Spinach Pizza Crust

4 cups Baby Spinach washed, drained, see note note for frozen spinach

1 cup Grated Cheese Edam, mozzarella, Emmental or cheddar

2 Eggs

¼ teaspoon Salt 

¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder 

1 tablespoon Dried Oregano 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). 

Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Spray some olive oil to prevent the crust from sticking to the paper. Set aside.

Wash, drain the baby spinach leaves. Make sure you dry the spinach leaves very well. You can pat dry between pieces of absorbent paper or use pre-washed baby spinach leaves to avoid this step.

In a blender or food processor, add the baby spinach leaves, cheese, eggs, salt, and herbs. 

Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Pour the spinach crust batter onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a spatula spread the batter  on to a pizza pan.

Bake the spinach pizza crust for 15-20 minutes or until the sides are darker and crispy. 

Remove from the oven and add your favorite low-carb toppings 

Note:

 To Freeze: cool down the cooked pizza crust and freeze wrapped in plastic wrap. Bake frozen with your favorite toppings on the day.

Frozen spinach: defrost spinach, squeeze out all the water then measure to match 1 cup + 1/2 cup defrosted spinach. 

Pizza

There are quite a few things about any area that you really like or dislike.

In New York I love the pizza. There's a pizza place about 5 mins. up the road from us but out favorite is La Capannina which is in Wainscott. One of favorites is Primavera with lots of garlic, broccoli, spinach, mushroom and eggplant. My favorite is the Calamari pie. Gabe never had to worry where to take me for my birthday, it was calamari pie time!

Florida has the typical pizza chains. I personally do not like or eat the pizza from those places. A few local pizza restaurants opened in the area, and yuck. Fuhgeddaboudit ( AKA- forget about it).

We are going to move to this area and how can I live in a place without a decent pie?

I found the place- La Linda's! I made the above with sausage and pepper and my honey loved it. He said- KEEP THAT RECIPE!

My secret, a friend I met on the TOH recipe board. Carol's recipes never fail. I've made quite a few and wish you could see the photographs her husband Bob takes of her creations.

Myself and two other ladies asked for help on the TOH recipe board because we felt we are "yeast" challenged. Found many good tips but it was time to -JUST DO IT.

The below recipe is Carol's. I usually adapt a recipe, it's just the way I cook and bake but I didn't change a thing except kneading the bread which I did in the kitchen aid with the dough hook.


HOMEMADE PIZZA DOUGH
(Source: adapted from Country Living)

2-2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 Tbsp. instant, quick rise or bread machine yeast ( I used rapid yeast)
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water, heated to 115-125 degrees ( I have a candy thermometer at home and now I have one here, better safe then sorry!)
1/2 c. milk, heated to 115-125 degrees
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
Cornmeal

I measured the 2 cups of flour and added to my kitchen aid bowl. To the flour I added the sugar, salt and yes- THE YEAST .

While the above was in the bowl my biggest issue was the temp. of the water and milk. I bought a candy thermometer which helped.

I added the water,milk and evoo to the flour mixture and beat with the paddle attachment for 2 mins.

Carol kneads by hand and maybe one day I'll do the same but I have the kitchen aid which has a dough hook so I let that kneed the dough which I added the last 1/2 cup of the flour.I kneeded it for about 8 mins.

Gregory has a oven with a warming drawer and I put the dough in a greased bowl for an hour to rise.

Once the hour was up I pushed it down and rolled it out. I don't have a rolling pin in florida so I used a 2 liter bottle of soda. A wine bottle would work well also.

Onto the pan, all dressed up into a 375 oven it went.

Like Mr. Food would say- OH- SO GOOD!

 

Two Cooks In The Kitchen

We wanted different things for dinner. Divingabe wanted to use some of the jalepenos and I wanted a light dinner. I sort of indulged yesterday. I had a fresh bagel (which I so MISS in Florida) with  lox spread,oh heaven! A light salad and a few zucchini chips would suit me and my sweetie made his french bread jalapeno,andouille sausage pizza.

I had a few cucumbers and made this cucumber salad. I have a few friends who omit sugar and I made this without sugar. It was good! I might include the sugar next time but I really didn't miss it and I do have a sweet tooth.

Cucumber Salad

2 Cucumbers thinly sliced
2 or 3 Tomatoes cubed (can use more,depends on the size of tomatoes)
1/2 red onion sliced ( raw onions don't like me so didn't add
1/3 C Oil ( used canola)
3 TBL. Red Wine Vinegar
3 Tbl.Sugar (didn't use)
3/4 Tsp. Kosher Salt
1/4 Tsp. Black Pepper
1/4  Tsp. Garlic

Slice cucumbers and dice up the tomatoes. Mix oil,vinegar,salt,pepper and garlic. In Florida I have a small magic bullet which I love to use to mix up dressings. I used my little whisk.
Pour over cucumbers and tomatoes and put in fridge for a few hours.

The zucchini chips are in the oven. EASY recipe. Thinly slice the zucchini. I used 2 small zucchini. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

I sprayed the parchment paper with Smart
Balance. Zucchini is very bland and I wanted to add some zip to them so I went to one of my favorites that is a staple in Gregory's house. Slap Ya Mama! I can only find Slap Ya Mama when we go to Cedar Key in Florida and always pick up a few and make sure I have a new one to take home. My friend Paddi in Montana told me about Slap Ya Mama and I couldn't find it in NY. When I opened Gregory's spices cabinet, there it was, I should of known he would have it. He said it's a staple when he's offshore.

Add the zucchini in single layers on the cookie sheet lined with parchment and sprinkle with salt. Slap Ya Mama on mine.

Preheat oven 170 degrees and cook for 2 hours-see note below

next time I'll cook them on a long rack and increase the oven temp. They weren't crisp. I had them in the oven almost 3 hours at 170. Smaller rounds were crisp and they were pretty good.