Foodie for Life Week 2: Homemade Gourmet Pizza!

 

Hi Everyone. This weeks’ feature is something that I experimented with last summer. I love love love a good pizza with fresh ingredients and wanted to create it at home. Normally my meals are not that expensive to make, but this does teeter on that side a bit depending on the toppings you desire. However, you will not care because it is so stinking amazing. Anyhow on to the recipe! And as always I don’t use a mixer. Just a spoon and/or my hands

DOUGH

Ingredients needed

5 cups of self-rising flour

1 1/2 tablespoons of salt (I always like using sea salt)

1 package of yeast

1 1/2 cups of warm water, plus 1/2 cup more

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and mix them together. In a separate bowl put the yeast in the warm water and stir until the yeast has dissolved. Then pour the yeast mixture into the flour salt mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If it is too dry (normally always is), add more water about 2 tablespoons, to the dough. Once at consistency you like, take the dough ad put on a floured surface and kneed until the dough becomes elastic. Then drizzle the bottom of a large bowl with olive oil (so the flour won’t stick) and put the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let sit in a cool place (I choose my dining room with the lights turned off) for 2 hours. Now, using a fist, punch the dough in the middle and cut into three equal sized doughs. Then put each dough in a bowl drizzled with olive oil and let sit for an hour (covered with a damp towel or with plastic wrap. After that you can store them in the fridge for a day (What I prefer because it makes it easier to work with)

And now the fun part!

Toppings

Pasta/Pizza sauce (I HIGHLY recommend Kroger’s Simple Truth Line. Their organic sauce is the bomb and has no preservatives

Cheeses: A combo of fresh and processed. works best. For the fresh I used Mozzarella and Parmesan. For the processed I used a kroger brand block of monterey jack cheese (16 oz.)  

Toppings: 1 red bell pepper, one green bell pepper, fresno pepper, 1/2 lb of prosciutto, 1/2 lb of genoa salami, 1/2 of vidalia onion, 1/4 of red onion

Take one dough and roll it out onto a pizza stone (you can also roll it out on to a cookie sheet as well) until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Then put it in the oven on 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Take the dough out and then add the sauce and cheese. Then add all those yummy toppings I listed above or add your own. Totally up to you. Once you’ve done that, place the pizza into the oven on 425 degrees for another 15 minutes. Then take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes (or else you’ll burn the top of your mouth like me) and then eat up! I made three personal pizzas (one for me (pictured above) and then one each for my parents). Trust me you will want one whole pizza to yourself!

Dough recipe is from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pizza-dough-recipe.html

Foodie for life

In my free time this summer, I have been spending some of my free time cooking and grilling (the latter of which I only attempted for the first time last week). I’m obsessed with making anything from scratch that I possibly can! So far I’ve made homemade potato casserole, blondies, steak, mac and cheese, chicken stir fry, and cinnamon rolls. All extremely delicious. I want to become the Pioneer Woman of the Mid-South. So I’m going to do a weekly recipe post to share with everyone! Today’s feature will be the cinnamon rolls.

RECIPE: (yields 9-12 cinnamon rolls)

Dough:

One 1/4 -ounce package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick of salted butter (unsalted works fine as well. But margarine won’t give it the richness that butter does)
1 egg
4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

3/4 Stick of melted butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 1/3 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

(You can also add nuts, raisins, etc.. get creative!)

Icing

1 Stick of melted butter

2 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of water

Directions:

Open the package of the yeast and place it in the warm water. Next, mix the milk, sugar, butter, and egg in a bowl (I just use a spoon by the way. My mixer doesn’t work that well and plus using a spoon is more fun). Then add two cups of the flour and mix until it is smooth. Add the yeast mixture, then the rest of the flour and mix until smooth. Knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes, then place a slightly damp towel over the bowl, place it in a dimly lit place and allow it rise. Usually 1 1/2 hours

After the dough has risen, punch down the dough and roll out the dough on a flour surface into roughly a 14×8 rectangle. Spread the melted butter (I used a paint brush) on to the dough. Then pour 3/4 of the cinnamon-sugar mix onto the dough. Beginning at the 14 inch side roll the dough. Cut 9 to 12 slices.

Coat the bottom of the baking dish with some soften butter and  rest of the cinnamon sugar mix. Then place the cinnamon rolls into the dish. You can allow them to sit and rise for another 45 minutes, but if you can’t wait to eat them, you can go ahead and put them in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

For the icing, mix the butter, confectioner’s sugar, and extract. Add the hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches the consistency you’d like (I pour it all in because I like mine to be slightly thin). Then pour it onto the rolls after they have cooled for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

(Used (Used http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/cinnamon-rolls-recipe.html as my test recipe then made the needed changes. Let me know if you try it!)

Old and New Life

This weekend, I reflected a lot on my old workout/food regimen. How the hell was I SO focused and in the zone? This was what it consisted of a year ago: woke up at 6 am, walked to the campus gym, worked out for an hour and half walked back took a shower. And I ate like a bird (only one cheat meal per week). That was my routine for 6 days a week and I NEVER broke it for anyone or anything. I was DETRMINED to look perfect. But not matter how much weight I loss, or how little I looked, or how much weight I lifted in the gym, I was never satisfied. I became a size 2, and wanted to be smaller. I thrived off of compliments from others about how committed I was and how great I looked. However, I didn’t realize until later on that it wasn’t good for me. Fast forward to my life currently, where I’m not a size two, I don’t eat 2lbs of veggies a day, and the compliments have worn off. I am happier now, don’t get me wrong, but I do NOT need to be eating processed foods as much as I currently am and getting bigger at the rate that I am. I am trying to find a balance between my old life and my new life. I worry that now I’m not as pretty as I was when I was thinner (& I hate typing that). Here’s to living a happy healthy life!