Rustic Archives - Strength and Sunshine

The traditional and budget-friendly Irish recipe with a twist! This meatless Rustic Mung Bean Shepherd’s Pie is gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly. Whether you’re in need of a easy family dinner to serve a crowd of just need some healthy comfort food, this cottage pie is the way to go!

The glory! The pride! This is a celebration and a recipe long overdue! Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day I had to get a shepherd’s pie recipe done, not only for you readers of the blog, but also myself! My strong Irish roots have been crying over the fact that I’ve never had shepherd’s pie…ever! A classic dish that I never even had when I was younger and had a non-restricted diet! At least I saved myself with Irish Soda Bread last year!Read More

It’s Recipe Redux Day! We are splitting up the posting this month because we just have so many members contributing now. Yesterday was the first half of the bloggers and I was assigned the second day…today…to post mine! I had a lot of trial and error with this theme. I was really excited but then got pretty upset when what I wanted to do totally failed. But hey, it all makes us better cooks in the long run. Actually the weekend I tried out my first idea was the weekend from hell I told you about on Monday. So that is probably why it didn’t go in my favor, haha!

January’s theme: Pizza Party! Give the delivery guy a day off; whether it is for Friday Fun Night with the kids, a pizza chef competition among friends, or for Super Bowl Sunday (February 2). Share your healthy pizza recipe that we can all look forward to after a long week…or a long day.

Yay, pizza. I have loved making personal pizza ever since this beauty was born. And I am pretty sure vegan and gluten-free homemade pizza creations are the best. I don;t miss real pizza and I never will. This pizza I have for you today is really simple and light. The perfect “appetizer” to a Super Bowl party. But it is also elegant and and perfect for a light healthy lunch. I actually bulked mine up when I had it for dinner one night by adding pinto beans, so feel free to add your favorite protein source to make this light pizza a dinner main!

Roasted Winter Veggie Tortilla Pizza

Ingredients: (serves 1)

+ 1 Medium Carrot (peeled and chopped in to discs)

+ 1/3 Cup Chopped Artichoke Hearts

+ 3 TB Chopped Raw Beets

+ Onion Power, Garlic Powder, White Pepper, Oregano (all to taste for the veggies)

+ 1 Large Brown Rice Tortilla

+ 1/4 Cup Salt-Free Tomato Paste

+ Dried Basil, Oregano, Onion Powder, White Pepper (all to taste for the sauce)

+ 1/2 TB Nutritional Yeast

+ Optional: Beans, Sprouted Lentils, Sliced Chicken (to make this a meal!)

Directions:

+ Preheat the oven to 425°F.

+ On a foiled and oiled baking sheet, place down your prepared veggies and then sprinkle on the seasoning and toss with your hands. Spread it all out and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

+ While the veggies roast mix your tomato paste and spices together and get that all ready for assembly. Once the veggies are done, prepare another baking sheet and assemble your pizza. First the tortilla, then the sauce, nutritional yeast, then the veggies and optional protein

+ Bake the pizza for 12-14 minutes. Remove when the edges are brown and crispy!

So my first failed attempt was that I was going to make my own crust. It was going to be a wonderful chickpea flour crust made like a pancake. Well It did not work out and ended up getting complete stuck on the pan. I cried. Maybe next time I will have to try it again, but when my weekend is actually going good, haha!

I actually really like the lighting in these shots! It was a dark and stormy day (of course) and 5 o’clock so there was absolutely no good natural light in the one little tiny spot I can take shots in. I thought the pictures would be horrible when I looked at them on the computer, but the low lighting adds to the rustic wintery theme of this pizza, haha! Good thing, because otherwise I am pretty sure that weekend would have been the death of me!