Tag Archives: cooking

Halfway Homemade Egg Pizza

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Some days you just need some pizza, and usually that day is Friday. BAM! Today IS Friday!  YAY pizza!  Okay, this is more like Saturday morning or afternoon pizza, but really, it works for anytime that you want to put an egg on a pizza.  What? You’ve never done that?  It’s time my friend. It is time.

Anyways, in our house there are 5 classifications of pizza: true homemade, quarter homemade, halfway homemade, frozen, and delivery.  I like to put frozen and delivery in one classification but R begs to differ.   True homemade means labor intensive dough, quarter homemade means dough from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, halfway homemade means altering a frozen pizza, and of course frozen and delivery are pretty self-explanatory.

A couple weeks ago we hosted a baby shower at our house – it was a last minute venue change and we quickly decided on a pizza party.  Given the circumstances, I picked up a bunch of frozen specialty pizzas – not my usual style, but sometimes you just have to go with the convenience factor.

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The next day, S and I were contemplating what to make for brunch and joking about how our latest kitchen habit is cracking an egg on anything we make.  We both looked at each other and Sarah immediately grabbed an artichoke pesto chicken from the freezer.  We topped it with halved cherry tomatoes from my garden and cracked a few eggs on top in the last minutes of baking.

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We pulled the pizza out when the whites had just set and the tomatoes were starting to burst a little.  Let it cool for a minute or so and cut in triangles or squares so each person gets one of the yolks, which should be cooked on the over medium side.  The best part is that when you break the runny yolk, you can use the crust to soak up the gooeyness.

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Halfway homemade pizza is awesome because it is fast, easy, and tastes delicious.  Seriously – it could be like one of those cheesy commercials where the lady claims to have made it all from scratch.  Everyone will be all like, “Did you make THIS?” And then you’re like, “Well, SORTA!”

Enjoy!

xx

-h

Christmas Book List 2012

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Books 2012
1. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook – long awaited, it is being raved about. I can’t wait to see the photos, I’ve heard they’re fantastic.
2. Local Pacific Northwesters know the Tom Douglas name well. This isn’t his first cookbook, but it’s definitely his sweetest: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.
3.  Okay, maybe I’m a little late to the Design*Sponge book party, but as an avid follower of the blog. I would love to flip through these DIY pages: Design*Sponge at Home.
4. Also one of my favorite blogs, this one is back ordered right now, but I’m hoping to have a copy before they come to Tacoma in January: Young, House, Love.
5. Okay, I’ll admit, I don’t know much about canning, but I’ve been learning the last couple of years and would love to have a go-to to work from: Canning for a New Generation.
6. I just heard a story about the Jerusalem: A Cookbook, on NPR, it sounds like it’s a mix of cookbook and cultural photography at the same time. I’m intrigued.
7. My go-to for down home cooking, The Pioneer Woman knows her strengths – comfort food, step by step photography for the recipes, and a quick wit. It reads like an actual story, and you can’t help but feel welcomed into Ree’s ranch life.
8. Admittedly, I don’t know much about The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook, and am totally judging a book by it’s cover. But, I can guess that if you’re like me, you’re trying to eat cleaner, more in-season, and more local, and this looks like it could be the inspiration ticket.
9. One that I’ve been coveting for a while: Domino.
10. 10 favorite ingredients like caramel, peanut butter, booze, and chocolate? Baking? I’m in: Baked.
11. Cupcakes and Cashmere is another one of my favorite blogs, Emily has great entertaining ideas and excellent taste. I’m sure this book is an extension of her style.
12. For the coffee table, these photos of Underwater Dogs will truly make you LOL. There is also a calendar option available.
Okay – maybe it’s a little cookbook heavy, but what can I say? I love photos of food!
xx
-h

Chai Shortbread Cookies with Pink Salt

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Aw Fall, time for Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin anything. To be honest, I love pumpkin flavored things and I’m especially a sucker for those lattes, but sometimes I get a little burnt out on the pumpkin. When I was tasked with bringing dessert for family dinner the other night and knew we were having pasta, I went with cookies. I figured they would be a *little* lighter then anything else.

S and I have been able to talk pretty frequently while she is in Kenya via imessage or email and she reminded me what a huge part of the culture chai is there.

So, thinking of S, when I found this recipe for Chai Shortbread Cookies, I was excited to test it out.

I used Caffe D’Amore Chai Serenity Mix that my friend K gave me awhile ago, but any chai powder mix will work.

When I tasted the cookies once they were done baking, I didn’t think they had super strong chai flavor, so after spreading the chocolate on top I decided to add a pinch of the powder plus a sprinkle of salt. For the salt, I used Pink Himalayan from World Market because it has a milder flavor and I like pink.

The sprinkle of chai mix on top added intensity, but using actual chai tea leaves would make it even more flavorful.

Think I’ll eat one of the extras over an afternoon tea tomorrow.

xx,

-h

Lavender Mint Lemon Bars

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Lemon bars are by far my favorite dessert ever. My mom received this recipe from her grandmother, Ri, who was an excellent cook. The interesting part about these is that because you use 4 eggs in the lemon part, they develop a custard like crust that has this amazing flaky texture to it. Although this recipe needs no adaptations I decided to incorporate the lavender that is blooming like crazy in my yard right now and because when I passed the lavender, I saw the mint, I added that in too.

Lavender Mint Lemon Bars

Mix 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup confectioners sugar together and cut in 1 cup butter. Press into 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. I usually do about 17.

While that is baking:

In a food processor or blender – 2 cups granulated sugar, 3-4 teaspoons lavender buds, and 5-6 sprigs of mint. Let ‘er rip until the lavender buds have broken apart. It will smell glorious.

Mix 4 beaten eggs, the sugar you just processed, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder using an electric mixer.

Pour this over the baked crust and cook for an additional 25 minutes at 350. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving if you like. I usually find that unnecessary though.

Enjoy!

xx

-h

Pretzel Pups

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Sometimes you have to use a little incentive to get things done. In this case, it was a nostalgic favorite for R, the pretzel dog. I used Joy the Baker’s Mini Pretzel Dog Recipe, and they came out amazing. Not quite as picture perfect as Joy’s but the flavor was great and the recipe was very easy to follow. Dip ’em in ketchup, mustard, a little srirancha (sriracha/ranch), or whatever you desire.

I would recommend this recipe a million times over – well I’d recommend any of Joy’s recipes really.

Enjoy.

-h

Birthdays and Buttercream Frosting-yum, yum, yum, yum!

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I can never understand why people don’t love birthdays.  They mean presents, sweets, and excuses to party.

Last night I baked cupcakes for my hubby’s birthday (even though he dislikes sweets) and mixed up some homemade buttercream frosting, and then I had a sufficient sugarbuzz for the rest of the night.

Easy buttercream:

Ingredients:
– Powdered sugar
– Butter
– Vanilla
– Heavy whipping cream

Mix 3 cups powder sugar with 1 cup softened butter using an electric mixer on low for 1 minute then on medium for 2 minutes.
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1-2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, mix on medium until sufficient texture for spreading.
Add more cream if needed for spreadabililty.

YUM YUM WONDERFUL!

-h

Great tasting, healthy, home-is-where the heart is meals

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What is wonderful today?

Meals that remind you of home.  My parents are both great cooks that have developed some go-to recipes for our family.  One of these is stacked enchiladas.  What makes them so wonderful? The fact that you can put absolutely anything you want in them and drenched in enchilada sauce, they will be delicious.

It goes a little something like this.

Dip corn tortillas in enchilada sauce.

Spread whatever filling you want (I prefer cheese, chicken, sauteed onions and peppers, green chiles, mushrooms, olives, corn, but you could make it vegetarian with beans instead of meat, go cowboy with steak instead of chicken, lose the veggies or add more…)

Layer next enchilada sauce drenched corn tortilla.

Top with cheese and remaining enchilada sauce. Bake at 350 for about 30 mins and serve like a pie topped with sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, and serve with black beans and romaine lettuce.

My mom likes to add raisins to the filling for a salty/sweet combo, I’m not so into that

It’s wonderfully easy, cheap, and requires no tortilla rolling.

I resolve to take photos of future wonderful things.

-H