Homemade Pizza

I made my very first homemade pizza. Dough, sauce and all! Rather exciting stuff... some things I would do differently in the future but I will explain that later.

The Recipe:
The Dough
1 cup of warm water (105F)
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of yeast

1. Put warm water (80 to 110°F) into a bowl. Add salt and honey and mix with a spoon. Add yeast, mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

2. Gradually add flour and olive oil and start mixing.

3. When the mixture gets too heavy to mix, start kneading the dough with your hands.

4. Knead the dough until you have a smooth ball. If the dough cracks it is too dry. Add water bit by bit until if forms a nice coherent ball. If your dough feels more like batter, it is too wet and you need to add flour bit by bit. If you need to add water or flour, do it by small amounts.

5. Coat the dough with olive oil, place it in a large bowl and cover it with kitchen wrap or a grocery bag. Let the doug rise for about an hour at room temperature, then push it down again so it deflates. Let it sit for about another hour. If you want to use it the next day, put it in a refrigerator.



6. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, put a bit of flour on top and make it into the shape of a pie by stretching it out from the center outwards. Use a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4" thick. Punch some holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape while the pizza is in the oven.



7. Put on your pizza sauce of choice (my homemade version below).

8. Put on your favorite pizza toppings.



9. Bake the pizza in you oven at 400 - 450° F for about 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is light brown.



The Sauce
1. 28 oz. of can crushed tomatoes
3 oz. of tomato paste
4 tbsps. Pecorino Romano
1 tsp Oregano
2 tbsps. minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp. black pepper
3 tsps. of sugar
2 teaspoons of dried basil

1. Whisk all together.

2. Allow flavors to blend for one hour before using.

My Experience:
First of all, next time I will make 2 small pizzas rather than one HUMONGOUS crust medium pizza. Clearly there was too much dough lol! Don't judge me lol.



I chose to make stuffed crust pizza because clearly that is the only way it should be done. Very simple. Stretch the dough out a little larger than the pan, sprinkle cheese around the edge, fold over.



Pizza toppings are really as you like. We had cheese, pepperoni, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, and bacon.

And just a side note, the pizza sauce makes more than is needed. BUT it is a really good pasta sauce to finish off the leftovers.

The Ratings:
Joelle's rating: 9/10 she said she would have given it a 10 had it not been for the 2 inch crust
My rating: 9/10 (the crust was a little much...)

Mashed Potato Trio

So I have started practicing for my big Thanksgiving dinner. And these... are my potatoes :)

Unfortunately there are no pictures this time around.

The Recipe:
For the mashed potatoes
2 pounds (about 6 cups) russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup hot milk


For the cheese flavour
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese


For the herb flavour
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or green onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme


For the roasted garlic flavour
9 cloves garlic, roasted


Making the potatoes
1. Cut potatoes into uniform pieces. Place potatoes in a large pot; add enough water to cover.

2. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer over medium-high heat until just tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to pot.

3. Add butter, salt and pepper to pot. Mash potato mixture with potato masher. (Add more salt as desired)

4. Add milk, a little at a time, while mashing potatoes. Continue adding milk as necessary and mash until the potatoes are smooth.


Making the flavour mixtures

1. For the cheese flavour, in a small bowl, combine Parmesan and Cheddar cheeses.

2. For the herb flavour, in another bowl, mix parsley, chives and thyme.

3. For the roasted garlic flavour, in a third bowl, mash the roasted garlic clove.


Flavouring the potatoes

1. Divide mashed potatoes into three portions and season each with a different flavour; mix well.

2. Transfer into a serving bowl and serve immediately.

My Experience:
Awesome. Great potatoes. Cannot wait to make these Thanksgiving Day. Best way to spice up plain old mashed potatoes ever. I actually think my sister, for once in her life, will enjoy eating potatoes (not in the form of french fries).

Honestly, they are best served warm so if you aren't ready to serve them ASAP, throw them in the oven (as long as they are in oven safe bowls) at a low temperature.

Also good microwaved the next day (not as good though...)

The Ratings:
Joelle's rating: 10/10
My rating: 10/10

Strawberry Cheesecake

Jon came for a visit from Montreal and requested cheesecake. So of course I had to attempt this new desert (which also makes Mom very happy because she LOVES cheesecake and expects me to make some for her in the near future). Thanks Jon for helping out :) So here it is!

The Recipe:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoon butter, melted
3 tablespoon sugar
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 package (10 oz.) frozen strawberries, thawed

1. Preheat oven to 325°F

2. Mix cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Press firmly into bottom of pan.

3. Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside.



4. Raise oven temperature to 350°F.

5. Beat 1/2 cup sugar, cream cheese, lemon juice and lemon peel with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

6. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each egg is added just until blended. Pour into crust.



7. Bake 50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool.

8. Drain strawberries, reserving liquid. In a medium saucepan add enough water to reserved liquid to measure 1/2 cup then mix in cornstarch, blending well.

9. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Cool, then stir in the strawberries and spread evenly over cooled cheesecake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.



My Experience:
First of all... the fact that the frozen strawberries are thawed is key. I didn't take them out of the freezer quite early enough and it took FOREVER to get the liquid from them. SO THAW THEM!

I unfortunately kind of burnt the bottom crust. Oops. Our oven is hotter than I thought it was. So it didn't turn out quite as good as it could have been.

Also, when the cheesecake is done cooking, there is like a crust on the top that you don't usually see on a cheesecake. I think this is totally normal and that for presentation reasons you cut off the top bit (my opinion though!). Then it will look a little prettier.

Finally, the recipe didn't have a pan size so I improvised and planned for the worse. After making it, you could probably use a 4 by 4 pan.

The Ratings:
Lydie's rating: 8.5/10
My rating: 7.5/10 (would have preferred the bottom not being burnt)

Golden Chicken with Noodles

I love slow cookers. They are my new favorite thing! So be prepared for more amazing slow cooker dishes like this one! The original recipe serves 8 so I only made half of everything. So here is the 4 servings recipe.

The Recipe:
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/4 cup water
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
3/4 teaspoons garlic powder
4 large carrots, thickly sliced (about 3 cups)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 of a 12-ounce package egg noodles (about 4 cups), cooked and drained
chopped fresh parsley

1. Stir the soup, water, lemon juice, mustard, garlic powder and carrots in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the chicken and turn to coat.

2. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or until the chicken is cooked through. (On HIGH for 3-4 hours)



3. Serve with the noodles. Sprinkle with parsley.



My Experience:
To be honest, Joelle sort of put this one together. Had I put it on before work, it would have been overcooked considering I am gone for over 9 hours. Really simple to throw everything together and I love egg noodles so it was a pretty great meal!

The Ratings:
Forgot to ask Joelle and Jon for rating so you just get mine
My rating: 8/10

Pan Sautéed Chicken with Vegetables & Herbs

So it has been a while. I actually made this dish a couple weeks ago but I've been a little lazy. So here it is! Joelle had a friend over (Lydie) and so I made a nice meal for the 3 of us to go along with our drinks! (sex on the beach of course!). Since Lydie was over, I kind of forgot to take pictures along the way... oops. Here is what I got though!

The Recipe:
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 bone-in chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small red onions, cut into quarters
1 pound new potatoes, cut into quarters
8 ounces fresh whole baby carrots (about 16), green tops trimmed to 1 inch (I was lazy and just used normal baby carrots... so they work too)
1 1/2 cups Campbell's Chicken Broth
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1. Heat the oven to 350F.

2. Stir black pepper, paprika and flour on a plate. Coat the chicken with the flour mixture.

3. Heat the oil in a 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium high heat. (I don't have one of these so I just used a frying pan and then later transfered to a ceramic pot thing you will see in the pictures)

4. Add the chicken and cook until it's well browned on all sides. Remove the chicken from the skillet.

5. Add the onions and potatoes to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Add the carrots, broth, lemon juice and oregano and heat to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet. Cover the skillet.



6. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Uncover the skillet and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with the thyme.



My Experience:
Turned out amazingly well. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe such as using Campbell's Chicken Broth instead of the original Swanson Chicken Stock which is more of an American thing. I also used normal baby carrots and a Spanish onion for the vegetables. All went well though.

The total prep time is about 20 minutes and cook time is around 1 hour. So be prepared for that amount of time which is quite longer than my past posts.

If you have the proper oven-safe skillet, this meal doesn't use too many dishes because you are making your vegetables and potatoes right in the same pan! I had to use two though.

Leftovers were also excellent! FYI if you are going to save some for leftovers... make sure that you add some of the juice to your container so that when you microwave it the next day or whatever it wont dry up the chicken. I also found that you taste more of the lemon juice the second time around.

The Ratings:
Lydie's rating: 8.5/10 (pretty good for a first timer)
Joelle's rating: 9.1/10
My rating: 8.5/10

Triple Chocolate Pudding Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Sooo I made a chocolate cake... with one of the weirdest cake ingredients ever. V8 vegetable juice. I obviously thought this was very odd but, surprisingly, the cake turned out really great! So don't judge a cake by it's ingredients lol.

The Recipe:
Vegetable cooking spray
1 package (about 18 ounces) chocolate cake mix
1 package (about 3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup V8 100% vegetable juice
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
Raspberry dessert topping
Whipped cream

1. Spray the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker with the cooking spray

2. Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, vegetable juice and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the chocolate pieces. Pour the batter into the cooker.





3. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or until a knife inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.



4. Serve with the raspberry topping and whipped cream.



My Experience:
I don't know if I was looking in the wrong place... but I couldn't find raspberry desert topping. The alternative I chose was homemade strawberry jam between 2 slices of the cake (I sliced it like bread) and used Strawberry Sundae sauce on the very top. Since I was going with the strawberry theme, I put a strawberry on top of the whipped cream.

As for the cake mix and pudding mix... just use your favorites whether it be chocolate, devil's food, dark chocolate or chocolate fudge. Personally, next time I make this cake I will probably use vanilla pudding because yes, it is very chocolatey.

For me, it took seven hours to cook. After I decided it was ready, I just flipped the slow cooker pot over onto a cutting board.

Excellent cake. I will without a doubt make it again!

The Ratings:
Joelle's rating: 10/10
Lydie's rating: 10/10
My rating: 10/10

Chicken Stir Fry

Mmmmm stir fry. Enough said. Just wanted to cook myself a quick dins tonight and I chose yummy stir fry.

The Recipe:
boneless skinless chicken breast
veggies (tonight I chose bean sprouts, green pepper, onion, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli and snow peas)
olive oil
soya sauce

1. Cook chicken in a frying pan with some olive oil


2. Cut up veggies


3. Add veggies (I added the mushrooms and onion first because I prefer them to be more cooked) and simmer on medium-low heat

4. Add soya sauce to taste (I love me some soya sauce so I add lots lol)

5. Serve :)


My Experience:
Easy. One pan, minimal mess. You can add a bunch of different veggies like red/orange/yellow peppers or you can use beef or pork instead of chicken. Add what you like! You can even use other sauces like szechuan, honey garlic, whatever! Like I mentioned in the recipe, I cook the mushrooms and onion a little longer so basically cook to taste!

The Ratings:
My rating: 9.5/10

Macaroni Salad

While at the cottage, we needed to make a quick and easy side dish to go with our burgers and corn on the cob. My choice, grandma's macaroni salad!

The Recipe:
Noodles (you can use spirals, penne, basically anything)
Vegetables (once again, basically anything)
Italian salad dressing (personally, I use the calorie wise)

1. Cook the noodles, strain and chill


2. Cut up the vegetables


3. Mix noodles and vegetables with salad dressing to taste


4. Enjoy

My Experience:
Easiest side dish to put together ever. Even great as a quick meal. Also, very good for leftovers.

For the vegetables, it can really be anything. I often will just use what I have in the fridge. This time I used carrots, broccoli, and cucumber. It is also good with radishes, celery, peppers (green, yellow, orange, red... whatever you like) and cherry tomatoes. Honestly any vegetables you like will work fine!

As a tip, try not to mix too much at once and just mix what is needed (the vegetables get soggy if you leave in for too long like for a couple days). I will often cook too much pasta on purpose and leave the extra in the fridge cold and mix small amounts when I want some. If, however, you do mix extra, the next time you have some you will probably have to add more salad dressing because it will soak into the noodles and be slightly dry.

The Ratings:
Alannah's mom Mary: 9/10 (3 meals and took the leftovers home)
Alannah's sister Ginny: 9/10 (she's a picky eater and she ate it for 3 meals!)
My rating: 9/10 (really love this dish)