Category Archives: Food

The Perfect Health(ier) Pizza!

I haven’t blogged lately, and it’s not because we haven’t been cooking and eating at home. In fact, I’ve cooked quite a bit. We’ve had blackberry-ginger glazed salmon, chicken biryani (these will all appear on the blog, eventually!), and homemade pizzas.

I love Pizza. There is just something so mouth-watering about dough smothered in tomato sauce and topped with gobs of cheese. So mouth-watering…but so unhealthy!!!! Therefore, I don’t eat pizza, or “zah”—as I affectionately call it, very often anymore. Piyush really dislikes pizza (blasphemous!), and much prefers his “pizza” on a crispy tortilla instead of a soft, chewy dough.

I decided to try and change his mind, to convert him into a pizza lovin’ maniac. But, it would not be easy! With the goal of creating a crispy—yet somewhat doughy (and possibly a little healthy)—crust, and a flavorful homemade sauce…I got to work. I scoured the internet and found a couple dough recipes that had possibility. I tried a few, but couldn’t find perfection. So, I mashed them together—taking what I liked from some, and discarding what I hated from others. Some would show promise, only in the end to puff up into a more bread-like crust. That wasn’t going to work!

Eventually I combined recipes to come up with the perfect recipe, and the perfect technique. I think both are really equally important…and you can get a totally different crust using the same recipe depending on how you prepare it. I found that rolling the dough out with a rolling pin yielded the exact texture I was trying to achieve for the crust. After it was rolled out I pricked it all over with a fork to keep the dough from bubbling up. I sprayed it really quickly with olive oil, using my Misto (I love the Misto!). Then, I pre-cooked the crust for a few minutes in a 450 F degree oven using a pizza stone—just to make sure it got ultra crispy.

Next step…the sauce. I wanted something that had a fresh, rustic taste. Something that was everything canned/jarred pizza sauce you find at the grocery store was not. I don’t know how I did it, but I got the sauce right the very first time! Piyush proclaimed it the best he’s ever tasted, and he said Italy would be proud. (Haha—thanks, honey!…but I don’t know if I’d go that far!)

Aside from tasting really good, this sauce is also ultra easy!

fresh mozzarella, basil and mushroom pizza

After I had both the crust and the sauce figured out…I had to decide what to top it with. I wasn’t really in a meat eating mood and I wanted to stick with something simple and flavorful. We had lots of mushrooms in the fridge, and basil too. I knew Piyush loves Mozzarella…and since I was trying to convince him that pizza is a food he should love…that decision was easy. Mozzarella, it was! We bought a 8oz ball, and I used about half of it. I thinly sliced the ball and then flattened those slices even more with my hands. I dried them off with a paper towel (they were a little wet), cut them into halves, and slapped them on the the zah.

This pizza was simply delicious. It was so easy, inexpensive, and flavorful. And the best part….Piyush loved it! In fact, he ate half of it! I had two slices and it left me feeling full and satisfied.

Calorie-wise, each slice is equal to approximately 150 calories. How awesome is that?! I’m not sure how it tastes when it’s reheated yet…but I have a couple slices left for lunch tomorrow! Yum!

Aside from the results…the other thing I love about both the crust and the sauce recipes are that they freeze up awesome! If you keep a little dough and sauce in the freezer, making a pizza will be way faster than waiting for delivery (and just as easy, too)!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

(makes two 12″ crusts—8 slices/ea)

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (plus more for kneading) I use Indian atta flour, for the best texture
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. warm water
2 1/4 tsp. active, dry yeast
1 tbsp. honey

Directions:

Combine the warm water, honey and yeast in a bowl. Let this sit until it becomes foamy— about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the flours and salt. Once the yeast mixture is foamy add it to the flours. Stir, using a wooden spoon, until the dough begins to come together—then add the olive oil.
Knead everything together, adding additional flour (a little at a time) until the dough is moderately stiff and no longer wet. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for about a half hour.
Sprinkle a cutting board or parchment paper with some cornmeal. Divide the dough into 2 portions (freeze one, if you’d like) and place one portion on the cornmeal covered surface. Roll the dough out to a thin circle using a rolling pin.
Poke holes all over the crust using a fork. Then, pre-bake the crust for 5 minutes in a 450 F degree oven (that has been preheated with a pizza stone for about 30 min). Remove. Spread the crust with sauce and the toppings of your choice.
Bake at 450 F degrees (again, on the pizza stone) for about 10 minutes—or until the crust gets a little browned and the cheese gets all melty.

Easy Tomato Pizza Sauce

3 or 4 large garlic cloves
3 medium tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for cooking garlic
5 or 6 large basil leaves
salt and pepper—to taste
1/2 tbsp sugar

Directions:

Peel, smash and chop garlic. Add about 1 tsp. of oil into a pan and saute until garlic begins to turn a little brown (watch it closely—garlic burns easily!)
Put garlic, tomatoes (quartered), 1 tbsp olive oil and basil leaves in blender. Blend until everything is combined, you can leave the tomatoes a little chunky if you want.
Pour sauce into the same pan you cooked the garlic in—add some chopped tomatoes if you’d like. Add sugar and stir everything together. Simmer on medium heat for about 30-40 minutes or until it thickens.
Season with salt and pepper.

So easy…and so perfect!!!

Also…How cute is this?! It’s my cat wearing a mini scarf! I’m starting to get the hang of this knitting thing…

Harry modeling his scarf

Monday Madness! and a Greek Inspired Dinner

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I really enjoy Mondays. Though, I haven’t always. In fact I used to spend Tuesday-Sunday dreading the upcoming Monday. Extreme? Probably; but when I was young(er) with few(er) worries and responsiblies, Monday meant that the weekend was ending…and work/school was starting. Mondays were an unpleasant jolt back to reality, and I hated them for that. Now, I work every other weekend. And sometimes Monday signifies the end of my week, not the beginning. Monday is the new Friday. Sort of.

Mondays also mean I’m obligated to go to the gym. I need routine and consistency. I also need to feel accountable, and the only thing I’ve found that works is to sign up for a program where I know people are expecting me. For some weird reason I feel worse letting down complete strangers than I do letting myself down. How screwy is that?! So, Monday night has become Cable Class night. And I look forward to it!

I really like all the trainers at the gym, but I’ve got to say I’m partial to either Paula or Angie. I feel that they know my limits and know how to push me. They also know when I’m being lazy, and that’s important…If they have all this faith that I can do something, maybe I really can. And that’s usually how it works.

Tonight’s cable class was extra hard, probably for a few reasons. The first being that I haven’t really worked out since returning from India—call it an extended holiday, if you will. Secondly, I decided to wake up this morning and take a yoga class. My arms were on fire! Now, they are jello. …But I feel good. Like, real good!

After the gym I came home and heated up dinner. Because my class is at 7:45 pm and I don’t really want to work out on a full stomach, I usually put together a meal and have it all ready to heat up when Piyush and I get home around 9. I know 9 seems like a really late time to eat a big dinner, but it’s what works for us…so we do it.

Tonight we had Greek! We love Greek food and tend to order take out way more than we should! I decided it was probably time to make something healthy that had those same flavors, and today was as good of a day as any other. This dinner was really simple and honestly there aren’t really any “real” recipes.

Basically it’s brown rice with a little lemon juice and greek seasoning, grilled and seasoned chicken, and steamed summer squash/zucchini. I also smothered it in tzatziki sauce!

I wish I could say I made the sauce, but I had a container of tzatziki left from the restaurant here in town. It’s a yummy yogurt based sauce that makes a great dip for celery sticks, so I always try to have some on hand. It’s really easy to make too…and next time I actually make my own I’ll definitely share the recipe!

But now I have to sleep! I have to work early tomorrow.

Tuesdays….sigh. The only good thing about Tuesday is “Teen Mom!” Hah!

Oh! Before I go, I also have to just say that I am so proud of my little sister!!! She had an interview today at the Mayo Clinic School of Med….and I couldn’t be more excited for her!!!!! There are only 2 more spots open…and 12 more to interview, but I know she’ll get accepted! They’d be goofy not to accept her! She looked just like a little doctor, all dressed up in her suit and pearls. Yay!, Michelle!

Vegetarian Bean Taco Salad

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I must be in a Mexican kinda mood, because it seems that’s all I feel like cooking lately! I’ve also felt like eating beans. Lots of beans.

source (you can also click this link to learn about the health benefit of beans)

When I was planning dinner the other day, I decided I’d make a vegetarian taco salad for three reasons:

1. Tacos are delicious.

2. Salads are good for you.

3. I can eat the bowl I serve my salad in. Now, that’s exciting!

I decided to get a little head start on my taco filling. Not that it takes a long time or anything- in fact, it takes hardly any time!- but mostly because I didn’t want to do it later. My theory when it comes to dinner preparation is the sooner the better. The longer I put it off, the lazier I become.

Before I started turning regular cans of black and pinto beans into delicious, taco-flavored delicacies, I chopped up some veggies and had myself a little snack.

I made a simple Indian inspired salad (I’ve blogged about it here), and added a tablespoon or so of aloo bhujia—fried, spiced potato noodles—for a little crunch. I think the weather outside has me craving Summer. It seems like spring and was even 50 degrees today! This salad screams Summer, but sadly the tomatoes and cucumber screamed “out of season”! …Back to reality. I still have over 5 months before Summer arrives!

After eating my snack, I decided to get started on my tortilla bowls. When I lived with my grandparents, after moving home from college, this was a meal I often made for dinner. It all started when I was at the supermarket and had a mad craving for a taco salad. I picked up some ground turkey, grabbed the lettuce and veggies and I found the pre-made taco shell bowls. I flipped over the package, and realized that one bowl was nearly 500 calories! Whoa! Then I got to thinking (I know, right!?!)…A taco shell bowl is really just a tortilla! So I went home and draped torillas over glass pyrex bowls and baked them at 400 degrees, until they were crisp. Genius! I used whole wheat, low calorie tortillas and was able to knock the calories of my taco shell bowl down to a measly 80 cals. Awesome! Now, I have a couple fancy taco shell bowl molds. They make awesome bowls, but they’re really completely unnecessary.

After my bowls were baked, I started on the bean mixture. I used a combination of pinto and black beans because I really love the creaminess of smashed pinto beans. Weird? Probably. Delicious? Oh.My.God.YES! I heated them through, had a fun time smashing them, and then set them aside.

Then all I had to do was chop the romaine and assemble. Easy!

It's a taco! It's a salad! It's a taco salad!

Bean Taco Filling

2 tsp. olive oil (you don’t need much)
2 cans of beans (any kind), rinsed (alternatively you could use dried beans. 3 cups total.
1 small red onion
3 fat garlic cloves
1/2 c. green bell pepper
1 serrano chile
1 package low-sodium taco seasoning (or make your own!)
1 1/2 c. water
lime juice, to your taste
salt, to your taste (you probably don’t need any with the canned beans and taco seasoning, though)

Directions:

Heat your pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once the pan is hot, saute the onion, chile and green pepper until they’re all soft and cooked through.
Add garlic and saute about a minute, then add the taco seasoning (or spices, if you make your own) Cook for about a minute until the spices are no longer raw.
Add the beans and the water. Once it starts to boil, smash as many of the beans as you’d like.
Cook until water disappears and the mixture thickens. Squeeze in a little lime juice, and give it a good stir.

I topped my salad with about 1/2 c. bean mixture, some of my Indian salad, a tiny bit of cheese, and a dollop of greek yogurt.

All healthy meals should be this good!

It’s Clemen-time!

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You know what I love about winter? It’s not the snow or the cold (actually, I hate both of those things). It’s not even the holidays. Nope. What I love most about winter is the clementines!

Look at this guy:

One bite…and I was in love. It didn’t stand a chance. The only problem? (aside from the price $$$) I don’t have nearly enough to last the week! I love clementines and we try to keep them on hand—they’re the perfect snack. I bought these guys from the co-op, and they rock my world! They are a million times more scrumptious than the “cutie” ones we usually buy from the grocery store.

I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to shop at our local co-op, The Good Food Store. You can find practically anything there! It kind of reminds me of whole foods, actually—it’s just smaller, filled with local produce, and the people are so much more friendly. All good things!

I had a few items I wanted to pick up including romaine, herbs, beans, salsa and some cheese. I’ve got bean taco salads and a pasta dish on the menu for this week, and I’m hoping that a little extra planning will really make dinner preparations seem a lot less tedious.

Since I was out and about, I figured I might as well make a quick stop at Goodwill. Deals wait for no-one, you know! (haha!)

I want to find a tiny desk for our laptop, but had no luck today. Instead, I did find an amazing, little serving dish for $3 that will be awesome for chutneys or salsas!

How cute is that?!

After I finished up at Goodwill, I stopped in at Michaels to get some knitting supplies. I’ve always wanted to learn to knit and never really knew how to make that happen. I thought about taking classes, but with my work schedule it’s not that easy to commit. I don’t have a set schedule and it’s hard to get certain days off in during the week. So, I decided I’d buy some needles and yarn and check out youtube.

It's not much...but it's a start.

Aside from knitting, I’m also doing a little “gardening”…I have green onions growing on top of my refrigerator!

I just threw some old roots in a jar…and wham! I’ve got onions!

Does anyone know if I can grow other herbs this way? I don’t think they get the greatest sunlight, but they really seem to be thriving!

Now, it’s Greek for dinner (we got some take out from a local restaurant we haven’t tried before), then some mind numbing television (Teen Mom) before I shower and head to bed!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!!!

Black Beans and Rice…Fancy Style!

“Dorthy’s Cookies”… a.k.a Chocolate Crinkles

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Although winter in Minnesota is usually quite harsh—piles of snow deeper than I am tall, and temperatures that would make even an Eskimo cringe— this particular winter has been anything but normal. Its the end of December and it is nearly 40 degrees outside…at 10 pm! I’m not complaining…no sir-ree…in fact, I wish every winter was as mild!
Not everyone agrees with me, though. Most people that live in Minnesota look forward to the snow and the cold, and all the “joys” that winter brings. Snowmobiles, snowshoes, skis and snowboards… all useless. But, with the absence of snow, it seems there is also an absence of Christmas Spirit.

Christmas is only a few days past, and already businesses have taken down their lights, trees are no longer shining, and parents are wishing the holidays would fly by so they could send their kids back to school.
I suppose I also associate snow with Christmas. A part of me wished for a white Christmas (although, a very small part). And that same part of me was (maybe) disappointed when it didn’t turn out that way. Christmas just isn’t Christmas unless it’s white outside. It’s also not Christmas without Dorthy’s Cookies.

Dorthy's Cookies

You see, Dorthy was a little, old lady—one of my grandma’s friends. She had one of the kindest hearts, an amazing love for her family, and an incredible talent for baking. Dorthy was always baking something for someone, and she was famous for her chocolate cookies. My mom told me she called them macaroons (which they weren’t), but I don’t remember that. For as long as I can remember, my family always just called them “Dorthy’s cookies”, and they were a hot commodity. She would pass them around at church and often give pails of them out as gifts. I remember one of the last times I saw Dorthy, she was attending my cousin’s wedding. She wasn’t in good health but she had a smile on her face and lots to say (Dorthy also had the gift of gab). Earlier in the morning the little kids at church had celebrated their First Communion and she told me she had baked 12 pails of cookies so each kid could have one. That’s just how Dorthy was. She loved everyone and showed that love with cookies—fudgy, chocolate cookies, rolled in powdered sugar…to be specific!

Every year, Dorthy’s cookies made an appearance on my family’s cookie tray. And every year, they were scarfed down as soon as they were set out. That is, until Dorthy passed away. Once she was gone, so were the cookies. My family had the recipe, and apparently my aunts tried to make them…but they never turned out the same. Then, one year I asked mom for the recipe. It was scribbled down on a dirty little note card. The directions were very vague and the ingredients were smudged. No wonder they never turned out! I tried finding them online, but had no luck. Then, one day, around Christmastime 2009, I was using “stumbleupon”…and as I clicked the button, Dorthy must have been smiling down on me. There were her cookies! They were called Chocolate Crinkle cookies and apparently were actually Betty’s cookies (Betty Crocker).

I was so excited. I called mom and told her I’d be making Dorthy’s cookies for Christmas. That night I mixed the batter together and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next day I baked them…and they were perfect! Christmas was complete!

It’s funny how a cookie can mean so much to a family, but it’s true. They really do. And this year was no different. In fact, a couple weeks ago, as I was mixing up the dough (a double batch) my sister stopped over. When she saw the dough being mixed, her eyes got huge! She begged me to bake a pan early, so she could have a couple. One pan turned to two pans, and then my brother stopped over…and they were gone as soon as I took them out of the oven.

These cookies are definitely something special…

Aside from putting the cookies on the cookie plate this year, I also included a package of them in the gift baskets I made for my family. I even got my niece involved, and she helped roll them in the sugar.

We celebrate together on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas day I recieved a text message from my brother that said: “I ate all of the cookies you made by myself. Please make me more.” …and that makes me smile. I’m sure Dorthy would be happy too!

Find Dorthy’s recipe HERE.

Fleur De Sel Soft Caramels

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I wanted to give Piyush something special for Christmas this year. We decided not to exchange gifts because we had just returned from India—where we bought so many incredible things! We also splurged on a pool table for our family room earlier in the month, so there really wasn’t anything either one of us needed, or wanted.

Piyush does so much for me though, so I decided to surprise him with something I know he loves…homemade soft caramels! We sometimes buy them from Knudsen’s Caramels in Redwing, MN…but seriously?! $12 a pound is a lot of money to spend on caramels. They’re delicious and definitely worth it, but it’s a splurge.

I’ve never made caramels before but I figured it couldn’t be that hard, and it’d definitely be a lot more cost effective. I did a little research online and found a recipe I thought would work. Long story short, I overcooked them (I blame my candy thermometer!) and they turned out to be hard candies instead. Failure!

Luckily, my sister stopped by with my niece and her sister-in-law, Rachel. My sister told me that Rachel makes the best caramels…and graciously she offered to teach me to make them too! I made a few changes to her original recipe…less sugar, less corn syrup and the addition of salt. I think the salt adds another dimension to the caramel and really takes it up a notch! And…they tasted a LOT like Knudsen’s caramels! Mine were a little lighter in color, but I’m pretty sure that could be fixed easily. I used white sugar. Their ingredients list includes brown sugar. Next time I’ll have to make the swap and see what happens.

Fleur de sel caramels

I think any recipe would work to make caramels, the real secret is the timing. Knowing when to take them off the stove is important and if your candy thermometer is off—you’ll end up with caramels that are either too soft or too hard. What I found worked the best was throwing a bit of the boiling caramel in a cup of cold water. I could then reach in and grab the piece without burning myself, and see if I could roll it into a ball. If you test it this way, I guarantee you’ll have no problems and you’ll be eating delicious caramels in no time!

These caramels were a definite success! Piyush loved them so much, he convinced me to make an additional batch for our family to enjoy on Christmas Eve. They only take around an hour to come together…but they take another hour or so to wrap them all!

all wrapped up and ready to be enjoyed!

It was worth it. I wrapped up a few half pound packages to throw into the gift baskets I made my family and still had tons left! I’d guess one batch makes about 6 lbs (I didn’t actually measure this time). I put the leftover caramels into a pretty bowl and set them out with all the other goodies I made.

some of our Christmas Eve goodies

The caramels were definitely the biggest hit—well, maybe tied with the “Dorthy Cookies”—but that’s another post.

I was excited that my family loved them so much. My cousins and grandpa even went home with handfuls stuffed in their pockets! By the time everyone had cleared out there were only 4 caramels left in the bowl!

I have a feeling these will be requested at every family function!

I really enjoyed this Christmas. I didn’t take many photos, but we had an amazing dinner, lots of good conversation, pool tournaments, and even a little Christmas caroling—courtesy of my sister. I’m really tempted to put the video of her jamming out on Piyush’s guitar here on my blog, but instead I’ll leave you with a few photos instead.