6/29/11 Hawaiian Pizza

I ask you. Who couldn't love this face?

Or this one?

Perfection. Softness. Sweetness. Intelligence. Fun. With little rubbery ears and nose.
Although, the difficulty is that she won't eat hardly anything.
Sometimes, she will eat pizza. So that is what I made tonight. Hawaiian Pizza.
First, the sauce. One can each of crushed tomatoes & tomato paste, Italian seasoning, & garlic. Note that I am preheating the oven to 400.

I always feel bad for salt & pepper. I forget to mention them. And I forgot the olive oil too in this case. So here's the sauce, along with those key ingredients.

I made the dough for the crust in my bread machine. I followed the recipe. I am not impressed. The crust is kind of doughy instead of stretchy and crusty the way pizza crust should be. I am not sure what is amiss. But anyway, here's the bready dough with some of the delicious sauce on it.

A lot of recipes call for a greased baking surface, or sometimes for pizza or breads, a surface with corn meal. I usually use flour. It keeps everything from sticking, and I find that isn't always the case with oils. Even on metal surfaces. I could/would use corn meal, but the corn meal I have is a little too coarsely ground to crunch with your teeth while munching down a slice of pizza. Flour works great.
It got chopped ham, olives, crushed pineapple, a little feta (just because I had it)

Mozerella cheese (did I mention that I love cheese? There is also grated parmesean in the crust) and a little crushed red pepper flakes. Ready for the oven (400 for 25 minutes).

There was enough sauce to save half of it and put it in the freezer for next time.

And here it is out of the oven! I think a lot of pizza recipes say they will be done in 18-20 minutes but at high altitude it takes longer for things to get to temperature. And I suspect my oven may be on the cool side. It could have even cooked longer, but we were hungry and the temperature in my house was approaching 82 degrees. Ick. I meant to do this one on the BBQ but I forgot until it was too late.

It was good, but I would like to find a better crust recipe. I like that chewy crust that has big holes in it and appears to be very elastic. But I haven't found that recipe yet.
After dinner, Audry amused herself by drinking water from daddy's glass

And eating the ice.

And spitting the ice back in the glass.

Such talent.

6/28/11 pork chops with peach glaze

The pork chops we had last week were soooo good. I decided to make some more. Different recipe this time.
First I made a glaze that could sit in the fridge for a while. It was made of peach preserves (about a cup), Worcestershire sauce (a teaspoon or so), a little chili sauce (next time I would leave it out, but I used about a half a teaspoon), & salt.

Meanwhile, Audry was coloring on some butcher paper that Auntie Heather gave. So serious.

That all got blended in my Magic Thingamajigger and stuck in the fridge.

Next I got the chops ready. These are boneless sirloin chops. I mixed up ginger, paprika, (heavy on these), a little thyme, a little itty bit of cinnamon, a little garlic, a little salt & pepper.

These all went in a big bag with the chops & I shook it all around until the chops were all coated and looked yummy. That went in the fridge for later too.

Finally, Audry and I went outside to go play on the hammock. Will just put it up yesterday and it has become Audry's new favorite place to be. Here are some moments.

I love being able to spend so much time with my baby! 

When it was time to cook dinner we went back in the house. I started with some green beans for a side dish. 

I had some bacon in the fridge, and well, the only thing yummier than cooking in butter is cooking in bacon. So I chopped up a couple slices and cooked those. 

Don't worry! I poured off the better part of the grease before the next step! Adding in the beans and squeezing the juice of a lemon over all of it. 

I added some salt, put it in a dish and set it to the side with foil over to stay warm. I used the same pan to cook the meat. First I browned the chops on both sides, about 2 minutes, to sear in the juices of the meat. 

What you're left with after all this cooking is a pan full of sticky stuff on the bottom that you really don't want to have to scrub off. But never fear! That stuff is YUMMY and that is what deglazing was invented for. 

I used some super cheap-o white wine. I think it was like $3.99 for the bottle, which means if I had bought it in California I might have been able to find it for $.99. 

Whenever I deglaze with white wine, I smell the amazing scent and think, what a good idea! 

Then I added the sauce back into the pan

and cooked the chops the rest of the way, about 8 minutes per side. They weren't super overdone, but I could have probably taken them off before. They weren't really thick. 

So then, here, my friends, is our dinner. The extra glaze is in the little poury thing there if anyone wanted extra. And we did. 

I could have made some kind of grains or rice to go with this to finish it off, but .... I didn't feel like it, and we had spaghetti yesterday.

6/27/11 Spaghetti & the new cat & weekend fun

This weekend we went to music in the park up in Denver to see a salsa band. Here's Willy & Audry getting ready to go dance.

We had a lot of fun with friends and Omar and picnicing & musicing & dancing in the park!

Also you may be wondering how Omar (our dog) and Oscar (our new mousing cat) are getting along. See for yourself!

Mostly they snuzzle each other a lot. I think they will be great friends.

But to the cooking! We had a lot of rain and cooler temperatures in the 70s today, so I decided to break out the spaghetti that I've been sort of meaning to cook for a long time.
Spaghetti is funny in that I really like it, but I always think it doesn't sound apt.
Anyway, I made my own sauce in the crock pot in the afternoon ahead of time- GOOD IDEA because all the juices and flavors just simmered into a wonderful goodness.
Ingredients: 2 cans of crushed tomatoes (fire roasted), one can of tomato paste, some Italian Seasoning blend, some garlic, salt & pepper, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and a good healthy dose of red cooking wine. Oh, and of course, a pound of ground buffalo that I browned before putting in the pot.

Does that not look amazing? Well, it was. Then I made noodles....

And the final product sprinkled with a little grated parmesean? Ta Da!

The perfect compliment? A glass of sangiovese cabernet blend.

Flavor explosions of happiness in your mouth. I ate too much.

Sat 6/25/11: Steak & Bleu Salad

Another hot day. Here is Audry eating one of the few foods she will: A popsicle.

And here is Omar looking regal.

We got a cat. He is hiding behind the water heater. I think we will call him Oscar. Oscar the mousecatcher.

We got home late from getting Oscar. Another quick summer salad dinner is in order.

I chopped up some steak.

And some mushrooms

And prepped a pan with olive oil, garlic & balsamic vinegar.

Mushrooms & meat went in the pan.

Then I made a salad with a butter lettuce lolla rosa mix

chopped cherry tomatoes

chopped green onion (sorry that it is blurry)

the cooked meat & mushrooms

and the piece de la resistance- blue cheese!

Very yummy, but it could have used some garlic bread or garlic croutons to go with it.

Then Willy said, let's wax my truck.
So we did.

Shiney!