Tasty things...

So Both Dan and I enjoy cooking and have been trying to find more healthy meals... here are some good ones we came up with!

Stuffed crust Red pepper and artichoke pizza with homemade crust!

Dan hard a work, making sure it's perfect...

Extra dough got turned into bread sticks!!!

Yum!

Good dinner!

So anyone who wants to give it a try, here you go...

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jays-signature-pizza-crust/

 

Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza Recipe

6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounces) frozen pizza crust dough ball, thawed
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch strips
• 1 teaspoon ground basil
• 2-1/2 ounces canned sliced mushroom, drained
• 14 ounces canned artichokes hearts, drained and chopped
• 1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Coat 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• Unroll dough and place on prepared pan, starting at center and pressing out with your hands.
• Bake 5 to 8 minutes, or until light golden brown.
• In food processor, mince the garlic and add olive oil, blending well.
• Spread garlic mixture over partially baked crust.
• Coat medium skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Saute red pepper strips until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
• Layer pepper strips, basil, mushrooms slices, and artichokes over garlic mixture. Top with cheese.
• Bake 10 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
• Cut into six slices before serving.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Artichoke-and-Red-Pepper-Pizza

With this we also did a White Garlic Sauce. The Recipe comes from The Better Homes and Gardens cook book.

  

White Sauce

Yield: 1-1/2 cups sauce

Start to Finish: 15 mins

Ingredients 

2 tablespoons butter or margarine 

2tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dash black pepper

1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

In a small saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Stir in milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly . Cook and stir 1 minute more. Makes 1-1/2 cups sauce.

 We added in 2 TBS of minced garlic to the sauce when the butter was put in.

For variations on this recipe

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/sauces/white-sauce/

This was definitely a favorite! Grilled Veggie Tortillas

Grilled Veggie Tortillas Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 yellow summer squash, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 small sweet red pepper, cut in half
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons prepared pesto
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
• 4 whole wheat tortillas (8 inches)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

• Brush the zucchini, summer squash and red pepper with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with salt. Grill vegetables over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until tender. Cut into 1/2-in. cubes and place in a small bowl; stir in tomato.
• Combine the mayonnaise, pesto, basil and oregano; set aside. Brush both sides of tortillas with remaining oil. Grill, uncovered, over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until puffed.
• Remove from the grill. Spread grilled sides with sauce; top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Grill, covered, for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Yield: 4 servings. (Taste of home)
• NOTES:  Very good with avocado. We also want to try large chunks of onion.

WE SAUTED THE VEGGIES WE DIDN'T GRILL THEM!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Grilled-Veggie-Tortillas

This is our attempt at homemade Pitas!!!!

Pita Dough

After being cooked...

With stuffing... it was a random assortment of things we had... eggs, lettuce, cheese, and cauliflower I think.

They were a little hard to open but maybe next time they'll work better :) Still tasted good!

 

Pita Bread

 Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.

Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.

Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.

Allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.

Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Take spatula and gently push down puff. Immediately place in storage bags.

Storing Pita Bread

Pita bread can be stored for up to a week in a pantry or bread box, and up to a month in the freezer. Be sure to use freezer bags when storing in the freezer.

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

Okay so this one was something called Zippy  Zucchini Pasta... we used Spaghetti Squash instead of pasta but it was good. If you like foods a little spicy, you'll like this one!

 

Zippy Zucchini Pasta Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 package (7 ounces) angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti
• 2 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Mexican diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute zucchini and garlic in oil until zucchini is crisp-tender.
• Add the tomatoes, parsley, oregano and pepper flakes; heat through. Drain pasta; serve with zucchini mixture. Yield: 3 servings. 

 http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Zippy-Zucchini-Pasta

So this was just for the fun of it... We decided to try something fun for the Fourth of July :) It was just a funfetti cake mix (made the batter a little thicker than normal) with food coloring and a couple of premade cream cheese frostings.

Sorry Can't get the pepper to move down... Anyway sorry don't really have a recipe for this one on the computer but if you just go to Google and type in stuffed bell peppers just look for one that sounds good :)

Okay so these are the Best Rolls EVER!!!

I got the recipe for these not to long after I got married 

from my wonderful Mother In Law!!!

Rising...

Divided...

Rolled out...

Cut and rolled...

More rising...

A fun variation... cinnamon sugar! These kind of stuck a little.

Rising some more...

And finally DONE!!! Yum butter and honey here I come!

                  
Best Rolls Ever!
Ingredients:
6 T sugar
3 cups warm water
4 tsp salt
1 can evaporated milk
2 T or 2 pakgs. yeast
1 stick of butter
6-8 cups OR more flour

Directions:
Mix yeast with water and 2 T sugar, set aside until bubbly. Melt butter and add evaporated milk, remaining sugar and salt. Add yeast and water mixture, then start adding flour. Add flour, Mixing well, until dough is slightly sticky. Turn out on well floured board and knead about 10 min (probably wont' need to knead that long), adding flour as needed until dough is smooth and silky. Let rise in oiled bowl until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.


Divide dough into two balls and roll each out like a pizza crust. Cover with melted butter, about 1/2 stick for the two rounds, and cut into wedges,again like pizza. I cut it into four pieces then cut each of those in three pieces. You should be able to get 12-16 wedges. A pizza cutter works great for cutting the wedges! Roll each wedge into a crecent, starting with the large end and ending with the point. Place on cooie sheets close together but not touching. Let rise again until doubled in size, about 45 min. Bake at 375 for 15-20 min., until light to medium brown.
To make smaller rolls, divide dough into thirds instead of half. Still using about 1/2 stick of butter for the three.
Another variation I have tried is garlic salt instead of regular salt and the butter that is spread on before cutting into wedges has minced garlic in it, VERY GOOD!!!


Well best be off for now... I'm sure I can find some more yummy foods to add soon :) !!!