Dinner - 1/4 Chicken Crust Pizza

I can't recommend the book called "Fit Men Cook"by Kevin Curry enough! In it he talks about his recipe for Chicken Crust Pizza as being one of his most popular recipes. But his version includes dairy added to the pizza and while I do add a little goat cheese to a pizza, I try to stick to the Food Combining ideology of not combining your proteins. So with some great thought I came up with using nutritional yeast - to add a cheesy flavor, along with hemp seeds - adding a nutty and hearty flavor to this pizza. I know a quarter pound of chicken is not a lot, but if you look at Curry's full recipe and serving sizes you'll see that his recipe calls for 1/4 pound per serving. And if you're still thinking that's not enough I encourage you to re-evaluate your Western diet because you just honestly do not need more! This pizza is filling and delicious and good for you too!

I also have this handy tip for you. I had a few chicken breasts in the freezer. I thawed them out and cut and measured them out to the 1/4 pound size and packaged them individually to make this recipe quicker to prepare. It's working well.

And just because I'm taking these recipes and making them work for me by making them a single serving, don't feel limited! Please learn how to make these recipes work for you and your life! If that means doubling or more, do it!

¼ Chicken Crust Pizza

Adapted From Fit Men Cook

Single serving pizza

¼ pound chicken breast, thawed or fresh

¼ cup nutritional yeast

¼ hemp seeds

1 small zucchini, quartered

¼ teaspoon oregano, dried

¼ teaspoon sage, dried

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

To make the crust add the chicken, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, zucchini and seasoning to a food processor or high powered blender. Pulse until mixed well and minced.

Put the crust on the baking sheet, mashing it down and shaping into your preference of circle or square, using a spatula or recessed spatula, about 1/4” thick. Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the edges have browned and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the pizza from the oven and add the toppings of your choice, such as: pizza sauce, green olives, vegan cheese, goat cheese. You know how to do this. 

Place pizza with toppings in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, browned and bubbled, about 7-8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly and eat it!

Dinner - Kale And Avocado Salad

So when I did my meal planning for July I looked out at the garden and made plans for meals around what was ready in the garden. Which leads me to this amazing recipe for kale and avocado salad! I've reduced it to a single serving version. This looks like such a simple basic salad which might not look appealing, but please give it a try! That's exactly how I felt when it came up in my meal plan. But, the vinaigrette is both vinegary and sweet, and the crunch of the cabbage and flavors of the tomato and avocado make eating kale a breeze! Wink wink!

Kale And Avocado Salad - Single Serving Version

Reboot With Joe

Salad:

2 kale leaves, chopped - about 2 cups

1/2 cup of red cabbage, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 avocado, diced (or one refrigerator ready to serve pack of avocado)

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

First prep and chop your veggies (except avocado). Add to bowl

Then make the vinaigrette. Combine all ingredients in a glass or small bowl and whisk. Pour over salad. 

Add the avocado. Enjoy!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Instead of keeping a constant supply of store bought packets of taco seasoning on hand I have learned to make my own from the seasoning already in my cupboard. Here's another quick and easy substitution!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried onion

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

Add all of the spices together in a small mason jar. Cover tightly and shake!

2 tablespoons = one store bought packet

Dinner - Not Quite Margie's Chili, But Almost

A romaine salad with Not Quite Margie's Chili

Early on in my Food Combining journey I was craving familiar comfort food. And I thought of my mom's chili. It's simple and soul satisfying. But her recipe includes more than one protein. So how  can I make this work and not combine my proteins? Mushrooms. Yep, I substituted the traditional ground beef (or turkey or venison that I had been using) for fresh mushrooms. This enabled me to #megaveg this recipe and make it #healthyaf and also not combine my proteins. 

One other way I can make this recipe healthier is by using my garden dried beans. The last few years I have been growing black beans and kidney beans in my garden. It can be hard to find seeds for these and you may have do some footwork. But these are some of the beans I always kept canned in my cupboard and I wanted to try growing my own. My experiment was so successful I didn't even plant any this year as I had such a great harvest last year! They are as simple as plant em' and leave em' alone until they start drying on the vine, then harvest. You may need to let the beans in pods sit in the house awhile for the pods to get dry enough to pop them open and collect your beans. I have had some that start molding (the last few years have been wet summers here in southwest Minnesota) but you just carefully pick through them and toss the bad beans. I have a small crockpot, about one quart, and when I want beans for a recipe I add a half cup of both black and kidney beans (one cup total), fill the crockpot to the top with water (you don't want them to dry out), put the cover on and walk away for 8-9 hours. Your end product is about three cups of beautiful cooked beans. 

Give this updated classic a try!

Not Quite Margie’s Chili, But Almost

adapted and doubled from Mom’s Chili

Place ½ cup each of dried black and kidney beans to a small crockpot. Fill the crockpot with water and cook on high until beans are tender, about 8-9 hours. This will result in about 3 cups of cooked beans.

To make the chili, lightly sauté 2 pounds of whole mushrooms, diced, in extra virgin olive oil and dried onions.

Add one quart home canned tomatoes and one jar of your favorite marinara.

Add the rinsed beans, 2 small cans of tomato sauce, and chili powder and salt to taste.

Bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens.

Makes 6 servings.