Black Bean Taco Pizza

I love pizza! Who doesn't. But, pizza made from processed ingredients does me no favors! I'll overeat, feel lousy, be mad at myself and the cravings will begin and I'll want to eat again shortly after already overeating. So, because pizza made from processed ingredients affects me that way, when I have pizza I make it myself. This one - taco pizza from "refried" black beans with stone ground organic flour for the crust uses ingredients made by the earth and not a corporation that uses processed, refined, chemical loaded ingredients. This is a one person pizza made from real food and it's really good if I do say so myself!

BLACK BEAN TACO PIZZA

For the crust - 

1/3 cup organic stone ground wheat flour

1/2 tsp yeast

1/4 tsp honey

3 1/2 T warm filtered water

dash of salt

Dissolve the yeast and the honey in the warm water. Stir in the flour until it's well incorporated and shape into a ball. Cover and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Sauce - 

1/3 cup black "refried" beans - my version of refried beans for this was to take organic black beans that I had cooked with garlic and mash them into a paste-like consistency. You can buy regular organic refried beans and use them as well.

1/6 cup organic taco sauce

Toppings

shredded cheese

sliced black olives

chopped green onion

chopped green pepper

Stir the beans and the taco sauce together for the pizza sauce. Spread the pizza dough onto a baking stone and top with the bean sauce and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Top with the sliced olives, chopped onion and green pepper and any other veggie you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.When it's done top with lettuce and tomatoes and salsa and maybe guacamole. Taco pizza!

PACK YOUR LUNCH! - Chicken Cobb Salad

Make it easy on yourself. Pack a lunch to take to work that is nutritious, dense with protein, vitamins and minerals, not enormous (don't stuff yourself!) and will keep your cravings at bay. Stay away from the processed bread, the fast food restaurant down the street, the pizza joint, the vending machines, the soda machine (WATER, WATER, WATER - the earth makes water) and be good to your body.

Here's one idea - 

Chicken Cobb Salad with balsamic vinaigrette (or in my case just vinegar). Easy to make and just takes a few preparations the night (or weekend before).

Early preparations -

Grill enough chicken for several days and freeze it. I grilled the chicken in this salad with olive oil, basil and garlic on Sunday and did enough for several future lunches and froze it. Then I just took some out of the freezer this morning, microwaved it for 20 seconds, sliced it up and put it in the salad.

Boil an egg (or six) the night before. Use one in your salad.

Chop your lettuce and other veggies the night before.

For this one I assembled it all in a bowl with 1/2 of a sliced avocado, chopped tomato and green pepper and onion. Plenty of protein and veggies. 

You can make any kind of dressing you like. PLEASE don't use commercially prepared bottled dressing unless you read, read, read the label. Most are LOADED with chemicals and sugar and all kinds of things that will cause cravings and other issues. I used about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (no oil - your choice if you do, but if you do, use olive), a dash of dried dill or basil or Italian seasoning and another dash of stevia. Add a little salt and pepper that I keep at my desk and I'm good until dinner time. Do I get hungry? Sure. I'm supposed to get hungry. Is it out of control? No. Because I'm not craving. Craving and hunger are two entirely different situations. If you get out of the junk, processed foods, refined sugar and STAY out of them, the cravings for garbage food will stop. I can manage my hunger as long as the cravings aren't there.

If it isn't from the earth, don't eat it!

  

BREAKFAST!!

I can't speak for everybody but I get up hungry. A a bowl of processed sugary cereal loaded with chemicals and preservatives that has been made from GMO grains is something I avoid. To eat that would make me wonder what I did to make myself mad at myself.  Plus, if I did that not only would I feel like I was poisoning myself but by 9:30 I'd be STARVING and looking for the donuts and there would go the entire day. I have to go to work so that means that whatever I fix is going to have to be pretty fast. This morning it was potato and mushroom hash topped with a poached egg that I get from the local lady who raises chickens.  Recipe for the hash - 1 chopped (organic if possible) red potato, two chopped baby portabello mushrooms and a tablespoon of chopped onion.

Add three chopped sage leaves or 1/4 tsp of dried sage if you don't have fresh sage.Cook in 1 tsp of coconut oil and top with a poached egg. Add some fresh fruit and a cup of coffee and it's breakfast that will stave off the cravings and keep you going until lunch. However, if this isn't a big enough breakfast for you, have a bigger breakfast. By lunchtime you're still going to get hungry. At least you should. You're supposed to get hungry. It's the cravings we seek to eliminate and there's a big difference between an empty tummy that's growling and cravings that make you look for a fix.