Crazy pizza

I didn't intend on blogging this one as I thought it'd be a boring, normal pizza albeit with artichoke hearts.

But I didn't have pizza sauce, or I couldn't find it anywhere. And I mixed up a crust with coconut flour, flax meal, and rye flour so maybe it is worth an attempt.

Because it turned out scrumptious.

My husband was doing some grout and caulk work in our bathroom. Child handled grating the cheese.

Preheat to 400 degrees 

Crust (all measures a guesstimate)

In one bowl, no metal utensils:

- 1 cup hot tap water

- 1 teaspoon honey

- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil 

- 1 teaspoon yeast 

Set aside while prepping the dry ingredients. 

Dry ingredients:

- 1/4 cup flax meal

- 1/4 cup sesame seeds

- 1/4 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 cup dark rye flour

- about 2 cups white flour

(And more white flour to avoid stickiness if needed)

Combine, knead, and set aside to rise about 15 minutes.

Coat pan with extra virgin olive oil & corn meal. Spread the crust thin. 

Sauce: I used 1/2 plain tomato sauce & 1/2 buffalo sauce

Toppings: black olives & artichoke hearts

Cheese: some Swiss, some cheddar, about 6 ounces mozzarella and Parmesan.

Chicken-spinach casserole Mexican style

We don't have much food left in the house. We made a family pack of chicken breasts last night. We froze some and my husband made some into stir fry for dinner.

Today I made some into a casserole.

My husband made some penne while I made a cheese sauce. I started with two tablespoons of butter on low heat with a tablespoon of flour. I mixed them with a rubber spatula and then added about two teaspoons chili powder and one teaspoon cumin.

When that incorporated nicely, I measured out 1 cup of soy milk, which I doled out a bit at a time mixing everything together. I gradually added about 3 ounces of extra sharp cheddar and the rest of a can of jalapeño-cheddar dip (about 2 1/2 tablespoons). 

Next I added about 1/4 cup diced black olives and 1/2 cup mild salsa.

Then I added a block of frozen spinach I'd thawed.

We mixed the noodles and the sauce, added the chicken, stirred, covered and baked at 350 for 45 minutes.

Before serving I sprinkled with the crumbs from the bottom of a bag of Simply Balanced organic blue corn/flax chips.

This was very delightful. I could eat all of it. Wind chill is 4 degrees. It was a casserole kind of day.

Ravioli with bacon sauce

My husband had to work late unexpectedly and child has her dance lessons tonight so I whipped up this ravioli (spinach-portabello mushroom-cheese) with bacon sauce and broccoli.

I dropped the ravioli into boiling water, started a big bag of premium broccoli in the steam in bag and started the sauce in a small pot.

The sauce was two tablespoons butter, melted on low, with three strips bacon broken into bits. I added about a teaspoon of garlic pepper and a teaspoon of Italian herb seasoning.

When the ravioli finished, I placed them in a big bowl and poured the bacon sauce on them and stirred to mix. Next I topped with the broccoli and drizzled the broccoli with extra virgin olive oil.

I stirred everything heartily together and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese. I added sliced calamata olives and served.

Delightful. Really delightful.

Finally marinaded the pork

Last week, I posted an idea for a meal. Finally started it today. Now, it's raining and I fully expect to not be able to grill it. But here's what I did in prep.

Ingredients:
- 5 thin pork chops
- black olives
- 1 red and 1 green pepper
- 1 can pineapple slices.

I layered the meat in the bottom of a large bowl, then I added the olives. Next I arranged thick long slices of pepper. I poured the juice from the pineapple over all of it and placed the pineapple on top.

I covered and put in fridge.

Will update when I finally cook it.

Bruschetta Ravioli

Mix:
- 2 diced tomatoes
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
- about 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 teaspoons basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 pinch minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

Stir and let rest so flavors blend.

Prepare ravioli of choice.

I'm going to cook some spinach and spread that on top of the ravioli before adding bruschetta.

Top with bruschetta and sliced black olives and grated cheese if desired.

Depending on your ravioli and if you use cheese this can be vegan or vegetarian.


This might be my new favorite meal. I have to try with squash ravioli.

Mystery pasta dinner

I intended to make a reduced dairy mac and cheese for my daughter, but instead I made some copious amounts of baked pasta.

The sauce was:
- about two cups whole milk
- one cup soy milk
- three to four tablespoons butter (the sauce started as the butter mixed with a heaping teaspoon of floor cooked on medium)
- a teaspoon garlic powder
- a tablespoon dried basil

When that heated, I added three slices of provolone, about 3/4 cup Mexican blend of cheeses and about eight ounces of extra sharp cheddar.

I added one cup frozen peas and half a box of spinach.

I mixed in noodles. Poured it into two dishes (intended one but oops, too many noodles and too much sauce)

I topped with Parmesan and black olives.

Covered with foil and baked at 350 while we watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Salsa festival

As I mentioned a while ago, Wegmans phased out their organic mango salsa and I haven't been to Wegmans lately to see if they rolled out their new salsa line.

We made nachos tonight with canned refried beans, cheddar, velveeta (a gift), and black olives on Archer Farms blue multigrain tortilla chips with flax seed. (These chips very much hurt my broken tooth, somehow chip ended up over there when I hadn't chewed on that side.)

I had a coupon for $1 off if I bought one 16-ounce Archer Farms salsa and one bag of Archer Farms chips. Hence the chips mentioned earlier. The chips were $2.99 before my discount(s) and coupon. The salsas were between $2.99 and $3.31 a jar. Odd price range.

I opted for two jars: one mild (raspberry with jalapeño, pineapple and red bell peppers) and one medium (corn, black bean & roasted red peppers with roasted jalapeño, red bell peppers and green chiles).

Both are tasty. Now the cheap salsa from Aldi has 10 calories per 2 tablespoons, 180 mg sodium, 2% RDA of vitamin A and no protein or other vitamins/minerals.

My favorite Wegmans mango salsa has 15 calories, 105 mg sodium, no protein, but 8% RDA of A and 15% vitamin C. Much more nutrition.

Archer Farms? Well...

The mild raspberry has 15 calories, 120 mg sodium, 1 gram protein, 4% vitamin A and 6% vitamin C. So it has some punch, but not like the mango. And the corn/black bean also has 15 calories, 220 mg sodium (holy cr*p), 1 gram protein, 2% vitamin A and 10% vitamin C.

Each year I plan my garden hoping to grow enough herbs and ingredients for homemade salsa. Hopefully this summer I'll learn to can and if I don't grow enough, I'll be visiting local farms and farmers markets. Let's make salsa!

Quesadilla

I wanted to make cheddar and bean quesadilla with my homemade guacamole last night but I didn't get there... We had salads with guac and chips instead.

Today for lunch I made the quesadillas: cheddar, velveeta, black beans and black olives, garnished with romaine lettuce, homemade guacamole, and mango salsa. And a side of strawberries.

The little one loves it, and while she insists at restaurants she does NOT like guacamole, she sure loves mine.

She even said to me when I served her, "This is guacamole?"
And I replied yes.
"But I don't like guacamole, but I love this!"

Yesterday's Omelet

Yesterday, my daughter and I made a six egg omelet for the three of us to split for lunch. She sliced the black olives. We also added some frozen chopped spinach, a hint of four color pepper, some cheddar, and the leftover asiago.

Tuna on Homemade Bread

We had boring tuna sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch, except my husband decided to jazz his up with black olives and cheddar cheese.

Yummy Yummy Taco Salad

While I walked our daughter to school in some very nasty wind, my husband made this incredible salad:

• organic spring mix
• black beans
• black olives
• New York Extra Sharp Cheddar
• tortilla chips (broken)

with a dressing of

• sour cream
• mango salsa
  

Stuffed Quesadillas tonight

Tonight I made stuffed quesadillas... because despite going to the warehouse club last night we have no milk or eggs and I didn't thaw out meat and we had tomato soup for lunch so that ruled out anything with tomato sauce so no pasta (and I had hoped to have pasta tomorrow)

Now that was a run-on sentence.

In a skillet, I layered some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled some garlic pepper, with the heat on medium low, I added a tortilla shell, piled it with black beans and sliced black olives, then lots of extra sharp cheddar, a little pepperjack for zest, and a lid of another tortilla shell. Cook until crisp on the outside, gooey on the inside.

Serve in nice triangles with mango salsa and sour cream.

Pizza night

We made one of our homemade whole wheat, unbleached white and rye flour pizza crusts and topped it with some fresh broccoli we feared would go rancid soon, some black olives hanging around, the leftover Wegmans tomato soup and some of the velveeta-style american cheese Gayle gave us. It was hardly gourmet, but it was hearty.

Burritos for lunch

Friday night we went to a seafood restaurant with my dad, where my daughter ate and ate and ate: salad, shrimp, half of grandma's chicken, fries, sweet potato fries, bread and butter, water, pineapple juice, a few bites of veggies, ice cream, whipped cream AND a haagen-daaz bar. This was _after_ she had milk and three slices of watermelon at school (for red day) and a pumpkin scone for an afterschool snack and a couple handfuls of fritos because she caught me red-handed.

Yesterday she spent the day with her Mimi and we had a party for author Kaylie Jones to attend. Hence, no food entries.

Today we had bean burritos for lunch. To use up the nacho stuff from the other night. We had refried beans, lots of black olives, cheddar cheese and mango salsa.

Cucumber salad

Shannon made cucumber salad for her family reunion. She doesn't measure so I figure I'd make an approximation of what she did, because it looks very yummy.

Shan's Cucumber Salad

• 1/2 one large red onion, diced
• 1 large can black olives, either sliced or mooshed by hand
• About 4 large cucumbers, in large chunks
  
• Ranch dressing (somewhere 2/3 cup?)
• Apple cider vinegar (around one cup?)
• Flax seed (about three teaspoons)
• garlic powder (about four tablespoons, to taste)
• dill or It's a Dilly (about four tablespoons, to taste)

Combine and chill. Serve once flavors blend.

Rabbit with Sage and Lemon (Lapin à la sauge et au citron)

I bought a three-pound rabbit at the farmers market today. I thought I'd make 2/3 of it, but half fit better in my pan. I got the idea of making rabbit from my Venez Dîner C'est Prêt cookbook that Jessica brought me from France.

Now, I didn't read the recipe very closely and so it took me a while to realize I needed a beer, and not just any beer but a "bière blonde" (blonde beer).

The recipe suggests that one rabbit will feed four people.

Ingredients
1 rabbit cut in "morsels" (the butcher cut mine in four center sections and each leg)
1 lemon, not juiced
4 cloves of garlic, whole, in the "skin?"
8 fresh sage leaves
1 bottle of blonde beer
12 black olives
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
Arrange the rabbit (I only used half the rabbit) on a platter and salt and pepper it. Place in baking dish with the lemon in quarters (I sliced into eighths). Add the sage leaves and the cloves of garlic.
Add the beer.
Cook one hour, adding the olives at the mid-point. Cook until the meat is tender and the sauce caramelizes. If it cooks too quickly, add more beer. If it doesn't reduce enough, return to the oven.

I'm serving with broccoli sautéed in garlic and olive oil and fresh pineapple.

The rabbit disappeared. I think my daughter could eat two pounds of rabbit meat by herself. Tender, moist, but like buffalo wings-- a lot of work to get the meat off the bone.

The sauce had a lot of flavor for how simple it was.

More French Bread Pizzas

We made little French bread pizzas for lunch today. I cut one loaf of homemade bread into six pieces (or was it seven?) and covered half with the last of the commercial spinach dip and the others with Wegmans pizza sauce. Then we added parmesan cheese and shredded cheddar. And black olives. 

Artichoke and black olive pizza

With five inches of snow and rain getting it all wet, I surprised my family with a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and English muffins when my husband came in from shoveling. My daughter had just gone out to play. My husband could not avoid going to work, as apparently he is essential these days since the students are still buying textbooks...

My daughter and I made black olive and artichoke heart pizza. The artichoke hearts were an impulse buy at Wegmans. I have already detailed my pizza making process (click on pizza below). I thought I'd treat my readers to some "how-to" style photos. My four-and-a-half year old is doing the work.  

This meal was originally intended as lunch tomorrow, but with the snow it gave us something to do. I also needed to use up some tomato sauce that had hung around my fridge too long.

Pizza for Lunch

So by the time I returned from taking my daughter to the library, I opted for pizza for lunch with a winter salad. Except now that I'm 75% through the preparation, my blood sugar is out of whack making it near impossible to prepare a nice winter salad. Hopefully, we can have that for dinner maybe to accompany a quick boxed mac n cheese. I'm  working late again.

With my preschooler's help, I made a hybrid Quick Pizza Dough, combining a quick recipe with a more standard recipe, both from Veglist, a veg*n recipe email list I used to belong to years ago when I was learning to cook.

A note about yeast. If you plan to make a lot of bread products forget the individual packets. Get the jar. It's in the refrigerator/dairy aisle. Even if it says it's for bread machines or whatever... it works. And if your house is cold and drafty and your bread won't rise, place it on top of a warm oven or preheat your oven to about 150 degrees, turn it off, let some of the heat out and stick the dough in there for a while. Not too hot or it will cook, not rise.

Note on pizza sauce: I do use pre-jarred. Specifically Wegmans. And there's a reason why. I read labels, and Wegmans Chunky Pizza sauce offers 15 % RDA vitamin A and some calcium and some iron in every serving. Nothing in a can had nutritional value. (Plus it tastes good.)

Note on cheese: This is one of those items that I will keep some preshredded pizza blend cheese in the house. I usually get it at Aldi's, and I make sure the cost is pretty darn close to what I pay for the block. I say it's so I can make a quick easy meal, but I could grate my own cheese quick while the dough rises for the crust.

On to the recipes...

This is what I made today:

Today's Pizza Crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix:

1 cup hot tap water;

1 teaspoon yeast;

1 teaspoon honey;

1 teaspoon olive oil;

Separately:

3 cups flour (only because I accidently used TWICE the water I was supposed to; if you're into wheat, substitute up to half with wheat flour);

1 teaspoon salt;

italian seasoning;

garlic pepper;

1 tablespoon sesame seeds (I get mind at the mediterranean deli);

Combine, knead, adding flour as needed so it doesn't get sticky. Let rest about 15 minutes (I put mine in a towel on top of the preheating oven). Grease pan lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle on some cornmeal and some sesame seeds. (I one heard the cornmeal helps get the bottom of the crust that genuine texture.) When dough is ready, spread in pan. Top as desired. Bake 15-20 minutes. My daughter's favorite toppings-- broccoli and black olives. Neither of which we used today.

 

PS-- it ain't pretty, but my daughter was in charge of the sauce. When you have a four-year-old cooking, pretty isn't on the menu.