Margherita Pizza

After a suggestion from Mallory, my husband and I sat down to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. After watching the documentary Troy and I decided that we should go on a 7 day vegetarian diet. The documentary suggests to cut out all animal products, but I have a relationship with cheese. I love dairy, especially cheese. I don't think I could live a happy fulfilling life without it.

For our week long vegetarian diet we decided to make a Margherita Pizza. My personal opinion is that tomatoes, basil, and garlic is the most wonderful tasting flavor combination. Tomato + basil + garlic + pizza = ah-may-zing! The best part of this pizza would have to be the homemade sauce. I will never buy pizza sauce again. It's sooo easy and extra tasty!

Pizza Margherita
Slightly adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust/dough

1 14oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, not including juices
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 ground black pepper

2-3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 oz fresh basil torn in to pieces

Directions:
Preheat over to 450 degrees.

To make sauce. Drain tomatoes and puree in a food processor (or blender). Add olive oil, oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine.

Spread sauce evenly over pizza dough leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge for the crust. Evenly sprinkle shredded mozzarella over pizza sauce. Add sliced tomatoes, creating a layer of tomatoes on top.

Bake pizza for 12-15 minutes or until crust turns a golden brown and cheese has melted. For an extra yummy crust mix a little olive oil, garlic powder and kosher salt together. Brush on the crust the last few minutes of baking.

Toss fresh basil over cooked pizza and let stand about 3 minutes. Slice and serve.

Makes 1 large pizza.


Notes: I'm sort of a cheater and I like to buy already made dough from my local bakery. Making dough intimidates me for some reason. One of the bakers let me in on a little pizza dough secret. When you're making pizza, if the middle of the crust keeps coming out doughy bake the dough for 5 minutes in the oven before adding toppings.

Butternut Squash Soup

I'm alive, I promise. And I have been cooking meals, but honestly nothing that's blog worth. We've been busy. The husband is interviewing like crazy. And so far has four more interviews that he has to fly to. So when he's gone I don't really make dinner.

A couple weeks ago we had a few days of cooler weather, like in the 60s. It was time for soup. Squash are my favorite vegetables. They are cheap, last a long time and you can dress them up so many different ways. This time I used a butternut squash. They are tricky to cut, so unless you are strong I recommend letting the husband/boyfriend cut it for you. This soup had a nice kick to it because of the jalapeno, but it's not too bad.

2 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 t ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 butternut squash-peeled, seeded and cubed
2 c chicken broth
1 evaporated milk
1 t sugar
salt and pepper
1 c sour cream

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, ginger and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash and chicken broth, and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until squash is tender. Stir in evaporated milk, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. CAREFULLY, pour soup into a blender. Hold the lid of blender with towel and start to blend. Puree in batches (I was able to do it all at once in my blender), or if you have a hand blender you can blend it in the pot. Serve with sour cream.

Chicken Taco Soup

We love this soup. We made this awhile ago and I literally ate taco soup every meal for about 4 days. I got this recipe from my neighbor Ruth Boulton. She brought us this as a meal after I had my baby this past January. I had to have the recipe. The best part is you probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry right now!



Chicken Taco Soup
From Ruth Boulton

1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 can corn with juice
1 can kidney beans with juice
1 can black beans with juice
2 cans cream of potato soup
3 chicken bouillon cubes
2-3 cups water
1/2 - 1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning
4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

Directions:
Cook and shred chicken breasts. Add all ingredients in to a crock pot. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve. If desired top with cheese, Fritos, and sour cream.

Serves 4-6

Notes: This can taste pretty salty with all of the ingredients especially if you add cheese and chips. Go for the reduced sodium items. Check labels and make sure your canned items don't have any unnecessary sodium added.

Black Bean Burgers w/ Guacamole

No one will ever be more shocked than I that I actually get to post this recipe as "Husband Approved". My husband really did say, "Wow, these are actually good!" He also really did go back for seconds. AND he really did ask, "when are you going to make those veggies burgers again? Those are good." So I did. Both times he gobbled them up. Shock and awe people. Shock and awe.


Black Bean Burgers

2 cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
1 to 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped up small (the color is up to you I've used red and green with great results)
1/2 cup onion, chopped up small
1 tbs chili powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 eggs
guacamole


Directions:
Drain black beans and place in a medium sized bowl. Using a potato masher, mash up beans well. Add in onions, bell pepper, chili powder, garlic and cayenne pepper and mash with the beans. The onions and pepper won't exactly mash up but it helps get the flavors incorporated in to the beans. Mix in panko. Add eggs and mash those in to the bean mixture as well. {In case you are wondering why eggs? The eggs help hold the burgers together during cooking} Once all of the ingredients are well incorporated. Make into burger sized patties. I like mine thick, about one inch.

You can either:
grill them like regular burgers over medium heat
bake them at 375 degrees for 10-12 min {flip them over half way through}
or cook them in a pan with a little oil over medium high heat for 10-12 min

I prefer baking.

Serve on whole wheat buns. Top with guacamole and any other desired toppings {cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc...}

Serves 4-6

Pumpkin Smoothie

We've been drinking a lot of smoothies lately. I recently got the book, The Food Bible. It's all about how the book can cure different ailments by the food you eat. Under the section I'm following I need to be consuming eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Which isn't too bad. Fruits and vegetables should be a big part if any diet. Everything I read always comes down to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less animal product.

Well I opened up a huge can of pumpkin purée and so we started having pumpkin smoothies. So good. I don't know why I waited so long to have one. It's really like eating pumpkin pie.

3/4 c pumpkin purée
1 frozen banana
1/2 c milk
Handful baby spinach {I always throw spinach into my smoothies, you can't even taste it. I've even done carrots and red pepper}
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t ground cloves

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. If you like it more liquid add more milk and if you like it thicker add ice cubes or add less milk.
Drink with a straw. Yum!

Ham Fried Rice

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Chinese food. Unfortunately, most of the Chinese restaurants around here {while very much delicious} probably aren't the greatest choices for you. I absolutely love this version of ham fried rice that I've sort of adapted from several different recipes. It's full of veggies, super easy and delicious!



Ham Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1 tbs canola oil
one half of a small onion, minced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
2 cups carrots julienne style
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups sugar snap peas
1 cup ham, diced
4 cups brown rice, cooked
2 tbs soy sauce
2 eggs


Directions:
In a large non stick skillet heat the oil over medium high heat. Add onions, garlic and ginger and saute for about one minute. Add carrots, broccoli, peas. Saute for another 4-5 minutes. Next add the ham and rice. Cook until heated through. Once the rice is heated through make an empty space in the middle of the pan. Add eggs and scramble until fluffy. Stir them in to the rest of the ingredients. Add soy sauce and stir until well mixed. Serve.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

I've been considering what I actually eat over the course of the week and I realized I've been consuming way too much sugar. After a little researching, it astonishing to find so many things contain sugar and Americans eat way too much of it. Not all sugars are bad, though they aren't necessarily great for you. White table sugar is so refined, there is nothing in it that is nutritional, which hopefully you all knew. So I set off to find a bread recipe that didn't contain sugar.

If you are going to sweeten your food, honey is a much better option. And if you can buy orange blossom honey from a farmers market even better. It hasn't be refined as much and your body can handle it so much better. Usually when I bake 100% whole wheat my food does not come out how I imagine. But this recipe was by far the best 100% whole wheat bread I've come across and it has so few ingredients. I wish I could afford to buy Great Harvest bread on a regular bases, but at $6 a loaf that is steep, even if we weren't on a student budget. Now I don't plan on always making my own bread because, a) we usually end up eating the loaf within 24 hours and b) it's too much work. But this was perfect to go along with our homemade chicken noodle soup.

100% whole wheat bread
adapted from food.com

2 3/4 c hot water {run water and hold your finger under, once it starts getting too hot to keep your finger in the water it's ready}
1/3 c olive oil
1/3 C + 2 T honey
1 T salt
7 1/2 c 100% whole grain wheat flour
2 T dry yeast {I used rapid rise}

Mix water, oil, honey and yeast together and let bubble, about 10 minutes. Add salt. Slowly add flour, you don't want it to be too dry. It should be sticky to the touch. Once mixed, leave in the bowl and cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes. It doesn't have to double in size. Grease two medium bread pans. On a flour surface kneaded the bread and separate into two loaf and place in pans. Cover and let rise again, about 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for about 34 minutes. With about 10 minutes left I had to cover the bread with tin foil to prevent the top from burning.