Grilled Pizza

I think my husband put it it best when we were eating Donato's on Saturday.  "Great.  Now you've ruined pizza."  This method of homemade pizza not only beats any frozen pizza (not that hard, admittedly) but also gets you better pizza than calling up anyone that delivers.  

The problem with making pizza at home is usually that your oven only goes up to 500 degrees or so, while a 'real' pizza oven is at least 100-200 degrees hotter.  Your grill doesn't have that limitation.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Cream of Tomato Soup

Possibly the perfect meal when it's been raining all weekend.

A childhood favorite, but made with cheddar and asiago cheese on homemade bread instead of Kraft Singles on Wonder Bread.  Also:  my new favorite tomato soup.  Of all time. 

Split Pea Soup

Alas, there is no way to make split pea soup appetizing looking:

On the other hand, it has everything else in the world going for it:  it's delicious, low-calorie, satisfying, easy, and cheap (unless, like me, you purchase a 10-lb. ham just to have a leftover ham bone.)

Sardines sandwich

Yes, sardines.  I'm trying to get more seafood into my diet, and sardines are a low-mercury source of those Omega-3's so beloved of nutritionists.  I figured it was worth at least trying.  

This was my first experience eating sardines; although I found the smell off-putting when I opened the can, they were really tasty.  However, if you don't like fishy-tasting fish, don't bother. 

Tuna melt

This is one of my favorite lunches when it's cold out.  Nearly too simple for a recipe.

 
Ingredients:
1 can tuna
a couple of tablespoons mayo, to taste
1 T pickle relish, to taste
2 slices cheese, any sort (pictured above is cheddar and swiss)
2 thick slices of bread

Directions:  
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix tuna, mayonnaise, and pickle relish, to taste.  Spoon tuna salad onto bread; put cheese on top.  Bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is bubbly and just starting to brown, about 10-15 minutes; bread will be toasted by this point.  

Turkey sandwich

I'm a firm believer that turkey only reaches its full potential after the main Thanksgiving meal is over.  My very favorite turkey dish by far is not the glorious whole roast turkey, but the humble turkey sandwich. 

No recipe, really; just cold turkey on thick slices of homemade bread, with a generous spread of mayo and cranberry sauce.

Chicken Salad

This is not so much a recipe as a way to use up stuff you happen to have in the fridge or on the shelf.  The only essential:  leftover chicken.

Happily, I had a leftover leg and roughly half a breast from a roasted chicken languishing in the fridge, as well as celery and apples. 

Polenta with Zucchini and Ragu

I love it when leftovers come together to make something different and delicious.  I already had leftover polenta and sauce, so it wasn't a huge leap to put one on top of the other and add cheese.

Still, this was fairly different from and actually more filling than just sauce on pasta.  Admittedly, my attempt at frying up polenta resulted in more of a blob than the neat wedges I was going for, but it was still quite tasty.

Salad

Some of my favorite things to put on salads: strawberries, blue cheese, and basalmic vinegar.


This was: Romaine lettuce, onion, cucumber, chicken, strawberries, blue cheese, and olive oil and vinegar.

Sandwich

I love a really good sandwich.

Turkey, Swiss, avocado, tomato, and just a little mayo on homemade rye bread.

Gazpacho

Have I mentioned how much I love recipes where the entire directions consist of:

1. Throw stuff in the blender

2. Blend


There were tomatoes in the scratch-and-dent section at the farmers' market yesterday for $.99/lb. When they're going in a blender, it doesn't matter if they're pretty! This recipe courtesy of my friend Jason, who made us a delicious dinner on Saturday.

Gazpacho
In a blender or food processor, blend:
1 slice bread, crust removed
2 cloves garlic
2 t salt
2 T sherry vinegar
1 t sugar
1/2 t ground cumin
1 red onion, skin removed
1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed
1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed
1 skinned cucumber
2.5 lbs tomatoes
1 c. water
1/4 c. olive oil

chill until cold (about 3 hours)


Pour into bowls; garnish with a drizzle of olive oil.

I modified it a little, using what I had in the fridge, substituting a pita for the slice of bread and some red pepper flakes for the jalapeno. It was still delicious.

Quick and easy chicken noodle soup

With one fairly major caveat: It's only quick and easy if you already have chicken stock in the freezer and leftover chicken in the fridge. (Otherwise, it's easy, but not quick.)

4-5 c. chicken stock

2 (cooked) chicken breasts, skin and bones removed

1 large onion (1-2 c. chopped)

3 largish carrots (2 c. sliced)

3-4 stalks celery (1-2 c. chopped)

1/4 - 1/2 lb. dried pasta

1 bay leaf

Bring stock to a boil; meanwhile, peel and chop carrots, onion, and celery. Cube chicken breasts. Once stock is boiling, add chopped veggies and bay leaf. Simmer for 10-15 minutes (until carrots start to be tender); add cubed chicken and dried pasta. Return to boil; boil for however long it says to on the pasta box.

Enjoy! Makes 4 servings.

Super easy sandwich bread

Now with step-by-step pictures and timeline!

This is a variation on the world's easiest bread; use 2 cups bread flour and one cup whole wheat flour. It's less dense than the 100% whole wheat version, and not as strong tasting as bread with a 24 hour rise time.


Ingredients
2 c. bread flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. active dry yeast (the kind that says it's 'great for bread machines')
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. honey
olive oil (to grease pan)
cornmeal (optional-- to dust pan and add crunch to crust)

1. Mix dough (8:00 AM)
Takes five minutes or less.

In med-large size mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and yeast:


Add 1 1/2 c water and stir in with spoon; dough will form into a shaggy ball. If you need to, add more water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, and stir until it looks like this:


Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place for 8-10 hours or so until bubbly. It will look something like this when ready:


2. Second rise (6:00 PM)
Takes ten minutes, including preparing the pan.

Drizzle a tablespoon of honey across the top of the dough; stir in. The dough will be very stretchy, which will allow it to trap gas bubbles formed by the yeast and give the finished loaf a nice crumb structure.


(Apologies for the terrible picture; it's tricky to take a photo in bad light with one hand while stretching the dough with the other.) The stirring will punch down the dough; when it's back to being in a ball shape, just glop it into a greased loaf pan. I like to dust the pan and top of the dough with cornmeal, which makes it easier to remove the loaf from the pan and gives the finished bread a crunchier crust.


Cover the pan loosely with the plastic wrap, and put back in a warm spot for a couple of hours until the dough has doubled in size.

3. Bake bread (9:00 - 9:45 PM)
Takes less than a minute-- enough time to remove plastic wrap and put into oven.

Once your dough has risen a second time in the pan, it will look something like this:


Preheat oven to 350; bake for 45-50 minutes. Your house should smell amazing after about 20.


Remove from pan, cool on rack, enjoy!


Time from start to finish: 12-14 hours
Time spent actually doing anything with the dough: less than 15 minutes.

White chicken chili

This is one of those recipes that starts without one... I've made it several times, but this is my first attempt at writing it down. Delicious, filling, and costs roughly $5 for the ingredients to make a whole pot. Possibly a perfect winter meal (or summer, if you're leaving your husband to fend for himself for a weekend.)


White bean chicken chili
1 lb. dried white beans (navy, great northern, cannellini, etc)
2 lb. bone-in chicken parts (I like thighs for this-- they give a little more flavor than breasts)
1 t. cumin
1 t. chili power
2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1-2 onions, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 c. corn (optional-- fresh, frozen, or canned all work fine)

1. Rinse and sort beans in large pot. Cover beans with 2-3 in. of water; bring to a boil. Turn down; simmer until they start to turn tender (approx. 1 hour, but could vary depending on the beans.)

2. When beans start to turn tender, add seasonings, chicken, garlic, and onion. Add more water to cover, if necessary. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partially covered, until chicken is cooked (30-40 minutes).

3. Remove chicken, set aside to cool. Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid. Beans should be fully tender. Put half of the beans and all the garlic in a blender of food processor; add some cooking liquid and blend until thick and smooth. Pour bean mixture back into pot.

4. Pull skin off chicken; pull meat off of bones and chop. Discard skin and bones; put chopped meat back into pot. Add chopped jalapeno and corn to pot. Stir everything together, adding cooking liquid until it is a thick but soupy consistency (2-4 cups)

5. Adjust seasonings to taste; simmer for a few minutes.

Makes 6-8 servings.

This is even better the next day; the flavors mingle. Also, two people will get sick of eating this long before it is gone, but it freezes wonderfully in one or two-serving portions. To re-heat, just dump the chili cube straight into a covered pot over low heat.

Good with any or all of these:
chopped cilantro
salsa
sour cream
hot sauce
shredded cheese
corn bread