Delicious Pizza on the Grill

It's just about the 4^th of July, which for me always seems like Summer is half over but it can't be because it feels like we just got started. On the flip side my garden says it's in full swing.

I've been harvesting lettuce, spinach, radishes, cilantro, basil, rosemary and other herbs for a week or so now. Oh and lets not forget we've had a few cherry tomatoes (7 to be exact). With the exception of carrots (grrrr) the rest of the garden is growing like crazy.

I've been thinking about pizza, which for me is unusual because it's not something I crave very often; you know cheese, and bread, two things I try to avoid. Maybe it is the new grill stone that I got from Pampered Chef. It's made out of the same material as the Rock Crok but it can be put directly on the grill, on high heat – it's awesome.

I started by making a 5-minute dough, 1 ½ cups flour (plus more as needed), 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp baking soda, 1 cup low fat greek yogurt and 2 T rosemary (from the garden).  Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Add the yogurt and rosemary and mix – the mixture will look crumbly.

Kneed mixture for 5 minutes. In the mean time heat the grill to medium high heat and oil the stone. Roll the dough out on the stone using a small roller (PC has a nice little bakers roller that works perfectly for this job) and place the dough on the stone. Poke holes in entire bottom of dough with a fork, close the grill and cook for 9 – 13 minutes or until the crust is golden brown rotating the stone once at about the 5 – 6 minute mark.

Remove the stone from the grill and flip over the crust, add tomato sauce (I used tomato paste, fresh garlic, oregano, basil and some oil) and toppings; we added grilled asparagus, zucchini, red peppers, and onions and then topped it with feta. Pop it back on the grill until the top of the crust is brown and the cheese is melted. Looks delicious doesn't it?

Because no meal is complete without a salad (which is something my mom used to say) we used the greens from our garden (lettuce, spinach, cilantro, kale and collard greens) and tossed in some cukes, tomatoes, blueberries and whatever else looked good. 

It was such a beautiful evening we decided to put up the flowers that my Dad made. With flowers and old hose in hand, we created a nice little garden near our garden. I put in the flower (real flower) garden after my mom died about 19+ years ago as a way to honor her.  For those of you who knew her, you might recall she loved to garden both flowers an veggies so this seemed like a nice way to remember her. 

I like how it turned out – and it looks like a nice photo back drop – we'll have to give it try over the weekend.

Have a Happy and Safe 4^th of July – Thanks for stopping by

A Myriad of Flavors and Cusines

I've been cooking up a storm and trying some new things lately thanks to Pinterest! Now that summer has finally arrived I've been craving salads. Not your ordinary salads, although I love them, but new salads., with ingredients you've not tried before – at least not together.

My first salad recipe came from POPSUGAR a fun blog site; if you've not visited it you should definitely check it out there are lots of good recipes. I tried the Hydrating Salad – a delicious combination of beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper, avocado, some scallions, lime juice, cilantro and salt and pepper. The original recipe calls for corn but I'm not a huge fan and I didn't have any on hand so I left it out and it was still delicious.

 

My second recipe was appleand carrot coleslaw with dried cranberries , feta and a mayo and Greek yoghurt dressing you can find the recipe on FiveHeartHome's site. I've not spent a lot of time on the site but it looks promising and I'll surely check back when I have some time, although I'm not sure when that will occur. 

My final recipe (ok not final in the sense of FINAL, just the last one on this blog post) is a rift on taco night.  We've been experimenting off and on with "non-meat" products that have the look and texture of "meat". I like tacos and since becoming a vegetarian have enjoyed black bean, cauliflower with lime, and veggie tacos – all delicious. However, we decided to try Beyond Meat beef tvp (textured vegetable proteim).

It was Dan's night to cook and he made a spicy taco seasoning, which he sautéed in a pan with the TVP and a bit of oil and broth until it was hot. Then we added, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, onions, guacamole and salsa it was simple and hit the taco spot! 

Dan and I hosted a Father's Day celebration at our house for his family last weekend. It had been a while (since Christmas) since we'd had the clan over. We grilled brats and veggie sausages and everyone brought a dish to share – it was a great feast.  I also added my famous banana cupcakes decorated with a BBQ theme; they got rave reviews from the nieces and nephews, in-laws and my sweetie. It was a warm day with a nice breeze and we spent our time out on the deck – it was a nice celebration. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Eggplant Parmesan with out the Parmesan

This year the Midwest got a late start in the planting department yet the recent rainy and warm weather has been amazing for my garden. For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that we have (had) 4 – 4 x 8 foot raised beds which provide us with an amazing bounty.  Last year we were forced to cut down our "wedding" elm tree, which resulted increased sun over the garden area.

Of course Dan immediately wanted to add 2 additional garden beds this year; one for tomato world and the other to sport a variety of peppers, cabbage and cauliflower plants – while I was a bit skeptical, I'm looking forward to the fall harvest – me thinks the freezer, pantry and the neighbors doorsteps will be full.

While I know it's not eggplant season here in Minnesota, I've been hungry for good Eggplant Parmesan – without the Parmesan or very little Parmesan. I was at my favorite grocery store last week and noticed some frozen lightly breaded eggplant, which seemed to call to me so that I could speed up the dinner process – so I decided to give it a try.

I pulled out my last pint of frozen tomato sauce from last years harvest to thaw and then sautéed onions, garlic and baby portabella mushrooms until soft. I added the tomato sauce and cooked for an additional 10 minutes until it was thick.

While the tomato sauce is reducing, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. To a baking dish, add a thin layer of the tomato, onion and mushroom sauce and top with the eggplant slices. Add the rest of the tomato sauce and top with some kind of cheese; Parmesan, non-dairy, soy or in my case sheep, goat or nut based and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the eggplant rest for 10 minutes.  Serve with a green or fruit (or both) salad. 

This weekend is Father's Day – if your dad is still around give him a hug and tell him how much you love him. I've learned that life is short - make the most of the time you have on the planet.

"This is the only dance we dance"  - Antonia's Line

Sweets for My Sweet

I've been a bit neglectful on posting lately but if we're friends on Facebook you know that I've been traveling a bit to reconnect with my high school besties – it was amazing. As my friend Ann G says – when we were awake there wasn't a minute of silence – which pretty much sums up our high school years. We laughed, reminisced and caught up with life, the universe and everything over the past 40 years.

But back to reality and to we're off to spend some quality time with my family. I'm looking forward to spending time this weekend with my dad, sister, my nephews and their families – especially my great nieces and nephews - we now have 5; cuties all around.

But I digress – last night Dan made a delicious stir-fry so tonight was my turn to cook. The inspiration for my recipe came from The Dock Café, a restaurant in my hometown Stillwater, MN.

I started by roasting some sweet potatoes with olive oil, sea salt and ground black pepper at 425 for about 10 minutes, flipped them over and then another 5 minutes.

While the sweet potatoes were roasting, I toasted some Seedtastic bread (a brand from Aldi) and then sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocado. To that I added lettuce (the first harvest from the garden), roasted red peppers (drained on a paper towel) and olive tapenade hummus - can you say delicious!

Putting it all together:

On one slice of the toasted bread (and toasting is crucial – well for me anyway) spread hummus (any kind will do) and add 5 slices of sweet potato, some avocado, cucumber slices, tomato slices, roasted red peppers and finally the lettuce. You can add cheese but to be honest if you leave it off you won't miss it there are too many awesome flavors. 

If you are cleaver you will roast more sweet potatoes than you need and then you can, if you are like me, dip them in ketchup and have sweet potato chips – one of my favorite snacks.

Have a GREAT weekend and thanks for stopping by!