Cauliflower Pizza Crust & Sara's Schmortieth Birthday

What you say?  Cauliflower pizza crust?  Umm, yes.  And it is fantastic.  After celebrating Sara's Schmortieth birthday with burgers, beers and tatter tots at the Station Tavern, cupcakes, pizza, and more beer from Basic, I was a wreck.  Too much gluten in one wonderful weekend.

Too much gluten on top of too many other BIG things going on that I had "a" moment. You know, one of those moments where you ask yourself, "Self, what the hell are you doing?"

First and foremost, I realized that I must stop abusing my body.  I must stop eating and drinking (damn that is the hard one because I really like beer) things that have gluten. And secondly, change means growing and facing new challenges. This is all good. It is ok to be scared. Just take one day at a time.

While pursing Pinterest, I came across a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust on Eat.Drink.Smile. Beth is a genius.  While this is not the kind of New York-style pizza you can fold in half and eat, this is the kind you eat with a knife and fork. It is GOOD. And I mean that good.

Cauliflower crust out of the oven.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust
from Eat.Drink.Smile

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Remove stems and leaves from 1 large head of cauliflower and chops florets into chunks.  Put cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until it looks like a grain.  Dump cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 450° and spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.  In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup of cooked cauliflower, egg, mozzarella, garlic and oregano.  Save remaining cauliflower for ... perhaps a dip for Super Bowl party.

3. Transfer mixture to cookie sheet and using your hands, press cauliflower mixture into a ~9" round or something resembling a circle, drizzle EVOO over the top to get that golden color.

4.  Bake for 15 minutes then remove from oven.  Top with your favorite sauce, toppings and cheese.  Place pizza under the broiler until the cheese is melted.

5.  Super important:  Cook your toppings before adding to the crust.

Hipstamatic print of  Cauliflower crust pizza.

On my pizza I sauteed up some mushroom, onions, spinach and threw in some leftover homemade turkey sausage.  I had to restrain myself from eating the whole pie.  It was GOOD!

Sara

Sara is the coolest chick I know.  She rolls fancy with a capital F.  And she rolls with dirt under her fingernails because she is an archaeologist.  She has one of the coolest husbands, the Doctor Professor and definitely one of the coolest kids I've ever met, Miss E. Even her parents, little brother and his family, and late Bumpa are cool.  And I'm lucky because she is one my best friends.

Sara lets me wander on my road, she lets me get lost every once in awhile and finds me when I need to be found, her family is my family, she inspires me every day with her love, generosity, and ultimate coolness.  Love you girl, Happy 40th!

Black & Tan Brownies for Tami's 40th

Tomorrow is a big day.  My good friend Tami turns 4-0!  Happy Birthday to you!

My amazing and beautiful friend Tami

Her birthday falls during the time of year where many of us (myself included) are taking stock of our life and making lists.  I've come across several of those "lists" the last couple of days.  One of them speaks of friendships.  Keep people in your life who truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, enhance you, and make you happy.  For me, Tami is one of those people.  A keeper.

Friends and brownies.

Tami somehow knows when to call me and really ask, "Hey, how are you?" as she listens intently to me as I go on and on ... oh and on about this and that.  I hear her on the other end of the line ... smiling and I feel my shoulders relax and whatever was my "on" for the moment becomes insignificant and we share a good laugh.

To you my dear friend, I hope this 40th year is a special and wonderful year for you.  You are a treasure and I hold our friendship close to my heart.

Black and Tan Brownies
Modified from Cooking Light, March 2010

Tan Brownies
6 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4.5 ozs. gluten-free flour mix (I followed Gluten-Free Girl & the Chef's whole grain flour mix ratio and used * see below)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Black Brownies
3 ozs. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Guinness Stout
4.5 ozs. gluten-free flour mix
1/4 teaspoon salt

Good looking ingredients: beer and chocolate.

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350° and lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Start with making the tan brownies by placing the softened butter and brown sugar in a small mixing bowl, beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time then stir in vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and beat until combined, fold in pecans.
5. Pour tan brownie mix into pan and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
6.  While tan brownies are baking, start making the black brownies by melting chocolate and butter in a small microwave safe bowl.
7. Add granulated sugar and stir to combine.
8. Add eggs, vanilla and Guinness and stir with a whisk to combine.
9. Add flour and salt, stir to combine.
10. Pour black brownie mixture over tan brownies and bake for an additional 25 minutes or so.
11.  Cool in pan on a wire rack then cut into squares.

Black & Tan Brownies.

* AB's Whole Grain Flour Mix
300 grams each of quinoa flour, amaranth flour, and brown rice flour
150 grams each of potato starch and tapioca  flour

Directions:
1.  Set large plastic container on a kitchen scale and hit tare, then add first flour until scale reaches 300g, then start adding the second flour until the scale reaches 600g, you're following me right?
2.  Seal and shake to combine flours.

A little Guinness left over for me.

Homemade Coffee Creamer and San Elijo

Birthdays are special and growing up my Mom made every effort to make sure that my sisters and I had amazing birthdays.  She orchestrated fantastic pool and beach parties, made amazing homemade cakes and organized unique games to keep the kids busy.

I remember one year she made a pink Barbie cake, layers of pink frosted cake with a Barbie sticking out of the top - I think the cake was suppose to represent her dress.  I also remember her greasing up a watermelon with Crisco and throwing it in the pool and we had to heave it out onto the deck, which sounds easy enough right?  You try it...slippery little sucker.

This year some of my wonderful friends joined me at San Elijo to celebrate my birthday with cocktails and crudite (which included homemade cheese and brew!), a beautiful sunset and late night smores.  I'm a lucky girl.  Inside my birthday card, Dad wrote "Last one before the big 4-0!" and included a tissue. And to that, I said bring it!  In this 39th year, I have grown and become more of the person I want to be and I am grateful for the journey thus far.

A few friends and I enjoying a beautiful birthday sunset.

Before the invasion of corporate coffee, Nicoletti's Coffeehouse on the UCSB campus was the spot to grab a cup of joe.  Most afternoons I would get a mocha and a slice of zucchini bread (umm ... hello freshman fifteen).  After paying dues working at other food service places on campus (such as the food truck before trucks got all gourmet), I finally got the opportunity to work at Nicoletti's.  Thus began my love affair with coffee.

As an addict of the processed coffee creamer, I thought I would never find an alternative that would satisfy my desire for a rich creamer until I came across this recipe on Deliciously Organic. Since I am trying to eat fewer processed foods, I thought I would give Carrie's homemade creamer a try.  I admit at first I wasn't crazy about the homemade creamer.  It lacked something ... although I could never put my finger on what was missing. I went back to the processed stuff once and realized how fake tasting it is and since then my love of the homemade creamer has grown and become a full-fledged affair.

Bliss.

Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

1 cup organic heavy cream
1 cup milk (I use Trader Joe's Grain Milk, but use whatever milk you like.  If you like super creamy creamer, then I encourage you to use whole milk)
4 Tablespoons of real maple syrup (I prefer Trader Joe's Grade B dark amber)
1 vanilla bean

1.  In a medium saucepan, warm milk and whisk in maple syrup.  While the milk simmers, split vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds and add to milk.  Whisk again to distribute the seeds throughout the milk then add the vanilla bean to the milk.

2.  Turn off heat and cover and steep for 30 minutes.  Pour creamer into glass jar and refrigerate for up to 10 days.