We love to spend time outside. Chicago offers so many opportunities to do so. Whether we watch the sunset at the lake or listen to music at Millennium park, we turn almost every cool open air event into a little cozy picnic. We know for sure, great homemade food is always better then anything else. The only rule is to make something transportable and easy dividable). Fresh veggies and hummus, berries, healthy muffins or pie…
Today it is time to share our another picnic idea. And it is pizza!
Do you like pizza????
I do! I like almost everything about getting pizza out, especially in Chicago. I like how it looks, how is smells and, of course, how it tastes… The only thing I don’t like is how I feel after even a small slice of this so popular in the US dish. Do not get me wrong, I do not have anything against pizza. Now we eat it almost every week…and I feel great. The key word for us is “homemade”. It is actually easy…always fresh, loaded with organic vegetables and the best tomato sauce. Yum! It is also doesn’t take much time, but always tastes amazing.
Guilty pleasure? Hmm..Not anymore!
Here are our ideas for a delicious pizza.
Basically, every pizza includes 2 main elements – crust and topping. Today I am going to share our 3 favorite pizza crusts and one topping. All of them include just whole real ingredients, two of crusts are gluten-free. It is worth it to try!
I
Easy Gluten-free Garbanzo Bean Crust
For rectangular pan 8”x 10”
Ingredients:
- 1 cup garbanzo bean flour
- ½ cup water
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 1 for baking
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dry basil
- ½ tsp oregano
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes.
Then put one spoon of olive oil on the pan and pour the batter.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.
II
Gluten-free Cauliflower Crust
- 1 head of organic cauliflower (riced in blender) or 340 g. cauliflower rice
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 tbsp oregano
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 3 eggs
- Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
In a large mixing bowl mix riced cauliflower, almond flour, oregano, salt and pepper. Crack eggs in a separate bowl and beat them well for about a minute. Add egg mixture to the rest of ingredients and make a batter.
Place on a baking pan and flatten it using your hands. Bake for 25 minutes.
III
The Easiest Crust Option
We recently found a nice flat pizza crust at whole foods named Flatzza. It is not a gluten free option but it is made out of only a few real ingredients. It is a quick but still clean option for busy or lazy days 😉
IV
Favorite Pizza Topping
Ingredients:
- 5 tbsp Tomato sauce (We use tomato & basil Rao’s)
- 2 small tomatoes
- ½ small eggplant
- 1 small zucchini
- ½ big sweet pepper
- 1 handful of fresh spinach
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt pepper to taste
- Organic cheese mix (use vegan cheese or nutritional yeast if you prefer)
Instructions:
Cut zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes into super thin circles, cut pepper into stripes. Mix all veggies beside tomatoes in a large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Sauce the chosen crust, then put zucchini, eggplant, pepper on the crust evenly, place sliced tomatoes on the top if other veggies and sprinkle with some salt. Then put as much cheese as you like. Bake your pizza until all vegetables are soft, it takes about 15-20 min at 425 degrees F.
Cut some spinach and put on the top of fresh out the oven pizza.
Enjoy your easy pizza! And let’s have a picnic tonight!
