The Great Pumpkin Pizza

No need to wait for an appearance from the Great Pumpkin for this yummy fall inspired pizza! You may have to look for it, but the pumpkin is in there!

So when you first hear it, perhaps it is not so appealing. Pumpkin on a pizza? But pumpkin is sweet, you say. But, this pizza is super good!  Only the sauce is made with pumpkin--and that by itself is really rather bland. No cinnamon, nutmeg or sugar here. This pizza is topped with sausage, onion and peppers. That is a winning combination. Build it all on a FatHead crust, and it is a-mazing. (I stuck pretty close to Tom's original recipe, but there are tons of variations out there, Feel free to use your personal favorite.)

I love the combo! Two slices have just 8 net g carbs, and they really taste remarkably like a traditional pizza crust. Because they, like all pizza, are a little high calorie, be sure to make a light salad for the side. I have to slap my hand back from reaching for a third slice. The pumpkin sauce is garlic infused and very mild. I do add just a little tomato paste for that familiar flavor.

The Great Pumpkin Pizza

Fathead Dough:

1 and 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tbsp cream cheese

3/4 cup almond meal/flour

1 egg

1/4 tsp sea salt

Combine mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl. Cook for one minute.  Stir, and cook for additional 30 seconds in microwave. Mix in egg, salt, and stir. Shape dough into a ball and place between two pieces of parchment. Place on a cookie sheet and press flat. Bake at 400 for 8 -10 minutes, or until the top is browning. Remove from oven and add  sauce and toppings.

Sauce:

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Toppings: 

1/2  lb pork sausage, browned

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup bell pepper slices

1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 cup mozzarella

In a small saucepan, simmer the sauce ingredients for 10 minutes. While that is cooking, brown the sausage with the onion and bell pepper. Drain.

Top the cooked crust with sauce, sausage and veggies, an additional half cup of mozzarella  and your preferred  toppings.

 Bake at 350 for  an additional 5-8 minutes.                 Serves 4: 516 calories   8 net g carb

Celebrate fall with this delicious pizza. It is great if you have half a can of leftover pumpkin puree wasting in the fridge. It will cure any pizza craving without a cheat.

I have been baking up several fall dishes this afternoon for the October Diner News. It sure would be nice if the weather would cooperate. A high in the 90s is not getting me in the spirit of the season. My kitchen is as hot as ever. Hoping the cooler temperatures arrive soon. Good thing pizza is a year round favorite for me. Now off to grade some geometry papers.  Those aren't my favorite either, but it has gotta get done. Hope your fall is blessed!

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Salchicha Stuffed Bell Peppers

Yum. That is really all I need to say about this recipe. My Salchicha skillet is not new. If fact, it is a combo I came up with three years ago. The name comes from the Spanish word for sausage. I have to admit we have a fun time saying it--but even more fun eating it. We have enjoyed the sausage and cream cheese mixture so many times since then. A Diner patron, Jill, told me she used it to fill bell peppers. She was truly inspired. It is a great filler for some of those gorgeous bell peppers that abound during these hot months. I spiced things up a bit this time. Rather than green chiles, I added jalapeno. Just my boy and no hubby for dinner allows me to amp up the heat. Pearson loved this one...I knew he would. If you don't like it  hot, follow the original recipe. Both are phenomenal.

Speaking of hot, it topped 100 here today. What a day for my air conditioner to stop working. So this day has been filled with bowls of ice water and washcloths. Waiting for the repair guys. Good to know we didn't need to replace anything. A quick fix, but a hot house takes a while to cool down when it is hovering around the century mark outside. I makes me lazy about dinner. I am glad I made this Monday while the air was still working. Tonight, I am thinking salad. Or leftovers. I always maintain a well stocked freezer--that's the Diner way. Just grab a Multiply Meal and have a feast. I happen to have a stromboli made with the FatHead dough that is incredible. That and a salad means I will barely even be in my hot kitchen. Sounds like a plan. So good to always have a plan. If you don't, be sure to order the Diner E-book and learn all my prep ahead timesavers.

Now on to the recipe. This one will be in the August issue of the Diner News. The upcoming issue will be filled with recipes using your garden fresh veggies. You know, the ones that overflow this time of year. If you garden, you need ideas of how to eat the fruits of your labor. If you don't garden, chances are some friend will have some zucchini, okra or peppers to share. If you are lucky, you will have some beautiful bell peppers for this recipe.

Salchicha Stuffed Peppers

I love my sausage and cream cheese recipe, Salchicha. This is a variation off that. A few changes, and a delicious mix stuffed into a bell pepper. 

4 bell peppers

12 oz pork breakfast sausage

1/2 jalapeno pepper

3 oz chopped onion

6 oz Neufchatel  cream cheese

1 pkg. shirataki rice (optional)

1/4 cup shredded cheddar

Cut the tops from the bell peppers. Hollow them out, leaving cups to fill. Remove the stems from the tops and dice the remaining pepper. Dice onion and jalapeno pepper. In a skillet, brown sausage with the chopped pepper, onion and jalapeno. Drain fat. Stir in Neufchatel cheese until blended.

Drain and rinse rice if using. (may also substitute cooked cauliflower rice) Stir into the skillet. Fill the cups with the sausage mixture, packing with a spoon. Arrange the peppers in a baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Serves 4:  472 calories  8 net g carb

Add this one to your summer rotation. You will be happy. If you don't want to use the shirataki rice, you can always use pre-cooked cauliflower rice. Or you can add a few more calories, and just fill three smaller bell peppers. You decide what works for you.

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Tropicana Pulled Pork Soft Tacos

So here we have a couple of ingredients which are normally off limits for low carbers. Pineapple. Just a tad for a sweet burst of flavor. And tortillas made with real corn. Amazing. We had these for dinner last night and the guys loved everything. Sweet and savory. Slightly tangy with a pineapple barbecue sauce over slow cooked pork. Oh yeah! I am thinking that this really ought to be two posts, because I have so much info. But one recipe is simply not as good without the other. So, here we go.

I got the inspiration for the Masa based tortillas from a Trim Healthy Mama blogger, Nana's Little Kitchen. She was inspired as well, from a video post from Tisa Fournier on the THM Facebook page. They were, of course, building on ideas from others as well. The idea, as I understand it from Gwen's Nest, the Masa is not just a fine cornmeal. It has been treated with lime (calcium) before grinding, and causes it to have a lower glycemic index. Win! This treated corn actually is even healthier. Now we can't go crazy, but it is not taboo either. BTW,  try Gwen's marvelous corn muffin recipe too. It is excellent. Only wish I had created it! I am so happy to live in a time when we can all share our kitchen adventures!

Speaking of adventure, I did have a little trial and error here, so I modified the recipe a bit. The original recipe calls for oat fiber or psyllium husk. When I tried that, my mixture was much thicker than what I saw in the video. I added water, but had problems with my tortillas sticking to my non stick pans. grr. I tried a new batch, but this time left out the psyllium/oat fiber all together. Just egg white and masa. It worked great. I didn't have a pan I could swirl the batter in. I had the most luck with my old standby cast iron skillet. I simply poured the batter in and smoothed it out from the center in circles using the back of my spoon. Success. If you do want to try the psyllium husk, work quickly. I got called away to the phone and mine set up fast! I haven't tried the oat fiber yet because I found I didn't seem to need it. I think it was because I used egg whites from the shell, not a carton. They seem to be much thinner when purchased in that form.

Tropicana Pulled Pork Soft Tacos

3-4 lb pork roast

1 tsp smoked sea salt

3 x recipe Masa Wraps

2 bell peppers, sliced

1/2 cup pineapple chunks

4 oz shredded  cheddar cheese

1/4 cup diced cilantro

2 green onions, chopped

Sauce:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple chunks

2 tbsp sugarfree orange marmalade

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 tsp glucomannan

Slow cook the roast, sprinkled with smoked sea salt for 8 hours on low. Cool, pour off broth,  and use two forks to shred the meat.  Add a tsp of coconut oil to a skillet. Brown the pork in the skillet while preparing the rest of the meal. Just before serving, pour in half the sauce.

To prepare the sauce, add all ingredients into a blender and puree. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan and simmer on low while you  saute the vegetables.

In a sprayed non stick pan, saute sliced bell peppers and pineapple chunks.

Heat the tortillas and arrange on a plate. They will remain very soft and flexible. Fill each with the pork and vegetable mixture. Top each with a sprinkle of cheese, diced green onion and cilantro. Drizzle with remaining sauce.

Sauce alone serves 8:  18 calories  4 net g carb

8 servings (3 small tacos each)  592 cal.   10 net g carb

 Masa Taco Wraps 

6 egg whites

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp Masa Harina

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

Coconut oil spray

Beat egg whites with water. Stir in masa, onion powder,  garlic powder and salt.

Spray a non stick skillet with coconut oil spray. Heat skillet. Add the batter to the center of the skillet. Use the back of a spoon to smooth it out into a thin tortilla shape. Circling the edges works well. Cook until the top is no longer glossy and the wrap releases without tearing. Flip and cook the other side until just beginning to brown. Remove to waxed paper to cool. Repeat with remaining batter.

Yield: 6-8

Serves 3:  55 calories

                   5 g carb

These are so delicious. Perhaps a bit time consuming, but you can easily break the work into doable chunks of time. The pork slow roasts all day. The tortilla wraps can be made ahead and reheated easily. The tropical flavor is unexpected, and a real crowd pleaser. Give this one a try. Of course, you can use a low carb tortilla from the grocery store, or serve it as a salad. Do what works for you!

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Banh Mi Bowl and the Bowl Meal

Buddha Bowls are all the rage in the vegetarian world. That's not me on many levels, but I do love the idea of meals in a bowl. So hold the Buddha, but bring on the bowl. Plus, I really fell in love with the flavor of the Banh Mi Pork I made for the Food Truck issue of the Diner News this last June. I mean truly enamored of the flavors going on here. I knew it was a perfect choice for a bowl meal. It was just calling out for this combination!

 So why bowl meals? All sorts of good things that go great together. Like a big loving family. Not baked together like a casserole. Only mixed all together if you want them to be. I have one child who eats one food at a time if possible. He is not so OCD that they are not allowed to touch, but still, he is so methodical about it all. NOT ME. I love jumping from savory to sweet, tart to mellow, creamy to crunchy. Bowl meals please us both.

Some may ask why I consider this a bowl meal and not a salad. For me it is the warm meat and the addition of rice. Most bowl meals are constructed on a base of rice or some other grain. Well, that is not going to work for us. I made a combination of good ingredients that function like rice in these bowl meals, but don't add the carb load. I call it the Three Friends. You can find that recipe in this month's Diner News. Order that here. It is totally worth it! Until then, you can make this with caulirice, like I did for this particular photo shoot. See that yellow orange stuff? That is a new take on cauliflower rice. One super fast trick to is buy the bags of riced cauliflower from Trader Joe. I sauteed this with some Red Palm Oil to get that gorgeous hue. Any oil will do, but this is just so beautiful

Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches are traditionally topped with lightly pickled veggies. I copied that here with some cabbage, carrots and onion. They are topped with cilantro and jalapeno peppers, so of course, those go on too.

Banh Mi Bowl

3 oz leftover Banh Mi pork, heated

1 cup uncooked riced cauliflower

1 tsp red palm oil or coconut oil

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 slice red onion

1/4 carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

3 slices jalapeno pepper

1 tsp sambal oelek (optional)

Dressing:

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp erythritol/ stevia sweetener

1/8 tsp garlic powder

Sauté riced cauliflower in red palm oil or coconut oil. When tender, place into a serving bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients. Place sliced vegetables and pork in a serving bowl and drizzle vegetables with dressing. Add a spoon of Sambal Oelek for heat.

So delish. Remember, you can go get the recipe for the Banh Mi meat on this post .

And for an idea of the other Bowl Meals I created this month, take a look:

 

Three Friends "Rice" Blend

Punkin Pie Bowl

Apple Pie Breakfast Bowl

Chipotle Salmon Breakfast Bowl

Candy Bar Bowl

Thai Tuna Bowl

Country Breakfast Bowl

Smoothie Bowl

Barbecue Chicken Bowl

Lemon Poppyseed Bowl

Greek Chicken Bowl

Chicken Fajita Bowl

Don't those look fabulous! Breakfast, lunch or dinner, we have you covered. It is just $6 a year for my monthly Diner News. Order today.

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Order my original e-book or the latest version for couples and singles,  A Table for Two here.