Vegan and Gluten-Free Mini Veggie Pizza

Comfort foods are my best friend. My parents are both great cooks and go out of their way to make everyone's favorite foods at all times. One of my favorite childhood dishes, was the English muffin mini pizzas Joe (my dad) would make for us. Honestly, I can't remember if he made them very often , but this is a dish I always associate with him.

I've been wanting to make these mini pizzas myself, but I have two problems: gluten and dairy. In the past, I've made my own pizza crust with gluten free flour, but I just want to be able to throw together a quick and easy pizza, that reminds me of Joe's pizza.

My solution presented itself in the form of these great gluten and dairy free Amy's sandwich rounds. I haven't had much luck in finding a small roll or English muffin-type of bread in the past. These are amazing. They are nice and soft, but not too chewy and held up well with all of the toppings on them, too.

Veggie Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
• 3 to 4 mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in olive oil
• 3 to 4 asparagus stalks, steamed and cut into small pieces
• Amy's Gluten-Free Sandwich Round or 1 English muffins or 1 pita cut in half
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, coarsely chopped
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1. If using pizza dough: prepare as per the package instructions and pre-bake the dough halfway.
2. If using English muffins or pita bread: place in a toaster oven or a regular oven on broil for 3 minutes.
3. Take the partially baked pizza dough or the toasted bread and layer on top all of the veggies.
4. Pour the oil over top, and sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.
5. Place back in the oven or broiler and cook until the veggies and crust/bread have browned slightly.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 5 to 20 minutes.

Cook’s note: You can add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, mozzarella or Parmesan cheese as a base, before you place the vegetables on the bread.

Going Down the Hill: Strawberry Grapefruit and Sage Granita

Have you ever made granita before? I hadn't until last night. It was so easy that I think this will become a regular thing with all of these great Spring-into-Summer fruits coming my way.

Some of my favorite summer moments include walking Down the Hill to the pizza place to get a frozen Italian ice. Down the Hill is treated as such, since it was a title for a small hill made up of dirt that created a shortcut between our suburban Queens neighborhood and a small strip of stores just off the LIE eastbound. If you needed something from the store you were directed to go Down the Hill.

Of course, there was another hill just on the other side of the shopping mall, but that was not Down the Hill, you know what I mean? There were times that my mother, Gran Fran, made it clear we were not supposed to go Down the Hill, but down the hill. This was mostly when we wore shorts, flip flops, sandals, or were otherwise in danger of scraping ourselves on bits of broken glass or other debris left in the dirt. Oh, and sometimes when it was raining, icy, snowy, or just a regular Tuesday. You see where I'm going with this?

The Italian ice that we had came pre-packaged and was made by a company called Marino's. My parents grew up in Brooklyn and had hand-made Italian ices that we would periodically venture across borough lines to enjoy. The Brooklyn ices definitely tasted more like the fruit they said were included (lemon was my fave). But the packaged kind are still what comes to mind when summer weather shows itself, however briefly, here in SF (this weekend has topped out at a whopping 79 degrees without a cloud or fog bank in sight).

As I grew up and started to venture to other cities and states I found there were regionally produced ice-like treats. In Philly I came across Water Ice. Not a huge fan of this style of ice treat. I can't put my finger on why, and it may just be because it's not the same as what I knew as a child. But, I do know plenty of people who love them a good Water Ice.

In California, I was treated to Hawaiian Shaved Ice, but it's too bumpy and doesn't have that nice rich consistency that I love. I do, however, love the variety of flavors, and the less common ones, that are available for your very own custom shaved ice.

I wasn't sure it was going to turn out, since it was such a simple recipe. All the recipes I came across used quite a bit of sugar, which I decided to reduce. The first version I made used only half of what I'm recommending here, and no water. That batch was very tart. Fine for me, but I think most people would like their granita quite a bit sweeter.

Please enjoy this and let me know about any other types of ice-related goodness that I didn't go over here. I'd love to try more!

Strawberry, Grapefruit and Sage Granita

Ingredients

• 1 pound strawberries
• 1 large grapefruit skin removed
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 8 sage leaves minced

Method:

1. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and puree
2. Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof baking dish.
3. Freeze for 4 to 5 hours, until solid.
4. When ready to serve, take a fork and scrape the ice mixture into serving bowls or glasses.
5. Serve with a bit of sage on top.

Sweet Potatoes Three Ways

I don't have much to say here, short of the fact that sweet potatoes really float my boat.

They are good many ways, so I've chosen to share three with you today: mashed, oven fries and baked. Each is good in its own way and all are a welcome addition to any table.

A lot of my friends are wary when I tout the goodness of sweet potatoes, since their main exposure to them has been in the form of a casserole covered in marshmallows and maple syrup. That makes them sweet in the wrong way, and I understand why my friends are not huge fans of the sweet potato. Generally, once they've tried one of my plain and simple treatments, they are converted.

Enjoy them on their own or integrated into a meal with a salad and a roast.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 to 4 sweet potatoes, skinned, boiled and diced
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Salt to taste

Preparation

• Put boiled potatoes in a bowl, add milk, butter and salt and mash them all up thoroughly.
• You can also add 2 tablespoons of grated cheese like parmesan or sharp cheddar to the warm potatoes.

Oven-Baked French Fries

Ingredients

• 1 to 4 sweet potatoes, skinned and cut into matchsticks
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

• Place potato matchsticks on a rimmed baking sheet and put them into a 425 degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the potatoes over halfway through the cooking time. Remove from oven, salt and serve.

Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 to 4 potatoes (sweet, russet, new), pierced with a fork

Preparation

• Bake potatoes for 40 minutes, remove from oven, pop open the potatoes and serve!
• Serve with butter, sour cream, bacon or grated cheese.

Beet Salad with Oranges

 Gran Fran knows her way around beets. She would make them for us on a regular basis. Her salad involves only some olive oil and vinegar. And, she also cooks her with the skin on, removing it after cooking. Her method involves roasting the beets in the oven individually wrapped in foil (Gran Fran, let me know if I'm wrong here). Skinning the hot beets made me stay away from beet cooking for a good long time. My hands not only turned red from the juice, but also were slightly burned each time I tried to de-skin one of the beets.

My sister Danielle taught me this method, which turns your fingers red immediately, but leaves you with fewer burn marks on your hands. I think I end up with more beets, too. Using a vegetable peeler allows you to remove just the brown skin and preserve more of the good stuff.

I cook the beets in what will become the dressing for the final product, too, which gives you a really flavorful dressing. And, you are able to eat these hot, if you want to, without having to waste any time peeling off the skin.

The addition of oranges and sunflower seeds to this salad make it the perfect Spring-is-Here dish. It's fruity and earthy with just a little bit of crunch.

Featured on The Fruit Guys website.

Beet Salad with Oranges

INGREDIENTS

• 3 beets, skins peeled off, greens removed, cut into eighths.
• 1 small shallot, cut into quarters
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 orange cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon sunflower seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place the beet and shallots onto a rimmed baking sheet, or into a baking pan large enough to allow space between the pieces.
3. Mix together the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the beets, making sure to coat all sides of the beets.
4. Roast the beets in the oven for 40 minutes, or until fork tender, turning the beets every ten minutes or so.
5. In a large bowl, mix together the warm beets with the orange segments.