Ginger Date Tortilla Pizza

Petit pizza slices with fresh peaches and blackberries.

Easy meets gourmet in this savory sweet tortilla pizza.

I love traditional pizza toppings of red sauce, mushrooms, olives as much as the next person, but I also enjoy alternative pizza flavor palettes and fresh ginger on mozzarella cheese is one of the most unusual and delicious pairings I’ve yet to encounter.

I discovered using fesh ginger and mozzarella together at some hole in the wall Thai fusion restaurant and then further adapted it by adding chopped dates, shallots, feta, all drizzled with honey on top. This may sound like strange pizza indeed but, trust me, it is delicious! 😋

I keep my ginger root in the freezer in a plastic bag. That way, whenever I need fresh ginger, I just grab it out and it’s MUCH easier to grate—smooth as parmesan.

Recently I started experimenting with other fruit toppings trying out chopped blackberries, which also turned out to be quite good. I wonder what other fruit toppings I should try?

For ease of use and a low calorie crust to boot, there is no beating whole wheat tortillas. And, I have a trick for getting them to crisp up a bit more and give you that satisfying chewy-crunch. Lightly oil the baking sheet and heat it up in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then your pizzettes will get a toasty sizzle when you place them on the baking sheet that makes the crust less floppy and more firm, holding up the toppings with each chewy-cheesy bite.

Recipe: Makes 3 tortilla pizzas.

3 taco-size whole wheat tortillas
Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese shredded
Feta or Goat cheese
10-15 dried dates chopped into small pieces
Fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup diced shallots or red onions
Honey for drizzling

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400. Get out a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. An oversized baking sheet will fit all three pizzas. Put it in the oven to warm up for about 10 minutes. This is the crisping trick. When you take it out and put the tortillas on it they will sizzle and cook underneath giving you a crisper pizza crust.

While the pan is warming, chop up your toppings. Brush the top of each tortilla with olive oil and layer shredded mozzarella on top of each one. Grate fresh ginger all over on top of the cheese. Decorate the top liberally with chopped dates, shallots, and feta or goat cheese.

Take the now hot baking pan out of the oven, rest it on the stovetop, and carefully place each small pizza onto the pan and listen to the little sizzle as each tortilla hits the oil. Drizzle lines of honey across the top of each pizza. Put back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden and cheese bubbly. Slice and enjoy!

Ginger Date Tortilla Pizza

Easy meets gourmet in this savory sweet tortilla pizza.

I discovered using fresh ginger and mozzarella together at some hole-in-the-wall Thai fusion restaurant and then further adapted it by adding chopped dates, shallots, feta, all drizzled with honey on top. This may sound like strange pizza indeed but, trust me, it is delicious! 😋

I keep my ginger root in the freezer in a plastic bag. That way, whenever I need fresh ginger, I just grab it out and it’s MUCH easier to grate—smooth as parmesan.

Recently I started experimenting with other fruit toppings trying out chopped blackberries, which also turned out to be quite good. I wonder what other fruit toppings I should try?

Recipe: Makes 3 tortilla pizzas.

3 taco-size whole wheat tortillas
Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese shredded
Feta or Goat cheese
10-15 dried dates chopped into small pieces
Fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup diced shallots or red onions
Honey for drizzling

Instructions:

French Tuna Fish Salad

I grew up eating tuna fish sandwiches with mayo in the tuna and had no idea there was any other way to prepare tuna. As I became more health conscious I figured there had to be another way and began to look for it. One day I stumbled across a recipe for a gourmet French tuna fish sandwich.

It was semi-complicated sub sandwich involving marinading a baguette or some such thing. 🤔 I knew right away, with all the carbs and complication, that it wasn’t for me, but what I took away from it was using lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil to flavor the tuna. Such a simple dressing and the entire salad just bursts with light zesty flavor and, unlike that sandwich, it’s easy to make. 🍋😋

Kalamata olives pair so well with the tuna and lemon in here. I’m absolutely addicted to kalamatas. I used to think I didn’t like olives and then I had a Kalamata and it was so completely different and so much better that it bears almost no resemblance to the tiny black rings in cans that they insist upon calling black olives. And, you guessed it, with all the olives in this salad, you just had to know, it goes great with a glass of wine. It is, after all, a freeeench saalaaad, n’est pas? (😆 Sorry! Couldn’t resist the accent, stopping now.) Might I recommend a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc?

There are olives and then there are Kalamatas.

For my vegan friends out there, this salad shares quite a few ingredients with the vegan chickpea of the sea, tuna substitute, like this tasty catch from Veganista. So, to make this salad vegan, begin by crafting a batch of chickpea tuna and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

This is a warm salad, which makes it great for winter but the bright flavor makes it a winner for summer too. The only ingredient in it that is cooked is the green beans, which are sautéed in a pan with some olive oil. My pups 🐶 love it when I make this salad because they get what we call a “second dinner” of squeezed tuna juice over a little bit of kibble.

Recipe: Makes 2 large servings or 4 small ones. Takes about 20 minutes to make.

2 cans tuna (in water, not oil)
Cup or so of Green Beans, fresh or frozen (enough to fill the bottom of your frying pan)
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup arugula
1/4 cup rough chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
1/2 cup diced red onion
10 chopped Kalamata Olives
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice (or juice of one lemon)

Instructions:

Dump all the green beans into a frying pan with some olive oil and sauté on medium high heat until lightly browned in places. If you are using fresh green beans don’t forget to chop the ends and stems off.

Chop up the red onion, olives, and basil, and put to the side. If you don’t have any fresh basil on hand, just spinkle in a bit more Herbs de Provence.

While the green beans are cooking, get a large bowl out and start putting together the rest of the salad. Drain the liquid from the tuna cans and scrape the tuna out into the big bowl. Mash up the tuna cake. If you are using a fresh lemon, zest some of it into your tuna to bump up the lemon flavor! Season tuna with salt and pepper, herbs de Provence, olive oil, and lemon juice.

Add in all chopped ingredients to the salad and toss. Add in the cooked green beans and toss again. Add more salt, pepper, lemon juice, or olive oil to adjust the flavor to your liking.

Easy Almond Pulp Waffles

Once you start making your own almond milk, as those who do know all too well, you are constantly looking for ways to use up your almond pulp. One of the easiest and tastiest ways I’ve found so far to use up a bunch of pulp is waffles!

I’ve been experimenting with using almond pulp for a few months now and find that the dampness effects recipes a bit, weighing them down and making them more moist. The trick is to use that to your advantage and sometimes compensate for it a bit with a little more of whatever dry ingredients are in play. I’m working out my ratios with a citrus loaf recipe that I’ll post on soon.

There is something about waffles that just triggers happy for me, like good times and relaxed weekends are just built into that word.

In the back of my mind, I hear Eddie Murphy, in the role of Donkey from Shrek, saying “And in the mornin’, I’m makin’ waffles!”

I chose oat flour to make the recipe gluten free. If you don’t have oat flour, you can use regular baking flour. I’ve not tried this with coconut flour but would probably work great too. I’m kind of half way there already since the almond milk I make has a fair amount of coconut in it. You can also make your own oat flour by putting 2 cups of rolled oats into your food processor for a few minutes; double the ratio to account for the big flakes being ground down into powder.

About the banana. I’ve made this recipe without the banana in it and it still works. I just really like the hint of sweetness and tenderness the banana gives the waffles. So, in a pinch, you can skip the banana; it is just a little better with it.

Make your waffles vegan? This is a very flexible recipe so some chia eggs would do nicely here. I include eggs for some extra binding effect but they can probably be skipped altogether without much ill effect.

Toppings!

Real Maple Syrup is a must for me. I’ll have none of that fake, corn-syrup imposter stuff.

Fresh Fruit: I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that fresh berries of any kind are amazing on waffles. Strawberries are my favorite with blueberries as a close second. Fresh or canned peaches are also lovely. What’s the most unusual fruit, or other topping, you’ve ever topped a waffle with?

Cream?: Pad of real butter or cashew butter. If you’re feeling decadent or celebrating—and honestly, just having waffles feels like its own mini celebration— top off with some whipped cream. There are some terrific nondairy whipped creams out there, so the party is on for plant milk peeps! These waffles are gluten free and naturally sweetened so healthier waffles is something to celebrate, right?

Almond pulp waffle topped with strawberries. 😋

Recipe: (makes 3 Belgian-sized round waffles)

2 cups almond pulp
1 cup oat flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 ripe banana

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl or food processor.

Turn on your waffle iron and let it warm up. Brush with coconut oil or your non-stick oil of choice. Once the unit is hot, pour in batter amount appropriate for your waffle maker. The light on my waffle iron that is supposed to indicate when they are done doesn’t seem to work, so I just peak in every now and then to check for golden-ness. I keep my done waffles on a plate in the microwave so they stay warm until it’s time to eat.

Serve warm with your favorite toppings!

Almond Coconut Milk

Recently, I heard the dairy industry is lobbying for legislation to stop almond milk companies from labeling their product using the word milk because it’s misleading. Seems a little late in the game to be doing this. Call it what whatever you want, I will still drink it! Almond juice? Almond sweat? Almondaid? Almond Essence? Jus d’ Amande? 🤪 I couldn’t help coming up with silly new names for it. It seems almond beverage is the preferred term.

It’s true it doesn’t have the protein milk has, but it has more calcium and less calories. And, dairy milk has a lot of bad things in it, which is why I switched in the first place.

So, this is how I started making my own milk. One day, my husband came over to my desk excited by a new gadget he discovered for making almond milk on one of his tech blogs. He is a total geek for gadgets. I, on the other hand am always wary of new gadgets and appliances that fill up, my already limited, counter space. He made a persuasive case for it that won me over.

There are 2 added bonuses to making milk at home:

1.) You cut down on waste. When I would go grocery shopping I used to buy like four almond milk cartons at a time. It makes me happy to cut down on the garbage my household generates. 2.) You make pulp! And pulp is both tasty and useful stuff. After grinding up the almonds and what not, which flavors the water and gives you milk, there is pulp, about 1 cups worth per batch of milk.

You can use pulp for all kinds of things: pancakes, cookies, put in smoothies, bowl of pulpmeal & fruit. One person said you can make a shower scrub with it! I really have to try that some time. At the moment, my favorite thing to do with the pulp is make waffles. I will give my recipe for that in another post. I’m not always able to use up all my pulp but I do manage to use most of it.

The tech for making plant milk has gotten so good!

There is the Almond Cow which is for nut milks of all kinds. Almond coconut is my favorite but I really want to try making oat milk sometime.

If you are more into soy milk then the Soyabella is the one for you:

These two appliances are pretty similar except the Soyabella has a heating feature which is necessary for soy milk. I’ve heard almond cow is best for nut milks as it achieves a finer grade of grind as it is specifically designed for nuts.

You can make almond milk without one of these gadgets just using a food processor. It will just be a little more work as you will need to strain the milk out of the pulp through a cheesecloth or handkerchief. For me, the convenience of the gadget is what gave me the confidence that I could handle making milk on a regular basis.

You will also need glass bottles for storing your milk. Sadly, I don’t recommend the almond cow bottles as the lids don’t stay on tight, which means milk goes bad much more quickly. I found some nice bottles on amazon with screw-on lids. Almond milk tends to separate so it needs to be shaken every time before pouring and these are great for shaking!

First add shredded coconut, then chopped dates, then almonds.

Almond Coconut Milk Recipe:

Half cup of almonds (soaked in water in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight)
Half cup unsweetened shredded coconut
4 chopped dates (or as I like to call them congealed honey pods)
1/4 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt (I know, this sounds a bit hoity-toity but the reason for using it is to put the extra minerals that are in PHS in your milk)
5 cups filtered water (There is a min max fill line on the inside of the almond cow maker.)

Pour the water in your almond cow or processor and sprinkle in the salt. Drain excess water from soaked almonds. Load the almond cow basket with all ingredients. I always put the coconut first, then dates (slice dates in half), then almonds.

Make sure the basket is tightly secured to the grinder! and load into the almond cow pitcher. (I broke the basket the first time I made milk because it wasn’t fully locked on. Almond Cow was really nice about it and replaced it for free.) Next, press the cow button and grind, baby, grind! I usually run my almond cow for two cycles. Pour milk into glass bottle. Empty pulp into storage container.

Repeat as necessary. I tend to make 3 batches at a time, so that I’m not constantly making milk. Enjoy that first sip of milk you made yourself! 😋