Wednesday, July 25, 2012

#81 Broccoli Bacon Salad



10 slices of bacon (or more!) cooked, drained and crumbled
1 head of fresh broccoli, washed and chopped
1/4 cup of red onion, diced
1/2 cup of raisins
3 tablespoons of white vinegar
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sunflower seeds

I like to mix the dressing first and then cut the broccoli.  Mix together the vinegar, sugar and mayo.  I chop the onion first and mix it in so that it can start to marinate.  Add the chopped broccoli, bacon and raisins.  Mix and then refrigerate to marry the flavors.  Just before serving, add the sunflower seeds.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

#80 Veggie Pizza featuring Helen's pizza dough




Helen's Pizza Dough

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3-1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons coarse salt (a little less if not coarse)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-1/3 cups to 1-1/2cups lukewarm water

Put everything in a stand mixer bow with the dough hook attachment and mix until you have a smooth elastic dough.  Cover dough and let rise in oiled bowl until doubled.  

My variation:  I don't have the wonderful stand mixer, so I put the ingredients in my bread machine in the order recommend by the maker.  I use the dough setting and it comes out risen and perfect every time.

Divide dough in half.  Since it is just the two of use, I put the second half in a bag and into the fridge and we have pizza again in a couple of days. Allow it to come to room temperature before using.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Roll out and put into a pizza pan (or you can use a baking stone, preheated)  I then brush with a generous amount of olive oil, maybe about a tablespoon.  I press 2 (or more!) cloves of garlic and spread it around on the crust.  Add some fresh minced oregano and basil (use dry if you don't have fresh) to taste.  Then I add thinly sliced veggies.  Whatever I happen to have on had.  Pictured above we had some vidiala onions, green peppers, zucchini, fresh tomato, fresh mushrooms, a little bit of pepperoni.  I like to put the tomato on top so that it doesn't get the crust gooey.  I also sprinkled some freshly ground pepper and coarse salt over the tomato slices.I used some finely pre-grated Italian cheeses.  I used about 1/3 of an 8 ounce package, but put on as much or the kind of cheese you like.   

Bake for 10 minutes, check and then I like to turn the pan and bake 2 to 4 more minutes until the crust is starting to brown and the cheese has melted.

Some other veggies to try, olives, eggplant, spinach, and fresh corn.  




Monday, July 9, 2012

#79 Easy Pasta Salad

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!

1 lb. Cooked corkscrew pasta
Small can sliced olives
6 oz. feta cheese
1 lb. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cucumber, skinned, slided and diced
Your favorite vinaigrette dressing

Toss all together and let set in refrigerator at least one hour before serving.