Neat-o Cool!

I want to start off this post by saying that tonight I had the best “neat”loaf I’ve ever had. Technically it’s also the first I’ve ever had, but it will not be the last! The best meatloaf prize still goes to Kyle’s mom. =)

More on dinner in a bit.

Last night was a blast! It was great to see the family and my little niece.

She is way too cute for her own good!

We made pizzas. Lots of them.

NOM!

Dad's cutting up their deep dish creation!

I made myself a veggie one and proceeded to eat 3/4 of the thing myself!

Worth every bite! Every veggie that was laid out ended up on this bad boy!

I blame it on these:

Mom’s margaritas go down too easy. =)

I got tonight’s recipe for Neatloaf over at Oh She Glows. Angela absolutely NAILED the texture of real meatloaf with her recipe for the Ultimate Vegan Lentil Walnut Loaf. My friend Melba enjoyed her first vegan meal with this recipe. I was happy to be the one to make it for her!

This recipe made a lot of food! Last week I was all about my Split Pea and Potato Soup and this week is all about the split peas in this loaf! I’m way too excited for lunch!

I was too excited to eat this and didn't take many photos!

I followed Angela’s recipe almost exactly. Why change perfection? My differences were to use yellow split peas instead of lentils.. are they the same thing? I really didn’t know but just assumed I could swap them easily. I was right in that regard! Anyway.. let’s see.. I also left out the carrot and added a 1/2 ounce bag of dried crimini mushrooms in with the lentils while they were cooking. I added 1/4 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke (the company proudly claims that they are vegan and gluten-free right on the label. Mega cool of them) and used the toasted bread method for the bread crumbs. I pureed 75% of my onion mixture as well as the lentil mixture since my chunks of onion were pretty large.

You know what else? I made my own ketchup to go on top.

Oh yes I did.

It was easy but really messy. Just an fyi: warm homemade ketchup just tastes like marinara sauce. As it cooled I noticed it tasting more like ketchup. Maybe that explains why I like to eat spaghetti right out of the fridge..

Homemade Ketchup
1 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
2 cloves crushed and diced garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
pinch of salt
pinch of cloves
pinch of cinnamon

In a medium pot over medium heat, add all ingredients and heat until it just starts to bubble. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook 30-40 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep the tomatoes from burning. Cool and puree in a blender. Store in the fridge and try not to just eat it with a spoon..

A pizza of a different color..

I know I’ve said it before, but this whole idea of putting beets in pizza dough is genius! Its so delcious, so different, so shockingly colorful – how can you go wrong?!

For New Year’s Eve Kyle and I decided to stay at home in our pjs and watch movies. I decided earlier in the day that I was going to create some sort of pizza I’d never had before.

A few weeks back while shopping at K3 Natural Foods, I picked up a bottle of marinade that was on clearance. Roasted blueberry and chipotle marinade to be exact. I covered a chicken breast in the marinade and baked it in the oven until it was firm to the touch. I let it rest while I made the dough and let that rise. I then prebaked the dough, let it cool and assembled my toppings.

This unique pizza was topped with the sliced baked chicken, some extra blueberry sauce, thinly sliced red onions, about 2 1/2 ounces cranberry cinnamon goat cheese, smoked salt and freshly cracked pepper. It baked in the oven for 20-30 minutes and was topped with fresh cilantro.

We devoured an entire pizza between the two of us.

How could we resist when it looked like this?

Pizza and (root)beer!

Kyle’s birthday was Tuesday!

Happy Birthday!!

It’s why I’ve been so absent! We’ve been busy beavers! Sunday I took him out to dinner to celebrate a bit early. Destination: Sanfratello’s. Pizza choice: Pan pizza with italian sausage, spinach, fresh garlic and black olives.

I like pizza... I... LIKE IT!

Everybody “mmmmmmmmmm…” with me!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

It was Kyle’s first taste of traditional Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Can I eat it now??

What did he think?

Clean Plate Club member

Since he had to work on his actual birthday until 10 PM, I used the few hours I had after work to bake him a birthday cake! I had planned on making a Dr Pepper cake but, after some research, decided it was going to be tooooooo sweet! I opted to whip up a Root Beer Float Cake I found over at Joy the Baker. And I got to use my castle bundt pan!

Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man. This cake is phenomenal. So rich and chocolatey (I mean, one CUP of dark cocoa powder, that’s right up my alley. And Kyle’s!) The only changes I made were to cut the granulated sugar by 1/4 cup and use 1/4 cup granulated sugar plus one teaspoon of molasses in place of the brown sugar. I also added 2 tablespoons of brown rice flour and one tablespoon of dark rye flour to make up for the lack of sugar mass. Oh yeah, and I could only get my hands on salted butter, so I emitted the salt from the recipe.

If you’ve never been to Joy’s site, I suggest you scoot on over and check it out. She’s got some amazing recipes and she’s a hoot to read. One of my favorite blogs!

Oh. And please do yourself a favor. Make this cake. You will NOT regret it.

*CHOMP*

Beetsa Pie

Crab Pizza

I haven’t made many pizza doughs from scratch.  I’m usually in too much of a hurry and just end up buying the pre-made stuff.  Well today, in honor of Kyle’s fantasy football draft, I decided to make homemade pizza with homemade dough!  I was planning on making a plain old whole wheat type dough until I got an email from one of my many food blog subscriptions; the awesome people of (never home)maker.  Now this wasn’t the first time I’d seen a recipe for beet pizza dough. I’d seen it before over at The Cooking Photographer but I’d forgotten about it!  I got so excited I could hardly stand to wait until today to make it!

Roast Beef Pizza

I ended up following the general recipe from (never home)maker but changing a few ingredients.  It was so incredibly easy and SO tasty!  I know most people would be put off by pink pizza crust, but Kyle and I were all for it!  The recipe makes enough for 3 smallish pizzas.  I chose to make two and stick one in the freezer for the next time we want to make pizza.  Hey all I’ve gotta do is remember to take it out of the freezer right?  Sounds.. simple enough.. we’ll see I guess!  Anyway, after a coating of garlic spiked olive oil for each pizza and a quick 5 minute tour of the oven, they were topped with yumminess.  Onto one went some roast beef, sweated Vidalia onion, sweet red peppers, hot giardiniera and low-fat mozzarella.  Onto another went a beet puree with chopped sun-dried tomato and garlic, sweated Vidalia onion, sweet red peppers, imitation crab meat, danish blue cheese and a bit of low-fat mozzarella.  Both very different but both deliciously devoured!

Hey, don’t just take my word for it, whip up a batch of dough and try it for yourself.  Maybe make some garlic knots out of the leftover dough while you’re at it.  It’s a yummy warm snack for a cool evening.  Welcome fall!

Beet Pizza Dough
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup beet puree (unsalted canned beets pureed with enough liquid to make an applesauce consistency)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium bowl, sprinkle yeast over water, mix with fingers and allow to sit for 5 minutes to bubble up. After the 5 minutes are up, add in the beet puree, olive oil and honey, stirring with a wooden spoon until well combined. In a large bowl combine flours and salt, making an indentation large enough to pour the beet mixture inside. After the beet mixture is poured in, mix it all up!

Mix me, mix me!!

Now its time to get your hands dirty! (I hate that part – dough sticking to my fingers is so nasty! But so rewarding…) Knead that dough until its nice and elastic, then coat it with a bit of olive oil and cover it with a wet towel. Now you have to let it sit for 2 hours. But hey, after that you get to roll it out, bake it quick-like at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, top it and finish it off! Then try not to eat it all in one sitting!

Nectarine Chipotle Pizza

Last night I had the brilliant idea of making a “fruit pizza”. I haven’t had the courage to attempt making my own pizza dough, so I use the stuff in the bag, Chebe. It’s pretty tasty for being prepackaged. I followed the directions on making up the dough, but made up my own rules as far as baking went. I love the combination of sweet fruit with salty cheese on my pizza, so this really hit the spot!

Nectarine Chipotle Pizza
1 nectarine, thinly sliced
1 small apple, thinly sliced
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 chipotle pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced or shredded cheese, I used monterey jack
Handful of walnuts
1 package Chebe GF pizza dough mix

Prepare Chebe dough according to package directions, using 3 tablespoons of milk rather than 2. Roll out and transfer to ungreased pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and saute onions and chipotle together until almost carmelized. Spread onion mixture evenly over pizza crust, then sprinkle with walnuts. Arrange nectarine slices and apple slices on pizza, then cover with cheese. Return pan to oven and bake until the cheese gets all melty and delicious. Remove from oven, slice up and ENJOY! Mmm!