Homemade Pizza

A month or so ago, I was watching one of the cooking channels at the gym. I saw a recipe for a crust that wasn't originally intended for pizza, but figured I'd try to make it work. The key is a lack of yeast and sugar. A tall order, right?

I have used the crust from THIS RECIPE twice. It cooks OK, but doesn't really crisp up. The first time, I baked it at 350 or so. The next time, 425-450. Still not really CRISP .... any tips/tricks, guys?

SO, to make my pizza, I used my Red Sauce — Recipe HERE. Then used the toppings of my choice.

Before:


After:

The crust wasn't really crisp/crispy and it needed to be eaten w/ a fork ... how can I improve this?

Mini Pizzas!

Oooooh, how good this is! I don't have a photo to share, but GO HERE to check out this awesome recipe for mini pizzas. It's SO super-easy.

I took it to a social gathering last night as a snack and it was a HUGE hit!

For me, the best part of this recipe was its use of tortillas for the crust. Genius! I used my red sauce recipe (I added some diced tomatoes to it, though) .... and omitted some of the spices from the top recipe b/c of food reactions. But the red sauce itself was perfectly good!

For the mini pizzas, you put them in a muffin tin to bake. If you wanted to make these for kids, use a smaller cookie cutter in mini-muffin tins. Seriously, perfect size!

(I found this recipe on Pinterest .... and lately a lot of people have been asking in general 'do you do ANYTHING you see/like from Pinterest?' .... for me, some of it is just dreaming big. But this recipe is a great example of something I found, tried, love and will absolutely add to my hand bag of culinary tricks). :)

Smoothie Talkin' :)

Previously, I talked about making smoothies HERE.

How much I enjoy a good smoothie. :)


Here is my latest version:
1.5 c. frozen* strawberries (might want to let them thaw a little; sometimes hard to process if totally rock-hard solid)
1/2 c. frozen* blueberries
1/4 - 1/2 c. plain greek yogurt
dash of honey (optional)

*Notice how I don't add ice in my smoothie? It's b/c I get the frozen component from frozen fruit.

Lately, I've been adding some SURPRISE ingredients:
1/2 c. cooked sweet potato (usually left over from dinner)
-OR-
handfull of baby carrots

The sweet potato gives lots of extra nutrients w/o adding flavor. The carrot, you can taste it a bit more. There is virtually no color change b/c of the strawberries/blueberries.

Put into food processor, blend until smooth. This makes about 3-4 servings, depending on size.

Favorite toppings/sides/mix-ins:
walnuts
graham cracker squares (dip + eat)
granola
crushed almonds
Teddy Grahams (for kids)
The crumbles in the bottom of your bag of cereal.

Some of my friends have more adventuresome tastes.


Yes, that smoothie is GREEN.

I've heard these are good combos:
Frozen mango/pineapple/tropical fruit mix
about 1 c. fresh spinach
orange juice

The word on the street is that you taste the tropical part and not the spinach. I might even add some mint into mine. Just b/c it's green :)

Some other fun smoothie add-ins: mangos, papayas, cherries and peaches. You will notice I omitted bananas. It's not because I'm a hater; it's because my body doesn't process them well. :( They're a great add-in for smoothies, too, though.

I'm curious how other veggies might go in. I'd probably stick with ones that wouldn't add too much flavor/taste, wuch as: cooked sweet potato or cooked cauliflower .... any other suggestions for veggies I could add in here?

Yogurt update

I've had several questions about my yogurt-making, so I updated the original post HERE about it. Shout if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Minty Ice :)

Awhile ago, I read about putting items into your ice cubes.


When we made mint sun tea with mint from our garden, I wanted to give these cubes a try!


They're not too difficult to make. Just put your leaves into the tray and go for it! I did try to put the leaves and a little water, then freeze that. Then add more water and freeze per normal. My intention was that the mint leaf would be at the round part of the cube ... but when I added water, it made some of them float up. So it's not really worth that effort.


I thought it'd be more pretty if the mint leaf were in the middle of the cube, but actually it's nice with it near the edge. It melts and gives a little minty burst to a glass of water. :)

Shout out to Sarah!

OOOOH, my oldest friend, Sarah, has started a sort-of blog (I say sort of because I'm not young and hip enough to exactly know how to define tumblr).

Anyhow, she has taken to posting weekly menus + recipes. I pay her homage for being disciplined enough to do that (because I am not so disciplined).

Even though I've never before eaten Tabouli or a Falafel, I intend to give her recipes a try :)

Sarah, keep posting so I can ride your coattails!

Easter cookery

Oh Easter! I have to admit, it was chaos. I agreed to host my sis, then got asked to sing at Mass, then all of a sudden, it was a both sides of the family coming, and I was still singing at Mass. And then I got a skin rash and my sis bails and here I am, left with cooking for this big batch of people I hadn't intended to have over in the first place. Ugh! What a mess. I would have to leave cooking instructions with the moms because I'd be at Mass, leading song. Crike!

Regardless, things turned out well. Let's walk through the menu.

Awhile ago, I saw Paula Dean make these brunch peppers, and ran across the recipe. I though it sounded like breakfast in a pepper, so I decided to make it. :)


HERE is the recipe for Paula's brunch peppers.

Let me say, they're pretty darn tasty! They even refrigerate and re-heat fairly well.


French Toast Casserole, how I love thee!!!! Oh goodness, where to even start???!!?!! This stuff is heavenly. I want to have it all to myself and not share a bite with anyone else, which doesn't work when you have guests over to your house. But it means you get the hoard the leftovers and not share (or "share" but throw dirty looks at your husband when he eats some after you've gone to bed).

Ok, so HERE is the magical recipe. I made a few little changes.

1) I didn't use French bread. Instead, I used Irish Soda Bread, which does not use yeast. And I don't put sugar in mine.

2) I used 2 loaves of the soda bread, and 1 of them was a raisin loaf. I alternated the "plain" bread with the "raisin" bread to make it a little more fancy. I love that it added a little pop to the recipe. It was sort of like having sweet rolls, but without all of the sugar IN the recipe. There was about 1 c. of brown sugar on top, but divided over 8-10 servings, it's a very small amount per person. :)

3) I would suggest cutting the bread into smaller pieces than 1-inch slices. Maybe 1/2 inch slices? WIth 1-inch slices, it was difficult to get them submerged in the batter. I had to make more batter to cover it completely.

ALSO, this recipe must be put in the fridge overnight, so it's not something you can whip up in an hour. Just FYI, it takes a day's worth of lead time.

As I said at the beginning of the post, we were having "brunch" at 1 p.m., but I was singing at Mass at 11:30. Um....I had to leave directions with the moms, who came over early. They did a superb job of getting everything into the oven and cooking so we could eat. It was a bit chaotic (read: I would have gone to an earlier Mass if I wasn't obliged to sing at the late one), but my team really pulled through!

Meal planning?

Let me walk you through an afternoon around here.

2 p.m. Erik has just left for work. I head downstairs to do some editing/computer work.
3 p.m. Hmm... I wonder what I should make for dinner. Oh well, I have plenty of time to figure it out.
4:15 p. Crike, we eat in about an hour. I wonder what I'm making for dinner. I'll think about it in a half an hour.
5 p.m. HOLY SCHNIKES!!!! Panic, looking through freezer, gotta throw something together for dinner.
5:30 p.m. Present dinner.

I tend to cook/eat based on things I like. This might lead to eating spaghetti and mashed potatoes together at the same meal (although that exact combo hasn't happened yet).

For example, last night, Erik ate a leftover stuffed pepper from Easter, I had meatballs, we both had cooked sweet corn and mashed potatoes. Odds and ends.

I couldn't help but wonder if I made sort of a "meal plan" list for a week or two if it'd help this chaos. Not planning EVERY meal, but maybe 3 dinners a week. I also wonder if it'd help at the grocery store. With shopping. For instance, I got the sweet corn last week and just used part of it. Also, I have broccoli sitting forlornly in the fridge, waiting for some love. Maybe if I knew what I was going to make, I'd get all of the proper ingredients and not rush? And maybe I'd have a plan for the sad broccoli?

Honestly, does anyone out there "plan" weekly meals? Some sort of a game plan? Does it work? Is it more trouble than it's worth? Let's hear some feedback, folks! (I especially am asking now because I'm heading into busy/chaotic season and I might have even less mental energy than normal to extend to cooking!).

Sweet Potato + Chicken Croquette

A few months ago in the newspaper, I saw THIS RECIPE. I remember thinking it sounded good, so I tore it out and last night finally got around to cooking it up.


YUMMIE!!!!!

It takes awhile to make/put together, but it's uber tasty. Seriously FULL of amazing flavors!

One thing, though. It might be the way I made it, but they didn't hold together very well. I'm considering using an entire egg, not just the whites next time I make these, which will be soon. They were tasty + we love eating sweet potatoes around our house! I'm only sad it took me so long to make it (I was trying to figure out what to substitute for bread crumbs, but now that I make soda bread, situation solved!).

(Side note: I did not make the sauce/relish, so I can't speak to that at all).

Irish Soda Bread

Several months ago, I was throwing myself a pity party, commenting on how much I missed eating bread (it has yeast in it, which is a no-no). My friend, Mary, made the comment "Can you have soda bread?"


I thought it was like beer bread, and said as much.

No, she said. It uses baking soda as leavening. Or a little leavening. ;) Oh how I love thee, Mary!

About a week ago, I made soda bread using THIS RECIPE. Since I'm supposed to have no sugar, I researched a bit and decided to just leave the sugar out.

I made 2 loaves, and they're not 100% perfect (yet), but it's a darn good start on this adventure.


I even went a little liberal and made one loaf with raisins in it. But I soaked the raisins in water first to get them nice and plump. It's a great morning treat. And because I used a mix of white flour and whole wheat flour, I feel pretty guiltless about eating it.

The secret to silky hummus

Last night I was in a dizzy tizzy, trying to not freak out too much. I REALLY wanted to get to bed early, but no such luck. One of the reasons was I was making hummus.

I don't want to brag, but I get a lot of compliments on my hummus. Which got me to thinking about it. What did people like so much about it? I think it's the texture. Which is interesting, because the last time I made hummus, I was in a bit of a hurry and wasn't completely satisfied with the results.

So here's my secret: I use the dry beans and of course soak over night. Then on the cooking ... the recipe says about 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's quite long enough. Last night, I cooked my chickpeas for a little over 3 hours. No joke! But the result was silky divinity! Of course, you have to keep adding water as it cooks. But the results were sensational!

Oh, and about yesterday's crazy list. I've decided since it's just a few days until Christmas and I haven't put out the Nativity set, it's just staying in the box this year. I am a lazy bones about putting them away, so the Advent wreath will have to do. Besides, we got a new painting of the holy family in the Nativity scene, so it's represented in some way.

Q: What constitutes an emergency?

There I was, in Hays at my fave Chinese restaurant. Getting something I KNEW I shouldn't .... but I was all the way in Hays. And there was China Garden. AND the number IS programmed into my phone. So why waste it?

BUT I was making an effort to be good, so I ordered something little (mini crab rangoon!) instead of the big heaping serving of egg fried rice I really wanted.

There I was, at the register and I saw the dreaded words "no credit card for charge under $6."

Uh-oh. I don't carry cash.

So I'm trying to explain this to the lady, and come up with other items I can order to get up to $6. Then I remember THE EMERGENCY $20. You all have an "emergency $10 or $20" stashed in your wallet, right?

Well, I said "I think I have an emergency $20" and the lady (who spoke VERY broken English) looked at me and I could see she was trying to work out how $20 could be an emergency or some such white person nonsense. I think I finally explained I keep a little something stashed away in a not-so-obvious place so in case of an emergency, I have a little money.

Because, really, being in Hays where your favorite Chinese restaurant and them not taking a CC for a purchase under $6 IS an emergency.

I have some good friends who are originally from Burma, and every once in awhile, I'll pass along a catch phrase to them, but we live far away now, so it made me smile to introduce one of my insane phrases or habits to an unsuspecting foreigner.

9 months ... you are what you eat

Nine months ago yesterday, I embarked on this crazy journey. One that involved no yeast, sugar, honey, artificial sweetener, mushrooms, and a host of other things. Some of the most bizarre include raspberry, basil, pomegranates and pumpkin.

Yes, I said pumpkin. With Halloween bearing down upon us and Thanksgiving right around the corner, no pumpkin. This includes pumpkin pie blizzards (well, there IS sugar in that anyway, so even sans pumpkin, I should stay away), no pumpkin spiced latte-ish drinks (but again with the sugar), and most assuredly NO PUMPKIN PIE.

I'll admit. I'm a bit of a cheater. In all of the 9 months, I've probably spent about 1 month being a cheater, eating things I shouldn't, going on binges. Because my taste buds needed a little somethin' somethin ... ya know?

Raspberry, basil, pomegranates and pumpkin are all things my body really freaks out over, so in the interest of a pleasant holiday season, I'll really have to stand strong.

On the flip side of all of this, there are certainly some positive sides to these last 9 months. I've learned how to make homemade yogurt, been introduced to couscous, began cooking with more beans, actually made a recipe involving lentils and fallen in love with quinoa.

But NINE MONTHS????!?!?!?! Has it really been that long? It seems as if I've been doing this nutty food thing forever and at the same time that I just started.

The bottom line is that when I avoid things my body doesn't process well, I FEEL AMAZING!!!! So yeah, some days it really stinks-o-rama. My taste buds get bored sometimes, but on most of days ... it's pretty darn good.

Guacamole recipe

I now interrupt these vacation/travel posts to bring you my guacamole recipe. Erin asked how I made mine, and I think I have it to a fine art ... so I'll share.

Guacamole ingredients:
2 avocados
1/4 of an onion
1 small roma tomato
lime juice
sea salt

Here's how I start. I take the avocado and cut it on open. I squeeze out the green goodness into a small bowl.


Then (before adding anything else), I mash it up. I squeeze in some lime juice during this time. I mash it and mix it. It basically becomes a paste.


Let me take a brief second to say I use a Rada knife to do the job .... and I LOOOOOVE my Rada knife. It seriously is the most amazing knife I've EVER used. I think it was a gift. I'm not sure who gave it to me, but I LOVE my Rada set. The smooth blades slice through an avocado like a hot knife through butter. Oooooh, I'm in love!

IMPORTANT TIP: Save the avocado pit/seed. You will want/need it later.


Next, I cut up about 1/4 of an onion into very fine pieces. If you want to use a sweet Videlia onion, go ahead! Whatever you want to use. The Rada knife rocks out onion chopping, too!

I add that to the pasty avocados.

Then, I use a serrated knife (sadly, I don't own a serrated Rada knife, because if I did, I'd surely use it!) to cut up my tomato, and toss it in, too.

I then salt to taste with sea salt. At this time if you want, you may add more lime juice for extra zing. ;) Some people add cilantro to their guac ... and if you want to, by all means, go ahead and do so!


Ok, back to the avocado pit. I toss them into the guacamole. Why? Well, somewhere along the way, I picked up that if you do this, your guacamole won't go bad/turn brown as quickly. It seems to work ... of course, I can eat this entire recipe in one sitting, so it's not like guacamole lives in our house long enough for me to find out .... Erik is annoyed with the pits/seeds because he says it gets in the way of his dipping. Dude, man up! ;)

I seriously have made this half a dozen times this summer! I can't get enough of it!

Here's the thing that shocked me about avocados, though: they're FULL of fat. But a good fat (as read in book below).


They also are chalk-full of awesome vitamins: Vitamin A, C, D, E, B6, B12 and so many more.

Seriously, after writing this post, I think I need to go make another batch!

Making yogurt

About a month ago, my mom said something about making yogurt. WHAAAT??? How is this possible? I never knew! So I did some research and asking around, and now I've successfully made homemade yogurt. Several times.

Last week, I was able to score some raw milk, and I've been using that instead of 2% milk. The yogurt is much thicker and way yummie!

I'm updating this on 9/6/11 with my recipe, so it's hopefully easy to find + follow!

Ingredients:
• 1 quart milk (1/4 gallon)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup non-fat dry milk (optional) -- I use 1/2 cup b/c I like thick yogurt
• 2 tablespoons existing yogurt with live cultures
(or you can use freeze-dried bacteria instead)

You will need:
• Quart pan
• Wire whisk
• Candy (or other) thermometer
• heating pad (the older the better)
• shoe box w/ lid
• Rectangular tupperware container w/ lid

Directions:
1) Set out existing yogurt (starter) … this will warm while you cook the milk.
2) Heat the milk to 185ºF (85ºC). STIR CONSTANTLY with a whisk. It will get really foamy
3) Cool to 110ºF via a cool/cold water bath; stir occasionally.
(If you are using milk from the store, you can omit steps #2,3&4. This is essentially pasteurizing your milk).
4) Add the starter. Add 2 tablespoons of the existing yogurt.
5) Add non-fat dry milk; stir in. Add salt if desired.
6) Put the mixture in containers. Pour the milk into a clean container or containers. Cover each one tightly with a lid.
7) Allow the yogurt bacteria to incubate. Keep the yogurt warm and still to encourage bacterial growth, while keeping the temperature as close to 100ºF (38ºC) as possible. Cook 8-12 hours (I let it cook overnight).

To cook my yogurt, I place a heating pad in a shoe box, wrap it around the 2 long sides and the bottom. Place the tupperware container inside the little cave you've made. Place the container lid + shoebox lid on. I'm not sure if the newer heating pads have automatic shut-offs, but you might want to check to be sure it'll run for 7+ hours.

The longer you let it sit beyond seven hours, the thicker and tangier it will become.

8) Mix the watery stuff on top into the thicker custard substance on the bottom; refrigerate.
9) Enjoy!

Since my life is dull, I'm not able to add honey or any nice sweetners to it. But once in awhile, I'll make a fruit smoothie or eat it with frozen fruit, as a treat. :)

Chicago 2010 — pt. 6

Just one photo is needed for this post. And it summarizes our experience at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. If you're in Chicago, you MUST go to this place!

On a similar note, I made a snarky comment that there should be a pizza tour of Chicago .... and there IS one! You go to several places and have a slice of pie at each. We didn't go this time, but it'll be on the list for next time. :)

Here's the scoop:

Ok, so you have been spoiled with daily blog posts.

That's because I pre-blogged a ton, and my pre-blogging has all been blogged.

So, patience while I get more stuff together. Still a ton of photos to share from DC ....

In other news around here:

• I'm SO CLOSE to getting the rain barrel overflows complete!!! I promise, a full blog post (maybe even video) when it happens.

• Wrestling with figuring out how to pay sales taxes online. Seriously, state. I know you want to cut budgets and this is more cheap for you, but HELLO!!!! Summer is a massively busy season for us. Why now?

• In all of my free time, I'm reading the following book:


It stems from NFP (the other major NFP model is HERE).

Even for the general person, there's a wealth of excellent information about eating a balanced diet. Just all around good reading.

• It's 7 a.m. and I want to take a nap. Sheesh.

• Mike and I are gearing up for the big bridal show in Wichita in about 2 weeks!!!! Still some last minute stuff to do, but we're in fairly good shape.

• I've been eating an obscene amount of guacamole as of late. I stinkin' love that stuff ... and it's SOOOO tasty!!!! Anyone else? Oh, I want some more now!

• I'm listening to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" on CD right now. Unabridged. It's long. And not much about the hunchback so far ... but once I got past the Disney version and expected it to be all about him, I'm enjoying it rather a lot.

Homemade Chicken nuggets/fingers

WOAH NELLIE!!!!!

On some TV show, I saw people making their own chicken nuggets, and I gotta say, I scoffed at them. But with my crazy eating, chicken nuggets out of the box make me a bit sick. And there were directions on the shredded wheat box on how to make your own chicken nuggets. So off I went.

The following recipe is my own adaptation. The box recipe didn't include an egg, which I thought it needed.

Ingredients:
3 boneless chicken breasts, thawed and cut into bite sized pieces (I'm thinking of using chicken tenders next time)

1.5 cups shredded wheat cereal
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt (measurements are approx. I just throw stuff in!)
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 egg
1 Tbsp plain yogurt (or mayo)
(you can add some mustard, honey or honey mustard in if you want.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Put shredded wheat cereal into food processor. Pulverize.
3. Add in garlic salt, paprika (and any other spices you want)
4. beat together egg, yogurt (and mustard or anything else)
5. Dip chicken bites into egg mixture, coat evenly.
6. Put dipped chicken into cereal mixture, coat evenly
7. Place on greased cooking sheet
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turn over about half way through.

Seriously, I thought it'd be a disaster, but we gave it a try and it was YUMMIE!!!!!!

The benefit to these is 1) I can eat them without feeling sick to my stomach. And 2) There isn't any extra added additives or sodium!

I'm pondering if I would be able to batter and dip a bunch of nuggets and then freeze them before cooking them ... then cook the number I want at any given time. Not sure about this. Just doing some thinking.

Fruit shapes!

This isn't a recipe, per se, but a fun idea! I was reading Better Home and Gardens Magazine (of course!) and saw this totally cute idea.

Now, none of these pictures really does it justice, but you get the idea.


Take your fruit, generally a melon. Slice it into about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wedges. Probably closer to 1/4 inch. Then, take a cookie cutter (the metal ones would work better), and cut it into the fun shapes!


How awesome is that?!?!??! I love it! I just need to steal some kids to feed fruit shapes to. ;)

Yum!!!!

The other day, I was flipping through a back issue of Better Homes & Gardens, and a recipe jumped off the page at me. Tonight, I thought "what the heck?" and made "Nutty Meatless Loaf."

Don't be fooled by the name. It's not actually a loaf, so I'm not sure why they call it that .... but boy is it tasty. With a big glass of milk and an apple!

Growing up, we didn't really utilize beans or lentils as a protein source, but I have to admit, I love them! Because A) they're easy to store. B) they don't spoil and C) they're way cheap compared to meat.

On THE RECIPE, I didn't do the chutney because it's not "Karen friendly" at this point in my life, but gosh does it sound good. Even without the chutney, it was really flavorful. A bit crumbly, but that's what you get when you forget to spray the pan and then try to wrestle it out in one piece. Oh well. :)