Paleo pizza

Billie's cousin, Nick, is stationed here with the Army for a 6-week course. We ran into him on post last week and invited him to dinner. I was pumped... Our very first dinner guest!

I had never made "Paleo pizza", and it was on the docket for the week. In case you're not familiar with the Paleo diet, it entails eating meat, eggs, fish, nuts, veggies, and fruits... And eliminating grains, dairy, and processed stuff. This is primarily the way Billie and I try to eat.

I was nervous about what Nick would think about our pizza. We even considered buying him some Little Caesars for back-up. But luckily, Nick was very familiar with the idea of Paleo and he LOVED the pizza.

This recipe was from the "Everyday Paleo" cookbook.

Crust:
2 C. almond meal
2 eggs
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 T fresh rosemary, minced

Toppings:
1 lb. mild Italian pork sausage
2 small zucchini or yellow squash, diced
2 green onions, diced
1 C. fresh basil leaves, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced (I left these out)
1/2 C jarred roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
1/2 C. sliced black olives (Left these out too)
1 C. organic, gluten free marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Using a spoon, mix all crust ingredients together until it becomes very thick. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add more almond flour
3. Lightly grease a pizza pan or baking sheet with extra virgin olive oil. Place the ball of dough in the center of the baking sheet and push and pat the dough down into the shape of a circle, making the dough as thin as possible. Your pizza will be about 12 inches across
4. Bake crust for 20 mins
5. While crust is cooking, prepare toppings: Brown sausage in a large skillet and cut up all the vegetables
6. After the crust is done, remove from the oven and evenly spread marinara sauce over the crust
7. Add sausage and all remaining toppings. Cook again for an additional 25-30 mins


Toppings on our second pizza:
marinara sauce, rotisserie chicken (shredded), gluten free BBQ sauce ("Organicville" brand), and artichoke hearts

Dessert: Everyday Paleo "Berry Good Cobbler"

 3 C. frozen or fresh blackberries (I used half and half blackberries and frozen blueberries)
A drizzle of raw organic honey
2 T. coconut oil
1 egg
1 1/2 C. almond meal
2 T. cinnamon
1 (13.5 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spread berries evenly over the bottom of a pie plate
3. Drizzle honey on top
4. Melt coconut oil
5. In a small bowl, whisk egg and coconut oil
6. Add to the eggs and oil the almond meal and cinnamon
7. Stir the almond meal into the egg and oil mixture until the mixture starts to crumble. Add more almond meal if the batter is too thin
8. By hand, evenly crumble the almond meal mixture on top of the berries. Bake uncovered for 35 mins
9. Serve in cobbler bowls with a little cold coconut milk poured on top.