Food Friday: Pre-Baked Pizza Crusts Method

Making a pizza from scratch is really easy.  It just takes time.  Sometimes when we want a pizza, we just want it now, not an hour or more from now.  RussVitale to the rescue!  Now finally we have a method for getting some pizza crusts made ahead so they are ready to go when we are!

To make it simple, here is the process:  make up your dough.  Let it rest and rise until doubled in bulk then roll out into the size crust you want. Bake at 475 degrees F for 6 minutes and you have your crusts ready to either use or put in the freezer until later.  When you want to make up your pizza, just slather on your sauce and toppings and bake for 5 minutes or so.  This assumes your vegetable toppings are pre-cooked, too, I think, because I do not think they will cook in 5 minutes, even in a very hot oven.

You will notice the "pita-like" crusts, especially the upper right crust. The upper left crusts had been rolled out very thinly so they did not puff.

One thing I learned is that it makes sense to "fork" the dough before you bake it.  Otherwise, you are making pita bread!  Not that pita is a bad thing...

Three crusts ready for the freezer.  There were four crusts until Dear One asked if they were up for grabs.  It turned out to be pretty good bread just plain.

For this crust we used the food processor and 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 packet yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water, and 1 heaping teaspoon salt.  After dissolving the sugar in the water add the yeast and stir well. Let sit 5 minutes to be sure the yeast is active.  Put the dry ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until combined then carefully pour the liquid through the cover into the flour just until everything comes together.  Let process another 30 seconds. Stop and remove the dough from the processor and place in a greased bowl turning the dough over to oil all sides.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit until double in bulk. 

You may be tempted to run the food processor for some time, like you do in a stand mixer.  Refrain, please!  One of two things can happen...1. the dough gets too hot and kills the yeast, or 2. your processor blade gives up the ghost and you have to buy a new one.  Not good.

Swan Lake Park Christmas Lights

The day after Christmas just before 5 PM we drove over to Swan Lake Park to see the Christmas lights.  They were stunning!  Truly amazing.  Thousands of them, in so many configurations.

We drove through the park with me pointing my camera out the car window for video-taping but got to the end of the park and saw that there were so many more of the lights to see.  Dear One drove us out of the park (there were cars behind us) and finally found a place where we could turn around and return.  Despite the fact that we went back in the Exit Only entrance (which we did not notice until we were committed...) we found a place to park so we could walk around where we both took pictures.  By the time we were done half an hour later, the cars were coming in a never-ending parade.  It is really popular, and for good cause!

This Swan Lake manger scene was really sweet. It was more or less in the middle of a large open area.  Families walked right up to it, as you can see on the right.

Santa and his rein-swans in the air above the Seven Dwarfs. 

There were so many separate light "figures".  So many of them we more or less recognized but could not put names to until a kind little boy told us:  Teenage Ninja Turtles, Sponge Bob, Spider Man, and SO MANY OTHERS!!! This little boy kept naming figure after figure until his mom told him to stop.  I was enthralled. Next year we may have to take pictures of each of them to share....Well, maybe not, but they are so impressive.

 These fish, and the green and orange dragon were eye-catching.  The blue lights were really so fabulous everywhere they existed.

At the edge of the woods were these nifty swans and flowers.

One thing we did not get a picture of because it was too dark by then, was the actual giant white swans gliding around on the lake, their necks curved in picture-perfect condition.  I had seen them when I was driving by on the way to Alice Drive several times but never stopped to snap a shot.

Recycling at its Most Humble

Since coming here to South Carolina I have been thrilled to find that recycling is part of the Wednesday trash pick up.  Still, there are some things that those nice men do NOT want to pick up.  Grocery bags is one of those non-pick-up-able items.  What to do, what to do?

This is what I do:

Pretty ugly but it works well.  When I get half a dozen grocery bags, I insert them one inside another and put them into the trash bins.  Since all our trash receptacles are small ones, this works perfectly.  AND we never have to buy garbage bags.  Win-win! 

Plus I never feel like I have to completely fill the garbage bag before pulling it out, tying it up, and tossing it in the big 90-gallon rolling bin outside.

Steeking After The Fact

Some years ago I blogged about the Elizabeth Zimmermann Adult Surprise Jacket that I knit while taking a class at the Country Woolens shop in Lebanon, New Hampshire.  Sadly, that shop no longer exists.  The Upper Valley had three wonderful yarn shops at one time which I enjoyed patronizing.  Debbie's classes were wonderful at Country Woolens.

Anyway, that sweater is a pretty easy one to knit.  You just need to do the math before you cast on and write down your numbers.  Then trust them!  I did not trust the numbers so I knitted a few more rows than I should have and ended up with "cuffs" that were really heavy.  Almost immediately I planned to insert a fleece lining with ribbed cuffs inside those big honking cuffs.  I never got around to it.

Now the we are in South Carolina where there is a good chance I will never need that sweater at all ever, I have decided to steek those sleeves.  Steeking is something that I have done before, also with Debbie at Country Woolens when I made a fabulous little green and white Norwegian sweater for a young granddaughter.  I loved that sweater.  It looked so impressive but was actually so simple to knit.  When you know you are going to steek a sweater, you add in a few extra stitches where you want your steeks to be. In that case it was up the front and also in the sleeves.  It was so nifty to be able to just knit and knit and knit in pattern and make a tube then at the end, cut the steek, add in the front ribbing and pick up for the sleeves and you were done.  So nice.

Notice the two rows of black yarn...this is a crocheted steek ready to be cut.

Well, this is not a planned-for steek. I do not know if it will work.  Here is the sweater with the crocheted stitches all done.  The Surprise Jacket is now ready to cut the steeks.  I am giving you the Before photo.  After I cut the steek, unravel the cut-out yarn and splice it back together for knitting the cuff, then knitting the cuff, I will put up an After photo.  Wish me luck!

PS The first time I ever heard about steeking was in Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitting Without Tears.  Such a fabulous book for knitters.  Actually, it is good for everyone.  So entertaining and instructive and also inspiring.
PPS . Great news!!!  When I went to Schoolhouse Press, Elizabeth Zimmermann's (she died late in the 1990's) family company, there was a NEW Surprise Sweater...this one a vest. In Fair Isle!!!  That is truly exciting.  Something I would like to make.  I must HURRY to finish up a couple more projects so I can invest in the yarn for this one.

Munchie Monday: Air Fryer Eggplant Chips

On Friday I followed the sign to the "American Legion Farmers' Market" and eventually arrived at the correct spot.  It was indoors!  So nice because you never know when rain will be a hazard.  As it happened, I was there about 3:30 in the afternoon.  There were about a dozen "booths" to investigate.  At the very first one I spied some firm plump beautiful eggplants,  not something that has been a big part of our diet.  Ever!  So I made my rounds to all the other tables then circled back.  It was quite the thing to be so popular.  Everyone called out to me as I approached.  People are so friendly...!  As it happened, I was also the only customer in the building at that time.  Nice for me!

Anyway, I chatted with the nice girl about how to cook and use eggplants.  She suggested cutting them into thick rounds and making them the base for tiny pizzas.  What a novel idea!  I thought I would try it.  I did only buy one though since I was pretty sure it would be a hard sell at home, even though Friday is Pizza Day at the ole homestead on Trevino Drive!

Since Dear One likes the pizzas at Aldi, and even though he wanted me to remove the mozzarella from the top which was somewhat fiddle-y, I did bring home what he wanted but then while his was baking, I put the eggplant rounds in the oven to begin cooking.

Once his pizza was cooked I let the eggplant "pizza crusts" cook another 15 minutes in the oven, then transferred them to the air fryer oven where several of them overcooked a bit.  Well, I have never been averse to a little charcoal so I went ahead and ate several.  Dear One was a good sport and ate one bite of one pizza round. (Though pizza round is really a misnomer-there was no pizza sauce nor pizza toppings on the eggplant...just seasonings...)

These eggplant rounds were cooked at 400 degrees F. for a total of about 40 minutes.  They had been spritzed with a tiny bit of olive oil spray then sprinkled with onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, and a tiny bit of sea salt.  They did not taste half bad.  They still were not crispy, which is what I was hoping for.

In this photo they have just been lollygagging in the air fryer for about 10 minutes...maybe a little too much!

Actually, in this picture they are in pretty good shape...this was after the first five minutes. Still not crispy enough for me. The picture with the dill pickle slices and tomato on a Beyond Burger burger had the full ten minutes.  You can see the char there a bit better. 

By the way, that lettuce was from our own garden!  There is nothing like harvesting delicious greens from your own back deck early in January.  Love it.

Food Friday: Vegan Banana Bread

We have had bananas get away from us lately.  Several times.  The only thing to do is make banana bread.  I had gotten the Forks Over Knives Cookbook from the library and found this recipe:

-2 cups of whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour -3/4 teaspoon of baking soda -2 or 3 ripe to overripe bananas -1/2 cup of maple syrup -1/3 cup of applesauce -1/4 cup of plant milk -1.5 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract -1/2 cup of pecans -1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed (optional) -2 tablespoons of water (only add water if you also added flaxseed)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl mix everything else together then add to the dry bowl and stir well. Pour into a sprayed bread tin and cook 50-60 minutes or more in a 350 degree F. oven.

Later I found the same recipe here on YouTube for people who like to watch recipes before cooking them.

It was amazingly good for being 100 percent whole wheat flour. It was even Hard Red Winter Wheat that I ground in the VitaMix. I am looking forward to getting some Hard White Wheat soon from the Home Storage Center. That would be superior bread! At least, all the bread I ever made with white wheat was really wonderful. Not that I want to get into the habit of bread-making again, but...it is always nice if what we make is actually enjoyable to eat.

First Day Gardening

Today is the first day of the new year, of the new decade.  It was a gloriously beautiful day here in South Carolina.

After spending time in the scriptures this morning I was touched by a verse:  "...will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

When I was reading that I thought about the fact that there are a ton of things for which I need to be delivered such as laziness, procrastination, poor health habits, not the best housekeeping ethic, etc.  Of course, I have plenty of goodish things in my life but I took this scripture to heart, closed up the book and began writing things do on a Today list that could help me be delivered from those negative things at the beginning of this paragraph.

Before 10 AM I had moved a box of dried beans from beside the bed in the guest room where it was a quasi-bedside stand to its new home in the closet. In the living room we had a nice table/stand that I was not using so I took that upstairs to put beside the bed in the guest room. The banker's lamp on my desk moved in onto that table and now the guest room is more or less pimped out for company...except we do need to get a bureau which Dear One has decided on from Hobby Lobby, if you can believe it.  We will go up there some week soon.

So all was going swimmingly until Dear One asked if I had watched the family videos from this year. I had not seen them so he sent the link.  I went into our room, stretched out (since I had been buzzing around for two hours by then...), and began watching the first one. It was so wonderful. Daughter-in-law A is a fabulous videographer!  I can hardly wait to watch the other two movies!

Anyway,  by the time I got back to work (the Today things on the list I made this morning that were to take place in the kitchen only partly happened before I drifted off on the couch) I decided to do the garden work I have been pushing myself to do for a month but never did.

This big plastic clear (more or less) bin is what we used to store compost it. I moved much of it into the other bins this fall but the bucket filled up with water and was really in rather grim shape.  The biggest job I did today was to empty the big blue bin underneath the water/compost bin in the black pots you can see along the back wall.  There were a ton (almost literally!) of river rocks in the bottom of the big blue bucket which needed to be moved into the area underneath the big trash bin beside the house.  That carrying job required the help of Dear One who was happy to do it.

The herbs were moved from the bins where they were scrunched up together into their own individual pots. I think they are much happier now!

The lettuce and the kale are really happy right where they are!  We love fresh vegetables every day.  Not that we do eat them every day, but they are smiling at us volunteering to be our lunch.  So nice.

 The "bagged" lettuce is still going strong. I am so impressed with that particular method for planting lettuce.  It has really done well.

 This empty bucket is ready for new soil which we will get when the basil plants are ready to be put in.  I have heard they will be available late in February or March. I am looking forward to them!

The trash bin is now sitting on its new bed of river stones!  Dear One moved most of the pine straw down to the edge of the pond, a place where I am committed to preparing a spot for one or two zucchini plants and some tomato plants as soon as they show up. I hope they have Black Krim tomatoes, Brandywine tomatoes, and Amish Paste tomatoes ready as started plants.  

The Seed Savers Exchange catalog came the other day. I am really souped up about the heirloom plants...!  It will cost a fair amount to buy seeds for each of these plants.  I think we will need to figure a way to make a nursery for seed starting if we are going to do this....Not sure Dear One will be into that...!

Anyway, now it is nearly the end of the day.  After working the garden I decided I needed to work the kitchen so I grabbed the stroller and headed to Food Lion to get some oven cleaner to take care of a bad issue we had.  It was dark by the time I got back.  It was only 2.4 miles but I am pretty much done it. I think I will now go sit in front of the television to veg out, or possibly fall asleep!

Happy New Year to all!