What happens when you have a sister home for Christmas break ...

after her first semester of culinary arts study?

Chef Boy-ar-dee, of course!

Recipe: Fall Colors High Fiber Pizza

Fridays are pretty good around here ... meatless meals (which means some pretty creative menu-planning), dad is home for the weekend, and we are all feeling better than we did this morning (which is saying ALOT!). 

I had PLANNED on making sourdough pizza but forgot to start the dough early -- needs a few hours to rise.  So, a quick gander at my various recipes, and I found a pretty good recipe (I think, originally from Family Fun) called "Pizza Bites" that I've used successfully in the past.  This time I "tweaked" it a bit more than usual and it was amazingly good.

Here's my recipe for Fall Colors High Fiber Pizza:
Dough: 

• 2 to 2-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain High Fiber Hot Cereal
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup very warm tap water (about 110-120 degrees)
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 1-1/2 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp minced garlic

Soften yeast in the water for about 5 minutes.  In a large bowl combine 1 cup of the unbleached flour, the wheat flour, hot cereal, Italian seasoning, salt, yeast and water;  stir in the olive oil, sugar and garlic.  Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.  
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top; cover with plastic wrap and place in warm draft-free spot for about 30-45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 425.

Punch down and flatten onto large pizza pan (ours has holes in it and is 16").

Toppings:

• campari tomatoes -- about 6, sliced thinly
• 1 orange sweet pepper -- sliced into small chunks
• olive oil
• 2 cups Italian shredded cheese (a mix of parmesan, mozzarella, asiago)

Sprinkle olive oil on top of unbaked crust -- spread to cover evenly. 
Sprinkle with about 1 cup of cheese
Sprinkle tomato and sweet pepper pieces evenly over top
Sprinkle with remaining cheese

Place in preheated oven and baked for 10-15 minutes; I should have removed mine at about 10 minutes but I was making a pot of tea and forgot!  You want to remove when crust is crisp and cheese is just starting to darken.

Serve with a green salad and you've got a great meat-less, high-fiber and YUMMY dinner!

And it must have been good as it gave the kids the energy to go to our very own bowling alley (Lego-style)!

Hope you and yours are snuggled up, like mine, enjoying a wondrous family movie after a satisfying dinner (and of course, ice cream for dessert).  Mine are watching the 3rd of the Tolkein Trilogy -- Return of the King.  A beautiful Friday night!

Recipe: meatless pizza

This was what was left last night after making two 9x13 pans of homemade meatless pizza ... and we have only the three littles and dh and I home!  This recipe is definitely a keeper!

I adapted this recipe from Nourishing Traditions (an awesome cookbook but some of her recipes need a bit of tweaking!) ....

Here's the version we made last night:

Crust:
1 cup plain yogurt (full fat if possible)
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup stone-ground corn meal
2 tsp sea salt

Cream yogurt and butter together.  Blend in flour/corn meal and salt.  Let sit out covered in a warm spot for 12-24 hours (ours sat out about 15 hours). 

Preheat oven to 300.  Spray two 13x9 pans with cooking spray.  Split dough in half and press into each pan -- the dough should cover the entire bottom of the pan.  Poke the crust many times with a fork and place in
oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove crusts from oven and pour tomato sauce over crusts.  On one pizza, we put thawed frozen spinach (drained) all over and then covered with grated mozzarella/cheddar/monterey cheeses (about 2 cups total). On second pizza, we did just the cheeses (again, about two cups total).

Bake in 300 degree oven for 30 minutes more.  Cut, serve and enjoy!

Wow, this crust recipe is a keeper -- would be great anytime you want a savory (that is, not sweet) pie-crust type crust (quiche or shepherd's pie, for instance).  It's not really a pizza crust but had a great flavor ... especially the next day warmed a  minute or so in the microwave!