Mini Pizza Pucks
Our whole family loves pizza. Lately I have been trying to find simple dishes for weekday meals, what with Little B getting involved in evening activities and Big D and I with busy work days. In our endeavor to avoid wheat there are few alternatives for quick pizza where we live. The local pizza places just give blank looks when the words ‘wheat free’ or ‘gluten free’ are used, and delivery is a joke when wheat free is concerned. To be fair, there is one place with gluten free pizza, but it is still has nutrition-poor carbohydrates in a rice based crust. Not the end of the world for Little B on the rare occasion, but for me and Big D, who need to avoid the carbs, it is not a solution. These pizza pucks I made are a result of spontaneous experimentation. I tried to combine my cheese crisps and low carb pizza recipes to make this meal and it turned out pretty darned good! They were quick, fun and Little B enjoyed helping making them, of course. I call them pizza pucks, not because they are overly hard or difficult to eat, but because you can pack them up, like pucks, and I am currently living in a place where hockey is popular. I am not yet ensconced in watching or playing the sport, I just went with it. And it is cold. What other time of the year can you call pretty much anything a puck? Besides being a good dinner, the leftovers worked well as a cold snack on the way to Little B’s soccer practice, or ballet, or whatever happens after five but before bedtime that does not involve crashing on the couch at home. What better snack than some protein before running around for an hour or more? Maybe I should come up with some pizza balls to go with the soccer theme, but that is for another day and time…
Mini Pizza Pucks
3 cups shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese
1/2 cup golden flaxseed meal
1 egg
1 Tbsp dried parsley leaves
1 Tbsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup large black olives
6 roasted or pickled garlic cloves (you can use raw, but they may not cook through and cause problems for sensitive stomachs)
20 – 30 slices pepperoni
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor combine olives and garlic, then pulse until a rough paste forms. Set aside. In a medium bowl combine the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses with flaxseed meal. whisk the egg and add to cheese mixture, folding it in until the cheese is coated. Add the salt, parsley, basil and garlic powder, doing a final few stirs to distribute the spices. On two nonstick cookie sheets make flat piles of cheese, about 2 inches in diameter with about an inch between them. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of olive paste on each pile, spreading it gently with the bottom of the spoon. Place one to two slices of pepperoni on each pile, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven (using two different rack levels) for 12 – 15 minutes, until the edges of cheese begin to brown and the pepperoni glistens. Yes, it must glisten to have the right flavor. Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes before serving.