Take'n it easy...

Well, how was your weekends?  Ours was fantastically lazy.  I read and cooked, Kam lounged and watched baseball and the Olympics and Dex pouted waiting for his next walk.  Remember I mentioned something on Friday about possibly going to the peach festival?  Yep, didn't do that.  But I did manage to get over to Joann's Fabric and take advantage of their sale.  I got some $20 dollar-a-yard upholstery fabric for about $6 per yard.  Score!

Friday night I made a really yummy pasta salad and Saturday was pizza on the bbq.  I thought I'd share the main components that went into each, because they were both really good!

Ham and Honey Mustard Pasta Salad:
Cubed ham
Carrots, celery, red and green pepper
Graded cheddar
Honey mustard salad dressing combined with a little light mayo and low fat greek yogurt (and a few spices)
Served my favorite way for any pasta salad: on a bed of greens.  Usually I just use spinach, but this time I had my all time fav on hand... ARUGLA! So good.

Peach Prosciutto Pizza:
Pizza Crust
Red Sauce
Prosciutto
Mozzarella
walnuts
Fresh Peaches
topped with fresh basil and arugula

Hope you all have a good week planned.  We are going tonight to get locking gas caps because some butt nuggets keep syphoning gas from our neighborhood.  I know we've been hit at least twice.  On a better note, we sold our little floral love seat on craigslist last night!  Woop!  I thought I was going to have to give it away, but nope, cash in my pocket.  Have a great week everyone!

French Dip Pizza

Ok, I got a little creative.  It was a good thing.

What you'll need:

1 24 hour pizza crust (split the dough in half for small, or use the whole thing for a medium-large size pizza.  This will be a half size.)

1/2 cup mozzarella (grated or sliced, your choice)

1/4 cup gouda  (grated or sliced, your choice)

1/2 cup caramelized onions and mushrooms

1 - 2 cups left over roast beef sherds and pieces

2 cups au juice 

7 or 8 fresh basil leaves

Prepare pizza crust to these instructions and preheat pizza stone to 450 to 500 depending on how hot your oven gets.  Saute about 1/4 of an onion and 3 or 4 sliced button mushrooms in a little butter.  In a small pan, make up au juice and place roast beef pieces into juice.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat, let simmer until ready to use.  

Once dough is stretched, make sure it still slides easily on the board.  If not, add a little more flour. Brush the outer rim with olive oil.  Layer onions and mushrooms, roast beef straight from the au juice (don't shake it, get some of the juice on there), cheeses and basil leaves onto curst.  You can do what you wish with the left over au juice.  Slide pizza off cookie sheet or cutting board onto pizza stone.  Bake for 6-7 minutes.  Be sure to remove pizza from stone once done or it will continue to burn the crust.  Let rest for 3 minutes before slicing.

This was so good, and we had just enough roast beef left over that we had this for dinner the next night too.  Its kind of a make it when you can type of pizza.  It's not everyday that you have roast beef laying around.  But, next time you do, keep this in mind!  You will be happy with yourself if you do.  Enjoy!

Alton Brown's 24 Hour Pizza Dough

The first thing I had to make with my new mixer was pizza dough.  And just to step it up a notch, I made Alton Brown's recipe.  He lets the dough rise in the fridge for 24 hours before making the pizza.  It's a pretty basic dough, and I did modify his recipe a tiny bit.  So here goes...

What you'll need:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 3/4 cups bread flour (Winco had both white and wheat in bulk)
• 1/4 cup gluten flour (again Winco bulk.  This was my change from his recipe.  He used 2 cups of the bread flour.  I read somewhere tp use a small amount of gluten flour for chewier crusts)
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Place all ingredients minus 2 teaspoons olive oil into your mixer and use the paddle attachment to mix until combined and forms into a loose ball.  Switch to the hook and knead for 15 minutes.  Do the "window" test by tearing off a small piece of dough and form in into a disk.  Stretch the disk until thin to so it is taunt, it if tears before you can almost see through the membrane, knead for another 5-10 minutes.  

Roll dough into a smooth ball and place into a stainless steel or glass bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the bowl and toss ball to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.

After the rise period, remove dough from fridge and split with a knife or dough scraper into two equal pieces (about 4 slices) or leave whole (for about 8 slices).  Slightly dampen counter top with water and roll dough on counter until it tightens into a ball.  Place back into bowl and cover with a kitchen towel.  Let rest for 30 minutes.  Do the same process with other half of dough if you split.  Spray the inside of a ziplock bag with cooking spray and refrigerate for up to 6 days or freeze for a month.

Put your oven rack on its lowest setting and place pizza stone into it.  Turn up oven to its highest setting.  I put mine at 450 because it gets CRAZY hot.  Flour a wooden cutting board or a peel if you have one.  Stretch your dough on the floured surface into a disc rotating after each stretch.  If dough keeps wanting to shrink back, let rest a few more minutes to warm up to room temp.  Brush the rim or curst of dough with olive oil and add whatever toppings you like.  Carefully slide pizza onto stone and bake for 6-7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

I officially don't need to go out for pizza anymore.  This, as far and my pizza tastes are concerned, is the perfect crust.  Chewy, soft, slightly crispy.  If you are coming over to my house sometime in the next 6 months for dinner, I can guarantee you that I will be cooking pizza for you.  Enjoy!

Thai Pizza

Flavor Explosion!  POW!  Between the new and improved crust, the home made peanut sauce, that extra delicious leftover chicken satay and a little fresh mint and cilantro...this may be my new favorite pizza.  However I did fail all of you a little.  I didn't photograph the dough making process.  I just used a basic crust recipe that I dug up, it had a little honey in it.  I have been doing a fair amount of perfect pizza dough research lately, and I found out what I already knew all along.  If you want amazing pizza crust, you gotta knead the dough.  None of that 2 minute kneading stuff...a full 6-8 minutes.  I have to admit, I was being lazy before.  It makes a difference.

What you'll need:
2 leftover chicken satay tenders (or just grilled chicken)
1/2 cup peanut sauce
1 carrot sliced into thin strips
2 green onions chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 or 3 mint leaves broke up
1/2 red pepper slightly sautéed
1 cup sliced mozzarella
olive oil

For the curst:
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
cooking spray

Add yeast to the bottom of a large bowl.  Pour in warm water and honey and swirl to dissolve honey.  Let sit 10 minutes until really bubbly.  Add 1 cup flour and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Add second cup flour and combine until dough beings to pull away from sides of the bowl.  Dust a surface with some of the remaining 1/4 cup flour.  Begin to kneed dough adding a little flour at a time until dough is just sticky but no longer clings to your hands.  Keep kneading for 6-8 minutes total.  After about 5 minutes, the dough will begin to feel more stretchy and that the flour has combined.

Wash the large bowl, and spray it with cooking spray.  Place dough into bowl cover with cling wrap and let rise in a warm spot for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size.  You could warm your oven on its lowest stetting for a few minutes, turn off and place dough in there.  Once doubled, punch the center, break in two.  You can wrap the second dough ball in cling wrap and freeze it for later.

Stretch to about 12 inches, brush one side with olive oil.  Have all ingredients for the pizza topping ready at the bbq.  Preheat the bbq to medium high.  Place dough oil side down and grill for about 5 minutes or until golden browned.  Brush top of dough with more olive oil and flip.  Quickly spread peanut sauce and toppings over crust.  Close lid and allow cheese to melt.  Keep checking for bottom of crust to brown.  If curst is done before cheese melts, turn off once side of burners if you can and move pizza away from heat.  Close lid, cheese will finish melting and crust won't burn.  Slice up and eat!

Kam brought me flowers.  Aren't they pretty =0)

If you like delicious food, then this is for you.  And who doesn't like delicious food?  Enjoy!

Sausage Mushroom Pizza

I don't know if I will ever go out for pizza again.  I think you can make better than most restaurant pizza at home, and its quick and easy!  One by one I am checking off places that I will go out to eat.  If we go to a place now that servers food that is pre portioned or comes of the the freezer and is simply heated, I feel like we wasted $30.  For instance, a few months ago we went to this place down town Spokane called Rock City Grill.  Seemed solid. I ordered fish tacos, my staple if its on any menu, and Kam wanted to try one of their pizzas.  My tacos we bland and everything was mushy, like it came from the freezer, but it "looked" pretty and Kam's pizza was, well, the California Pizza Kitchen frozen BBQ Chicken would have won a blue ribbon compared to what he was chewing on.  There are so few places that actually make their food, or at least some of it, and the more I keep exploring new ideas and things to make at home for blog posts, the choosier I get.  Like pizza.  Its so simple to make your own curst, and if you cook it on your barbeque, its so deliciously wonderful, that I don't think I will ever be without pizza dough on hand again.  


Is anyone else going through this with me?  Getting tired of paying out the nose for something you can make better at home.  I guess I just needed to rant.


Now about this pizza.  Sausage, Mushroom and Olive has been my favorite pizza as long as I can remember.  Sure, there are others that I love love, but this will always be my A-One!  So, we made it.


What you'll need:


Pizza Dough
1 packet dry active yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons
1 cup warm water
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (oh yes!)


In a larger bowl stir together sugar and warm water and sprinkle yeast over top.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Add oil, salt, vinegar and 2 cups of the flour and mix until well combined and not lumpy.  Add remaining 2 cups flour and begin to kneed.  It will seem too dry, but just keep working it with your hands.  Remove from bowl and kneed on the counter for about 2 minutes.  Place dough ball into a greased bowl (I just used olive oil cooking spray) and cover.  Allow to rise for 90 minutes.  Dough will double in size.  Once doubled, punch center (best part!). Divide into 3 parts and form into balls. If you want a larger pizza divide into 2.  Roll and stretch dough into desired thickness.  Mine was about 14".  You can wrap the other dough balls in cling wrap and freeze for another day. 


Pizza

1 chunk mozzarella cheese (I'm finding that I don't buy the pre shredded anymore, but rather the ball and slice it.  The cheese is so much moister, but if you prefer pre shredded, go for it!)

1 sausage (I bought a smoked link out of the meat case at our grocery store, and barbecued it before slicing it into rounds.  You could use anything from your favorite brat to bulk sausage.  Just make sure what ever you use, you cook it first!)

1/2 cup onion diced

1 cup black olives sliced

4 or 5 button mushrooms sliced

Olive oil

Pizza sauce (I had some store bought left over from another pizza adventure, sometime I will make my own)

Cook sausage.  While your sausage is cooking, place a piece of tin foil in your bbq, on the upper rack if you have it, or off to the side. Lay your sliced mushrooms onto the foil.  This will dry them out and cook them slightly.  If you skip this step, your mushrooms with be almost completely uncooked by the time your crust is done.  Once sausage is done, allow to cool enough to slice.  Leave mushrooms on foil until ready to place them onto pizza.


Place a little olive oil in a small pan and saute your onions until translucent.  Set onions aside.  Slice your cheese, as much as you like, I used about a third of the chunk, set aside. Slice olives. Gather pizza sauce, and about 1/4 cup olive oil and a brush. Take everything out to the bbq.


Stretch dough into a 12-14 inch circle.  Brush one side with olive oil and place oil side down onto bbq on medium heat.  Rotate half a turn once half way. Keep your eye on it, once it begins to brown, bush top side with oil and flip.  Add sauce, toppings and cheese.  Move away from heat and allow cheese to melt.  Once cheese is melted (about 5 minutes) move back over heat.  It will take just a few more minutes to brown the bottom.  Gently slide onto a cutting board.  Turn off bbq.

I really like Kam's cutting action in this shot.

It was lovely.  We made a BBQ chicken pizza not to long ago too and used the peanut butter barbeque sauce, that turned out excellent.  Not sure why I didn't photograph it for a post.  Another day.  I do have to say that there is one place in Spokane I will go to for pizza. South Perry Pizza.  Its yummy!  And we went to this place called Waddell's last weekend, best wings we've ever had.  No lie. So there are good places, I guess I just have to find them.


Also, I'm sick right now, so if the posts seem a little infrequent, I'm still here.  Kam and I are nursing colds.  But I have cooked up an idea for a new series of posts, so stay tuned for that.  Enjoy! 

Corned Beef and Cabbage Grilled Pizza

Oh yes.  So good.  It was our Easter dinner.  More of a St. Patty's day thing, but I had 2 corned beefs in the freeze and no ham, so we went with it.  I have never made pizza dough before, and certainly never grilled it.  But all turned out better than I could have expected!

What you'll need:

1 cup mozzarella
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese

For the Corned beef:  (Cook however you'd like, this is how I make mine)
1 corned beef (1 cup cooked for the pizza)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon pickling spice (or just use the packet that comes the the meat)
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cracked pepper

Mix everything together and pour over the top of the meat.  Turn your crock pot on high and let cook for 5 hours.  Once done, remove and let rest until cool enough handle.  I like to remove all fat from the meat at this point, and scrape off most of the pickling spice.  Shred up about a cup of the meat for the pizza and freeze or put the remaining of the meat in the fridge. You will have lots of left overs.

Cabbage and Potatoes

1 medium yellow potato (baseball-ish size, maybe a little smaller)

1/2 cup vinegar (cider or white, I used white)

1/2 +1/4 cup water

1/4 head cabbage

2 tablespoon olive oil divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons pepper (fresh cracked is always best!)

Wash and slice potato in about 1/8 inch rounds.  Add 1/2 cup water and vinegar into a small pan and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes and turn down to a simmer.  Let simmer for 15 minutes.  Drain water/vinegar and toss in 1 teaspoon olive oil.  Heat oven to 350.  Lay potatoes onto a cookie sheet (I covered mine with tin foil).  Make sure they are well oiled so they won't stick.  Bake for 20 minutes flipping half way.  The smaller pieces from the sides might get a little too crispy, just eat those.  You'll want the bigger rounds for the pizza. Set aside

Slice cabbage into thick slices then cut in half.  Heat other tablespoon oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add cabbage, salt and pepper and saute until starting to look translucent.  Add 1/4 cup water, reduce heat to low and cover.  Let cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes.  Water should be evaporated and cabbage should be very tender.

For the dough
1 packet dry active yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons
1 cup warm water
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (oh yes!)

In a larger bowl stir together sugar and warm water and sprinkle yeast over top.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Add oil, salt, vinegar and 2 cups of the flour and mix until well combined and not lumpy.  Add remaining 2 cups flour and begin to kneed.  It will seem too dry, but just keep working it with your hands.  Remove from bowl and kneed on the counter for about 2 minutes.  Place dough ball into a greased bowl (I just used olive oil cooking spray) and cover.  Allow to rise for 90 minutes.  Dough will double in size.  Once doubled, punch center (best part!). Divide into 3 parts and form into balls. If you want a larger pizza divide into 2.  Roll and stretch dough into desired thickness.  Mine was about 10".  You can wrap the dough in cling wrap and freeze the extra for another day.

OK finally, for your pizza.  Heat your bbq on high until grill is nice and hot.  You will want all pizza toppings ready at the bbq.  Brush one side of dough  with olive oil and place oil side down on hot grill.  Turn heat down slightly and grill pizza, checking about every minute and rotate once until nice brown spots start to appear and dough starts to puff.  Oil the top side and flip.  Turn off grill on one side if you can or move pizza is it slightly out of the heat.  Top with mozzarella, cabbage, potato, meat then monterey jack cheese.  Close lid and allow cheese to melt.  Keep your eye on crust.  If cheese is melted and dough isn't quite done enough, move back onto heat for another minute. Should take about 3 minutes on each side.  Be sure to keep checking because you don't want burnt crust!!!

Getting puffy.

I put cheese down first, directions say to put half on top, which would be better.

"Drop something already!!"

It was such a beautiful day!  This is our back yard, cleaned up for once from 1000 dog toys!

DONE!

Crust was wonderful.  It was really comparable to the fire grilled pizzas you get at restaurants.  We are already planning what to make with the other 2 dough balls in the freezer!!  If you make this, please invite me over for dinner! Enjoy!