Cauliflower Pizza Crust–How to make Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Posted on March 4, 2015 by lazygirldinners

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I’m trying to find different ways to serve vegetables to Page. She has a new found love for pizza–before she wasn’t at all impressed. Recently, I’ve started to get her involved in helping me to make the meals we’re eating. I saw a food documentary about food, and kids. In it the narrator said that the best way to get kids to eat vegetables is to have them take part in cooking. Page is at that age where she’s very eager to help, so I thought why not take advantage of that. I’ve also really wanted to try out a cauliflower pizza crust on our new baking steel. I have to say that I was more than impressed with the results–so was Page. Now for those of you wondering if this will taste anything like that delicious yeasty bread that you’re used to with pizza–the short answer is no. Bread is bread–this is an alternative to bread. Although it’s not bread–it mimics bread in form, and it is so delicious that it stands on it’s own. The reason cauliflower is most often used by people as a substitution for grains is because it has such a mild flavor. It also has great texture. This recipe requires that you add cheese. I used parmesan, but you could use mozzarella, or pecorino, or a combination of your favorite Italian cheeses. I also used fresh basil, but you can use rosemary, or another herb of your choosing, dried or fresh–totally up to you.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of truffle salt

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh basil

1 cup of freshly grated parmesan–or cheese of your choice

1 egg

Directions: Pre-heat your oven and pizza stone or baking steel to 450F for 45 minutes. Steam the cauliflower for 5-7 minutes–or until fork tender.

Transfer cauliflower to a processor and process until cauliflower looks like grains of rice.

Transfer processed cauliflower to a clean kitchen towel, or a nut milk bag, and squeeze until the cauliflower becomes dry. You want to squeeze out as much water as you can.

Transfer the cauliflower to a medium size bowl, and add garlic powder, salt, basil, and cheese–mix together into a ball.

Spray a sheet of parchment paper with oil. Add the cauliflower mixture to the center of the parchment paper, and with your hands begin to flatten and form it into the shape of a pizza.

Once you have the shape you want, place it in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Once it’s golden brown and bubbly like this: remove it from the oven.

Now you can top it with your favorite tomato sauce, cheese and toppings.

Once you have it topped, place it in the oven to cook until the cheese and topping melt. Remove from oven, cut serve and enjoy!

This made a 10-12 inch pizza, not a crumb was left over. Everyone enjoyed it–my husband didn’t even know that the crust was made from cauliflower until Page told him! If you like this try my recipe for Tortilla Pizza!

Thai inspired Coconut Soup

Posted on December 10, 2014 by lazygirldinners

Thai Coconut Soup

One of my favorite soups to get when we go out to eat Thai food is Tom Yum soup. It super easy to make at home, and if you make it vegetarian it’s super quick to make. I used some of my home made chicken stock as a base for this, but if you’re vegan or vegetarian, you could just as easily use a vegetable stock, and skip the fish sauce.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups of crimini mushrooms sliced thinly

2 stalks of lemon grass cut in half

2 inch bulb of ginger sliced thinly

2 cups of cabbage roughly chopped

2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

1.5 cups of organic coconut milk

2 teaspoons of lime juice– or more if you like

1/4 cup of Fresh cilantro roughly chopped

3-5 tablespoons of Fish sauce–really to taste since fish sauces vary by brand. I used red boat, and about 5 tablespoons, but I know I couldn’t add that much with other brands that are more salty. Start with 2 and add more gradually until you’re satisfied.

Chili pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

Add the stock, lemon grass, and ginger to a medium sized sauce pan, and bring to a simmer. Let cook for 5 minutes so that the stock gets infused with the flavor of the lemon grass and ginger.

Add in the mushrooms, fish sauce and lime, let cook for 3-4 minutes:

Add in the cabbage and coconut milk.

Allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes or just until cabbage is nice and tender. Turn off the fire, top with cilantro, and red chili flakes, and enjoy!!!

Lazy Girl Stove-top Lasagna

Posted on October 21, 2014 by lazygirldinners

Lazy Girl Stove Top Lasagna

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind, I have been burning both ends of the candle wick for some time now, and it finally caught up with me. But even when mom is sick, our kiddies still need to eat! I normally use all of these ingredients to make my lasagna, but I make the meat sauce on the stove, then transfer the sauce to a bake pan and layer it over the noodles, top with cheese and finish this in the oven. However, because I was sick, I thought why not just try this on the stove top. Surprisingly it worked! This lasagna is the ultimate in lazy cooking, but it yielded the best lasagna that I’ve ever made, and the easiest!

Pin It!

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb of grass fed ground beef

1 small brown onion (chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 teaspoon of dried basil

15 ounces of organic tomato sauce

1 cup of organic mozzarella cheese

5 tablespoons of organic whole fat cottage cheese

2 lasagna noodles I used brown rice lasagna noodles

1 tablespoon of olive oil

sea salt to taste

Directions: Heat olive oil in a saute pan, add in onion and garlic and cook until onion turns translucent.

Add in ground meat, season generously with sea salt and cook until brown. Drain any excess fat.

Add basil, cottage cheese and half of the tomato sauce,. stir until all ingredients are combined,

Top with the lasagna noodles–I broke them and spread them out over the the entire pan–

Top with the remaining sauce, making sure that all the noodles are completely covered and submerged in the sauce. Cook on medium low heat until the noodles are cooked through.

Once noodle are done, top with cheese, cover and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, and the cheese has melted.

Serve and enjoy!

Indian and Herb Spiced Grilled Lamb Chops

Posted on September 23, 2014 by lazygirldinners

Indian and Herb Spiced Grilled Lamb Chops

Lamb is one of my favorite meats. Personally I like it more than beef, if given the choice between lamb and steak, I’d choose the lamb every time. My husband on the other hand prefers steak. He is 100% a meat and potato’s kind of guy. After having these lamb chops he said that he’s a convert..Lol..I doubt it! However, I’m glad that he thought that these lamb chops were delicious. I came up with the idea of marinating these with the fillings that I use for my Lamb Patties. I added a little bit of curry powder and cumin to give the chops a little punch of flavor. I’m so glad I did these are super flavorful, and grilling them made them more amazing than they already were. If you only try one of my lamb recipes try this one! You will not be disappointed!!!

Pin It!

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15-20 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound of lamb chops

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup fresh mint

1 large shallot (can sub with onion, use half of a small onion)

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

3 tablespoons of olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Directions: To a blender add cilantro, parsley, mint, curry powder, cumin powder, shallot and olive oil, blend into a paste. Season the lamb chops with sea salt, then rub with the marinade.

Once your grill is nice and hot, place the lamb chops on the grill and cook for 7-8 minutes on each side or until the chops reach you’re desired level of doneness. Remove from heat, serve, and enjoy!

How to make Ketchup–D.I.Y. Ketchup

Posted on September 17, 2014 by lazygirldinners

How To Make Ketchup–DIY Ketchup

We were out for breakfast with some close friends of ours when I discovered that my daughter loved ketchup. Not in a normal kind of, oh this tastes great on potatoes, sort of way, but a, let me dip anything I can find on my plate and eat it, sort of way. Up to that point she had never even tried ketchup. We had been to plenty of restaurant’s and I always shied away from allowing her to have any ketchup. Not because I don’t like it, but because the ingredient list is terrible–full of stuff I can’t pronounce, let alone identify–other than high fructose corn syrup. The only reason I even allowed her to have it that day was because, we were out, she was getting antsy, and one of the little girls in our breakfast party was eating it and Page wanted to eat it too. The moment she tasted it, she went from being antsy, to calm and focused on what she could find on her plate to dip into it! She ate her entire plate of food! All because she was introduced to this condiment called ketchup! So what’s a mom to do? Well if you’re me you make the condiment yourself. As with most things that I make myself, this ketchup was very easy to make–easier than I thought it would be. You will need a few lazy hours at home in order to make this, but that’s just so you don’t burn down the house, you cook it on a low simmer for a few hours, you could even do this in a crock pot, and the result is deliciously homemade ketchup, with no refined sugars!

Pin It!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours mostly non active

Makes 2 cups of delicious ketchup!

Ingredients:

28 ounce can of Whole peeled tomatoes (I prefer San Marzano tomatoes)

5 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 small onion chopped

1/4 cup of maple sugar (can sub brown)

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of olive oil (can substitute grape seed or safflower oil)

20 whole cloves

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Ingredients for the spice packet

1/2 teaspoon rainbow pepper corns (can use just black)

1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1/2 of one cinnamon stick broken into two pieces

1/4 teaspoon of all spice berries

1 bay leaf

cheese cloth

kitchen twine

Directions: Wrap all of the ingredients for the spice packet in the cheese cloth, and tie tightly with kitchen twine–make sure to leave at least 4 inches of extra twine on the end and set aside.

Add the oil and the cloves to a pot and heat just until the oil begins to bubble. Turn off the heat, and let the cloves steep in the oil for 10 minutes.

Strain the oil through a sieve and discard the cloves. Add the clove oil to a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat, add onions, garlic and saute until onion is translucent. Add in the tomato paste and cayenne and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour the onion/tomato paste mixture into a blender/processor along with the canned tomatoes-juice and all–and blend until smooth. Pour this mixture back into your sauce pan, submerge the spice packet into the pot, wrap the excess twine around the handle of the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, simmer until the mixture is dark red and has thickened about 1.5-2 hours. Mixture should be reduced by half.

Remove the spice packet,

Strain the ketchup through a sieve, pushing solids through with a spoon:

The ketchup should be nice and smooth:

Let the ketchup cool to room temperature before transferring to an air tight container.

Refrigerated, this will keep for 1 month. As a base ketchup this is pretty amazing! It taste just like the bottled stuff. For a twist you could add 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder to half a cup of this ketchup for some pretty amazing curry ketchup!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan, Lemon and Red Pepper Flakes

Posted on September 16, 2014 by lazygirldinners

Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Parmesan, Lemon, and Red Pepper Flakes

I was at the farmers market this past Sunday, doing my usual weekly shopping. One of my favorite vendor’s had these beautiful stalks of brussels sprouts. I got so excited about them that a woman, who was also shopping, pulled me aside and whispered : “How do you cook those?” This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, believe it or not, people stop me all the time, either at the farmers market, or at Whole Foods, to ask how to cook a variety of vegetables. The funny thing about people asking me cooking questions is that they almost always whisper the question? I don’t understand why they whisper the question! I want to tell them, “you know you’re not the only person on the planet who has no idea what to do with ((insert name of vegetable here)).” I shared this recipe for roasted brussels sprouts with the the lady at the farmer’s market. It’s simple, easy and so delicious. It’s one of my absolute favorite ways to cook and eat brussels sprouts.

Pin It!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound of brussels sprouts halved

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

3 tablespoons of olive oil ( or ghee or coconut oil)

Sea salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 425F. Add the lemon juice and red pepper flakes to a medium sized bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl add the brussels sprouts, oil and sea salt, toss well making sure that all the brussels sprouts are evenly covered with oil.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet and put in the oven.

Cook for 10-15 minute, or until the brussels sprouts take on a significant amount of color and they become crisp and tender. Sprinkle the sprouts with half the cheese and cook for another minute or two, just until cheese melts and becomes crisp, remove the sprouts from the oven, transfer them to the bowl with the lemon juice and the red pepper flakes, toss well to coat the brussels sprouts with the lemon juice, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, serve immediately and enjoy! These are crispy, tangy with a little kick! They are the perfect side dish for almost any meal!

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!

Posted on September 3, 2014 by lazygirldinners

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash

From time to time, I crave a meal with a deep rich wine sauce. When that happens I turn to Julia Child’s beef bourguignon recipe, or my version of it. If you have ever made beef bourguignon, then you know the sauce that accompanies the beef is everything for that particular dish! The beef, as succulent as it is, is nothing without that sauce, and that sauce was made to adorn a potato mash! The year that I had Page I decided rather than running from house to house to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, it would be easier on her, and my husband and I, if we just stayed home and made dinner ourselves. My best friend agreed and we divided the dinner duties. Instead of a massive turkey, I roasted a chicken, she made a few sides, and I baked a cake. One of the sides she made was a potato and cauliflower mash. It was delicious, and Page loved it! It was hearty and everything you’d expect when eating mash potatoes and at the same time it had the added bonus of cauliflower. When I was making my beef bourguignon, and anticipating the yumminess of the sauce, I knew that this cauliflower mash would go perfectly with the sauce. If you’re on a low carb diet, you can omit the potatoes, and whip the cauliflower in a blender. For this recipe, I opted to not whip the mash, I wanted the hearty texture, so I used a potato masher instead. If you want a more creamy texture, just throw all the ingredients in a blender after cooking them.

Pin It!

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower (about 5 cups)

2 medium potatoes (2 cups cubed)

4 tablespoons of grassfed butter

2 tablespoons of half and half (optional)

1 head of roasted garlic

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: Add the cauliflower and potatoes to a pot and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, and cook until potatoes and cauliflower are fork tender. Immediately drain the water from the cauliflower and potatoes, then add in, butter, half and half, roasted garlic, sea salt and pepper.

Mash with a potato masher until well incorporated, or add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, then enjoy!

Corn Griddle Cakes with Turkey Sausage

Posted on November 13, 2013 by lazygirldinners

Corn Griddle Cakes with Turkey Sausage

Do you ever have breakfast for dinner? I don’t mean a bowl of cereal, I mean one of those Sunday morning, bacon, and eggs, with a side of cinnamon french toast kind of breakfast dinners! Aren’t those the best? There is just something about eating breakfast foods at night that makes them all the more tasty! Cue these corn cakes! They have everything your love about breakfast mixed up in one fluffy delicious cake! Top them with warm maple syrup, and you get the picture!

Ingredients:
7 ounces of breakfast sausage, I used turkey sausage, casings removed
1.5 cups of fresh or frozen, thawed, corn kernels
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon of maple syrup, or sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 1/4 cup of butter milk, (can substitute plain yogurt, or add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 1/4 cup of milk and let sit at least 10 minutes before adding it to the recipe)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of green onions, can use brown onion as substitute.
Butter or ghee for cooking cakes.

Directions:

Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, breaking up into small pieces, until browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a small bowl. Add corn to same skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until browned, 5–6 minutes. Transfer corn to bowl with sausage and let cool. Wipe skillet clean and reserve.
Whisk cornmeal and the rest of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs together, and add to the dry ingredients, whisk until just combined. Fold in sausage, corn, and scallions.
Heat 1 Tbsp. butter in a skillet; working in batches and adding butter as needed between batches, add batter to pan by tablespoonfuls. Cook until cakes are crisp and golden brown, 2–3 minutes. Turn cakes over and cook until browned, 1–2 minutes longer. Transfer cakes to paper towels to drain. Serve warm drizzled maple syrup yum!!!!

What’s your favorite breakfast for dinner meal?

Follow and like me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lazygirldinners

Lazy Girl Dinners

A Lazy Girls guide to quick, healthy, and easy recipes!

Category Archives: brunch

Cauliflower Pizza Crust–How to make Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Thai inspired Coconut Soup

Lazy Girl Stove-top Lasagna

Indian and Herb Spiced Grilled Lamb Chops

How to make Ketchup–D.I.Y. Ketchup

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan, Lemon and Red Pepper Flakes

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!

Corn Griddle Cakes with Turkey Sausage