Courageous Meals - 3

Gluten/Dairy Free Pizza with Veggies and Chicken

(w/ Melon and Prosciutto Appetizer)

Lindsey wanted to do this a bit ago and I absolutely love the idea of making good, healthy pizza (I even hosted a make-your-own-pizza party a while back).  This one took it to a whole new level, even the dough is from scratch.  For you Paleo-nuts, this is not for you, the crust is grain (but not gluten) based, and we added rice cheese to it as well.  I know it is possible to make this completely Paleo if you want, with almond and coconut based crust and almond or other types of cheese, but that just was not what we had in mind!  So here you go:

Ingredients:

• 1 package Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza meal/flour
• 1 small packet yeast
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 red pepper thinly sliced
• 1/2 yellow pepper thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion
• 4 cups spinach
• 1 small package organic salami
• 2 andoulle chicken sausage
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 1 can organic tomato sauce
• 1 package Galaxy natural Food Rice Cheese shreds
• Seasonings (salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, oregano, 1 clove garlic)

Appetizer:

• 8 1"x1" cantaloupe cubes
• 8 slices prosciutto

Start off by mixing the flour, yeast and eggs into a bowl using a wonderful mixer (Lindsey picked this one up the day of this meal!).  Cover the bowl with saran wrap and set aside to let rise for about 10 minutes.

Use this time to chop up your veggies and meats the way you want them (I also cooked up two chicken breasts, seasoned lightly with pepper and cut into thumb-sized cubes) and set aside.  You can also use this time to season up your sauce with a little crushed red pepper and crushed up garlic and put that in a pot over very low heat (make sure you stir this every couple of minutes...).

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and go grab a baking sheet and rub the entire surface with butter (we used soy butter).  Then grab your dough and slowly start to work it over the sheet.  A trick Lindsey found to help keep it together while spreading it is to keep your hands a little wet with water.  We literally covered the sheet, you can make any design you please!  Just remember, the dough will end up shrinking a bit once in the oven.   Slip the dough-covered baking sheet into the oven and set your timer for about 8 minutes.

Take this time to wrap your melons in the wonderful prosciutto.  I skewered mine up to make the presentation a little nicer.  We ended up eating them all as we cooked, so, do what you will!

When the timer goes off, grab your mostly cooked crust from the oven and begin to add your toppings.  Lindsey and I added the same things, I just added a ton more than hers; typical meat-head huh?  We put a thin layer of sauce, then individually added the spinach.  Next came the salami, then the rest of the veggies.  Everything was topped off with the sausage (I added some chicken as well) and then the rice cheese was liberally sprinkled on top.  Slip the whole shebang back in the oven for another 16 or so minutes.  Perhaps a good time to pour a glass of nice red wine...

When your timer goes off, or your pizza looks about as done as you'd like it, pull it on out, cut in any manner you chose, and chow down!

The dough made ended up being enough to fill the baking sheet twice, so we had pretty much the same meal for lunch the next day.  It is a wonderful feeling to know you are wolfing down some pizza, but with the knowledge that it is YOUR pizza, where every single thing on it is known and perfectly healthy.  Gotta love it!  Hope you enjoy!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage