Roasted Veggie White Pizza

I have flirted with vegetarianism in the past. And I have always had health concious eating habits, my mother was at the forefront of the organic/co-op/health food movement 20 years ago, so I started learning young! Since reading Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals I have been thinking about it more and more. Another great book, written many years ago that has the same message: Diet for a Small Planet. At this point in time, I know I can't be 100% veggie. But I do try to limit my meat intake. My goal is usually to eat meat only one time a day, or at least a small amout at two meals. I don't always meet that goal, but recipes like this help!

Roasted Veggie-White Pizza

1/2 red onion, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced

1 small tomato, sliced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pre made thin pizza crust (such as Boboli, or make your own!)
3 Tablespoons pesto (store bought is just fine!)
2/3 cup 2% shredded mozzerella
1/2 cup part skin ricotta cheese
1/4 cup basil
pepper to taste
cooking spray or olive oil

Preheat oven to 500. Arrange red onion, yellow bell pepper, zucchini on a jelly roll pan or baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat. Roast in oven 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Reset oven to broiler. Preheat pizza pan under broiler for 5-10 minutes.

Coat crust with cooking spray or drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Spread pesto onto crust.

Sprinkle 1/3-1/2 cup mozzarella over crust. Sprinkle with basil.

Add ricotta to crust, distribute evenly.



Slide crust onto baking sheet. Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is slightly melty (not brown!).

Remove from oven, spread cheese out with spoon. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Add roasted vegis, top with tomatos.

Top with remaining mozzarella. Broil another 5 minutes. Cut into slices.

Yum!

Tourtiere-The Canadians are genius

Sunday night I had alot of cooking to do. Dinner for Sunday, meals for P during the week, and cookies. The dinner was a disaster, since I thought I had a flank steak, but instead had a strip steak (which, as it turns out, is NOT the same as flank steak despite what the cattleman at the farmer's market told me). Strip steak is fatty and tough when broiled like a flank steak. Pretty much not edible, so I had to make a 2nd dinner.

But, the meal I sent with P for the week turned out well! I have made this recipe several times, I highly recommend it!

A tourtière is a meat pie originating from Quebec. It is a traditional holiday food item in Canada. They are often made with minced or cubed pork, veal, or beef. They are spiced in a variety of ways, depending on the region. Mine is spiced with cinnamon and cloves.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light:

1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1 (1-pound) russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)

 Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan. Sprinkle pork with 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon red pepper, and cloves; sauté for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Using a slotted spoon, remove pork from pan.

Add olive oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add 1 cup onion, carrot, celery, and potato; sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic, and sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Return pork to pan. Stir in flour, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Remove from heat.

Add to ungreased piepan.

Top with refrigerated pie crust.

Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Yum!

Tuna Melt

I never think to make Tuna Melts. I usually reserve canned tuna for a lunch-when-I-have-nothing-left-in-the-house, with crackers. But the other night I realized I had everything to make a fabulous tuna melt, and I wasn't feeling a big dinner...so why not?

Stuff I had in the house: tuna, mayo, salt, pep, rye bread, cheddar cheese, pimentos, onion.

Slice an onion and saute in a little olive oil on med-low for about 20 minutes until caramelized. yum!

Then, butter one side of the rye bread. Place in same pan you cooked onions and top with shredded cheddar cheese:

Top with caramelized onion and pimentos:

Mix tuna with mayo (to taste), salt, pepper. Add to sandwich, top with more cheddar cheese.

Top with other buttered bread slice.

Cook until browned on both sides.

yum!

Warm, gooey, cheesy, tasty! The caramelized onions are nice and sweet, and the pimentos add a nice twist. It was a pretty quick, I-don't-feel-like-cooking weeknight dinner!

Restaurant Review: Alborz Persian Cuisine

3300 W Anderson Ln Ste 303
Austin,TX78757
http://alborzpersiancuisine.com/index.html

Situated in a strip mall next to a gym, the roadside appeal is pretty low. Upon entering, they have the typical middle eastern decor on the walls, and we saw that on Friday/Saturday nights they have a belly dancer. The hostess immediately asked us if we had a coupon, which we did not. Not sure why they need to know that ahead of time!

The seating is average, bare bones. The dining room atmosphere is so-so. The belly dancer was quite good, and tips are collected at the end of her set which is classier than during the set. She did seem a bit out of place in the dining room though, due to the decor and the buffet.

I tried the Vegetarian Delights plate, P tried the Lamb Kebab with bagahli polo (rice with lima beans and dill). The veggie plate was good. The baba ghanooj was among the best I have ever had, the dolmehs were good. The only complaint I had was the hummus was sub-par, runny and grainy. P had the same complaint he has at any kebab place, which is that he wants a veggie on the side as well as rice. I enjoyed my meal, I would Alborz again (especially since the middle eastern cuisine is Austin is limited), but next time I would try one of the Persian stews for variety.

The verdict: Austin could do better...but if you are craving middle eastern food, this is an OK option.

Carrot Cake

So yesterday, I came home from work and put on my workout clothes with the full intention to use one of my workout videos before people came over for American Idol night. Instead, I walked into my kitchen, and decided to make this cake. In my workout clothes. Ridiculous. Did I workout before company came? No, decidedly not. But I did get a delicious cake.

I am always a bit skeptical of the baking recipes in Cooking Light, I have tried some HUGE misses in the past. This cake was a wonderful surprise though! The cake itself is nice and fluffy, light, with a good but not overpowering carrot flavor. The frosting is DIVINE. Heavenly. It may be my go-to recipe for cream cheese frosting from now on. And it was easy!

Carrot Cake, adapted from Cooking Light (I made a couple minor changes to the recipe on the website):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray

Frosting:

7 ounces cream cheese (low fat), softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add 2 cups grated carrot, tossing to combine.

Place granulated sugar, brown sugar, and 6 tablespoons butter in a large bowl.

Beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, place softened cream cheese and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at medium speed until combined (don't overbeat). Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

The finished product:

yum!

Mexican Lasagna

This weekend, I tried a recipe I had been saving for a group-event. I knew that it wouldn't be P's cup-o-tea, and I didn't want to make it just for me (because it seemed not-so-healthy). BUT, we had a birthday party at work to celebrate...a perfect time to try this!

It is a Southern Living recipe from November 2010 (I know, I hang onto these things for months to, well, years). The title of the recipe is super-lame (Latina Lasagna) so we will refer to it simply as Mexican Lasagna.

2 (24-oz.) jars tomato-and-basil pasta sauce
1 1/2 pounds fresh chorizo sausage, casings removed
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (4.5-oz.) can chopped green chiles
1 (15-oz.) container ricotta cheese (I used low fat)
1 cup whipping cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 (16-oz.) package shredded Mexican four-cheese blend (I used the 2%, 1.75 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Cook sausage in a Dutch oven (or skillet) over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, breaking sausage into pieces while cooking. Drain; return sausage to Dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in pasta sauce, cilantro, and chiles; cook, stirring often, 5 minutes.

2. Stir together ricotta cheese, whipping cream, and eggs until smooth.
3. Spoon 1 cup sauce mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan. Top with 4 lasagna noodles. Top with half of ricotta cheese mixture, one-third of shredded Mexican cheese blend, and one-third of remaining sauce mixture. Repeat layers once, beginning with noodles. Top with remaining 4 noodles, sauce mixture, and shredded cheese blend. Cover with aluminum foil.

4. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

I promise, one day I will get a better camera!

The verdict: Pretty tasty. The group enjoyed it, and it had a nice "kick" to it.

Slow Cooker Brisket Sandwiches

Until last week, I had never made (or purchased) beef brisket. As someone who has lived in Texas for three years, this is shocking. Brisket is all over TX, it IS Texas. BBQ is brisket, not pulled pork. Don't even get me started on BBQ. But, I decided to try a brisket recipe. I honestly believe that brisket is meant to be cooked on a grill, but since ours is out of commission due to fire regulations (sigh)....I tried this recipe I came across on the Food Network website. Slow Cooker Brisket Sandwiches.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 5-to-6-pound first-cut or flat-cut brisket, cut into 3 pieces (I used a 4 lb cut, bigger wouldn't fit in my slow cooker)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 12-ounce bottle stout beer (I used Guinness)
• 4 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 brioche or other rolls, split open and toasted
• Coleslaw, for serving (I purchased the prepackaged slaw in the produce section, added a small amount of mayo, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar)

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the brisket with salt and pepper, then brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, adding the garlic in the last 2 minutes.

For the garlic, I smashed the cloves with the flat side of a knife.

Transfer the meat and garlic to a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Pour the beer into the skillet and simmer 30 seconds, scraping up the browned bits from the pan; add the beer mixture to the slow cooker.

Nestle the celery around the meat and add the brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, bay leaves and paprika. Stir, then cover and cook on low 8 hours or on high 6 hours. I cooked on high for 6 hours, but I would recommend the low setting. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes, then thinly slice.

Use the drippings from the pan....

The finished product, with sweet potato fries:

This is a tasty brisket. BUT, for me, it was lacking something. Not sure what, but the meat was not melt-in-your-mouth tender. I will continue my search for the perfect brisket. But if you are looking for an easy, throw in the slow cooker recipe, it will suit the purpose. The leftovers would also be good in tacos or quesadillas, or in chili.