Pizza!

I realized this afternoon, as I'm getting dinner ready, that I have never posted about pizza. Silly me! I've made that more often than any of the other things I've written about. I make the dough from scratch in my KitchenAid, which doesn't take more than a few minutes. Recently I had to alter the recipe a little, as my family's appetites have grown. This amount makes 1 pizza that fills the 5 of us pretty well.

The version I make most often is BBQ Chicken Pizza. Sometimes I do pepperoni or Hawaiian, but my favorite is the chicken one. It uses ingredients I normally have on hand, and my whole family loves it.



The dough, just before baking


Pizza
Printable version here

Mix in a stand mixer:

1 tbsp. instant yeast
2 cups flour (I use 1 cup each of white & wheat bread flour)
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
4 tsp. oil (1 tbsp. + 1 tsp.)
3/4 cup water (120-130º)

Knead with dough hook for 8 minutes, or until soft & pliable. Rest in bowl, covered, for 10 minutes.

Roll into desired shape on cornmeal-covered baking stone. Cover with plastic wrap (that has been sprayed with nonstick spray); rise in a slightly warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 400º. Poke the dough all over with a fork.

Bake crust for 10 minutes, then remove from oven. Top with desired toppings, then bake 10 more minutes, or until done. Slice & enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Variation:
After crust has baked for 10 minutes, top with barbecue sauce, grated cheese (cheddar and/or Monterrey jack), diced chicken, and garlic powder. Garnish with sliced green onions after baking. Sometimes I add a little well-drained canned pineapple. Be sure to cover the chicken with some of the cheese, and don't cut the chicken too small, otherwise it'll dry out easily in the oven (tip from a reader- mix the chicken with some BBQ sauce to keep it moist!).

Make-ahead tip: I haven't tried freezing this dough yet (it's so quick to make that I haven't needed to), but one thing that saves time is making up batches of the dry ingredients. One batch will fit in a ziploc sandwich bag. After making the dough today, I made 3 of these bags for later.

Why I love it? It's easy, yummy, inexpensive, customizable (as opposed to frozen or take-out pizza), and healthier than "regular" pizza. The wheat flour adds fiber, and I limit the amount of cheese to save on calories. Oh, and not to mention- it's fresh!! You could probably make this on a metal pan, with a little modification, but I just LOVE how it turns out on a pizza stone. The crust is soft inside, but perfectly crisp on the bottom.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

I got this recipe from an Albertson's coupon/recipe booklet. I made just a few changes, and really like it! It's healthy & yummy. I made these last week, but am just now getting to posting it, since one of my kids stuck the recipe under the oven! I saw a little paper peeking out, and sure enough it was the recipe. :)



Blueberry Bran Muffins
Printable recipe here

Yield: 12 muffins

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour (I used half all-purpose & half whole wheat)
1 cup bran flakes cereal*, crunched up a little
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon, optional

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil

1 cup blueberries (fresh, or frozen ones that have been thawed, rinsed, and patted dry)

1. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients; set aside.

2. in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined, do not over mix. Fold in blueberries.

3. Divide batter into 12 lined or greased muffin cups. (Cups will be about 3/4 full) Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate or freeze any that won't be eaten within about 3 days.

* I bought plain bran flakes from the bulk section at WinCo, but you could also use Raisin Bran, and pick the raisins out.

Why I love it? It uses ingredients that are easy to keep on hand, it's easy to make, healthy, and makes a good breakfast or snack for me & the kids.

Buttermilk Waffles

I don't often make waffles, because it's so much faster to toast one from the freezer. Lately though, I've started making them a little more. Like most homemade foods, they're cheaper, yummier, and healthier than packaged foods- the only downside is the time they take. The kids like to watch TV when they first wake up, so that gives me some time to get breakfast ready.

I've been using this recipe for a few years. I found it on a blog, and they had adapted it from Cook's Illustrated (no wonder why it's so yummy!). The only ingredient I need to make sure I have is buttermilk, and the rest are things I always have.

The kids and I love these waffles. The outsides are so nicely browned & crisp, and the insides are so soft! The buttermilk gives them great flavor. If you're willing to make a little mess of your kitchen, I know you'll appreciate these waffles. :)





Buttermilk Waffles
Printable version here

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. cornmeal
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 egg, separated
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Start preheating your waffle iron. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolk with buttermilk and melted butter until combined.

2. Clean your whisk and beat the egg white to soft peaks. (I use my handheld mixer with whisk attachment for this part)

3. Slowly add the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, folding together (the batter will be quite thick). Then add the egg whites and gently fold them into the batter.

4. Spray your waffle iron with some nonstick spray and spread the batter onto the iron. Cook until the waffles are golden brown, about 2 - 5 minutes depending on your machine instructions. (Mine take 3 1/2 minutes) Yield: 4-6 waffles (I double the recipe and get 10)

Freezer: For freezer toaster waffles, leave the waffles golden and slightly underdone, cool them on a wire rack, wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze. They can be frozen then popped into the toaster for a quick breakfast.

Why I love them? As I wrote above, I love the texture of these- both soft & crispy. Eggo waffles just can't do that!

Easy Brown Rice

For the most part, I try to feed my family healthy foods, including whole grains. Our bread is always 100% whole wheat, and I try to use wheat flour in many of our recipes- but brown rice is a grain I've never gotten used to using. It is harder to cook than white rice, and never seems to turn out as well.

Until now!

I got a new light cookbook for my birthday, and one of the recipes in it is for brown rice. The authors acknowledge that following the normal directions, brown rice does not turn out well. So they came up with a new way of cooking it that is delicious & fool-proof! :) I used this last night in my Taco Rice Casserole. It made exactly twice what I needed for the recipe, so I used half, and froze half in a ziploc bag to use later. No one but me could even tell I used brown rice instead of white!

Easy Brown Rice
Printable version here

1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) brown rice
2 1/3 cups water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375º.

2. Spread rice in an ungreased 8x8 inch baking dish. In a medium covered saucepan, heat the water & oil until boiling. Once it boils, uncover, stir in salt, then pour over rice. (I heat it in the microwave, instead.) Immediately cover baking dish with a double layer of foil. (Pressing firmly on the edges of the foil helps the water to not escape while cooking.)

3. Bake until the rice is tender, about 55 minutes. Carefully uncover dish, and fluff rice with a fork. Serves 6.

*The recipe can also be doubled and cooked in a 9x13 pan. Baking time remains the same.

*To use frozen rice: Thaw, place in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, then microwave until warm.

Why I love it? It's super easy, yummy, and healthy! I found it a lot easier cooking it this way than on the stove- where it seems like you're constantly tinkering with the knob to get it simmering at the right temperature. It's versatile, too. You can use it in a casserole like I did, or really just anywhere you'd use white rice. Enjoy!