Gluten Free Pizza

We love home made pizza, and it would be very difficult for us to give up pizza completely just because of my diet. I'm sure that you have tried several different GF pizza recipes if you have been on the GF diet for a while, but this is my favorite so far. The pizza crust was a little crispy outside and still chewy in the middle... it was delicious! Don't forget to let the dough rise before shaping it into a pizza form.

Ingredients

Crust: 

• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 3/4 tapioca flour
• 2/3 sorghum flour
• 1 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Pizza Sauce

• 1 (15 oz) can tomato purée
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1. In bowl of electric mixer, whisk together tapioca flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, xanthum gum, and salt.

2. In small saucepan over moderate heat, stir together milk and 1/4 cup water and heat until warm but not hot to the touch, about 1 minute. Stir in yeast and sugar. Add milk–yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 tablespoons oil to dry ingredients and, using paddle attachment, beat at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until dough is very smooth and very thick, about 5 minutes.
3. Place into a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for about 1 hour.

4. Roll out with rolling pin onto lightly greased pizza pan or pans of your choice, poke dough with fork and place into a pre-heated 375F oven and let bake 5-7 minutes or until soft to touch. Remove from oven and place on sauce and topping then return to oven and bake at 425F until cheese is melted or golden brown. 

Chunky Veggie-Lentil Soup

This was surprisingly satisfying! My favorite part of this recipe is that it literally took me less than 45 minutes (15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking time) to make the soup. I used carrots, mushrooms and nappa cabbage, but feel free to add your favorite veggie items. If your New Year resolution is to eat well (& stay well), try this low carb, high fiber soup at home : )

Ingredients:

• 1 tabalespoon olive oil
• 1 med. onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup dry green (Frensh) lentils, rinsed & drained
• 1 lb. whole small mushrooms, quartered
• 4 med. carrots, thinly sliced
• 4 cups water
• 2 cans (14-oz.) gluten free chicken broth (or veggie broth)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 of a head nappa (Chinese cabbage) sliced into strips

1. In a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic (image 1). Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in lentils (image 2); cook and stir 1 minute.

2. Add mushrooms, carrots, water, broth, salt & pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 30 minutes or until lentils are tender. (image 3)
3. Add nappa cabbage and cook 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve warm.

Makes 6 servings.