Don’t fear the pizza…

I can’t get that old song by BOC outta my head. Last night, while embarking on my first hour of television on this fine new week, I thought how nice a slice of pie would go with “The Walking Dead”, so I grabbed a half a slice. Out of the kindness of my heart, I offered to share, but they were scared. “No, no thank you, no way, no how”. I replied in song “Don’t fear the pizza” to the tune of “Don’t Fear The Reaper”, ok so I can’t really carry a tune, but to my ears it was pretty fabulous*.

*fabulous, new word for at least today because the teen says I say “awesome” entirely too much.

“Wait a minute, I thought you don’t do grains and things like pizza”, I think to myself as I type about pizza this morning, while thinking about grabbing the last couple slices out of the fridge and breaking my fast. It’s ok, there were no grains or any other things that are spiky to me involved in the making of this pizza.

Previously I told you about Your Lighter Side’s pizza crust, here is a link to their recipe: http://yourlighterside.com/2012/02/easy-pizza-crust/ I will tell you right up front that the parchment paper is the most important ingredient. The first couple pies I neglected to get parchment paper, they stuck, my fault. The last few times, I’ve not skimped, I’ve got it, and well, it makes all the difference in the world when you can hold a slice like everyone else.

Having the grandbabies this weekend made our Saturday dinner even better. Lovely and Diamond made the regular pies for themselves, Pepaw, Faith, and May’s BFF. They did a darned good job and only ate half the pepperonis during their prep.

After the make up party, it was time to cook dinner. They both love to help, they listen to directions and even clean up their messes. To my children: that is the reason I do not have to hollar or “get on to” them, they are angels, you guys were angels also, but the really evil kind 😉

For obvious reasons, I do not eat regular pizza. Regular pizza is filled with things I can’t mix with my blood sugar like sugar and starches. Other people may not have a problem with sugar and starches, but they make my diabetes happy, so happy that it gets this big megalomaniac idea that it’s going to take over my world, and well, been there, done that, no thank you!

While Your Lighter Side’s pizza crust is made with chicken, I used hickory smoked pulled pork Saturday night.

crust ingredients:

• 1 pound hickory smoked pulled pork. (or use the original recipe from the link above)
• 4 oz mozzarella (weighed, not measured worked better)
• 2 eggs
• enough parchment paper to line your pan of choice, and yes, this ingredient is very important, cooking spray does not cut it and really who wants to spray rapeseed oil on the bottom of their pie anyways?

In a food processor, process the pork and cheese (pulse) until it looks similar to the following pic.

pulse, pulse, pulse, pulse, the amount of pulses depends on your food processor.

Glove up, crack in two eggs, and knead that meat dough. Seriously it feels like dough.

Dump it onto the pan. This is a half sheet pan, it’s big, the crust is enough for a couple of round pies or one big rectangle, your choice.

Mash out evenly, thinly onto pan. Take a fork and poke some small holes, it will bubble up like regular yeast crust if you don’t.

Once it’s mashed and forked, it’s ready to be crustified. Place it into a preheated 400° oven for about 12 minutes. Remove and add your toppings of choice.

The things that made them fear my pizza:

• sliced sauteed Brussels sprouts
• sliced multi color and green peppers
• red onions
• anchovies
• bacon
• mozzarella cheese
• cheddar cheese
• sun dried tomato alfredo sauce (aldi’s 21 carbs per jar, I used a half jar, 8 slices, I ate 2, so close to 3 carbs of sauce per slice, the other stuff I don’t really worry about)

Maybe it was just the Brussels sprouts and anchovies that scared them? Anyways, they were only on half the pie and May enjoyed some slices from the other half.

I like Alfredo sauce because it has less carbs and less added sugar than conventional pizza sauce. If you don’t like it, don’t use it, use what you use and just enjoy the pie!

Add all your fabulous toppings, we thought about that fresh pineapple, but well, we’re gonna wait and do that on a ham crust 🙂

Once your pie is topped with what ever you chose to top it with, it is ready for baking. Place it in a 400° oven for about 12 minutes total. I started it on the bottom shelf, six minutes later, I rotated all the pies and placed it on the top for the last six minutes.

The finished pie

Seriously, this is the best pizza I ever ate, but then again, I am a big fan of Brussels sprouts and anchovies…

While this protein, fat, and veggie packed pizza did not make my diabetes happy, it did make my postprandials and the following morning’s fasting glucose happy, and well, I’m happy when they’re happy!

Like always, be sure to test prior to, one hour after and two hours after to see how “new to you” recipes affect your blood glucose.