Faster than delivery

And tastier, too! As I’ve said before, Friday night is pizza night here in Neverland. I have several pizza crust recipes. . .the one below is the one I use when time (or energy) is short and I don’t want to call Pizza Hut. In the interest of full disclosure, baking more than one pizza may take a little longer than delivery, but not much.

No Rise Cornmeal Pizza Crust

Yield: 2 15″ pizza crusts

Stir together:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm water
Then add:
2 cups flour
2 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Dash black pepper

Mix well and turn out onto a floured countertop. Knead until elastic; roll out or flatten to desired shape, about 1/8-1/4″ thick. Top as desired, then bake at 475° for 10-12 minutes or until crust edges turn golden. I usually bake the crust 5 minutes, add the toppings, and then bake 5-7 minutes or until done. Also, I vary the grains based on what I have; tonight I used 3 cups whole wheat and 3 cups all purpose flour as I was out of cornmeal.

Add a movie and. . .enjoy!

Chocolate AND peanut butter

I recently found the following recipe for Chocolate and Peanut Butter Streusel Cake at rachaelray.com. It’s easy–and delicious!

2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9×13 baking pan.
Combine first four ingredients in a large mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until streusel is blended and crumbly. Transfer 1 cup lightly packed streusel to a small bowl and set aside.
Add eggs, milk, vanilla, baking powder and baking soda to streusel remaining in mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until evenly moist. Increase speed to medium and beat until well blended, scraping bowl occasionally, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle with reserved streusel and remaining 1 cup chocolate chips.
Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack.

Pizza Salad

My friend Katherine shared some of the fruits of her garden that would have spoiled while she was on vacation. This is an especially nice treat now that we live in Wyoming! Tonight I was looking for something to do with the tomatoes and remembered having seen a salad that used fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with basil. I started with a recipe at foodtv.com but made alterations to suit my ingredients and audience; I came up with the name “Pizza Salad” while admiring the finished product, figuring the name might add kid appeal. Unfortunately, they quickly figured out those were raw tomatoes under the cheese! Larry and I both had seconds and the four middle children ate their small servings (with funny faces) because they knew there would be dessert; Drama Boy and Baby Boy would not even take a bite.

My version of the recipe (there are many online): Slice as many tomatoes as you need and arrange on a plate or platter. Mine looked like they were in the roma family, small and not too squashy. Sprinkle with a thin layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and then with snipped fresh basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil; season with a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Bon appetit!

CHOCOLATE

We seldom serve chocolate pudding here in Neverland; my ungrateful kids prefer the stuff that tastes like its box over the real cooked deal. But the following recipe is enjoyed by the whole family (and is easy enough for a kid to make). The only downside is the use of chocolate chips makes it a little expensive to serve  often.

Rich Chocolate Pudding

Taste of Home 2001; serves 6

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• Whipped topping & mini chocolate chips, optional

Place chocolate chips and powdered sugar in a blender; cover and process until the chips are coarsely chopped. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring milk and butter to a boil. Add to blender; cover and process until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.

Pour into 6 individual serving dishes; refrigerate. Garnish with whipped topping and mini chips if desired.

Stovetop Macaroni

I’m slightly embarassed to admit it, but this is what I’ve served for dinner this week. Twice. It’s a tweaked version of a recipe from Twirly Girl’s kids cookbook, which means it’s easy. My gold standard is still my baked macaroni and cheese, but  this is an excellent second choice when time is short. As written below, this serves my mac & cheese devouring family of eight.

    1 pound elbow macaroni                                         
    2 tablespoons butter                                           
    3/4 cup milk                                                   
    12 ounces shredded cheese                                      
    1 teaspoon salt                                                
    1 teaspoon ground mustard                                      
    1/2 teaspoon black pepper                                      

Cook macaroni; drain and return to saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

What kind of cheese? I mostly use cheddar, but I like to mix my cheeses if I’ve got something good on hand. If I want it creamier, I substitute cream cheese for about 3-4 ounces of the total cheese. If I use mozzarella, I replace the ground mustard with a couple teaspoons of basil. If I use feta (oh that was delicious!), oregano works well. The sky is the limit, really. If my crew is hungry, I like to add some meat: precooked ham, chicken, or ground beef all work well. I stir it in after everything else is mixed together and cook until warmed through. Serve with a salad and dinner is ready.

French bread

I know. . .it’s not Irish. But neither am I (nor am I French, but today is St. Patrick’s Day and not Bastille Day. . .).

Anyhow, while I count yeast breads among my accomplishments, I always struggle with shaped breads losing their shape when baked. I don’t know what I did differently, but today I got it right!

This recipe is from my friend Julee; the only change I make for altitude is to watch the rise time. If it rises too much, I punch it down and let it rise again for a short time. It works well with whole wheat flour as well; today I used 1/2 freshly ground Prairie Gold and 1/2 unbleached all purpose.

    2 1/4-ounce packets yeast                                      
    2 tablespoons sugar
    2 1/2 cups warm water                                          
    1 tablespoon salt                                              
    1 tablespoon softened butter                                   
    6 1/2-7 cups flour                                             
    1 egg white                                                    
    1 tablespoon cold water                                        

Combine first 3 ingredients; mix well and let stand 5 minutes. Add salt and butter. Gradually add enough flour to make a soft dough. Place in a well greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise for 40 minutes.
Punch dough down and knead lightly 5 times. Divide dough in half. Roll each portion into a 15×10″ rectangle. Roll up dough, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets. Pinch ends to seal; turn under. Place dough, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Repeat with other loaf. Cover and let rise 30 minutes.
Make 4 or 5 cuts to the top of each loaf with a sharp knife. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Combine egg white and cold water; brush over loaves and bake 5 more minutes.

Bon appetit!

Busy

I think I am a muffin man. I haven’t got a bell,

I haven’t got the muffin things that muffin people sell.

    –from Busy, by A. A. Milne

Last weekend we were given several bunches of brown bananas. Twirly Girl and I made a total of 10 loaves of banana bread: 4 Chocolate Swirl, 2 Orange-Coconut, and 4 Oatmeal. . .but we still had a bunch of bananas left. Yesterday Drama Boy used them all up by making a yummy batch of Caramel Banana Muffins, which are made like this:

Makes 24 servings
Taste of Home 2006 (tweaked)

    1/2 cup softened butter                                        
    2 cups sugar                                                   
    2 eggs                                                         
    3 cups mashed bananas (about 6)                                
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract                                    
    1 1/2 cups flour                                               
    1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour                                   
    2 teaspoons baking soda                                        
    1/2 teaspoon salt                                              
    Caramel icing:                                                 
    2 tablespoons butter                                           
    1/4 cup packed brown sugar                                     
    1 tablespoon milk                                              
    1/2 cup powdered sugar                                         

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs; beat well. Add bananas and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture.
Fill paper lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 375° for 17-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
For icing, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil. Cool slightly. Whisk in powdered sugar. Drizzle over muffins.

I believe the “tweaked” refers to the fact that we increased the amount of whole wheat flour and decreased the amount of icing. In general I find that most recipes call for more icing or crumb topping than is really needed, so this is an easy place to start reducing sugar and fat. Sometimes I omit such toppings completely, as when I make cinnamon rolls for an everyday breakfast. Also, I changed the baking time and temperature to work at our altitude (4300′); the original baked at 350° but I forget how long. I’m sorry! I would start checking with a toothpick after 15 minutes.

Just like Dad used to make them

Other than eating, of course, my dad’s main contribution in the kitchen is to wash dishes. However, somewhere along the line he learned how to bake m&m cookies. Mom or I might bake them sometimes, but it was still Dad’s recipe. Last night, the oldest Lost Boy pulled out the recipe and baked them for us, with a little help from Baby Boy. Drama Boy has made cookies before, so I guess he won’t be a one-recipe wonder like Papaw; but I hadn’t used this recipe in years and I had forgotten just how yummy they are! To my Dad, if you’re reading today: thanks! To the rest of you: go make some cookies (and memories) right now!

Chocolate Chipper Champs

    1 1/2 cups butter, softened                                    
    2 2/3 cups brown sugar                                         
    4 eggs                                                         
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract                                    
    4 1/2 cups flour                                               
    2 teaspoons baking soda                                        
    1 teaspoon salt                                                
    1 pound m and ms                                               
    1 cup nuts                                                     

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; blend in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add combined flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in candy and nuts. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet about 3″ apart. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Cool about 3 minutes before removing to wire rack.

C is for cookie

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how much I love cookies.. .both eating and baking them. ;) I like how I can choose almost any cookie recipe and make it using the same basic formula Mom taught me as a girl: cream the butter and sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, gradually add the dry ingredients, and fold in any goodies. Voila–cookie dough! Which is good enough to eat as-is, and I do, although I like it better when it’s baked and still warm from the oven.

Last weekend I was contemplating what to do with a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips (other than eat them right out of the bag). The recipe on the back sounded promising, but I decided to check their website for more ideas. Something oat-y sounded good, so I decided to make Clementine’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yum! I don’t know who Clementine is, but I definitely recommend trying her recipe if you like oats and chocolate.

Feeling saucy

As much as I love apple pie, I remembered that I will be baking birthday cake this weekend, so applesauce it was. In case you’d like to try making chunky applesauce, it is this easy:

1. Put about 1″ of water in the bottom of a pot big enough for all your apples.
2. Peel, core, & slice apples and toss in the pot. You can buy a gadget to make this quick work (when it works right ).
3. Stirring occasionally, heat in covered pot to boiling over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low (do not sit down to nurse the baby before reducing heat, unless you like cleaning the stovetop).
4. Once apples are soft and start to resemble sauce, remove the lid so they can cook down and thicken. Add honey (or sugar) and cinnamon to taste; I sometimes add a bit of vanilla as well.
5. When the applesauce is done cooking is a matter of preference. We like it best when it’s still chunky. Serve warm or cold.