Hashbrown Pizza Crust

I made this hashbrown crust into a pizza with Canadian bacon, fresh mozzarella, fresh steamed spinach, and topped it with oregano when it came out of the oven. The real reason I think I like this recipe for a gluten free crust? IT HOLDS UP WELL ENOUGH TO PICK UP!

HASHBROWN PIZZA CRUST

1lb frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed

4 eggs

1/2 cup shredded cheese

 (I used shredded sharp cheddar since I didn’t have mozzarella, and it worked great)

Set your frozen hashbrowns out to thaw an hour or two beforehand.

Preheat your oven to 400.  Beat four eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the thawed hashbrowns and 1/2 C cheese. Mix well.

Form into a crust with your hands on parchment paper (do NOT forget the parchment paper, it sticks terribly otherwise!) on top of a pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Top with your favorite toppings, and bake again until the cheese is melted. Cut and serve hot.

Servings: 6

Spinach with Cannellini Beans

Want a quick healthy side dish? This one is done in the time it takes to steam the spinach in the microwave!

SPINACH WITH CANNELLINI BEANS

40 oz fresh spinach

1 16-oz can cannellini beans, drained

Olive oil

Fresh herbs (I used parsley and a bit of chives)

Fresh Parmesan 

Steam the spinach in the microwave. I steam it in a tightly covered bowl, with a little bit of water in the bottom, in batches until it is all done. Spinach cooks down quite a bit.

Add the drained cannellini beans, a few tablespoons of olive oil (I didn’t measure, but I think I used about three), whatever fresh herbs you have on hand, and a handful of fresh Parmesan (to taste). 

Serve hot.

Quinoa with Mozzarella, Snow Peas, and Cherry Tomatoes

Since this is prepared ahead of time and served chilled, it is EXCELLENT for lunches! I’m preparing on the weekend, portioning out, and chilling in individual tupperwares for the week. 

Start with 2 cups of Basic Quinoa:

Instapot Quinoa if you have an Instapot

Or Basic Quinoa here if you want to do it on the stove.

Once you’ve got your quinoa going, I’m adding some frozen chopped spinach to mine to cut the calories and up the nutrients a bit. I’m cooking two 12oz bags of frozen chopped spinach in the microwave.

Then I’m getting out my snow peas, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

Slice your snow peas on the diagonal, and I’m sticking mine in the microwave for a couple minutes. You can use them raw if you prefer!

My super-cool yellow, red, and purple cherry tomatoes are just getting halved, and then the mozzarella log is getting sliced into bite-sized pieces.

Are those not the BEST tomatoes? Splurge on yourselves sometimes!

Mix your dressing ingredients together, and whisk well.

When the quinoa is done, let it sit 5-10 minutes, fluff with a fork, then mix all ingredients together. Drizzle dressing over it and stir well.

Refrigerate and serve cold.

QUINOA WITH MOZZARELLA, SNOW PEAS, AND CHERRY TOMATOES

2 cups dried quinoa, prepared

2 12oz bags frozen chopped spinach

8oz snow peas

1 pint cherry tomatoes

8oz fresh mozzarella 

Dressing ingredients:

1/4 C lemon juice

2 T Dijon mustard

2 T olive oil

3/4 t sea salt

1/4 t freshly ground pepper

Cook quinoa: Basic Quinoa is the link for stove top quinoa, and Instapot Quinoa for instapot. I prefer Instapot, myself, because it can’t boil over.

Cook spinach according to package directions. Cut snow peas on the diagonal; microwave 2 minutes. Halve cherry tomatoes and slice mozzarella into bite sized pieces.

Mix dressing ingredients together and whisk well.

When quinoa is done, let sit 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Combine quinoa, spinach, snow peas, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Drizzle dressing over quinoa salad and mix well.

Serve chilled.

Servings: 7

Calories per serving: 325 

Breakfast Pizza with Hashbrown Crust

As usual, I have a recipe where I got the idea for this that I am not following at all. From the get-go, on this one: my shredded frozen hashbrowns were supposed to be thawed.

Oops.

We are moving right ahead with them frozen. 👍🏻

I AM remembering to preheat the oven (to 400), which is another step I often forget. Preheating the oven while beating four eggs in a large bowl, and then adding the hashbrowns, milk, and a half cup of the cheese.

*That’s edited too, by the way: I apparently have more experience with ‘alternative crusts,’ perhaps we should say?, than the original recipe creators. Their crust wouldn't have held together enough to even be taken up. Gluten free for fifteen years will give you plenty such experience, I suppose! Tossing aforesaid recipe out the window at this point —

Stir all those crust ingredients together and then shape into a crust with your hands, either on a pizza stone or a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. You are REALLY going to want that parchment paper for this recipe.

Bake at 400 for half an hour.

Top with ham, spinach (I wanted to cut the calories down a bit), and cheese. Break four eggs over the pizza, evenly spaced. I did not want runny yolks, so I broke my yolks as well.

Bake at 40 for twenty minutes (for set yolks).

BREAKFAST PIZZA WITH HASHBROWN CRUST

8 eggs

1lb frozen shredded hashbrowns

1 1/2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 C milk

4oz diced ham

Fresh spinach, wilted

Preheat oven to 400.

Beat four eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add frozen hashbrowns and 1/2C cheese. Mix well.

Form into a crust with your hands on parchment paper, on top of a pizza stone or baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven. Top with ham, spinach, and cheese. Break four eggs, evenly spaced, across the pizza. If you want set yolks, break the yolks at this time.

Put back in the oven and bake another 15-17minutes for runny yolks or another 20 minutes for set yolks.

Cut and serve hot.

Servings: 6

Calories per serving: 275

Hungarian-Style Sheet Pan Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

This is try #2 on this recipe: last week was a failure!

Boiled Brussels are not to my taste, and trying to steam them in the microwave was no good either. So! Sheet-pan-ing them, roasting with bacon and onion, if you like onion. (I don’t. Putting in the onions as options for parents and aunt, because they DO like onions, lol!)

To sheet-pan roast your Brussels, get them trimmed up: tough outer leaves removed, and halved.

To sheet-pan roast your Brussels, get them trimmed up: tough outer leaves removed, and halved.

Pan spray your sheet pan, and lay out your halved Brussels sprouts, cut side DOWN.

I use olive oil pan spray, and spray the tops of the Brussels sprouts again before they go in the oven.  You'll want to salt and pepper them after you use the pan spray. I highly recommend salt AND pepper grinders!

PRO TIP, HERE: IF YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, CUT <OUT> THE OLIVE OIL. 

I use olive oil pan spray for virtually EVERYTHING now except salad dressings! And I’m down over a hundred pounds: I’m telling you, it WORKS.

I am layering my bacon on top of my Brussels sprouts. I really think a thick center-cut bacon would be best here, but it’s not what I had in the freezer!

If you are using onions - my parents were my testers on that! - cut them into quarters or eighths and put them on the sheet pan with the Brussels too.

Roast for 22 minutes at 425 or until the bottoms of your Brussels sprouts halves are carmelized. You’re going for a long way past just tender-crisp when you’re roasting!  You want this look on the bottoms of your Brussels:

Crumble your bacon on top of your Brussels sprouts (and onions, if you used onions).












I am using Greek yogurt because it’s healthier than sour cream, and I’m celiac, so I’ve got to watch the probiotics in the gut and all that. Nonfat plain Greek yogurt - Love It LOVE IT. Stir a cup or so in.

This is four pounds of Brussels sprouts, prepped and ready for the week! (This is a double of the quantities in the recipe below. I didn't figure most people would want four pounds of them. Bulk veggies are another PRO TIP!!)

HUNGARIAN-STYLE SHEET PAN BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON

Two pounds Brussels sprouts
1/2 of a 12 oz package thick-cut bacon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil pan spray
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
2 onions, optional

Preheat oven to 425.

Trim and halve your Brussels sprouts. Cut your onions into eighths.

Use olive oil pan spray to prepare a sheet pan. Place your Brussels sprouts in a single layer on the sheet pan, cut sides DOWN. Spray the tops of the Brussels sprouts with olive oil pan spray. Grind salt and pepper over the Brussels once they have been sprayed.

Place bacon strips and onions on top of the Brussels sprouts.

Roast at 425 for 22 minutes or until bottoms of Brussels sprouts are starting to carmelize, as in the picture above.

Crumble bacon over Brussels sprouts and onions. Stir in  1 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt.

Roasted Green Beans

Adding a blog post on green beans because my aunt asked this week if I ever roasted them, and I couldn’t believe I’d never blogged it!

Plus, it’ll allow me to get rid of this one diet cookbook I’ve got - the diet’s not a good one, an elimination diet which are never balanced and rarely healthy - but it’s got my oven temp and cooking times for roasting green beans! The only recipe I still use out of this thing!

So. Roasting green beans. I roast them pounds and pounds at a time, because green beans are nice and healthy - and incidentally, good for virtually any diet you’re on. For me? Green beans have no calories.

I put servings in individual tupperwares in the fridge on the weekends, and just grab one every day for lunch or dinner. It can’t be any easier to eat healthy on a busy weeknight!

I roast them at 425. Preheat your oven while you’re prepping the beans.

Trim them up; cut off any bad ends and cut them into bite-size.

You’ll want to coat a sheet pan or baking sheet (depending on how many beans you’ve got) with olive oil pan spray. Spread the beans out, spray the tops of them with the pan spray; turn them with a spatula and spray them again, once or twice, until they’re all coated.

Then I salt them. Pretty heavily, personally, green beans are one of the only things I salt! (The others are my roasted Brussels sprouts and scrambled eggs, if you’re curious — )

I’ve never pepper’d them, but if anybody wants to give them some fresh ground pepper, too, let me know how that turns out and I’ll edit to add it!

Ready to go in the oven~~

Roast at 425 for 25 minutes, turning about three times.

You goal is not tender-crisp, here. Tender-crisp is great for veggies, and I cook many things many ways to tender-crisp: but when you are roasting at high heat, tender-crisp is not what you’re going for. Your goal is to get them TASTING like they’ve been roasted at high heat!

See the first photo, up top. Some of them are even starting to carmelized, you see? They’re 100% ALL the way done, not tender-crisp at all.

ROASTED GREEN BEANS

Fresh green beans (I’m using four pounds)

Olive oil pan spray

Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 425.

Trim beans and cut to bite size. Prepare your sheet pan or baking sheet with pan spray. Put beans on sheet pan; coat with pan spray, turning once or twice. Add salt to taste.

Roast for 25 minutes, turning two or three times.

Homemade Refried Beans

These take a while, because you’ve got to soak them and then leave them cooking in the crockpot all day - but it’s extremely little hand’s-on time. And SOOO worth it!

The night before, you’re going to want to put your beans to soak. Look through them carefully to pull out any little bits of rock or grit that made it into the bag: I pour them from the bag into my hand over a bowl, a few at a time, and then drop them into the bowl and pour some more into my hand. It goes quicker than it sounds!

Cover them with water and set them out of the way.

The next morning, drain the beans in a colander. Put beans and all remaining ingredients into a Crockpot and set to high. Cook 6-8 hours.

Turn off the Crockpot and let the beans cook slightly. I actually ran out of time to take care of mine, so they cooled in the fridge overnight. Use an immersion blender to blend everything in the crockpot together.

This recipe makes enough to use some and freeze some, for me. The beans freeze well!

HOMEMADE REFRIED BEANS

1 lb bag dried pinto beans (2 1/2 C)

5 C water

4 T Orrington Farms broth base or 6 chicken bouillon cubes

2 T onion powder 

3 T minced garlic

1 T ground cumin

The night before, put beans on to soak as described above.

In the morning, drain beans. Put drained beans and the rest of the ingredients in a Crockpot. Set the heat to High and let the beans cook 6-8 hours.

When done, use an immersion blender to blend all ingredients together. Serve hot.