Pulled BBQ Chicken Pizza

Being from the South, one of my favorite meals is BBQ pulled pork!

I especially love BBQ pulled pork on a nice hot sesame bun and a slather of cole slaw. Oh yum!

I wanted to re-create this dish using some healthier alternatives.

I definitely had to ditch the bun. No bun hun!

I decided to use the already prepared cauliflower pizza crust from Cal'flour Foods. Why do I love them so much?

I love not having to spend an entire afternoon making my own crusts. They comes shipped to my door in a matter of days by priority mail! Talk about convenience!

I also love the taste of these crusts and that they come in two yummy flavors which are Italian and Plain!

No soggy veggie crusts and they bake up nicely!

You can purchase them HERE!

The next thing I did was choose leaner chicken breasts over pork. This allowed me to use up a healthy fat, which is the mayo, to make the cole slaw that tops the pizza. 

To make the pulled BBQ chicken, I decided to use my new Instant Pot! I am still fairly new to the whole pressure cooker scene, but so far I am loving it! If you don't have an Instant Pot, don't worry! Use your trusty old slow cooker! I still love my slow cooker!

The Instant Pot does cook up faster than a slow cooker, but don't think the 25 minute cooking time is all there is to it. It takes about 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure. Then 25 minutes to cook and then tack on the 10 to 15 minutes (maybe more) to do a natural pressure release. You still get to have delicious BBQ pulled chicken in a little over an hour, instead of the usual 6 to 8 hours! Sounds pretty good to me!

I added just the chicken breasts and root beer to the instant pot and the chicken turned out extremely moist and sooo yummy! You can also add any extra seasonings if you like, but I didn't add anything else. The root beer helps tenderize the meat as well as give it a slightly sweetened flavor. If you don't have root beer, coca cola works too!

This is the shredded chicken before adding the BBQ sauce.

After your chicken is cooked, drain the meat. Add the chicken to a bowl so you can add your BBQ sauce. I get asked often about which BBQ sauce I like to use. There are mainly two brands that I enjoy.

The one above, G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free Hickory BBQ sauce, is the one I used for this recipe. It is easy to find at your local grocery stores so you don't have to order it online. I found this one at Wally World by all the other BBQ sauces. I can't say that I like all their flavors though. I couldn't stand the Maple Brown flavor so I had to toss it, but Hickory is quite good.

The other sugar free BBQ sauce I like is Guy's Award Winning BBQ Sauce. I have only found this sauce online which comes in 5 flavors: Hot, Original, Smokey Bacon, Smokey Garlic and Spicy. My favorite? Smokey Garlic! I have tried all of them and they were all yummy! You can find them HERE.

Once you have your BBQ pulled chicken set aside, make the cole slaw using already packaged cole slaw mix or shredded cabbage. I left the carrots in the mix because the slaw is only 5 grams of carbs for the entire 1 1/2 cups. A Green on the Medifast plan must be below 5 grams of carbs per 1/2 cup. Besides... the little orange pieces add color!

I added 2 tbsp of reduced fat mayo, 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar, and about 1/2 a packet of Stevia to the cole slaw mix. I like to use Splenda Naturals Stevia packets or Nu Naturals Stevia packets. Both sweeteners work well for cooking. Set aside the cole slaw until the pizza is hot out of the oven!

Place your cauliflower pizza crust on parchment paper (not waxed) and bake for about 5 minutes in a pre-heated oven. Doesn't that crust look delicious?

Add 6 ounces of pulled BBQ chicken on top of the crust.

Drizzle more BBQ sauce on top if desired! I desire!

Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the chicken and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Once the pizza is out of the oven, then add the prepared cole slaw.

Cut into 4 slices...

... but you can have two of those yummy slices! Crunchy creamy cole slaw over sweet BBQ chicken! Yes please! Enjoy this yummy recipe!

Pulled BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

1 Cali'flour Foods Lite Cauliflower Pizza Crust (1/2 Lean, 3 Greens)

6 ounces Prepared Pulled BBQ Chicken ~ Recipe Below (1 Lean, 3 Condiments)

1/2 cup 2% Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (1/2 Lean)

For the Slaw:

1 1/2 cup Shredded Cole Slaw Mix or Shredded Cabbage (3 Greens)

2 tbsp Reduced Fat Mayo (2 Healthy Fats)

1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Packet Stevia, or to taste (1/2 Condiment)

For the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Pulled BBQ Chicken:

36 ounces Chicken Breasts (4 Leans)

12 ounces Diet Root Beer

3/4 cup G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free Hickory BBQ Sauce (12 Condiments)

Directions:

Place chicken and root beer in the Instant Pot.

If you would like to add any other seasonings such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc, 

please do so at this time. I added the root beer only.

Put the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the float valve to sealing.

Press the poultry setting button and adjust the cooking time to 25 minutes.

When done cooking, do a 10 to 15 minute natural pressure release.

After 10 to 15 minutes, there may still be some pressure left in the pot.

That is okay. Just turn the float valve to venting to release the rest of the pressure.

Wear an oven mitt and be careful of the steam! 

This ensures moist chicken.

Drain the chicken and shred with a fork.

Add BBQ sauce and set aside.

If using a slow cooker, cook the chicken and root beer on 

Low for 6 to 8 hours or High for 3 to 4 hours. 

Drain the chicken and shred with a fork. 

Add BBQ sauce and set aside.

Reserve 6 ounces of pulled BBQ chicken for the recipe and store the rest as left overs.

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Make the slaw.

Place cole slaw mix or shredded cabbage in a small bowl.

Add mayo, apple cider vinegar, and stevia to taste.

Set aside.

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add parchment paper on top of a pizza pan.

Place cauliflower pizza crust on parchment paper.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Top pizza crust with 6 ounces of pulled BBQ chicken.

Drizzle any extra BBQ sauce on top if desired.

Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top with cole slaw.

Makes 2 Servings

Each Serving (half of the pizza) provides:

1 Lean, 3 Greens, 1.75 Condiments, and 1 Healthy Fat

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CLASSIC SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Sweet and tender, these old fashioned classic shortbread cookies are easy to make and ALWAYS a big hit. Picky-picky husband loves them frosted in pink (for some weird reason), they are one of his all time favorites.

CLASSIC SHORTBREAD COOKIES

2 cups UNsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 cups all purpose flour
(NO EGGS)

The cookie batter in the recipe is fairly heavy, so it works best in a stand mixer if possible.

Add 2 cups (one pound) of room temperature butter and 1 cup regular sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). The last 30 seconds or so, add the salt and extracts and beat until well mixed. (see note about salt)

Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well between each addition.
Dump cookie batter onto counter and divide into 4 sections. Roll each section into a "log" about 2" in diameter. Wrap each "log" in plastic wrap and chill for one hour. You can roll the entire CHILLED log in sprinkles or finely chopped nuts before you slice them if you like.

Pre-heat oven to 350° and slice chilled cookie dough "logs" into 1/4" slices. Place on UNgreased cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes or until the very edges just start to turn golden.

Cool cookies and frost if you like.  If you aren't going to frost them, roll the sliced cookie's in granulated sugar BEFORE BAKING.

NOTE: If you do not have UNsalted butter on hand (no big deal), just use regular salted  butter, but LEAVE OUT the salt in the recipe.

ENJOY !!!!!

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Grilled Turkey and Cheddar "Sandwich"

Sometimes I just want a delicious grilled cheese sandwich, but I don't want all the carbs that come with eating traditional white or wheat bread! I also don't want to sabotage all the hard work I put in to staying on plan! So what is a girl to do?

Come up with another alternative!

These "bread" slices made from grated cauliflower are actually pretty tasty! No, they don't really taste like bread, but it sure does help hold all that yummy cheese and sliced turkey together! I find that cauliflower can mimic a lot of  different foods such as pizza crusts, breads, pasta, etc so it just so happens to be one of my favorite veggies right about now!

I do find these "bread" slices to be a little bit more time consuming than using regular bread and you do have to be extra careful with flipping them over on the skillet. But that's okay! My health will thank me later!

I used my large electric griddle to cook these babies up. It allowed me to cook all four slices at once so it took less time to make them. Just remember to be very patient and careful when flipping the slices. You don't want the slices to fall apart! Get them nice and golden before you flip them. Once you have your slices done, top with cheese and turkey slices and cook until the cheese has melted. Delish!

The recipe below makes two yummy servings so make sure you have someone to share it with or you could always save the other one for tomorrow! Stick it in the fridge and then heat it up in the skillet again the following day! Serve with 1 Green of your choice to complete your Lean and Green meal!

Grilled Turkey and Cheddar "Sandwich"

Ingredients:

2 cups grated cauliflower (4 Greens)

1 egg (1/3 Lean)

1/4 cup freshly grated reduced fat Parmesan cheese * (2 Condiments)

1/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning (1/2 Condiment)

2/3 cup shredded 2% sharp cheddar cheese (2/3 Lean)

6 ounces thinly sliced turkey breast (1 Lean)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine grated cauliflower, egg, Parmesan cheese, 

and Italian seasonings. Mix until evenly combined. Set aside.

Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat.

Spray with cooking spray. Scoop the cauliflower mixture into a small patty and place on the skillet or griddle. Repeat to form a second, third and fourth patty. These are your "bread" slices.

Press down on the pieces with a spatula and cook until golden underneath,

about 5 minutes. Flip carefully and cook until the other sides are golden, about 3 minutes more.

Top a cauliflower slice with 1/3 cup cheese and 3 ounces of turkey. Place a cauliflower slice on top. Repeat with the other two slices. You will have two sandwiches. Cook until cheese is melted, about 2 minutes more per side.

Makes 2 Servings

Each serving provides

1 Lean, 2 Greens, and 1.25 Condiments per Sandwich

(You still need 1 more Green and 1/2 a Healthy Fat for the day. An example could be 1 tbsp of an approved dressing added to 1 cup of mixed Greens)

* If you can't find freshly grated reduced fat Parmesan cheese, use regular Parmesan cheese. It would then be 2.25 Condiments per serving.

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