Easy, Part Wheat, Pizza Dough

 

Since it was Valentines I thought we would be making heart shaped pizzas. Warren, however, had a different idea. He wanted to make a dinosaur. His daddy was happy to make his dreams come true. It ended up having "two heads" and when it was baked he showed his sweet spirit by wanting to give his brother the coolest part - the awesome head with grape eyes and all. I, Kim, have to say the cooked grapes actually tasted good.

“Thin & Crispy Pizza Crust

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar
2 ½ teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups white flour

Cornmeal for rolling out dough

Stir together above ingredients (except cornmeal) in the bowl of a mixer. With dough hook attachment, knead dough for 3 to 5 minutes at medium speed. Remove dough hook, cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours).

Place a pizza stone on bottom rack of oven and preheat to 450 degrees (remove other racks). Punch down dough and divide into fourths. Let dough rest a few minutes before rolling out. Sprinkle counter generously with cornmeal and roll out each dough quarter into a thin, 10-inch circle, dusting top of dough with flour if sticky (thin as a tortilla). Transfer rolled dough to a cornmeal-dusted cutting board. Top with desired toppings, then gently shake/slide pizza onto preheated pizza stone. Bake until crust is browned and crisp, about 8 minutes. Remove pizza to cooling rack, let rest a minute or two, then slice and serve.

This recipe makes four 10-inch pizzas. The addition of whole wheat flour isn’t just healthy- it gives great texture and flavor to the crust.” (pg 183 keeping up cookbook)

2/14/15 We used this for our valentine pizzas. Lance says the cornmeal is a MUST. He prefers the bites that have it on the bottom (more flavor that way). We didn’t follow the instructions exactly and it still worked out. TIP = use parchment paper then just sling your dough onto the stone. We did the usual family way of the jellyroll pan/cookie sheet and cooked it in the middle since that’s where our shelf already was. We did three thick and only one pizza was actually “thin and crispy” like it tells you to do. All were good. NOTE: our also took a few minutes longer to cook but perhaps that is because we didn’t have a preheated stone nor did we have our shelf close to the heat source.

Tortilla THIN Pizza

 

Xander

 

Cutting boards as our work space. Turns out the recipe says to use them. Perfect!

On the left: "backwards Sicilian" something we learned from a "long islander" the day we got home from Christmas visit 2014. Cheese first, sauce 2nd. What better time to try it than Valentines day when the read will be extra appreciated.

 

Aunt Sherri's Honey Wheat Bread

6 Cups Wheat Flour

8 Cups White Flour

4 TB SAF Yeast

2 TB Salt

 

1 Cup of Honey

½ Cup Oil

5 Cups of Hot Water

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl then add hot tap water and mix well, kneading for about 5 minutes. Shape into loaf, let raise and bake at 375 (Fahrenheit) for 25minutes. Makes 4-2lb loaves

Tip: Store yeast in the freezer, even after you open it.

Use Pam on the counter and your hands when kneading dough. OR use WATER

 

Half Recipe (Makes 2 Loafs)

3 Cups Wheat Flour

4 Cups White Flour

2 TB Yeast

1 TB salt

 

½ cup Honey

¼ Cup Oil

2 ½ Cups Hot Water

 

 

 

One inch slices = 32 servings @ 263 Calories a slice

Index finger slices = 56 servings @151 Calories a slice

Rosemary Chicken w/ White Beans

2 Tbsp. Oil
4-6 Chicken Breast Halves
2 Cups Carrots (or 4 big Carrots), sliced
1/2 Cup Celery (2 stalks), chopped
2 Cans Great Northern (or other White) Beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. Rosemary
1/2 Cup Italian Dressing

In a large skillet, heat the oil and brown the chicken breast (optional). Remove and drain. Place the carrots and celery in the bottom of the crockpot. Place chicken on top of vegetables. In a medium bowl, combine the salt, pepper, rosemary and Italian dressing and pour over the chicken. Place the beans on top of chicken. Cover, cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours. About an hour before serving shred chicken up and stir it all together. We serve this over rice, with a side of steamed broccoli. Makes approx. 12 Servings (1/2 Cup and 142 Calories each)

Brown Sugar Muffins

1/2 cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (typically pecans)

Mix together, do not over stir! The batter should be lumpy. Bake at 350, until golden brown. Approx 15 minutes -/+ for regular size muffins. Mini muffins 10-12 mins. Yield: 1 dozen regular muffins Calorie: 244 per muffin I remember eating these on Sundays! My boys like eating them in the buff with a sippie cup of milk.

Kelly’s Lasanga

1lb. hamburger
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2 ½ C. Cottage Cheese
1 lb mozzarella cheese
2 to 3 eggs
1 tsp. Salt
¾ C parmesan cheese
Parsley
½ tsp pepper
Brown hamburger. Mix with spaghetti sauce, set aside. Combine cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, salt and pepper and mix well. Combine hamburger and sauce. Layer sauce on bottom of pan then noodles and then cheese mixture and repeat layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake covered at 350 for 45minutes to 1 hour. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

Beef Stroganoff-Crock Pot

I didn't get a picture of this dish. Most nights lately I feel lucky if I can get dinner on the table by 6 or 6:30. Life with the baby is good and normal as far as babies go. What is not normal in our lives at this point is how little we see of our daddy. (I always love having extra help with the kids while I am cooking...a grown-ups help that is!) Because it takes me so long to prepare and cook dinner with one hand while trying to keep my composure during the chaos with kids running, playing, or hanging out under my feet crying that they are hungry I am grateful to have recipes like this one for the crock pot my sister-in-law Echo gave me. It earned 5 stars at her house. Jack and I really liked it, the boys ate it but didn't love the sauce. It all worked out great because I am off dairy for Daisy right now so I kept the sauce separate to we could add it to our liking. (I had to snitch one bite so I would know how a complete bite would taste. ;-))

This makes a huge roast so I use the shredded leftover beef )because the sauce wasn't mixed in to make my easy beef pot pie-1 for dinner and 1 for freezer. I thought about beef enchiladas too but the cheese took it off the list for now.

Beef Stroganoff

2 lbs Beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into thin slices (about 1/2 inch think and 3 inches long) [I just put the roast in whole and mine was about 3 1/2 lbs)

1 Large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

1 lb White mushrooms, trimmed and halfed. Quarter if they are large [I used 8 oz package]

Course salt and black pepper

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Cooked thin Egg noodles

Chopped fresh dill, for garnish, (optional) [I didn't use]

In 5-to-6 quart slow cooker, toss beef, onion, and mushrooms with 1 1/2 teaspoons course salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, about 8 hours on low or 6 hours on high.

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, whisk cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons water. Ladle 1 cup liquid that has cooked off your beef into a small saucepan, and bring to a boil; cook until thickened, about 1 minute. With slow cooker turned off, stir in cornstarch mixture, then sour cream and mustard. Serve beef over noodles; sprinkle with dill if desired. [I just mixed the sauce all in my small sauce pan so we could serve it separately. It reminds me a little of a hollandaise sauce in its flavor.)

If you prefer you can make this in the OVEN: Preheat oven to 350. Follow steps for the crock pot using a 5-quart oven or heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid instead of slow cooker. Add 2 cups water, and cover. Transfer to oven; cook until beef is tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Proceed with the sauce instructions as listed above.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

This recipe comes from Stan and Lindsay's kitchen. Mom raved about it. I look forward to trying it. I always love having a good crock-pot recipe from someone else that is tried and true. Thought I would take the liberty of posting it for mom. Hope to one day help her get her family cookbook all uploaded on here, but we all that cookbook continues to grow because we have such wonderful cook's in our family and even better tasters! Thanks for any and all contributions made to the family cooking blog.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken pieces

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup chicken broth

2 bay leaves

Use a 4-quart slow cooker.

Put the chicken into the stoneware and toss with the onion, garlic, thyme, maple syrup, and Dijon mustard.

Place the sweet potatoes on top of the chicken.

Pour in the broth and add the bay leaves.

Cover and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours, or on high for 3 to 5 hours.

The chicken is done when it is cooked through and the vegetables reached the desired tenderness.

* Courtesy of

"Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking."