Yes, we seem to have created a tradition in our house that Friday is pizza and movie night. Not sure how it started, but it seems to be the norm these days.

While we do occasionally cop out and do the Papa Murphy’s thing (that spinach bacon and artichoke delight is so good!) we have also been known to have a “Make your own pizza” night pretty regularly.

Since I have been making sourdough a couple of times each week, I usually have a healthy amount of starter laying around wanting to get used. This comes in very handy around 4:30 on Friday night. Very handy indeed.

While browsing one evening I came across a recipe for sourdough pizza crust that is a definite winner.
It takes about an hour start to finish to have a 9″-12″ pizza each for 4 people. His directions are pretty complete, so I would duplicate it here, but I will add that you should make sure to poke the dough with a fork all over before baking it the first time to keep it from puffing up too much. I also like to place a pan under my pizza stone (at one edge) to put some ice cubes into so that the oven has some steam. Make sure you replace the ice cubes as they melt and evaporate.

Now that you have the dough, what do you top it with?

Let’s start with the sauce:

• 1 small can tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• finely chopped onion – about 1/8 cup
• 1 can of warm water
• ground oregano and basil

Saute the garlic and onion in a small saucepan and add the tomato paste and water. Add the crushed herbs and let it cook on low for a bt while you get the other topping ready.

The girls like cheese pizza – yep, nothin’ but cheese and sauce. Or pepperoni.

For those with a broader pallet, here are some thoughts:

• chicken, spinach, bacon & feta
• chicken, potato, rosemary
• tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella
• pepperoccini, tomatoes & herbs

These are just a few ideas that have come from our oven… tonight was blue potatoes, bacon, onion, chicken, spinach and feta.  Yum!

And no, I didn’t get a picture… it was just too good!  I’ll try to do better next time.

Keep in mind that since this crust is just flour, water, salt and oil, you can make a vegan pizza pretty easily.  Lots of veggies, a pesto sauce… too bad I’m full already, that sounds good too

So, next time pizza sounds good, remember that homemade is easy too!

I have had some requests for chocolate that is vegan and good for diabetics.  I’m not sure on the diabetic front, but these use alternatives to sugar, so they just might fit the bill.  And they taste great too!

For those with wheat allergies, I’m sure you can sub in a gluten-free flour and these will work for you too.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup honey, agave nectar or brown rice syrup – I use a combination of the three
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
• 2/3 cups vegan chocolate chips or chunked up chocolate bar
• 1/3 cup dark cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Put the coconut oil in an 8″x8″ baking pan and put it into the oven while it preheats to melt the coconut oil.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips).  Make a well in the center and add the applesauce, honey and vanilla.  Stir it all together until just moist.  Pour into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle the chips in a layer over the top.  Swirl in gently with a fork.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Serve warm and gooey with Rice Dream or let them cool and serve them room temperature.

If you have brownie lovers like my hubby, this will yield 4 servings.  For normal people, this will give 9 servings.

Fall had decided to show it’s presence earlier this week, and I was torn between roasted root veggies and soup.  Then I thought, “Why not have both?”

Thus, this soup was born.

There is a lot of yummy flavor in here – a special sweetness that comes from the roasted veggies and the herbs.  If you or someone you know is feeling under the weather, make some of this.

Ingredients:

• 1 small-medium purple sweet onion
• 4 cloves garlic – diced
• 5 small potatoes
• 4 med-small carrots
• 1 2-inch long radish
• 1 small kohlrabi
• 1 zucchini
• olive oil
• dash of salt
• sprinkling of cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1.2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a 9×13″ pan or a shallow corningware baking dish.  Peel and chop the potatoes, carrots, zucchini and kohlrabi, and cut the onion in to chunks.  Slice the radish.  Pile all of these into the baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Pour in the apple cider and vinegar.  Cover loosely with foil.

Bake this in the oven at 350F until the veggies begin to caramelize, about 1-1/2 hours.

This can be done a day or so in advance.

• olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic – minced
• 2 chicken breasts or 6 chicken tenders
• 1 carton chicken broth
• 1-4″ sprig rosemary – minced
• sage – crushed
• 2-3 cups cooked brown rice

In a dutch oven, drizzle olive oil in the bottom and cook the onions and garlic until translucent.  Brown the chicken and cut into bite-sized chunks.  Add the roasted veggies, rice and chicken broth.  If you need more liquid, you can add some water or more broth.  Add the rosemary and sage to taste, and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes to give the flavors a chance to blend

Serve with thick-cut bread.

This is a thick, hearty stew when it’s all said and done.  The rice absorbs some of the broth, so if you are planning on leftovers, you may need to add more broth the next day.  You can also use barley in place of the rice.  It’s also a great way to hide some veggies from your kids!  If you chop them very fine, you can sneak the zucchini and kohlrabi in without any questions.  Or leave the chicken out and use veggie broth for a vegan stew that is sure to satisfy.

While I was raised occasionally on the blue box, when my first daughter was born, she wouldn’t touch the stuff. At all. So, since she loved cheese and noodles, we started making our own macaroni and cheese, and trust me when I tell you that it beats the boxed stuff hands down.

• 1 package noodles – radiatori, bowties and penne all work well
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained & chopped
• 1 Tbsp crushed oregano – more or less according to taste
• 1 Tbsp crushed basil – more or less according to taste
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
• fresh cracked black pepper
• shredded cheese – at least 2 cups, more or less to taste

Preheat oven to 325F.

Boil the noodles according to package directions. Heat the oil in a saute pan, and cook the onions until translucent. Add the garlic, carrots, red pepper (if using) and mushrooms and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Drain the noodles and set aside.

In a 9″x12″ baking pan, spread a layer of noodles and cover them with 1/3 of the veggie mixture. Sprinkle with a layer of shredded cheese, and repeat. Sprinkle the oregano and basil over the 2nd layer of cheese, and add another layer of noodles and veggies, as space permits. Lightly cover with a layer of cheese.

Put into the oven an bake for approx. 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and starts to brown.

Serve and enjoy!

1- 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

OR

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. In a separate chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add to the cream cheese mixture and whip just to combine – about 30 seconds.

Yep, that’s it.

Be careful when whipping the cream that you don’t over whip it and make butter. Starting with a well-chilled metal bowl helps.

If you are planning to pipe it for decorating, chill it for at least 1 hour.

If you want to color it, add the color when the cream is just starting to firm up, or paint stripes of color down the sides of the bag for a fun effect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, this is the same frosting from the cinnamon rolls, but it is so buried in that post that people have asked that I post it by itself.  So, here it is!  I also use this just about any time I need a good frosting.

I was thinking about using my sourdough starter to make dinner rolls last night, but I didn’t get it started in time – isn’t that the usual problem with starter bread? While I was looking at recipes though, cinnamon rolls kept showing up alongside the dinner rolls in google. I love google, it is where I turn for inspiration for just about everything.

The recipe I found was for a bread machine – which I refuse to use – so I have modified it for those of us who are making things by hand.

So now I had the rolls, but I don’t like the old powdered sugar & water frosting. Cinnamon rolls (like carrot cake) needs to have cream cheese frosting or caramel. Or both. Back to google I went this morning. What I found borders on the divine.

Next time you have an evening to pre-plan for breakfast, or you just want to spoil your family, this is a great recipe!

For the rolls:

• 1 cup sourdough starter – room temp.
• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons butter – very soft
• 1 egg – room temp (or warmed up in a bowl of hot water)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast

for the filling:

• 2 Tbsp butter – very soft
• 1 Tbsp butter – melted
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice – divided
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine the starter with the milk, butter and eggs. Stir these up until they reach a soupy consistency. Add in the sugar, salt and yeast. Stir until combined. Add in the flour, 1 cup at a time. If it gets too hard to stir, dump it out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the rest of the flour in.

Knead for a few minutes, until the four is all incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky.

Put unto an oiled rising bucket or bowl and put it into your cold oven for 5 hours or overnight. Leave the light off. You want this to have a sow rise overnight, but not as cold as the refrigerator. Mine had just doubled overnight.

In the morning, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out in a rectangle to a 1/2 to 3/4″ thickness. Let it rest for a couple of minutes like this.

While the dough is resting, prepare your pan. I used a 9″ square baker and a mini loaf pan. In the baking pan, spread 1 Tbsp of the butter in the bottom of the pan so that it is covered with a thin layer. Get the sides and corners too. Sprinkle 1/3 of the sugar and 1/3 of the brown sugar into the bottom of the pan.

Back to the dough. Gently spread the remaining soft butter over the dough, adding the melted butter when you have it mostly covered. Be careful to leave one long end free of butter so you can seal the roll.

Sprinkle the sugar over the butter so that is covers the dough – you may need a bit more or less. Do the same with the brown sugar – sprinkling it with your hands. Cover the whole thing with ground cinnamon. I like a lot of cinnamon, some don’t like as much. Use the cinnamon to your taste. If you want them, now is the time to add dried fruit or nuts.

Roll the dough up, starting at the long end OPPOSITE the bare edge. When you get to the edge that has no butter, etc, on it, get your finger wet and run it down the edge to help it stick. Press it with your fingers to seal it.

Get a length of dental floss that is about 18″ long. Slip it under the end of the log and bring your hands up and cross them, slicing the dough cleanly. I made mine about 1″ to 1-1/2″ thick. Do this down the length of the dough, filling the pan.

I used about 2/3 of the roll as cinnamon rolls, and left the rest whole and tossed it into a mini loaf pan and baked it as cinnamon swirl bread. yum!

Let them sit to rise for about 20 minutes before pre-heating your oven. Preheat your oven to 350F. Before putting the rolls into the oven, I spread a bit of butter over the tops and sprinkled with brown sugar and drizzled with agave nectar. I like caramel-y rolls.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the rolls begin to brown.

These can be turned over into a pan and served as caramel rolls as-is, or you can add cream cheese frosting.

For the frosting:

• 1- 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar – white or powdered works fine
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. In a separate chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add to the cream cheese mixture and whip just to combine – about 30 seconds.

Yep, that’s it.

Be careful when whipping the cream that you don’t over whip it and make butter… although for cinnamon rolls, that would be really tasty too. Starting with a well-chilled metal bowl helps.

So, now your rolls are out of the oven – perfectly caramel-y – and you have this big bowl of frosting. Spread it on thick. Then add some more. The rolls are still warm, so some of the frosting will melt down into them, making a deliciously creamy caramel in the bottom. Since you have just a teeny bit of frosting left you have a choice. You can either lick the bowl clean, or save it to dip fruit into. Or put a bit on each plate for people to add more to their already-covered rolls. They will love you for it.

No, this is not a low-fat recipe. But it is a tasty treat on days that you just want to splurge a little. It is very easy to put together, and in the morning it takes just over an hour start to finish – including baking time. If you start them in the afternoon you can put the pan of rolls into the refrigerator overnight and pull them out when you get up and turn the oven on. If you are using a stoneware pan, you will need it to warm up first though – just a reminder. Metal has no problem going into a hot oven still a little cold.

Let me know what you think! I’m going to go have another roll…

The weather took a turn for the cold this weekend… which is fabulous, because I have been hankering for soup, but it was just too hot!

Since it is cold & rainy today, it was easy to convince the girls that we needed soup. Of course, one of them is always in the mood for potato soup. Always. And that is what I told her this was…

If you have a bit of Summer’s bounty hanging around your house, or even some staples and frozen veggies, this will be a tasty way to use some of it up!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head cauliflower
• 2 average carrots
• 3 large yellow potatoes (Yukin Golds are perfect)
• 2 small onions – diced
• 2 medium or 1 large leek
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• olive oil

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 – 32 oz. carton rice milk OR chicken broth
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• seasonings to taste

Preheat your oven to 400F. Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan or 9″x14″ glass baking dish.

Peel the potatoes and carrots and dice them into small chunks. Dice one onion, the garlic and one leek. Put all of this into the roasting dish with the cauliflower florets, breaking them into small pieces. Grind some black pepper over the top, sprinkle a pinch of salt and drizzle slightly with olive oil.

Roast uncovered for 30-45 minutes, or until a majority of the veggies have begun to caramelize.

In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, saute the other onion (diced) and leek until the onion is translucent. Add some seasonings to taste – we like Mrs. Dash, Montreal Steak Seasoning and Emeril’s Essence. Peel and dice the other potato, and add that to the onion. Add the butter and cook for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onion & potatoes and make a basic roux, browning the flour and butter.  Add the roasted veggies and the rice milk. Cook down for about 10 minutes to thicken the milk.

The rice milk has a very watery texture

Add the heavy cream and cook until it is warmed through. If it needs to thicken a bit more, let it boil for a few minutes. For a richer soup, add a bit more cream.

If you want to make this vegan, leave out the butter and cream – it will be a thinner soup, but still very tasty!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some other things to add in…

bacon – cook it before the onions. Cut it into small pieces and fry. When it’s almost done add the onions.\

cheese – cheddar, mozzarella, monterey jack, colby… all of these will work well. We add it to the individual bowls, as some like it and others don’t.

sour cream – you can add 1/2 cup to the whole pot, or just add a dollop to the bowls that want it.

Enjoy!

The end of Summer is here, and if you planted it in your garden – and the slugs didn’t eat it all – you may just have a plethora of zucchini lying around waiting to go bad.  What to do?

Make muffins.

Well, you can make bread if you want to, but the muffins seem to last longer around here… something about counting just how many you have eaten already causes us to show some restraint!

These are *healthy* to some extent, but they don’t taste it!  Don’t tell your kids – or hubby – how good they are for you, just how good they are!  The sugary crust that forms towards the top will make sure that they don’t believe they are healthy anyway.

I have no idea where the original recipe came from, but I have tweaked it – as usual – to suit my tastes.  The girls like it this way better too – double bonus!

And did I mention that these make a tasty breakfast?  Yum…

Down to business…

Ingredients:
wet

• 2 cups evaporated cane sugar
• 1/2 cup turbinato sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3 eggs (or egg replacer*)
• 2-1/2 cups grated zucchini
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract

dry

• 2 cups unbleached white flour**
• 2 cup whole wheat pastry flour**
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt

• 1 cup chopped nuts, dried fruit, etc – optional

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a large mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients, making sure to mix the eggs thoroughly.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  This will be a wet dough.

If you are adding nuts or dried fruit, gently fold them in now.

Lightly grease your muffin tins, or use paper.  Fill each muffin cup just over 1/2 full.  We use a regular sized pan, and a mini muffin pan – the perfect size for the girls to take to school.  Either way, you should get at least 2 pans worth of muffins.  I usually get 15 regular muffins, and 24 mini muffins.

Bake at 325F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a middle muffin comes out clean.

If you are using a loaf pan, bake for 1 hour, or until the toothpick is clean.  It should fill 3 greased loaf pans.

Enjoy!

*if you use egg replacer to make these vegan, add it with the dry ingredients.  Add the water or apple juice with the wet though.

**you can use 3-1/2 cups white flour instead if you would rather, but the whole wheat adds a delicious flavor!  And helps them be just a tad more healthy.

Smoothies, yes, but green? Why, Jennifer, why?

Because they are good… and good for you! And I can’t think of a better way to camouflage some of the green leafy veggies that my kids don’t particularly *like* to eat.

The basics:

frozen fruit
yogurt
kefir
100% juice (I like kagome’s juices)
mixed baby greens – kale, swiss chard, lettuce, cabbage, greens (turnip, collard, etc)
cinnamon
honey
milk

These are the basic ingredients that I use almost every morning.

I pour about 1/3 cup of yogurt into the bottom of my blender. Add about 1-1/2 cups frozen fruit, toss in a handful of greens, pour around 1/3 cup of kefir over that. Add in some juice and milk to keep it from getting too thick. The kids like it when I add a bit of cinnamon or honey to give it a hint of sweetness, but I don’t if the fruit is perfectly ripe and sweet.

Blend, ice crush, whatever setting your blender has that will chop up the fruit and greens into a wonderfully smooth, tasty mixture.

Pour into cups, add a fun straw and watch your kids (and yourself!) slurp down a delicious treat that is oh, so very good for them!

We drink these for breakfast or a mid-morning snack, but they would also be a great dessert. Just don’t let your kids see you making them… or your husband, for that matter! It will be our little secret!

Why frozen fruit?  Because it makes it more like a milk shake, something that kids love.  It also makes it easier to get everything to blend up well.  We pick a lot of fruit throughout the Summer, and I try to freeze at least some of it to enjoy during the colder months… of which most are here in Washington!

I received an email feed from Smitten Kitchen the other day with something utterly delectable… a photo of food that instantaneously caused your mouth to salivate in anticipation of taking a bite of something that is on the other side of the country. Cruelty, plain and simple.

What was this photograph? Bourbon Peach Hand Pies. Oh. Yes.

Here is my take on the hunger inducing recipe…

For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream top vanilla yogurt – mixed
1/3 cup ice water

For the filling:
4 cups blackberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. sugar

The rest of this recipe is basically taken from the Smitten Kitchen blog… and I hate stealing someone else’s words!

The 2 differences I made are as follows:

I was a little short on the sour cream, so I substituted some yogurt and cut back on the water. It still worked out to be very tasty!

I was short on peaches… but the blackberry thicket on the hill is full – FULL – of sweet, ripe berries. So, we used those instead. And since they were berries, I cooked them down a bit before putting together the pies.

Other than that, it’s pretty much the same deal. Oh, except for one little thing..

…the glaze

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup milk

Whisk powdered sugar and tablespoons milk to blend. Make this up to 3 hours ahead.

Set up the cooling racks on top of some aluminum foil to catch the drips. Yes, there will be yummy drips.

When the pies come out of the oven, move them to the cooling racks and drizzle the glaze over them immediately. Cover them well.

Once they have had about 20 minutes to cool, you can enjoy them! Yes, you do need to wait a few minutes so you don’t burn your mouth!

Another great thing – if you just can’t wait – is to eat them with a scoop of ice cream… after all, it is pie!

Enjoy!