Supreme Pizza Pasta

After helping some family members chop up mushrooms, onions, and bell pepper for their lasagna preparation, Heather mentioned that her hands smelled like pizza.  As we, mostly I, used to spend a lot of late nights eating the better part of a supreme pizza and maybe also some wings, pizza is something that I hold near and dear to my heart and stomach.  Her statement made me realize most of the awesome things on pizza are meat and vegetables, not the other stuff!  With a little bit of ingenuity we were able to recreate the pizza taste without the grains or cheese.  This also inspired another recipe, but you're all going to have to wait for that one.

Ingredients

2 yellow squash (peeled into zoodles)

2 Spicy Cilantro Chicken Sausages (or another clean Italian style sausage), crumbled

14 oz container of pizza sauce

1 cup diced yellow onion

1 cup diced mushrooms

1 cup diced bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced black olives

4 crushed garlic cloves

1 tsp coconut oil

Method

Heat onions and garlic in a medium heat pan with coconut oil until onions are translucent.

Add in mushrooms, onions, and black pepper and mix thoroughly for 3-5 minutes.

Add in ground sausage and zoodles and mix for 2 minutes.  Our sausage is precooked, so of course add time to cook through if sausage is raw.

Add pizza sauce and stir until heated through.

Serve and enjoy!  You can now satisfy that pizza hankering without feeling destroyed from the grains and dairy the next day.  

Mediterranean Antipasto

This antipasto was an attempt to recreate some of our favorite dishes that typically are mainstays at your favorite Italian/Mediterranean restaurant, without the cheese and pasta.  As far as I'm concerned, it was a success––it didn't last long in the house.  We saved a small portion to share with family, and almost a week later, it was still crispy and crunchy, so I would definitely suggest this as a candidate for weekly meals or leftovers if you're planning ahead.  We had to do some shopping around to find clean proscuitto, but Applegate makes one we love, and we've been able to find their products pretty regularly at the local organic market, and even sometimes larger chain supermarkets.  The benefit of this is how simple to put together.  This took us maybe 15 minutes to make in total.

Ingredients

1 English cucumber

1/2 red bell pepper

1-2 slices red onion (depending on how much you like onion)

1 cup kalamata olives

3 slices proscuitto

1 oz anchovy (tinned in olive oil)

Method

Chop red onion, cucumber, red bell pepper, and olives into small chunks.  Slice proscuitto into thin 1/4" strips, and finely mince anchovy.

Mix together thoroughly, and enjoy!  The flavors will blend more as it sits, so preparation about an hour before mealtime is probably preferred.  There's no need for olive oil or salt or anything.  This is an easy home run to impress family and friends.

Also, please enter to win a copy of Diane Sanfilippo's Practical Paleo if you haven't already.  The giveaway ends ENDED September 28th, 2012!