In the Kitchen - Pizza Dough

Lately, Jason and I have been putting our bread maker to good use. We have had the machine for 10 years and have never used it consistently. We only ever make bread and pizza dough and never have results that would cause us to use it on a regular basis.

Until now.

Not only have we discovered a bread recipe (actually we have discovered 2 that we love, but are mostly using just one) but we have found a kick-butt pizza dough recipe.

For us, taste is paramount but amount of dough and ease of use (ie. does it roll out well) are also important.

So without further ado, here it is:

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp cornmeal
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp yeast

 Add ingredients to bread machine, according to manufacturer’s settings, and run dough setting. After the machine beeps, roll out the dough.
 
You can roll the dough into two 9×13″ pizzas (great for kid’s lunches!) or into two medium pizzas or a large pizza and an order of breadsticks (as instructed above).

Parbake the crust with a drizzle of olive oil on it at 450 degrees for ten minutes. Remove the crust and add sauce and toppings.

Changes we made:  we didn't have cornmeal on hand, but we did have some corn grits - and don't plan on changing to corn meal! We love the extra little crunch from the grits!

We don't parbake the crust, we put the full dressed pie into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes (depending on how thick we made the crust).

And don't forget that you can easily split up the dough and freeze some of it.

In the Kitchen #8

This is a hands down favourite for both Jason and I: Rachael Ray's Cowboy Spaghetti! I'm sure that we have made it 3 or 4 times, and every time there are leftovers that we freeze for another day.

We might start calling it "Kickin' Spaghetti". Ground Sirloin and bacon...hot sauce and fire roasted tomatoes...Worcestershire and onion...aged cheddar and scallions on top. Since this is a Rachel Ray recipe, you only have to use a pot to cook the noodles, and the rest is cooked in a large skillet!

Follow this link for the recipe specifics

The recipe calls for a small can of tomato sauce and a larger can of fire roasted tomatoes. We haven't found the fire roasted tomatoes to be easy to come by, so this last time we substituted Sweet Onion tomatoes. There are lots of tomato flavours to choose from! Here is the Aylmer selection:

*beware if you select the Spicy Red Pepper tomatoes...we didn't use less hot sauce, and were on fire for days!

Our Rating:

In the Kitchen #7

I haven't shared a meal recipe with you since March 25 2011! Other than a couple of snack food posts, I have neglected this area of my blog (or deleted the photos before I had the opportunity to type up a post).

Well wait no more, I'm here with another Rachael Ray pasta recipe!

This is Rachael's Not-Sagna Pasta Toss . The goodness and comfort of homemade lasagna: noodles, cheese, and meat sauce.

What we eliminated:
 - fresh basil (we didn't have any)

What we weren't sure of:
- was the Marsala we used dry or sweet

What we would do differently next time:
- add some mozzarella cheese (the recipe calls for ricotta and parmigiano reggiano

Our rating:

Perking Up a Standby Meal

French Toast has always been a super quick and easy supper for me. It was the perfect thing to eat before running off for the evening shift at my part-time job, and even nowadays when time is aplenty, but energy is lacking.

In my 20's, I loved it when I learned to add vanilla and cinnamon to the egg mixture - what a difference it makes! And now, in my 30's, I learned to add syrup to the mixture! Eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and syrup!

To see the full recipe for the above pictured French Toast, click here.

The other "new tip" that I discovered in this recipe (that I tried since the oven was on anyway) is to brown the egg soaked bread in the frying pan, and then transfer it to the oven to warm the rest of the way through. I did this, but I think I left the bread pieces in the frying pan for too long, as it was a bit tough.

ChocoBanana with PB

um yeah. Just let me finish licking my fingers...

This morning I stumbled across a recipe for a frozen treat (in actuality, it scrolled by on my twitterfeed and I click it). It seemed pretty easy - I had all of the ingredients (minus one because I don't like coconut): peanut butter, chocolate chips and bananas.

I'm not a fan of peanut butter and chocolate together, but I do like chocolate, and I do like peanut butter and banana together. And I had some coloured sprinkles to replace the coconut.

I didn't take any photos as the blog where I found the recipe has enough. But I can give you two suggestions:

1. make sure your banana chunks are large, and the banana is firm. Mine were difficult to maneuver without using my fingers.

2. the warmer the chocolate/peanut butter mix, the neater the coating job

So with no further chatter - here is the link to this delicious treat: (never home)maker

Enjoy...I sure did!

Rhubarb

Last week, I was so excited to see rhubarb for sale at the local veggie store. I know, you shouldn't have to BUY rhubarb. But I don't have a rhubarb plant, and I didn't think that I knew anyone who did. So every summer, I WISH that I had rhubarb.

strawberry-rhubarb pie. stewed rhubarb and ice cream. rhubarb muffins. rhubarb sticks with a side of sugar for dipping. all real good childhood memories.

Well I snatched up two huge sticks so fast...and then they sat in the fridge for a few days...until today. First thing this morning (okay, I had breakfast first, and looked up a recipe to see how much rhubarb I would need for muffins) I sliced up those sticks. Then I loaded up the food processor for a finer chop.*

*since I was on a roll with the knife, I also sliced the tomato and onion for dinner

I made a list of the ingredients I would need. The recipe calls for whole wheat flour (which I have in the pantry, and was excited to be able to use it), rolled oats (which I didn't have), brown sugar (which I had in the form of tiny stones and pebbles so fresh was needed), cinnamon, baking soda (I had some, but just in case it was getting old, I bought fresh), one egg, milk, lemon juice and vegetable oil. As far as I'm concerned, anything that has brown sugar and cinnamon as ingredients, must be delicious.

The recipe:
Ingredients
2 cups chopped, fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 1/2 whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 salt
Directions
In a bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, lemon juice and the vegetable oil.
In another, large bowl, with a fork, mix together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Make a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the egg mixture in, and stir just until combined.
Gently stir in the chopped rhubarb.
Spoon the batter into muffin cups or paper lined muffin cups.
Bake in center of oven at 350° F or about 28 - 32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack.
Makes about 12 - 15 muffins 

I will say, the muffins taste good, or at least the "bits" that I have had. I didn't grease my silicone pan...I didn't think that I had to (and I'm still not convinced that I do)...and the muffins fell apart when I tried to take them out.

The second batch (I got 17 muffins in total) I cooked in a greased metal pan...they stuck too. I was also short 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour (thank goodness I had white to add) AND I sprayed the stove, wall and surrounding paraphernalia with the wet mixture (I used what I thought was an electric whisk thingy, and I turned it the wrong way).

If you decide to try this recipe yourself, take note where it says to use a large bowl for the dry ingredients - use the LARGEST bowl you have. You have to stir in the wet ingredients (after making a well in the dry) and still add the rhubarb.

Where Are the Recipes?

I have been lacking in my recipe/cooking posts! I have two to go (in my brain, and on my camera) I just haven't sat down and poured them out here on the blog. One is for Parmesan Crusted Tilapia and the other is for a Chicken Pasta Salad. Jason and I have enjoyed the fish twice, and as non-fish eaters, this is huge!

Also lacking is my energy to cook. I had a good run, and I'm sure that it will come back. I have had a number of other things going on, both physically and mentally, and these things have left me drained.

So never fear - I'll be sharing my cooking experiences again!

In the Kitchen #6

As promised, here is our first Rachel Ray meal WITHOUT pasta!

A one-up on the "twice baked potato"...it's the Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Potato. You can find the recipe HERE

What we eliminated:
- mushrooms. I don't eat fungus.
- we used ground beef instead of ground sirloin
- we chose Dijon mustard over spicy brown mustard

What we would do differently next time:
- select larger potatoes so that you can stuff more in to the shell. We had leftover potato (and beef) which wasn't so bad: Jason ate it as leftovers the next day
- have a salad on the side

What is new to us...and what we learned:
If you spoke with me shortly after I made this delicious meal, you would have heard me gushing about mixing equal parts of soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. I am familiar with these ingredients as stand-alone flavouring (except for maybe combing Dijon and Worcestershire)...we only ever use soy sauce in stir fry.

I also got to try out my recently learned lesson on cutting peppers: note from the picture above there aren't seeds all over the cutting board! Slice off the top and bottom, slice down the pepper to open it up, and then run your knife around the joint between the "guts" and the pepper flesh. So easy!

Our rating:

Up next: FISH

In the Kitchen #5

How about a little Summer Corn Fettuccine...it tastes like corn chowder! You can grab the recipe HERE

I know, it's not summer. And canned corn isn't the same as local corn, fresh off the cob. However, Jason and I both love corn, and the picture in the Rachael Ray book looked good enough to eat. And, if you haven't noticed, we seem to love any dish that involves pasta.

What we eliminated:
- once again, we substituted veggie broth for chicken broth, because that is what we had access to
- we used can corn instead of corn on the cob (Rachel recommends that when corn is in season, scrape it off the cob and freeze it so that you can enjoy it in the off season. I recommend that if you have corn on the cob - EAT IT!)

What we would do differently next time:
- Jason thought that he made a mistake part way through, when following the instructions...but we can't remember what it was

One of us was the head chef - can you guess by the outfit?

New to us in this recipe:

- using three different fresh herbs: thyme leaves, parsley and basil leaves (instead of tarragon leaves). *

*the version of the recipe that I linked to at the beginning of this post only calls for two fresh herbs, thyme and basil (or tarragon)

- shallots - what is the difference between a shallot and a regular onion?

I found the meal to be sweet - maybe a bit too sweet.  The recipe also yields 4-6 servings - and it sure did!

Our rating:

Next up...something without pasta! Stay tuned!

In the Kitchen #4

I am not a fan of soup. Number one reason is that it's on my "foods to avoid because of mixed consistency" list given to me by the speech pathologist who helps me with my MS related swallowing challenges. Number two reason is that it warms my insides: my internal thermostat is already screwed up, I don't need help from soup. But when flipping though the Rachel Ray cookbook, Jason and I both agreed that we just had to try this one: Three Bean Pasta e Fagioli.

So here we go! If you would like to try this recipe out, you can find it HERE.

What we eliminated:
- we weren't able to find cannellini beans, so we selected Navy Beans
- we used mini shell pasta because we couldn't find mini penne or ditalini
- we substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth because we were sharing with vegetarians

Things to do better next time:
- we would add the green beans a bit sooner than called for in the recipe

 We all agreed that the citrus flavour (courtesy of the lemon zest and lemon juice) added an unexpected zip to the bean medley. We accompanied the soup with homemade whole wheat bread - YUM!

Our rating:

In the Kitchen #3

It's another Rachel Ray recipe! Once again, even though we were attracted by the product photo, we were excited to try some new ingredients.

Pancetta, the dry looking meat in the deli case that I usually wrinkle my nose at, is bacon's Italian cousin! How can you NOT like that? And Marsala - it's wine! I'm familiar with Chicken Marsala, Veal Marsala...I thought that it was type of tomato sauce. And with my leftover wine, I've been advised that it marries quite well with dark chocolate.

The last mystery ingredient for Jason and I was a can of San Marzano Tomatoes. I didn't bother to check it on the internet before I went grocery shopping - certain that I would find it in the tomato aisle of the grocery store. NOT. It turns out that San Marzano tomatoes are a variety of plum tomato (fewer seeds and stronger taste than a roma tomato), and are known for making the best sauces. Also, if you are eating (or making) a true Neapolitan Pizza, it must contain San Marzano tomatoes.

If you would like to try out this recipe, you can find it HERE

What we eliminated:
-there is nothing in this recipe that we intentionally eliminated
-we used Italian flavoured diced tomatoes because we couldn't find canned San Marzano tomatoes
-we used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs

Things to do better next time:
-have the pancetta sliced in to thicker pieces
-put the bay leaf in at the right time - not too late

I also put in less rosemary than was called for - and I'm glad that I did.

Our rating:

In the Kitchen #2

Cookies!

 
Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie? And who wouldn't love a homemade chocolate chip cookie that covers 3 important chocolate bases: white, milk, and semi-sweet ? Delicious chocolate chips, and a swirl of of melted chocolate!



These cookies are a favourite in my house (along with the Easy Peanut Butter Cookie recipe that can be found on the back of the peanut butter jar!) But this time, with this recipe, I'm trying something different. The instructions said that the dough could be frozen in balls, and when removed from the freezer, cooked from frozen for an additional five minutes.

I formed the balls on a cookie sheet and instead of placing them in the oven, I slid them into the freezer. This would ensure that the balls would not stick together as they froze. The next day I placed the frozen balls into a freezer bag: it's easy to remove however many cookies I want to bake, whenever I need a cookie!

You can find the recipe HERE

In the Kitchen

Romaine Lettuce? Nope.
Spinach? You don't like spinach. Nope.
It's escarole.

Shortly before Christmas, Jason and I picked up a Rachel Ray recipe book. It was on clearance, but could it be that bad? The pictures look fabulous!

Since we brought home the book, I have been itching to make the Caesar Spaghetti. Without all of the ingredients, but prepared to omit or substitute, Jason and I tackled it!

To try the recipe yourself, here is a quick link for you: Caesar Spaghetti Recipe

What we eliminated:
anchovy fillets
Pecorino romano cheese - we substituted with Parmesan because that is what we had
coarse black pepper - I'm assuming that the pepper we used was not coarse


Things to do better next time:
don't "cook" the escarole for as long
when adjusting the recipe to serve 2 instead of 4, don't forget to cut back on the noodles

What is escarole? This leafy green is a variety of endive - but with broader, paler leaves, and a less bitter flavour. It's high in fiber, folic acid, and vitamins A and K.

Our rating: