Well. That was interesting. If you are part of the wider blogging world, you are probably aware that Blogger, Google’s online self-publishing platform, crapped out for the better part of 24 hours. Those of us who use it to publish our blogs were in a bit of a tizzy, wondering how and when it would come back up. Twitter was aflame with foodbloggers, and many other sorts of bloggers, I am sure, lamenting lost posts and inaccessible dashboards. I wasn’t exactly leading the charge, but I wasn’t taking the enforced blogging break lying down either. I might have lobbed a few complaints in Blogger’s direction. Quite honestly, I was surprised by how much it bothered me. I’ve been able to deny my blogging addiction up until now, telling myself I could quit any time I wanted, I didn’t NEED to blog. But an out-of-commission blog made me face up to reality. Hi. My name is Carolyn and I am a blogaholic.
It’s true, I really do love blogging. I love sharing my recipes and telling you little anecdotes about my life and how I came to create a certain dish. Not being able to bring you a recipe when I wanted made me a little twitchy, to say the least. Normally on a Saturday, I would post The Weekend Voyeur, sharing links from other foodbloggers, but this week I am going to skip it. Once Blogger was up and running again yesterday, I didn’t have the time or the energy to post my Thai Chicken Pizza, so posting that now is priority number one.
Let me tell you a little how this recipe came to be. Last week my local YMCA was giving out some free samples and, being the cheapskate that I am, I grabbed some without even really knowing what they were. When I took a closer look, I saw that I had a package of flatbread wraps in my hand, a brand called Flat Out, that just so happened to be relatively low carb (6 g net carbs per serving). The front of the package called out that they were good for making quick and easy pizza, so I instantly started scheming as to how I might use them for a quick week night meal.
By the time I got home, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I remembered a lovely Thai Chicken Pizza that my sister-in-law had made several years ago. A quick Google search brought several recipes that sounded like a similar sort of thing, and I decided to use this one from Eating Well as my guide. With some modifications, naturally. I thought their sauce looked a little wimpy so I adapted my own favourite spicy peanut sauce instead. I also used thigh meat instead of breasts, as I find it richer and more flavourful. I had no scallions, so I subbed in red onion, and I sautéed the pepper and onion before adding them to the pizza. And of course, the crust was made from my free-sample low carb wraps.
The Results: There was a reason I was so annoyed with Blogger’s issues, and it’s that I couldn’t wait to share this recipe! If you like Thai food and you like pizza, you will love the marriage of the two. The peanut sauce has a lovely kick, so I am glad I went with my instincts and used my own sauce. The wraps held up admirably as the crust and crisped up very nicely on our hot pizza stone. (Interestingly, it did not perform as well on the plain cheese pizza I made for the kids. The tomato sauce seemed to keep it from crisping up as much).
In my former life, before diabetes, my problem with pizza was always that the crust filled me up too much and I hardly had room for more than a single slice. But a flatbread pizza like this is so much more about the toppings and the flavours, and the crust itself takes a back seat. I really enjoyed being able to indulge in pizza that had so much flavor and not as much crust or carbs.
But you could easily make this with any sort of pizza crust. If you are working with uncooked dough, you will want to bake it for 8 to 10 minutes before adding the toppings.
Thai Chicken Pizza – adapted from Eating Well
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 cup shredded mozarella
4 8-inch low carb tortillas or wraps
OR
1 lb pizza dough**
In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, water, vinegar, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper flakes until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon to a plate or bowl. Add pepper and onion to hot skillet and saute until just tender, about 4 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425F.
Spread each wrap with 1/4 of the peanut sauce. Top with chicken, red pepper and onion. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake on a pizza stone or cookie sheet on middle rack of oven until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 8 minutes.
**If you are making this with regular pizza dough, be sure to bake the crust first for 8 to 10 minute before adding the toppings and returning it to the oven.
Serves 6 to 8. For 8 servings, each serving has 6.45g net carbs.
