Pesto Pizza

I've told you all before that I love pesto. It is a gift from the gods as far as I'm concerned. I want to share a tasty pizza recipe featuring this yummy concoction.

Pesto Pizza

1 pizza crust (recipe follows)

1/2 cup pesto (recipe in July 20th post)

1 small onion, sliced

handful of fresh mushrooms, sliced

handful of chopped sun dried tomatoes

1 grilled chicken breast, sliced (optional)

4 ounces black olives, sliced

8 ounces of shredded mozzarella

2 ounces of goat cheese crumbled

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Preheat pizza stone in oven for at least 30 minutes. This is what gives the crust it's lovely texture. Don't even think of preparing a good pizza without doing this.

While oven preheats, roll out dough to roughly the size of of your stone. Have all ingredients ready to top the pizza before taking stone out of the oven. Take out the stone and immediately place dough on it. Top with pesto, mushrooms, onions, sun dried tomatoes, chicken if using, black olives, mozzarella and goat cheese. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Check on pizza often. It will be done when cheese is bubbling and crust is lightly browned.

Pizza Crust

1 package of yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 cup warm water

3 cups of unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for rolling

Olive oil for oiling bowl

Mix the yeast, sugar, and water. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 tsp of salt. Add flour. If dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. It crumbly, add more water, 1 tbsp at a time. Knead dough until it's smooth and elastic. Form dough into a round ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Once the dough has risen, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and roll to needed size. This makes a large crust.

Chicken Broccoli Pasta

I was in the grocery store this summer and overheard a troubling conversation between a mother and son. The grocery cart was overloaded with the "blue" box of macaroni and cheese. The son was telling the mother, "I'm not supposed to be eating this. I need other things for my body." Of course my imagination went wild. Does he have health problems? Has his coach expressed the beauty of performance food? Sadly, the mother left all the mac and cheese in her cart and I was unable to hear (I tried) the rest of the exchange between them.

My mind immediately thought of a great alternative to the blue box, Chicken Broccoli Pasta. The original recipe was in a swimming magazine my daughter was subscribed to. I modified it to fit my family. We love this wonderful performance meal.

Chicken Broccoli Pasta

12 ounces of whole wheat pasta

1 broccoli crown cut into florets

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 tbsp pesto (recipe in July 20th post)

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 pound boneless chicken breast chopped into bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot with salted, boiling water, cook pasta until al dente

2. Meanwhile, saute chicken and garlic in olive oil for several minutes in a large skillet

3. Add broccoli and saute until all is cooked through.

4. Add chopped tomatoes and pesto

5. Toss cooked pasta into chicken mixture

6. Season with salt and pepper and toss with Parmesan cheese

This is great served warm or leftover cold.

Dress your salad!

I was in the grocery store the other day and took a look at the salad dressings. The ingredient lists on some of these scared me a little. There were as many as 25 ingredients; many I could not even pronounce!

Not knowing what these ingredients are frighten me:

xanthan gum

disodium inosinate

disodium guanylate

maltodextrin

mono and diglycerides

sorbic acid

phosphoric acid

calcium disodium EDTA

proplene glycol alginate

sodium benzoate

titanium dioxide

What is this stuff? I don't want to eat anything that sounds like a science experiment.

I want to share my family's favorite two dressings for salad. I promise you will be able to pronounce every ingredient and buy them at your local grocery store.

Italian Dressing:

1 cup of canola oil or olive oil (I like a mixture of both.)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp dries basil leaves

1 tsp dried oregano leaves

2 cloves of garlic, crushed ( or 1/4 tsp dried garlic)

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar ( or whatever vinegar you like)

Shake all ingredients in a tightly covered jar.

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup raspberry vinegar (red wine vinegar works here in a pinch)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves

Shake all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid. My family loves this dressing in a salad of fresh greens and fruit.

10 minute pasta

Roma tomatoes are very happy at my house right now. We are picking tomatoes and making pizza sauce every few days. While tomatoes are in abundance, my family loves to make this pasta. It is simple and delicious. You can make this in the time it takes for you to drive to a restaurant for take-out. I hope you enjoy it.

Fresh Tomato Pasta

To serve four, you will need:

1. 12 -15 Roma tomatoes or 4-6 regular tomatoes chopped
2. 8 ounces of angel hair pasta
3. olive oil
4. 1/2 small onion chopped
5. 2 cloves garlic minced
6. handful of basil leaves chopped
7. 1/4 cup of dry red wine
8. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
9. salt and pepper to taste

Put salted pasta water on to boil. While waiting: chop tomatoes, onion, basil and garlic. Put a large skillet on medium heat. You will make the sauce in this. When the pasta water is at a heavy boil, add the angel hair. Be sure to time the pasta. It cooks very quickly (in about 4 minutes) and will be mushy if overcooked. By now the skillet should be hot. Add olive oil, onion and garlic to the skillet at this time. As soon as the onion and garlic become transparent, add the tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper and wine. By now your pasta should be ready to eat. Drain well and add to the tomato sauce. Divide pasta between four bowls. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Aunt Becky's Guacamole

My Aunt Becky was an amazing lady and cook. She was passionate about good food. Sadly, she passed away a couple of years ago. I think of her often especially when I make guacamole. The first time I ever had it was at her home. I've never had guacamole I like as well as hers. Husband and I had this tonight with our veggie fajitas. I hope you enjoy her recipe as much as we do.

Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 avocados mashed

1 tomato chopped

2-3 cloves of minced garlic

1 onion chopped

juice of 1/2 lime

handful of chopped cilantro

olive oil - just a swirl around the bowl

salt and pepper to taste

Simply mix all ingredients and eat! I could make a meal on this with a good tortilla chip.

A variation to this is to add chopped basil instead of the cilantro, different, but equally great.

Since you went to all the trouble to make fresh guacamole you might as well make a great Margarita to go with it. I am so against the neon green mixtures you find in grocery stores full of high-fructose corn syrup. This recipe is for a Margarita the way it was intended, tart and refreshing.

Classic Margarita

2 oz silver agave tequila

1 oz triple sec

Juice of 1 large lime

1 tsp agave syrup ( you will find this in the baking aisle near sugar)

Coarse salt for garnish

Rub the rim of a glass with lime and rub it in the coarse salt. Add ice to the glass. Combine tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and agave syrup in a cocktail shaker or jar and shake for 30 seconds. Pour into salted glass and enjoy.

Pesto Confessions

I spent yesterday morning making pesto. One of the plants husband left alone gave me six batches of pesto! I'm so excited. We will definitely not have to buy the expensive stuff from the store this year.

My family loves pesto. I will share some recipes using it later. Whatever you do don't buy the canned variety. The refrigerated type is heads above the canned in my opinion. I have not found one that is even close to homemade or refrigerated. Of course, I stopped trying a couple of years ago.

My sister always tells me that my pesto is different. She thinks it's due to the fresh basil. It's time to come clean. When I began making pesto, I was complaining about the cost of the pine nuts to the owner of my local greenhouse. She gave me a great solution - use sunflower seeds instead! I was reluctant to try it but being the Betty Bargain that I am, saving money prevailed. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference (my sister is the only one who can). Now I wouldn't consider using pine nuts in this. I save them for pasta dishes that lets them shine.

My secret is out. Here is the recipe I use. I revised it from a recipe my daughter found in a book at school years ago.

Basil Pesto

2 cups of freshly washed basil leaves

1 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of sunflower seeds (use the pine nuts here if you want)

1/2 cup of graded Parmesan cheese

3 cloves of garlic

1. Put garlic, basil, and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend until thoroughly mixed.
2. Add cheese and sunflower seeds and blend for 3-4 minutes.

That's it. Now you can use it on pizza, pasta or for dipping bread into. I make lots of pesto in the summer and freeze it for later use. Typically I freeze it in ice cube trays. When it is frozen, I put the cubes into freezer bags. I take out what I need and thaw on the counter or in the refrigerator.

It's not too late!

Driving my daughter to soccer practice this week, I have been seeing a sign outside the local greenhouse. It says herbs, veggies and annuals half price! Now is the time to get those herbs you like to use and spend too much buying in the grocery store. I promise it is not as difficult as it seems. I have lots of herbs in my regular herb garden. However, I also keep a pot of my favorites on my patio. I only have to open the back door and snip what I need. In this pot I have cilantro, parsley, sage and basil. These are the herbs I use most frequently. They are no effort to grow at all. I have only watered them twice this summer and that was early in the season. Now they flourish when my flowers need constant attention. Remember, herbs are just weeds. They should grow when nothing else will. I have also had lots of success growing them with my flowers. They add the greenery you need but serve a greater purpose.

Make things simpler and save money by running to your greenhouse and getting herbs to season your life.