Short Attention Span Girl: September 2010 Archives

Pizza for Breakfast

By Marcella on September 25, 2010 9:01 PM | 4 Comments | No TrackBacks

A while back I saw this pizza recipe and new I had to give it a try even though it seemed a bit odd to me. It's a breakfast pizza recipe from the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook. I've had my share of reheated pizza with all manner of standard toppings - veggies, pepperoni, sausage. The usual menu items.

This pizza is topped with bacon and eggs.

It was awesome and definitely fits my husband's preference for savory baked goods. We gobbled it up and made it again. This past weekend we enjoyed it yet again and it occurred to me that I hadn't shared it with you.

Shame on me.

It's so easy to mix up the pizza dough the day before, or even several days before. Heck, you can mix it up a month before and toss it in the freezer for safe keeping. Even easier? Go buy some fresh dough at the store or your local pizza parlor. Then in the morning, pull out the dough to warm up, pre-heat the oven, assemble the toppings and it's time to make a pizza.

The original recipe makes two pizza's which is one pizza too many for the two of us. I've reduced it down to one and skipped a few ingredients like fresh chives and a shallot which I never seem to have on hand. The green onion made it plenty onion-y for us.

If you don't have a pizza stone (and you should) just heat up the oven and place the pizza on a baking sheet or pizza pan to bake rather than atop a stone.

And no, I've never had the leftovers warmed up for dinner. With only one pizza there really aren't any leftovers.

Breakfast Pizza

Adapted from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook via Smitten Kitchen

makes one 12" pizza

Dough

1/4 t instant yeast

1 C bread flour

6 T warm water

1/2 t salt

Pizza

1 C grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 C grated parmesan cheese

3 strips cooked bacon. chopped into bite sized pieces

3 eggs

salt and pepper

1 T chopped fresh parsley

1 T thinly sliced green onion

The day before you want pizza for breakfast make the dough.

In a large mixing bowl pour in all the dough ingredients. Using a dough hook and using speed 1 mix the ingredients until they come together and form a shaggy dough. If there is a great deal of flour add additional water a tablespoon at a time. If the dough is very wet, add additional flour a tablespoon at a time. Continue mixing at speed 2 for several more minutes until the dough is smooth and firm.

Spray the inside of a plastic bag with oil. Place the dough ball into the bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight.

An hour before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator to warm up. Preheat the oven with a pizza stone to 500 degrees.

Stretch or roll the dough out into a 12 inch round. Sprinkle the dough with both cheeses and then the bacon. Gently crack the eggs onto the pizza and season with salt and pepper.

Gently slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. The pizza is done when the crust is golden, the cheese is melted and the egg yolks are cooked.

Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped fresh herbs. Cut into slices and enjoy pizza for breakfast.

printable recipe - breakfast_pizza.pdf

- - marcella

Craving

By Marcella on September 22, 2010 1:57 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Then I went to Target and those bags of peanut butter filled Dove chocolates were calling out to me. I resisted. But my resistance was wearing thin.

Monday morning I remembered that I had signed up to test a few recipes from a new cookbook. The authors had asked for many volunteers to all try out three recipes and post pictures on their blogs or flicker pages for Dancing in the Kitchen with Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef. As you can see I am a bit later than Monday.

However, these brownies were so very much worth the wait!

And even better, they totally satisfied my chocolate and peanut butter cravings! In addition, I can feed them to my friends who cannot eat wheat or gluten because they are made with rice and oat flour. Honestly, you'd never know they weren't your standard wheat flour brownies. The texture and flavor is just delicious.

Chocolate

Peanut butter

Happiness!

So whether you cannot eat wheat or cooking for those who cannot eat gluten or simply want to eat really delicious food, you will want to cook from Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: A Love Story with 100 Tempting Recipes.

Not only did they develop a yummy brownie recipe that is not too gooey and not too cake-y, but they share evil ideas like splitting it and smearing on a bit of jam for a pb and brownie sandwich.

You have to love someone who can cook like that. Gluten-free or not

- - marcella

Cake for Two

By Marcella on September 17, 2010 1:26 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I made it! I actually managed to get a yoga class in every day this week. Thursday was looking mighty iffy there for a bit, but I managed to get what I needed done in time to take the late afternoon class. Only problem? It was hot. Yes, I know it's supposed to be hot. This however, was way beyond that. We had a substitute who did not know how to run the thermostat. As a result the heater turned on and never turned off. The room just got hotter and hotter and hotter. People started feeling it and quite a few students were sitting down and several had to leave the room. It got so hot that during savasana she would open the door to let some air in the room. It was brutal. On the other hand, this morning the room seemed much more comfortable. Maybe that's the secret of how you get used to the temperature; suffer through some really, really hot classes.

On the cooking front, not quite all of the pineapple slices made it into the dehydrator. My husband mentioned pineapple upside down cake and frankly you don't have to ask me twice about dessert. I did decide that a whole cake would not get eaten. Well, it might but it would be one slice for my husband and the rest of the pan for me. Not the best ratio. So, I decided to play with my recipe and make just enough for dessert.

I have two small cake pans that are 3" across and 2" high. I got them at the local restaurant supply place and let me just say that is a dangerous place to shop if you have a thing for kitchen wares. If you don't have little pans you could certainly bake these in a muffin pan. However, the empty cups can cause uneven baking, so put a tablespoon or two of water in each of the unused muffin cups and everything should bake up just fine.

I also must confess to a thing about pineapple upside down cake. Well two. One, I'm not a maraschino cherry fan so I skip those. Two, I don't like the cake with thick pineapple rings on top. It's hard to eat and the cake gets squished as a result of trying to cut through the fruit with a fork. So, when I make it I either crush the pineapple by putting it in the food processor and giving it a few pulses or I just dice it up small with a knife. Since I needed so little for two individual cake, I used the knife method with these. If you like rings and cherries or pecans or whatever, go for it and enjoy.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Makes two 3" x 2" cakes, serves 2

topping:

1/3 C fresh pineapple diced or crushed

1 T butter

2 T brown sugar

cake:

2 T butter

1/3 C sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 t vanilla

1/8 t salt

1/8 t baking soda

1/3 C flour

3 T buttermilk

To make the topping, melt the butter and brown sugar together until bubbly. Pour half of the sugar mixture into the bottom of two 3" x 2" round cake pans. Spoon half of the pineapple into each pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light colored and creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined.

Stir together the salt, baking soda and flour.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Mix in the buttermilk. Blend in the remaining dry ingredients.

Spoon the batter into the pans and bake at 375 degrees for 22 - 25 minutes until the cake is golden and tests done with a toothpick.

Gently loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a knife. Carefully invert the cakes onto a plate. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

printable recipe - pineapple_cake.pdf

- - marcella

In the Pink

By Marcella on September 14, 2010 6:03 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

What with all this sweaty yoga going on, I have gotten mighty tired of drinking gallons of water. Yes, I've made it to yoga this week on both Monday and Tuesday. I'm aiming for a 5 out of 5 day week.

I decided I needed a treat. I'm not much of a soda drinker. Then I remembered this recipe from the fruit CSA. They have been burying us in plums lately and try as I might to eat them as fast as they deliver, I was woefully behind.

As a kid the pink lemonade we occasionally got came in a frozen can to be mixed with water. It was just regular lemonade with a little grape juice for color. This lemonade is pink from the purple skinned plums that are mixed in.

It's a Dry Heat

By Marcella on September 12, 2010 6:05 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

A few weeks ago we went to Arizona to visit family and celebrate my mother in laws birthday. After the windy, foggy and downright cold at times summer here, it was a bit of a climate change. I loved it, but then I like to be hot.

My husband spotted this sign and wanted a picture. What does it say about a city when it's ranked under the prison on the road sign?

After the heat there, I came home to a call for help requiring a different kind of heat. My parents apple trees were ready for picking. Not only that, but several friends of theirs had also shared apples from their trees. It was time for a drive and a little apple work.

All I can say is thank goodness for that clever Amish inventor who designed the apple peeler - corer - slicer. Who even knows if it was really an Amish man? Who cares; I love whomever it was because he or she sure saves us a lot of work!

My parents had a couple of bushels of apples from two trees, a grocery bag from one friend and a big box (previously used to hold hatch chile, but I somehow got out of that roasting, peeling, seeding job) of apples from a second friend. Thank goodness that at this point my parents said "no thank you" to all other offers of apples. As it was it took us a few hours to peel, core and slice with the gizmo, dunk in pineapple juice to ward off browning, and package up most of those apples.

Some of the apples were a bit overripe so they were sent home with me to feed the deer. OK, that would be illegal, but it's just so fun to toss the apples off the balcony and watch the deer come running. There seems to be a lookout deer who hangs out and as soon as I toss a handful of apples into the yard the deer sends a signal out and suddenly we have at least 8 deer fighting for apples. We do toss plenty of apples down for everyone, but some of those deer are bullies and push the little ones out of the way. Guess there are bullies everywhere.

I take my apple slices home and after a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, load them into the dehydrator. Two batches over two days and we have enough dried apples to keep us snacking happy for quite a while.

My favorite dried fruit addiction is the dried pineapple from a local produce market. I could probably eat a container a day if I let myself. It is so wonderful - nothing like the sticky sweet candied pineapple that finds its way into fruitcakes and unfortunate granola mixes.

The meat man suggested that while we were out shopping for salmon for this weekend smoking adventure, that we should pick up a few pineapples to try drying ourselves. With the two of us working together, we quickly sliced and cored up three pineapples. I did the peeling and my husband used his new meat slicer to perfectly slice the pineapple. A round cookie cutter took care of the core and into the dehydrator it went.

Pineapple happiness.

I've also been keeping up with the yoga. I made it to class on both Thursday and Friday, for the week that was class on four out of five days.

- - marcella

More Grilling

By Marcella on September 9, 2010 12:46 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Actually, I've been running around a bit this week playing catch up. How did I get so far behind? So much computer work yesterday that by the time I finished it was 10 minutes to yoga class. Sigh, no way could I make it on time. So, I stayed home and played catch up with an online quilting class I'm taking. I'm behind everywhere. Hopefully that will not be the case much longer!

But, not all cooking and grilling around here is meat. In the winter I love roasted vegetables, but in the summer we toss them on the grill.

Saturday we did a quick farmers market run and came home with fresh corn and peas. At home we already had bell pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions. Just perfect for a grilled salad.

OK, well I didn't grill all the vegetables. I left the peas and tomatoes alone. The corn, onions and bell pepper went on the grill plain. The mushrooms got a quick spray of oil. The pepper is grilled until the outside is charred and then set aside to cool under some plastic wrap to keep things steamy. The steam helps loosen that pepper skin and makes it easier to peel. Then it's a quick job to pull the seeds out and chop it up. The corn kernels got sliced off the cob, and the mushrooms and onion were chopped into bite sized pieces. Tossed with greens, a quick dressing and a topping of blue cheese and it's a really yummy salad with enough vegetables in it that you can almost pretend you are counteracting all that meat on your plate.

Grilled Salad

Pick your favorite in season vegetables and give them a grill. Try something not listed on the recipe like asparagus or summer squash. Add a chicken breast to the grill and make it a main dish. Adapted from a recipe by Pt. Reyes Blue Cheese.

1 red bell pepper

1 portabello mushroom

1 red onion, sliced

2 ears corn

6 ounces spinach, mixed greens or lettuces

6 ounces crumbled blue cheese

dressing:

2 T sherry or balsamic vinegar

4 T olive oil

1 t chopped fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Grill the vegetables until the pepper is blackened in spots and the other vegetables are tender. Peel and seed the pepper and chop into strips. Cut the corn kernels off the cob. Chop the other vegetables into bite sized pieces.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients.

Toss the grilled vegetables with the greens and salad dressing. Top with cheese.

printable recipe - grilled_salad.pdf

- - marcella

Smokin' weekend

By Marcella on September 7, 2010 1:06 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm falling down on my yoga reporting. I did attend class Friday, Monday and today. I'm starting to feel like I have a clue about what I should be doing. It still amazes me how much I sweat. I guess I should be happy that every single one of my sweat glands work. At least something does!

Now, on to food!

Not long ago my husband bought an egg. A big green egg for smoking meats and things. Nearly every weekend since, he's made something delicious for Sunday dinner.

This weekend was a tall order. My parents were coming on Sunday for smoked brisket and on Monday we had a party to go to and my husband wanted to take more brisket and ribs.

Early Saturday morning he was up and soaking wood chunks in water and soon had the egg fired up.

Being a gadget guru, he also got this very fancy temperature controller. No more vent adjusting. Nope, just hook up the fan onto the lower vent, put a temperature probe in the top and another in the meat. Finally, set the temperature on that green box for what the smoker should be and what the meat should finish at and away you go. If the smoker gets a little cool, the fan turns on and heats things up just right. It's pretty amazing how stable it keeps the temperature.

The brisket took about 10 hours on Saturday to cook. The ribs, cooked on Sunday were a bit quicker at 3 - 4 hours. Doesn't it look delicious?

Yogurt Success!

By Marcella on September 2, 2010 1:57 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

When I was doing the natural foods challenge not long ago I tried yogurt making again. This time I tried the crock pot method. Blog after blog declared what a great method it was. Maybe for them. Me? Yogurt soup again. Also, the whole timing of heating, then resting, then stirring, then letting sit for 8 hours just didn't really fit my schedule.

Lately we've been using our dehydrator more. My husband made some really delicious beef jerky. My parents apple trees needed picking so two huge batches of apples were dried. The dehydrator book said that it could be used to make yogurt. I decided to give it a try.

Success!

Much faster and easier than the crock pot method. It only took 3 hours. Even with non-fat milk I ended up with thick yogurt without adding any powdered milk, gelatin or anything at all extra.

I decided to drain the last batch for greek style yogurt and made these yogurt parfaits. I love these because you make them, press a little plastic wrap on the top and stick them in the fridge. When you are ready your delicious yogurt treat is ready for you. This one is topped with some of Ashley's Banana Coconut Granola (just scroll down to recipe #3).

Perfect!

I was particularly happy to have this waiting in the fridge for me after another day of hot and sweaty yoga! I just pulled out a spoon and sprinkled on the granola and was ready to dig in. Perfect fast food breakfast.

Yes, I did survive to take another yoga class today. I got up and felt great; just a teeny bit sore in a couple of places. Then I went to class and when we started doing those poses I realized that actually everything hurt. It still felt great to take class though, and while I do still have some sore spots I'm glad I went.

The original recipe for the parfait calls for pureeing a mango and two bananas for the fruit layer. It is delicious that way. However, my fridge is overflowing at the moment with peaches and nectarines so that is what I used - two of each. I peeled the peaches but not the nectarines.

Yes, the fruit did get a little brown - those fruits do that - perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice would help fend off oxidation. It tasted great though.

Peach and Yogurt Parfait

Adapted from a recipe found in an old issue of Hallmark magazine. Try other fruits or even applesauce instead of the peaches. The original recipe called for one mango and two bananas and is very good.

3 C plain greek style yogurt

2 T honey

1/2 t vanilla

4 peaches, peeled

honey to taste

1/2 t vanilla

Stir together the yogurt, honey and vanilla and set aside.

Puree the fruit, vanilla and honey (if needed) until smooth in a blender or food processor.

Place 1/4 cup of the yogurt mixture in the bottom of each of six serving dishes. Divide the fruit between the dishes. Top with remaining yogurt and smooth to cover the fruit.

Cover and chill.

printable version - yogurt_parfait.pdf

- - marcella

Beans and Things

By Marcella on September 1, 2010 4:03 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The more you eat, the more you toot

The more you toot, the better you feel

So eat your beans at every meal!

I can't help it, sometimes I revert to a 10 year old.

Busy days call for easy and quick dinners. This is one of the few vegetarian meals that I made that doesn't elicit the comment "this is really good, but you know what would make it better? Sausage!" What can I say? The men around here love meat. They also love these tacos, so why not make some for your favorite carnivore?

The tacos that we had for dinner last night were made with garbanzo, black and pinto beans. All from cans; just open, drain and rinse. I've been known to use three cans of beans, a regular size can of tomato sauce and nudge up the spices a bit for a big batch. I just freeze the extra and have an even quicker dinner another night.

Oh, and while the recipe says simmer for 20 minutes, I doubt I've ever let things simmer that long.

I fry up taco shells from store bought corn tortillas but you could certainly make soft tacos with either flour or corn tortillas or buy the crunchy taco shells in a box.

Set out your favorite taco toppings and dinner is ready.

Easy Bean Tacos

Adapted from Bon Appetite magazine. Use your favorite homemade or canned beans to make these. I've even frozen leftovers and they re-heat just fine.

1 t oil

1 C diced onion

1 C diced bell pepper

1 T chili powder

2 t dried oregano

1 t ground cumin

1 minced garlic clove

1 - 8oz can tomato sauce

2 cans beans, drained and rinsed (pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney, etc)

12 taco shells

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add next 6 ingredients (onion through garlic) and sauté 2 minutes. Add beans and tomato sauce and simmer for 20 minutes or until thick.

Fill taco shells with bean mixture and top with your favorite things.

printable version - bean_tacos.pdf

Did you know that September is National Yoga month? Me neither. But even in my ignorance I signed up to take a yoga class today. I've been working out to a variety of DVD's lately and have really been enjoying a very basic beginner yoga workout. I've checked a few others out from the library and finally decided that I enjoyed yoga enough that I should try and find a class.

I don't know about you, but for me to show up regularly, an exercise class needs to be convenient. Close to home and classes at just the right time are a must. I found a place that fit the bill with one scary thing. It's Bikram yoga.

Nothing I write can describe how it felt to walk into a 105 degree room this morning. Yikes. It was HOT and I actually like to be hot. People were whining in Phoenix last weekend, but I thought it felt great. Maybe there's something to that dry heat thing. Maybe it was because standing outside in the desert is a whole different thing than facing down and hour and a half of yoga in a hot room with strangers.

I found a back row spot (yes, I am a coward) and lay out my spiffy new yoga mat and took a seat. All the experienced people were doing various warm up poses. Seriously, the room is warm enough that all my muscles were jelly so what was there to warm up? I just sat and sweated. And can I just say that I've never been a big sweaty exerciser? Really. Even when I taught crazy aerobics in the 1980's I never left class drippy wet.

By the time the breathing exercises were done I was wet.

Soon after I was drippy wet.

Then, the compressor kicked in. My brain expected a cool breeze. My body got the heater blasting. Seriously, it wasn't hot enough? The lady next to me tried to fan herself with her hand. It didn't appear to be very effective.

By the end of class I fully understood the expression "feeling like a wet noodle".

It was a good workout though. I am terrible at Bikram and not bendy at all, but it felt good to do. Or maybe it just felt good to be done. At any rate, my drippy towels have been washed and I'll let you know if I drag my lazy self out of bed tomorrow for another morning of stretching, balancing and sweating.

-- marcella

September 2010 Archives

Pizza for Breakfast

Craving

Cake for Two

In the Pink

It's a Dry Heat

More Grilling

Smokin' weekend

Yogurt Success!

Beans and Things

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