Faux Italian!

Going Paleo has been surprisingly fun. You would think that it would make eating very restrictive since it eliminates grains,etc., which for most people (and my prior self),is one of the main foods consumed. However, Paleo has made me focus on learning how to cook differently and as a result made it so easy to incorporate and eat more veggies! Yeh for veggies!


I don't usually cook to substitute old-fashion comfort food, but every so often it's fun to have the familiar. Not that I have any free time to experiment much, but this past weekend I attempted a faux-Italian meal after coming across some interesting recipes through Pinterest.

Ryan is lactose intolerant. He hasn't had pizza in the past 10 years. So when I came across a recipe for a cauliflower pizza crust which is grain free (to suite my Paleo), I had to try it.


The original recipe uses Parmesan cheese. So I researched for an allergen free substitute cheese with high reviews for taste and texture, and found a great substitute, Daiya cheese (tapioca based).


The crust turned out AMAZING. In fact, I could just eat the crust without the rest of the toppings, it was THAT good. I like it better than normal pizza crust!


I was planning on either a Thai-BBQ chicken pizza or a veggie pizza, but decided to keep it "traditional" to minimize Ryan's eye rolling at my "concoctions". So tomatoes,mushroom,and pepperoni pizza it is! Faux-pizza was a success! It is definitely a keeper.


Next up to test was pesto zucchini faux-pasta. I had purchased a julienne slicer a while back and have used zucchini faux-pasta for spaghetti. This time I wanted to try it with pesto and see how well zucchini meshes with pesto.


Same as with regular pasta, I think leftovers is better for this dish. It allows more time for the pesto to become infused into the "pasta". So, fresh off the stove, zucchini faux-pasta was just so-so. As leftovers the next day, it tasted pretty good. I probably won't make it again though, even though I liked the leftovers. Somehow pesto (at least the store bought pesto) does not sit well with my body because of the high content of oil. I always get a sore throat from foods that have too much oil in it. Maybe if I make my own pesto and exclude the oil... (Note: This was organic, dairy-free pesto from Whole Foods)


Okay, this last experiment is not Italian at all, but I had the ingredients so I decided to try it. Lebanese taro fries with cilantro pesto.


Neither Emilia nor Ryan liked it. The flavors are very strong and the taro itself is a starchy, mushy texture. I thought it was okay, but ultimately prefer the Chinese style of taro patties or the Asian desserts with taro.


All in all, I'd say out of 3 dishes, finding 1 that is a definite keeper is good. The 2nd dish would have been a keeper too if it wasn't for my body's reaction to pesto. I will have to re-attempt the 2nd dish with homemade, oil-free pesto.