Remember those yummy, delicious, pop in your mouth pizza bites? We use to buy Amy’s organic pizza bites, I use to love heating those up and munch on them, stretching the cheese, biting my way around the little pizza bite then popping the very, cheesy, tomato center into my mouth. Mmmm. There are other unhealthy brands for this quick favorite snack, Totinos. Which is heavily processed white flour, hormone injected cheese, and sprayed pesticide tomatoes. How’s that for a yummy snack? Yuck!

I stopped eating Amy’s pizza bites when I became gluten free. So imagine how sad I was when I could no longer, pop those bites into my mouth. Back then, I thought being gluten free I could no longer have the things I love, which in my case, I do love carbs… They make me feel happy. My favorite sandwich; peanut butter and honey with banana slices on whole wheat bread, cut diagonally. Sometimes I would add raisins for an added crunch. I love bread, I could eat a baguette of bread. My mom and I use to buy a baguette of sourdough bread and munch on it in the car on our way home from the store. One of us always had our hand half way in the bag walking out of the store, grabbing the bread. We would say, lets just rip the ends off, we did, then we kept ripping the ends off. I’m pretty sure I get my bread obsession from my mom. We are like two peas in a pod, there is never a day someone doesn’t comment on how much we look alike. Mostly saying we look like sisters, hear that mom? You’re a young babe!

We both have been gluten free for quite a few years now, and I have learned the in’s and out’s of baking gluten free – the healthy way. I’ve learned about different flours, and most of the flours used in packaged gluten free goods, is just another form of white flour, which turns into sugar when entering our bodies. That is usually why a lot of people gain weight going gluten free, they feel at a loss and see all this package food, which they end up consuming a lot of. They really are just consuming empty, sugary carbs. Not getting any nutrition. So growing up in a healthy, organic household, I studied and researched different ways of remaking favorite foods, but in a healthy way. Never going to the package pre-made gluten free foods which uses corn (gmo), white rice flour (sugar), potato flour (sugar), xanthan gum (gmo), and so on. I found a way to bake using nut flours, coconut flour (however still trying to figure out how to use without being too dense), and using coconut sugar, coconut nectar, and sometimes raw organic honey as sweetener.

I actually eat better being gluten free, because I chose to find new, healthier alternatives. Becoming more nurioused, and making my body happy. Gluten doesn’t make me happy, even though it is damn delicious.

These focaccia bites taste literally like pizza bites, but better! When I was eating one, I was trying to figure out why it tastes so familiar, then it hit me, right in the face, I fell on the floor and yelled pizza bites! These are made with almond flour and sunflower seed flour, baked with cheese in the delicious herbed dough mix, and topped with tomato sauce and more cheese! Delicious, moist, cheesy, bursting flavor in your mouth, forgetting all about those pizza bites, making a new memory in your mind. Bam! That’s what I call a focaccia bite! Mmmmm….

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 (8oz) jar of organic basil herbed marinara sauce
• 2 cups organic almond flour
• 1 cup organic sunflower seed flour (put about 1 1/2 cups of seeds in a food processor, blend until sand like)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons herbes de provence
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal (helps with binding)
• 4 organic egg whites, at room temperature (about 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
• 1 cup organic low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup organic grated mozzarella and white cheddar cheese (combined) plus another 3/4 cup for topping

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a 9X13 baking dish with parchment paper (you really have to do this, I didn’t and it all stuck to the pan). Then oil down the sides and bottom of the pan, (this also has to be done).
• In a medium bowl combine the almond flour, sunflower seed flour, baking powder, sea salt, herbes de provence, and flax meal.
• Put the room temp eggs whites in a mixer bowl with an attached whisk. Whisk the eggs white on medium-high speed for about 3-5 minutes, until fairly stiff peaks form. If you stop the mixer and pull the whisk out, you should get a stiff peak, if the tip of the peak falls over, it’s not ready yet. Keep blending – but don’t over do it.
• Add the broth to the flour mixture, and combine well, making a smooth batter. Fold in the 3/4 cup of cheese, then fold in the eggs whites with a rubber spatula, trying to deflate the egg whites as little as possible. You’ll have a smooth sticky dough, that’s slightly stiff. Your spatula should stand up in it a little. It will be a moist dough.
• Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Oil your fingertips and make little dimples in the dough, lightly pressing it down.
• Spread about 1-2 cups of the sauce evenly over the surface, until it’s completely covered.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until lightly springing when pressed in the center.
• During the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup of cheese over the top. I did add extra for more cheesy, gooeyness. 
• Let the focaccia cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan. Then cut it into little bite size pieces.

Enjoy the deliciousness of this! Try not to fall on the floor when you take your first bite, and always stay away from hot burners.

Yum, yum, yum!!!

A girl who has an obsession with bread,

Emma