Grilled Pizza

Unfortunately, our oven completely died this past week. I did go out and buy us a new one but unless it is an emergency (what really constitutes an oven emergency?) the oven would not be delivered until Saturday. On top of the dead oven, we ran out of propane halfway through grilling salmon for dinner... but luckily the previous owner had left behind her propane tank so we were in luck on that front.

The day before the oven died I had bought all the fixin's for a delicious pizza and the dough (I love making my own dough, but really, Trader Joe's is just as good when life gets busy) was set to expire this week. So... I decided to try out some grilled pizza. And y'all, it was really good! It baked up very quickly and Mr. E. and I nearly devoured all of the pizza. Yum!

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• box of mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 8 oz. mozzarella, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat grill for high heat. Heat olive oil with garlic for 30 seconds in the microwave. Set aside. Punch down dough, and divide in half. Form each half into an oblong shape 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick.
2. Brush grill grate with garlic flavored olive oil. Carefully place one piece of dough on one side of hot grill and the other pizza half onto the other side of the grill. The dough will begin to puff almost immediately (like, within 15 seconds!). When the bottom crust has lightly browned, turn the dough over using two spatulas. Working quickly, brush oil over crust, and then brush with 2 tablespoons tomato sauce. Arrange vegetables over crust. Spread cheese on top. Close the lid, and cook until the cheese melts. Remove from grill, and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

*I sauteed the mushrooms and onions in advance because I didn't think they would have enough time to cook before the pizza was finished as the cook time is so quick.

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pizza-On-The-Grill-I/Detail.aspx

Mr. E's birthday

All summer long Mr. E has been craving a cherry pie. Cherry pie making doesn't come naturally to me and I don't see cherries at the farmer's market so it is not usually something I think to make. He always sees them in grocery stores or even at the bakery at the beach but honestly, they look like the filling was dumped right out of a can. So... for his birthday this year he asked for a homemade cherry pie. After a bit of research I found that no, we don't grow the kind of cherries around here that go in a pie, but yes, someone has taken the time to review cherries and found that the best cherries out there are from a company called Orgeon Fruit. Luckily, a new organic/local grocery store just opened a few miles down the road from us and I was able to find these cherries!

I hope he loves this pie as much as I do as I put a lot of love (and research) into this dessert!

Cherry Pie with Crumb Topping (I combined two recipes from Emeril & Oregon Fruit Company)

3/4 c sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch*
2 cans Oregon Red Tart Pie Cherries, drained, reserve juice from one can
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
Pastry for a 9-inch pie

Crumb Topping:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Gently stir in cherries and optional ingredients. Remove from heat. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. In a separate bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg. Blend the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Place on top of the cherry filling. Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.

*Three tablespoons quick cooking tapioca may be substituted. Discard juice, combine sugar, tapioca, cherries, and almond extract; mix well and let stand 20 minutes before pouring mixture into pastry lined pie pan. Continue as above.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/apple-and-cherry-pie-with-oatmeal-crumble-topping-recipe/index.html
http://www.oregonfruit.com/of.pl?pg=rp&rcp=Cherry%20Pie

Banana Crunch Muffins

I am in a dinner club with a lovely group of Mom's in our area. The basic premise is that the host creates the menu and emails out the assigned recipes (or wine) to those who will be attending. The host makes the main entree and the rest is created by the guests! Anyways, the theme for our dinner this month is Breakfast and I was asked to make the Banana Crunch Muffins. Yum--I love anything made by the Barefoot Contessa so I was happy with this new creation of hers. They were just as delicious as they sound...and who doesn't have a few overripe bananas lying around?

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup granola
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/banana-crunch-muffins-recipe/index.html

Veggie Burgers

We eat veggie burgers about 2 times per week and I LOVE them. However, as pseudo-vegetarians I really wanted one that had a bit more protein than the traditional burgers we got at Trader Joe's. I found this recipe on one of the blogs http://edibleperspective.com I sometimes check in with (I do like her food recipes but I am not as interested in the home renovation aspect of her blog). These burgers were SUPER easy to make and so much healthier in every way in comparison to the ones I get at TJ's. Nathan described them "twiggy" but in a good way and he even enjoyed a leftover burger for lunch today... that says a lot coming from someone who needs to have his leftovers spaced out over a few days. I am excited to try different variations on this standard burger next time.

Below is the recipe from her blog.
Chickpea Herbed Veggie Burgers [adapted from Oh She Glows]

• 1c cooked chickpeas
• 1 small carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 small sweet onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4c salsa [*if your salsa is very watery, drain some of the liquid, or per Angela’s instruction use 1/2 chopped bell pepper and add it to the food processor with the carrot + onion]
• 1/2c spinach, lightly packed
• 1/2t dried dill
• 1T oregano
• 1/2T parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4t fine grain sea salt
• black pepper
• pinch or 2 of cayenne pepper
• 1/4c unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1T pepitas
• 1T ground flax meal
• 1/2-3/4c millet flour

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Place the carrots, onion + garlic in the food processor and process for about 20sec.  You don’t want to puree it, but just have it well combined and in similar sized small/medium pieces.
3. Add in the chickpeas, spinach, salsa, dill, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper and cayenne [if using]. Pulse around a handful of times, until just combined.  *Be careful not to over process or the mixture will become too liquidy.
4. Empty contents into a bowl and mix in sunflower seeds, pepitas, and flax meal.
5. Start by adding in 1/2c millet flour [ground in a blender from whole, raw millet].  I used buckwheat flour instead, Mix until combined and test the mixture by trying to roll a ball in your hands.  If the mixture falls apart or is not holding together add flour in 2T increments.  The mixture should be fairly wet but still able to hold together.  You want to make sure not to add too much flour.  Add enough so they just hold together.
6. Form into 6 patties [this size works the best so they don’t fall apart], place on the parchment lined pan and then to the grill for about 15min.. 
7. Whey they are golden brown, flip and cook another 8-12min, until browned evenly on both sides. 

*The most important part of this recipe is not adding too much flour.  As mentioned in the directions, the mixture will be quite wet, which is what you want.  Before the first flip, they should stiffen up and hold together without a problem.
*If you don’t have millet flour, or raw millet to grind into flour, you can sub chickpea flour, quinoa flour [grind raw quinoa], oat flour [grind oat groats or rolled oats], or buckwheat flour [grind from raw buckwheat groats], etc.  If you don’t need this to be gluten free, you can use spelt flour [like Angela], or wheat.
Feel free to make this recipe your own by changing up the spices.  This past summer, I made an Italian version and topped them with fresh tomato, basil + mozz.  You could definitely make a curry style or a cumin Mexican spiced variation as well.
The best thing about these, is how easy they are to prep.  It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but the burgers literally come together in the time it takes to preheat your grill or oven.
http://edibleperspective.com/2011/04/cabinets-dinner/

Curry Honey Hummus

If you know me well, you know that I LOVE hummus of all kinds. What's not to like--so may flavors, packed with protein and good fats and you can dip your foods into it! LOVE it! This one is from a food blog (http://edibleperspective.com/) that I follow and it was so good that I even licked the food processor bowl after making it... at 10:30 in the morning. What, you don't have a food processor (you know who you are:)? You must get one. I use this appliance more than any other appliance in my kitchen. I have the Cuisinart 14 cup (I definitely need the 14 cup size for the foods I prepare) and it works marvelously.

Curry Honey Hummus yields appx 2c

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 can cooked chickpeas, drained + rinsed (or you can use one cup of dried chickpeas soaked overnight in at least 3 inches of water, drained and then boiled in three inches of water for about an hour until tender. This way is cheaper and you can avoid the BPA that lines almost all of our cans of food (Eden Organic is the one exception that I have found so far with BPA free cans).
• 3T olive oil
• juice from 1/2 a lemon ~2T
• 1T curry
• 1/2t turmeric
• 1/2t thai red curry paste [or you can sprinkle cayenne pepper]
• 1.5T tahini
• 1T honey
• ~3T water
• 1/2t ground cumin
• s+p [to taste]

1. In a food processor grind garlic clove[s] and scrape side of bowl.
2. Add chickpeas, oil, juice, curry, turmeric, curry paste or cayenee, tahini, cumin and honey.  Process until smooth.  Scrape down bowl once or twice.  Add water until it’s to the consistency you’re looking for. 
3. Add ~1/4-1/2t salt + 1/4t pepper [or to taste] and process for a few intervals of 30sec to really get it whipped and fluffy.

http://edibleperspective.com/2010/02/recipe-time-2/

Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter

My neighbor recently brought over a jar of her homemade Fresh Herb Butter--even Baby O was licking her fingers! I wanted to thank her with one of my homemade spreads and this new recipe sounded delicious! 

Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter

• 2c raw almonds
• 2T maple syrup
• 1T maple syrup
• 1.5T molasses
• 2t cinnamon
• 1/4t ginger
• 1/8t nutmeg
• 1/2t salt
• 1 1/2T canola oil

1. Preheat your oven to 300*
2. Spread the almonds on parchment, on a baking sheet.
3. Pour on 2T maple syrup + 1T molasses.  Stir.
4. Roast for 30min, stirring once every 10min.
5. Take out of the oven and let cool for about 30min.
6. Dump into your food processor and turn on.
7. Process + scrape down bowl as needed, until it butterizes. ~15min.  [Past the stage where it has formed a large ball of dough]
8. Add in 1/2T molasses, 1T maple syrup, 1 1/2T oil, all spices and salt.
9. Process again until smooth consistency is met.  ~5-8min.  [If you want it even smoother, add another 1/2-1T oil]

http://edibleperspective.com/2010/10/a-nutty-kind-of-day/

Roasted Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter

I LOVE peanut and almond butter. Yum--I would eat this everyday for lunch on a sandwich if I knew I would not feel guilty about skipping a spinach salad for a nut butter sandwich. We have a great grocery store in town that sells a lot of items in bulk... including nuts! In addition, many of the blogs I follow have inspired me to try to make my own, especially since they include such options as Salt Kissed Cashew Nut Butter and Maple Vanilla Almond Butter... delicious!

My first foray into nut butter took place over the weekend while my in-laws were visiting. Having an extra set of hands or two around the house seems to provide a bit of free time for things like... making nut butters! I got this recipe from http://edibleperspective.com and and it looks like she has a lot of over tasty recipes. However, as a new follower of her blog, I can only vouch for the nut butters.

Roasted Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter

• 2c Almonds
• 3T maple syrup
• 2T maple syrup
• 1/2t salt
• 1t cinnamon
• 1T grapeseed or canola oil

1. Preheat your oven to 325*
2. Line a pan with parchment if you don’t want to clean a sticky mess!  Pour the almonds on the pan with 1.5T of the maple syrup.
3. Roast for ~15min, stirring 3 times.  Watch so they don’t burn. 
4. Let them cool for 10+min.
5. Put in the food processor.
6. Turn the processor on + let it go until it’s buttery 10 ~15min.  Scrape down the bowl as needed. 
7. Add in the salt, cinnamon and 1T maple syrup and process again until smooth + combined.
8. Stream in oil and process until smooth consistency is reached.  If it’s still not smooth enough add another 1/2T of oil, but that shouldn’t be necessary.

Thanks Edible Perspective!