Gluten-Free On A Budget

I have been guest blogging over on my friend Susanne Myer’s blog  The Hillbilly Housewife.  If you’ve never visited Susanne’s blog you should check it out.  She has some great tips on living a frugal lifestyle, (and honestly in this economy couldn’t we all use some help saving money anywhere we can)?

Anyway, there were some questions going around her blog on living a gluten free lifestyle frugally.  So she asked me if I could add any ideas to the conversation.  You can find my blog posts here and here.

Since the person asking the question was basically looking for food that she could make for her family that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, like most “gluten-free” food does, I thought I would offer up a recipe for you all.

So today I have a recipe that doesn’t take any expensive gluten-free ingredients.  Just good fresh food.

Zucchini Crust Pizza Pie

• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided
• 1/4 lb ground meat (beef, pork, turkey, chicken, or omit)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh (or 1 tsp dried) oregano
  other pizza style toppings as desired

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and oil a pie pan with olive oil or cooking spray.
Mix the shredded zucchini with salt in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.
Dump the zucchini into a colander to drain liquid, then take paper towels and squeeze zucchini to absorb more of the liquid.
Put dried zucchini into a bowl and add the egg and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, mix well to combine.
Press the zucchini/mozzarella mixture into the pie pan, evenly pressing it on the bottom to form a ‘pizza crust.’
Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly browned and set up. The cheese and egg will bind the zucchini together. When baked, remove and let stand at room temperature; keep oven on.
Meanwhile, put the meat and onion in a skillet and brown meat.
Add the tomato sauce, garlic, and oregano and stir to combine; remove from heat.
Spoon the tomato mixture over the cooled zucchini crust and cover with the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.  Add any other toppings you’d like at this point.
Put back in 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly hot and slightly browned.
Remove and let stand at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing to serve.
Will serve 4 to 6.

You can find more of my recipes in my cookbook: