Jan 24, 2010 Posted by Lisa Milone on Jan 24, 2010 | 7 comments

Hungry For Pizza?

Happy work week eve everyone. This weekend passed by a little too quickly for me. Was it like that for anyone else? I did experiment with a few different recipes and I’m pretty excited to share them with you this week. One of them involves chocolate – my favorite ingredient, of course.

There has been a giant rain cloud hovering over Nashville for days now. I love winter but I have to admit… this cold, dreary weather has left me longing for sunny, happy weather. For now, I’ll just throw a recipe into the mix that is the best summertime meal. It’s pretty much a classic meal, so it could most likely be the right choice for a Super Bowl party too. You can’t go wrong with a delicious homemade pizza and an ice-cold beer. You heard that right – both of these things are gluten-free. Keep reading, you will be happy to hear that gluten-free pizza AND beer exists.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups Namaste Pizza Crust Mix
1 ¼ cups water
1 tsp olive oil (plus oil to coat the pan)

Heat oven to 450° F. Place oven rack at lowest position. Coat a large pizza pan (I used a large baking sheet) with oil or non-stick spray.

Combine 1 ½ cups pizza crust mix with 1 teaspoon oil and 1 ¼ cups water. Beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Batter will be the consistency of cake batter.

Scrape batter onto pizza pan and spread with spatula. It is VERY important to spread batter to at least 14 inches.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes on lowest rack. Pull the crust out and add sauce and toppings.

I used a gluten-free pizza sauce and topped the pizza with goat mozzarella, shredded chicken, two chopped roma tomatoes, a small can of black olive slices, and some spinach. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Slice and enjoy! The gluten-free beer I served with this is made from sorghum. Redbridge can be found in most grocery stores. Click here to read more about it on their website.

Jan 6, 2010 Posted by Lisa Milone on Jan 6, 2010 | 12 comments

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Before I found out that my body couldn’t handle cows’ dairy, I wouldn’t have even tried goat cheese. I have to admit it wasn’t my favorite thing at first, but now that I have acquired the taste for it, I absolutely love it! This dish is a regular for me whenever I want to cook something out of the norm. I hope you enjoy the recipe. If you have never tried goat cheese, I encourage you to give it a try!

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
4 oz creamy goat cheese
1 red pepper
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried rosemary
5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 tbsp Chicken Stock

Preheat oven to 350°.

Slice the red pepper lengthwise into thin strips. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Sauté in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes.

Mix the goat cheese with thyme, basil, and rosemary. Leave a couple pinches of the seasoning mix for the top of the chicken.

Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast to form a pocket.

Spread 1/4 of the goat cheese on one side of each chicken pocket. Place a few strips of red pepper on top of the goat cheese. Fasten the chicken pocket using either cook’s string or wooden skewers.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned on one side. Place chicken breasts in a glass baking dish (browned side up) with chicken stock and remaining olive oil. Top the chicken breasts with remaining herb mix and any remaining pepper slices. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until fully cooked.

I would LOVE any feedback. Was the recipe easy to follow? Did it turn out great? A complete failure? Seriously, I’m a fan of honesty. All thoughts are appreciated.