Eating low carb doesn’t have to be boring! I’ve been eating a low carb/ketogenic diet for around 8 months, and I’ve discovered a love for recreating some of our favorite recipes without the heavy carbs. For this dinner, I recreated an old favorite we used to eat at Fazoli’s – Pizza Baked Spaghetti. Even if you’re not following a low carb diet, this dish is a great way to get your pickier eaters to eat vegetables. I mean, who doesn’t love pizza? Kids and veggie-hating husbands alike will love spaghetti squash when it tastes like their favorite pizza pie. You could top this with whatever pizza toppings are your favorite – we just went traditional with pepperoni. It would be great “supreme style” with olives, mushrooms, onions and sausage. Just be mindful that additional vegetables can add additional carbs.
Enjoy this delicious, healthy low carb pizza bake! READ MORE
Brittney Lee is a native Arkansan with a love for bright lights and big city. She often escapes her 20-acre home south of Fort Smith to shop, eat, and catch a concert in the big city. She blogs about her life, her faith, her adventures, her family, and her country home.
For anyone living a gluten free lifestyle, pizza is more than likely missing from their food options. Traditional pizza was omitted from my diet until Robin DeVore of Riceland Foods recently divulged such a thing as a rice based pizza crust.
This recipe is easy, healthy and inexpensive to prepare and will have you thinking outside of the pizza box using rice. And September happens to be National Rice Month so let’s celebrate one of America’s favorite foods.
Preheat the oven to 400?F.
Gluten Free Rice Pizza Crust
2 cups of uncooked rice (long grain or short grain rice or brown rice) Cook as directed in a medium saucepan and tight lid* and set aside to slightly cool.
2 large eggs
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon cayenne hot sauce or sriracha (add more or less depending on your taste preference)
In a mixing bowl, combine and mix well the cooked rice, beaten eggs and mozzarella cheese and cayenne pepper sauce or sriracha.
Transfer the rice mixture to a lightly greased 12-18-inch pizza pan ensuring to cover the bottoms and the sides.
Bake crust in a preheated 400?F oven for 10-12 minutes or until set and slightly golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool before adding toppings.
Tasty Simple Pizza Sauce
My grandmother always stressed simplicity in recipes to enjoy all the flavors mother nature offers. She taught me this recipe more than 40 years ago and it pairs nicely with this rice pizza crust.
1 can (32-ounce) of whole or diced tomatoes (I used a can of fire-roasted whole tomatoes)
6-8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Combine the entire can of tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, a dash of salt, some pepper and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend the ingredients until the sauce is pureed. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. This sauce is ready as is. Cooking is not necessary.
Assemble Your Pizza
Gather your favorite vegetables, herbs and pizza toppings such as kale, mushrooms, onions, olives, red pepper, basil, parsley, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Be as creative and use what is on hand.
Spread half of the prepared pizza sauce onto your cooled-to-the-touch pizza crust. Layer 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese and 1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese onto the sauce. Begin adding your coarsely chopped toppings.
Bake the assembled pizza 20 to 30 minutes until the pizza edges are golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven and serve.
*Are your attempts to cook rice inconsistent or unsuccessful? Check your lid for a steam hole at the top or on the sides. Locking the steam into the cooking process ensures properly cooked rice. Robin shared this tip with me, and my rice has been perfect every time.
Are you or anyone you know gluten free? Do you have substitutes for some of your favorite foods? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
In 2007, Arkansas Women Blogger member Kellee Mayfield and her family moved to Lake Village. Kellee was quickly given the nicknamed “Kelly Jo” and the name stuck. As an Oklahoma native, Kelly Jo writes about living in very southeast Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta which has been penned the most Southern place on earth. She also shares her art as well as the art of resourcefulness as being the key to really small town living. Kellee is a mother, wife and is in sales representative and clinical specialist for a medical device company. And she has a Southern drawl. Catch up with Kellee Jo at Delta Moxie, Instagram, Twitter and Periscope.
A few years ago when we lived in Colorado we had a favorite place in downtown Boulder called The Med that had a fantastic happy hour. Sure, the drinks were good (sangria anyone?) but our favorite part was the fantastic tapas menu. There was a margherita pizza that we would order multiples of, and we always left so stuffed that there was no dreaming up dinner by the time we got home.
About a year after our first Med happy hour, we were lucky enough to get actual pizza making lessons from the founder in a traveling brick pizza oven, and it was at that point that I started dreaming up a backyard pizza oven for our future dream house. Much like the lovely Zaza’s Pizza here in Little Rock, this pizza oven fired out the good stuff in seconds flat, as a good hot pizza oven should.
While we don’t have our dreamy Pinterest-worthy backyard patio complete with wood-burning oven, I have perfected the art of pizza in our electric range. It requires no fancy equipment, no fancy pizza dough recipe, and you can choose any toppings you like. I love this cozy version with breakfast sausage, butter-sauteed leeks and sliced mushrooms all on a bed of super simple bechamel sauce. It sounds complicated, but it’s really all about rustic ingredients that will bring people closer to the table.
As for the pizza dough, I hardly ever make my own – I’ve found that Whole Foods (or a local pizza place) can supply that need in much quicker fashion than I can. BUT if you have a favorite dough recipe far be it from me to keep you from using it!
As with all food, this pizza is best served with loved ones, a nice glass of wine (if you like) and a fresh salad. Enjoy!
1 large ball pizza dough (enough for one large pizza - about 20 inches)
4 ounces breakfast sausage, browned and crumbled
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, cut in half and then cut into ½-inch half moons
4 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk (I highly recommend using cow’s milk of some kind for this)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a large cookie sheet OR pizza stone (whatever you have on hand) in the oven. You want it to be screaming hot.
In a small saute pan, melt one tablespoon of butter and add the leeks. Cook until the leeks are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes.
In a small saucepan over medium heat melt the remaining tablespoon of butter.
Add the flour and whisk together to create a roux, and cook for about 1 minute to let the flour flavor cook out.
Whisking constantly, pour in the milk and whisk until all lumps are removed.
Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and whisk to combine.
Let the milk mixture come to a simmer, whisking occasionally, until very thick and then remove from the heat.
Roll the pizza dough out until it is large enough to completely cover the pan you’re preheating in the oven.
When the oven and pan are hot, carefully remove the pan and quickly (and carefully!) spread the dough on top.
Return the pan to the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes.
Remove the dough from the oven and spread the bechamel sauce evenly on top.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Sprinkle evenly with the crumbled sausage, leeks and sliced mushrooms.
Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese.
Return the pizza to the oven rack by sliding it gently off of the hot pan.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until the crust is slightly crisp and the cheese is bubbly and melted.
Remove from the oven and let cool for about 2-3 minutes before digging in.
Enjoy!
By Heather Disarro of Heather's Dish
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
Heather Disarro is a food-centric lifestyle blogger who is passionate about embracing the beauty that surrounds us with in our everyday lives. She is a Texan living the expat life in central Arkansas with her husband, son and two massive dogs. Heather writes her blog, Heather’s Dish, from an office filled with dust, dog fur, toys and plenty of love, grace and music. She specializes in creating delicious and creatively nourishing recipes. Cooking seasonally and with as many local ingredients as possible is an important component to Heather’s style of food, and she revels in the opportunity to bring the love of cooking to the world as a way to love others well!
