Chipotle Veggie Pizza

Wow. Two posts from me in one week. I think I deserve a prize, and I think that prize should be of the cookie variety, perhaps even homemade. I've been craving a chocolate chip cookie for months and haven't even had time to think about making some. Maybe today's the day.

Let's get off cookies and talk pizza. This pizza. It was spicy and flavorful and full of good-for-you stuff. I made my crust, which I'll list down below since I've only ever linked to it from here. I subbed whole wheat flour for most of the white flour this time and wondered why I never did that before. This crust is more of a flatbread really, but it's a no-knead variety and has great taste, great texture and gets crisp on the bottom and bubbly on top. It's perfect.

Now for the goods on top, and they were definitely good! Tomatoes (I'm getting better and better at cooking with tomatoes. I'm so proud. But you still won't catch me eating a raw one.), a chipotle pepper, ancho chile powder, onion, garlic, corn, kale, queso fresco. That's it. So fresh, so easy, so spicy. The original recipe called it "Mexican Pizza" but I don't necessarily think a pizza that has tomatoes, chipotle and corn is really a Mexican pizza, not that it matters, but anyway...

No-Knead Pizza Dough
Slightly adapted from My Baking Addiction

1-3/4 c lukewarm water
1 packet granulated yeast (I use Red Star Quick Rise)
2 tsp Kosher salt
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 c extra virgin olive oil
3-1/4 c all-purpose flour (white, wheat or both)

Strawberry Basil Lemonade and Hi, Remember Me?

Hi. Remember me? I'm the very bad keeper of this space. My name is Steph. I finally made something special and also remembered to take a picture of it before it got devoured. Today, I give you Strawberry Basil Lemonade, aka Heaven in a Mason Jar. I stumbled upon it yesterday while I should have been working and immediately added lemons and strawberries to my shopping list. It was a little time-consuming to make this morning, but oh my. It was so worth the effort and the extra trip back to the grocery store for five more lemons.

Strawberry Basil Lemonade
From Scrumptious and Sumptuous


1 large lemon, thinly sliced, ends discarded
1 1/2 c sugar
7 c cold water
2 c fresh lemon juice (6-12 lemons, depending on size and juiciness)
10-12 strawberries
1/2 c loosely packed fresh basil

Using a potato masher (or if you're like me and don't own one, the bottom of a mason jar), mash lemons and sugar in a deep bowl until slices release their juice and sugar begins to dissolve (the oils from the lemon give a boost of flavor to the drink). Stir in water and lemon juice until sugar completely dissolves. Strain out lemon slices.

Purée strawberries and basil in a food processor. Add to the lemonade. Stir. Chill. Pour over ice. Sip with your pinkie sticking out.

Sweet Potato Kale Pizza

Well hello food blogging world. It's been a while. I've been a little busy, what with school and working 50+ hours a week. I've still been cooking though and I love how spending time in the kitchen everyday is a good, calming transition between work and homework. I've also been teaching my husband little snippets about cooking. We've been talking about how he'll become the cook while I'm in school but so far, it's still me. And that's ok because I love it.

Several weeks ago, I decided it's time to jump on the kale bandwagon. We started with Lemony Kale Pasta and while we loved the pasta, the kale kind of threw us off. It was bitter and kind of woody almost. I had to use regular curly kale though (it was all the local grocery store had) and I think that was the issue.

The next night, that bitter, woody curly kale was transformed into an amazingly crunchy, yummy topping for this pizza. More on that later. Another week or so went by and I made Dana Treat's Minestrone Genovese with lacinto kale. It was incredible. I even made my own vegetable stock beforehand. Dana is a vegetarian wizard.

And last night, I made Kalyn's Pasta with Hot Italian Sausage, Kale and Garlic, again with the curly kale. I used two links of spicy turkey sausage and 16 ounces of pasta (we love pasta leftovers) and it was absolutely fantastic. The turkey sausage was not greasy or fatty at all (duh) and had incredible flavor. It was just delicious. And tonight, it's Sweet Potato Kale Pizza night again.

Sweet Potato Kale Pizza
Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod using inspiration from here

Your favorite pizza dough (I love love this one; baking instructions here)
1 smallish sweet potato, sliced paper thin on a mandoline
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 c kale, chopped
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

In a bowl, combine kale, red onion, balsamic, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to coat and set aside. Slice sweet potato.

If using the dough recipe above, bake your dough for 8 minutes in a 425˚ oven. Top dough with sweet potato, slightly overlapping each slice as you go. Top with mozzarella, then kale/onion mixture. Drizzle the balsamic (from the bowl) on the pizza. Sprinkle with rosemary.

Bake as directed. Let pizza rest for a couple of minutes before slicing.

Rosemary Honey & Cake

The lemon basil bundt cake made me realize how many opportunities I've missed to bake a cake. Anniversary? Birthday? Random Tuesday? Cake is good for any occasion! So when my extended family got together a couple of weekends ago, cake it was, and I wanted something like the lemon basil bundt, but was craving rosemary (as I often do), and found what seemed like a very involved Martha Stewart recipe. Instead of making a from-scratch pound cake, I simply threw a few of tablespoons of fresh rosemary into a Betty Crocker golden vanilla cake and called it good. And you know what? It totally was. It was extremely good, but the kicker for me was the topping. A simple rosemary-infused honey that added just the perfect amount of earthy and sweet. I'm so happy I had extra because I've put it on biscuits the last two Sunday mornings.

Rosemary Bundt Cake

1 Betty Crocker golden vanilla cake mix (make as directed, subbing no sugar added applesauce for oil)
3 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped

To the cake mix, add rosemary and bake as directed. Easy as that.


Rosemary Honey
From Martha Stewart

1 c light-flavored honey, such as clover
5 rosemary sprigs (3 inches each)

Bring honey and rosemary to a simmer in a small saucepan. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep until cool, about 45 minutes. Remove rosemary, or leave in for a stronger flavor. (I left it in.)

Roasted Green Beans

My oh my. This is the way fresh-out-of-the-garden green beans should be made, and with the hordes of green beans we're pulling out of our garden every few days, this has become a staple recipe for us. It's quick, it's easy, it's absolutely delicious. Try it.

Roasted Green Beans

fresh green beans
minced garlic
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
crushed red pepper
half a lemon, juiced

Preheat oven to 450˚.

Put green beans in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Add garlic, toss to coat. Add salt, pepper, red pepper, and toss. Spread evenly on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet. Roast 15-20 minutes till slightly carmelized, stirring once halfway through.

Before serving, squeeze half a lemon over the beans. Good stuff.

Veggie Pizza x2

I mentioned back in April that i wanted to master making my own pizza dough. Well, good news! I'm here to say I've done it, thanks to a wonderful, easy, and quick no-knead recipe over on My Baking Addiction. This dough has now become my baking addiction, and we've eaten pizza three times now in two weeks (tomorrow is #4 - shaved asparagus pizza!). I know I've already said it, but the recipe is very easy and it all comes together so quickly. It makes me cringe to think I've been buying ready-made Boboli crust for years, thinking it was easier. Well in truth, yes it might be, but there is no comparison to homemade. The flavor, the smells in the house, the chewy crust with the crunchy bite... I'm sold.

So, since I'm a wizard with no-knead pizza dough these days, I whipped up my own version of Roosters' Sicilian Pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, capers, green onions, and black olives. It's divine. Next, I made an old favorite, potato leek pizza, and after that, in an effort to use up some tasty enchilada goods (I made Dana Treat's vegetable enchiladas), I threw the remaining sauce and veggies on a pizza. Veggie enchilada pizza!

But let me go off on a small tangent about these enchiladas. Dana is a goddess. Every time I make one of her recipes, it becomes the best thing I've ever made. This time was no different. I wish I had a photo here to show you the finished product, but please click over to her blog to see what you should be eating for dinner tonight. I did two things differently: I added an extra minced garlic clove to the sauce and a minced clove to the onion while it sauteed, and I used low-sodium black beans instead of pinto. Words cannot describe the flavor bursting from these hot little tortillas. I made six enchiladas that night, and couldn't bear to waste the extra sauce or vegetables, hence the pizza, which was a fine substitute for the lack of tortillas in my fridge.

Anyway, back to the pizzas of amazingness. Do you know what the weird thing is about all this veggie pizza-making? I've never liked vegetables on my pizza. I was strictly a pepperoni gal. Not any more. Keep that stuff off my pie!

Sicilian Pizza

freshly-made dough
red sauce
mozzarella, shredded
artichoke hearts, drained
capers
black olives, sliced
green onions, sliced
crushed red pepper

Bake your dough as directed, and top with sauce, cheese, veggies. Add a dash of crushed red pepper.


Veggie Enchilada Pizza

Make Dana's recipe for Vegetable Enchiladas. Eat those the first night, then put the leftover sauce and vegetables on your pizza dough. Bake and devour.

S'mores Bars

It seems this year the craze is s'mores, and believe me, when I see all the cookie, ice cream, and cupcake recipes currently floating around, I'm crazed for s'mores. With all the camping we do, you'd think I'd be s'more'd out, but in reality, I think I've only had that gooey graham crackery, marshmallowy, chocolatey goodness once this year. I need to make up for the deficit somehow. Come on, campfires!

This little pan of s'mores made my house smell amazing, but sadly, it wasn't quite up to par. And now that I write that, I'm not sure why I'm sharing the recipe with you now. I should scoot into the kitchen and make these again, and better, then share the improved recipe, but still, here I type. I guess it all depends on how s'more-like you want these, and apparently, I want mine more so. I would also like peanut butter. And finer chocolate. And more graham. The recipe as-is is a yummy, sugary treat but it is lacking in graham flavor, which is one of my favorite cookie flavors. The graham crust was much more cookie-like, so in order to fix that, I think I'd try reducing the flour and boosting the grahams, and/or using homemade graham crackers (but then it becomes a much more involved process). I'd also use quality chocolate, and probably dark, instead of traditional Hershey's. The marshmallow was just right. No complaints there. Now, how to incorporate peanut butter? Hmm...

S'mores Bars
From The Girl Who Ate Everything

1/2 c butter, room temperature
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars
1 7-oz jar marshmallow fluff

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 16 cookie bars.