Chronically Jenni

Wether you love it or hate it Eurovision is always a big, and controversial, event in anyone’s calendar. Although the UK are never going get very far, wether we’ve got Joe & Jake, bless them, or if we bribed Adele to get up there, Eurovision has always been a little guilty pleasure of mine and, occasionally, produces some half decent songs. And for a good night in watching Graham Norton taking the mickey out of every European country and, for some reason, Australia (No, I don’t understand either) it is essential to have some yummy treats to get you through and,in my family, this has always been pizza followed by an awesome desert (I made Deliciously Ella’s Chocolate Caramel Slices which I plan to review soon, recipe from her new book). But since I gave up gluten and refined sugar, and cut down on dairy (I’m really trying but no one is perfect) in order to help calm my medical conditions down I knew this year was going to be a challenge. But here’s what I did and how I did it to make sure this years Eurovision Pizza , or any saturday night pizza night up to scratch. This includes the recipes for a gluten free Pizza base, a tasty tomato sauce free from refined sugar and a nutritious and vegan Garlic and Herb dip all with my best of Eurovision playlist to get you through the 45-55 mins of prepping and cooking. Have fun and Enjoy 😀

First I made the pizza base:

Now my mum has just bought some fancy dough mixing machine which I struggled to get my head around, so if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty it’s probably much easier to use a spoon and your hands. This recipe will make two small thin pizzas. ( I made one big one and it was just too thick much better making two smaller, thinner ones)

Ingredients:

• 250ml lukewarm water
• 1 and a half tbs dried active yeast
• 250g gram flour
• 250g buckwheat flour (plus more to dust)
• 1ts salt (or a bit more if, like me, you have POTS)
• 3 and a half tbs olive oil

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. Prepare two baking trays with grease proof paper dusted with buckwheat flour.
2. In a mixing bowl mix the yeast and water together with a wooden spoon (or a fancy mixer, if your that way inclined) for about 30 seconds.
3. Add the gram flour and buckwheat flour to the mix with the salt and olive oil.
4. Mix together until you’ve got the consistency of a dough like mixture. If it’s a little wet you can add a little more flour. When you are happy with the consistency, half the dough so you have two pizza bases.
5. Dust a rolling-pin and roll out each half of the mixture onto a baking tray. roll the edges over to give you a nice thick crust.
6. Set aside while you make the tomato sauce.

I like to make some sweet potato wedges to go with my pizza (my boyfriend likes them with every meal). They take about 40mins in the oven so I would put them in at this point, before you start the sauce and your oven should already be pre-heated. After oiling a baking tray I cover the chopped sweet potato in a little oil, salt, pepper and herbs.

For The Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 300g chopped tomatoes
• 3 tbs tomato puree
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 ts chilli powder
• 1 ts cumin
• 1 ts tamari
• 1 tbs basil
• 1 tbs maple syrup (optional)
• Salt & pepper to taste.

1. Pour the chopped tomatoes into a frying pan on a medium heat and add the tomato puree.
2. Peel and crush the garlic into the pan. and heat for a minute or so.
3. Add the tamari, herbs and spices and some maple syrup if you need a little bit of sweetness.
4. Heat for a few minutes.
5. Leave to cool a little before pouring the mixture onto the top of the pizza bases.

 

Now for the toppings:

If you can tolerate dairy and or can’t imagine having a cheeseless pizza I’m not going to stop you smothering the beautiful tomato sauce you’ve made with cheese ( I did for my boyfriend) but if, like me, you’re trying to cut down, you can either just put your toppings straight onto the tomato sauce or sprinkle some nutritional yeast over it. Nutritional yeast has become my best friend recently, not only does it have a really cheesy, nutty taste but, it is, also, vegan and gluten free and full of awesome health benefits such as folic acid and vitamin B12.

I like to top my pizza with chopped mushrooms, peppers, sweetcorn and spinach. but once you’ve got your base and sauce you can top it with whatever you want.

So now you’ve got all your elements and it’s only taken about half an hour, you can pop your pizza in your pre-heated oven let it cook for 15 minutes and enjoy 😀

You can also store any you don’t eat in an air tight container in the fridge and re-heat in the microwave for about 2mins the next day.

Whilst the pizza is in the oven I like to make a cheeky little extra. I used to adore Dominos’ famous Garlic & Herb dip and have found pizza crusts so bland since giving up refined sugar and cutting down on dairy. So with the Domino’s version being so full of rubbish, however yummy it is, I decided to make my own much healthier version. Now it might not be as good but I think it’s a pretty reasonable replacement to give a go.

For the Garlic & Herb Dip:

This does make quite a lot of dip so if you’re cooking for four or more who all love garlic dip I’d make this recipe but if it’s just for one or two I’d make a half batch. You could also probably use this instead of the tomato sauce if you wanted a garlic pizza bread.

Ingredients:

• 60g cashew nuts
• 60g brazil nuts
• 160ml milk alternative (I used coconut milk. You could also use water but it won’t be quite as creamy)
• 4 cloves of garlic (I used 6 and it was way too much!)
• 4-5 tbs of herbs ( Use whatever you have around/like, I used dried basil, thyme and herb de Provence)
• 1 tbs nutritional yeast
• 1 tbs tahini
• a little lime juice
• salt & pepper ( to taste)

1. This one is super simple, just put all the ingredients into a strong food processor and blend until you’ve got a smooth, tasty dip.

Here’s my best of Eurovision playlist full of Uk classics, old favourites, memorable & half decent tracks and all my favourites from last night. It’s about 55mins worth of pure EuroPop so should get you through cooking all your pizza elements even if you have to skip a few songs.

If you’re interested the costs of this whole meal which would serve 2-4 people would be:

• Pizza Bases: £1.70
• Tomato Sauce: 87p
• Toppings: 83p (veg & nutritional yeast)
• Sweet Potato Wedges: 50p
• Garlic & Herb Dip: £1.87

This makes a total meal cost of £5.77 which makes it very reasonable and shows gluten free, vegan and sugar free food doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Thank you very much for reading my very first blog post. I hope you enjoy it and would love your feedback 😀

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