It’s A New Week!

So here we are in mid-May and we are quickly shoving thoughts of cold and snow behind us. We are buying and starting plants, cleaning up the yard and getting the Winter crud off the vehicles (inside and out).

This week I have a couple recipes for you and some handy tips, as usual. I hope there is something that sparks your interest and makes you want to give it a whirl.

On Mother’s Day ( by the way, hope you had a great one) my daughter, Sara, and I got together to make a couple of different pizza crusts. One was a cheese crust and one was the latest trending crust, cauliflower.

The cauliflower, although tasty, was too thin and had burnt edges. That warrants a second try. Next time I will make the crust thicker and watch my time more carefully. All oven temps vary slightly and even though I set my timer for less than the recipe called for it still was too done. The recipe and my corrections will be in a future blog post.

Now, to the rousing success of the cheese crust. Sara had made this recipe twice before and was an old hand at it. It turned out absolutely beautiful! The recipe and pictures are next.

Cheesy Crust for Pizza

2 cups of shredded mozzarella

1/4 to 1/2 cup almond flour (this is slightly expensive but goes a long way)

Seasonings – you can add whatever you like. Some ideas might be garlic powder, onion powder, basil, parsley, oregano (or Italian seasoning).

Put the mozzarella cheese in a bowl and add your seasonings. Microwave the mixture until you are able to stir it all together. Each microwave varies so it would be best to start out with a minute and heat more a little at a time. When you are able to mix it all together it will be greasy. Sprinkle in the almond flour until it is not as greasy and the texture that you can use a rolling pin to roll it out.

Before you are roll it out, preheat your oven to 375 degrees with a pizza stone  placed inside. Then put your “dough” ball on a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper and use your rolling pin to roll it first one direction and then the other until it forms your desired shape and size. It should be between a 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick. It should not stick to the rolling pin. Once you reach the desired thickness and shape transfer your crust to the stone inside the oven. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes.

At this point remove it from the oven and “dress” your crust. First, of course, will be your pizza sauce, Then mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Follow the cheese with whatever other toppings you desire. We used pepperoni but you could put that and any other thing you desire on it. Place the pizza back in the oven and brown until the cheese topping is melting.

       

Have you ever wondered about the stock vs. broth situation? I tend to use both things in the same way. I was wondering what the difference really was and set about checking into it.

The major difference is that, technically, broth is made from cooking a certain kind of meat with veggies and seasoning to create a flavorful liquid that can be consumed as it is. Stock, on the other hand, always is created by using meat bones and has no seasoning. It would not be pleasant consuming as it is.

For broth the bones are cooked for a long time to release the gelatinous substance (collagen) from the bones. This gives stock a thicker texture. I also found out that if you want the stock to be darker you can roast the bones first.

So what about vegetable stock then? It has no bones and no meat. It all boils down to seasoning here. Stock wouldn’t be seasoned and broth would be. Broth could be eaten as is. Clear as broth, right?

Just a few days ago I picked up some Portobello mushroom caps and wanted to try making a mushroom “burger”. All of the information that I could find stressed marinating the mushrooms before trying to cook them. I took a cue from what I do for chicken and decided to use Italian dressing to marinate them in. You really only need a half hour or hour to adequately marinate them. Whoops! I forgot about them being in the refrigerator for 2 days! I am not one to be deterred by minor details so I used them anyway. The result was spectacular!

I drained the mushroom caps (I had two) and put them on a grill to add nice grill marks to them and to warm them through. I’m a cheeseburger kind of gal so I put a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on top of each and covered them to melt a little.

Finally, I dressed my mushroom burger and it was delish!!

Do you ever get a bag or two of onions and then not be not able to use them all in a timely fashion? I quite often do for one reason or another. Then what I do is use my food processor to chop them up and put them in freezer bags,  place them in the freezer  to save them for use in a recipe later. I portion the chopped onion into 1/2 cup and 1 cup sizes. Money saved!

Here’s a little side note on that topic. I often, after holidays go through the clearance sections in dollar stores or Walmart and buy storage and freezer bags for CHEAP prices. I personally don’t care if my onions are in bags with Valentine hearts or in today’s case bags that have Elsa from Frozen on them. Again, money saved!!

CUTENESS ALERT! CUTENESS ALERT! CUTENESS ALERT!

Here are two of my “pack”. They are Missy on the left and Rudy on the right. After you notice their adorableness what is the next thing you notice? If you are thinking, “Man! that’s a whole lot of hair!” then you are correct. I always have a difficult time getting their fur off furniture. It’s like this, I’m comfortable with a certain amount of fur. After all, I am a dog owner but when company comes my furniture should be fit for them to sit on! I have found the answer after much trial an error!!

Yep! Blatant product endorsement! This handheld vac is a BEAST! I can’t, honestly, say enough good about it. It is corded, easy to use and powerful! My life has just been enriched!

Currently, I am trying an experiment with bananas. I have seen, more than once, an idea that circulates online to keep them fresher, longer. You simply use plastic wrap to cover the base of the bananas where they connect. I will update you on this in my next post.

Speaking of updates: my small container garden is still on the table near the best window I have for sun. The temperature is still reaching below 57 degrees at night and so I wait a little longer. They are growing well and I have actually had a salad with some of the lettuce I harvested. I can’t wait until they can go on the deck!

Before I leave you this week I wanted to share a coupon strategy that I have been using a lot lately.  Now, that being said, I want you to know that I never buy anything that I don’t normally use when they are on special or I have a coupon. That’s what the stores and manufacturers want you to do. I try to beat them at their own game. The prime example is when an item is on buy one, get one free promo. Of course the price for the one is higher than normal so how can we beat that little trick of theirs? Here’s how. Recently, the type of cat litter I use was on a buy one, get one promo. I had several $1 off coupons that had been in the coupon flyer in our Sunday paper. The litter was $10.99. It is regularly cheaper than that but because it is BO/GO they upped the price. The grocery store where I shop allowed me to use two $1 coupons since I was in fact purchasing two products. Therefore, I bought two containers of litter for $8.99 which is the normal price for one container. WIN!! I had several coupons so I actually came home with 4 containers of litter.

See you next time!!!

LIVE WELL AND DO IT CHEAPLY!