at home with ann

While I do still make food that isn't quite baby friendly (this week's mouth burning chipotle corn chowder, for example), I prefer to make one meal that we all enjoy.  It makes me so happy to eat with my little guy and see him try new foods, even if he mooches off my plate.  These quinoa pizza bites were popular with everyone.  I love quinoa, but on it's own it can taste a little bitter and boring.  The herbs give it good flavor, and dried oregano always makes me think pizza.  These were easy to make, although a spazzy potholder move resulted in yet another burn on my wrist.  My cooking theme of the winter has been, how many things can I break or injure myself with in the kitchen.  Must slow down.  C and I will be having the leftovers today, and I can't resist anything that comes out of the mini muffin tin.  Easily customizable to suit your tastes, I can even see serving these as party appetizers if made bite-sized. Quinoa Pizza Bites...

 I love homemade pizza.  We used to have pizza night often on the weekends, but it fell by the wayside about when a little person with an unpredictable sleeping schedule came into our lives.  After a particularly rough sleepless week, I am happy to report the pollen has abated and sleeping is much better.  So much better, in fact, that we felt like we had the time to make pizza and eat it while hanging out on the porch. The whole wheat pizza dough recipe is here .  It works every time.  If for some crazy reason you don't want to make two pizzas, it also freezes well.  Let's take a step back in time to last Saturday night.  It was pouring rain, the kind of unrelenting pouring rain that splashes up from the ground and drenches your pants, making them uncomfortable and difficult to take off.  It was also the night before a small party we were having to celebrate Colin's baptism.  Part of the menu for that party was a platter of grille...

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of our move to this house.  I can't believe it!  It's certainly been quite a year.  While there are advantages (free reign to decorate how I want, plenty of space, our own yard and wonderful porch) and disadvantages (replacing the water heater, the prospect of paying a mortgage for the next 30 years, the mysterious scratching noise in the attic) to owning a home in the suburbs as opposed to renting an apartment in the city, one of the things that has significantly changed are our weekend activities.  Back in the day, we would go out to eat at one of the many fantastic restaurants a few steps from our apartment.  Now, although the suburbs do have some good dining out options, we usually find ourselves cooking at home. If you've been reading for a while, you know that homemade pizza is one of our favorite weekend dinners.  It's great to cook together - even when one of the cooks is kind of bossy like me....

Last night was pizza night, because it was Friday, and Good Friday, and I actually had someone to eat dinner with for a change. I used the usual recipe for pizza dough , and did an assortment of vegetable toppings.  One pizza had lightly sauteed red peppers, and onions.  The other was topped with roasted broccoli, asparagus, and grape tomatoes.  The sauce on both was just crushed tomatoes, oregano and garlic.  For cheese I used freshly grated mozzarella and a few dots of ricotta.  I would highly recommend topping pizza with ricotta, it adds a whole other flavor of mild creaminess. Also, Jon would like to add that the Chimay Grande Reserve you see in the background of these pictures is excellent, and a perfect accompaniment to pizza.

Things are looking pretty lean in our fridge these days, as we have been eating everything perishable in anticipation of vacation.  Cheese pizza was on the menu for last night.  Tonight we'll probably be left with breakfast for dinner.  That will work out well since we'll be up before 5 tomorrow morning to catch our flight! Skillet Pizza Dough adapted from Rachael Ray 3/4 cup warm water 1 teaspoon sugar 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon salt 3 Tablespoons olive oil In a measuring cup, combine warm water, sugar and yeast.  Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes, or until it's all foamy.  It will go from looking like this: To looking like this: In the bowl of your mixer (or a large bowl if you're going to get an arm workout and mix by hand), combine the flours and salt.   Pour in the yeast mixture and the olive oil and mix for about 8 minutes until it forms a tight ball.  Knead it a ...

Aside from a few choice places: The Upper Crust , Pino's , and anywhere we ate in Italy, I would rather have pizza we made at home than some greasy takeout.  After a lengthy search, I have found a great wheat pizza crust recipe .  One of the things I especially like about this recipe is that the dough can be made in one day.  I can't always remember to start pizza dough a day in advance, and then you end up eating in the middle of the night and that's just no good. Ingredients 1 teaspoon white sugar 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour You can make this dough by hand without much difficulty, but it's easier with a stand mixer.  In a large bowl, start by dissolving the sugar in the warm water.  Sprinkle the yeast over the water and leave it alone until it gets foamy, about 10 minutes.  It will look something li...