

Servings/Yield: Servings: --
1. Bring water to boil. Combine all a but cherries and coconut and boil rapidly, stirring often, until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in cherries, sprinkle coconut over.