Nina's Asiago and Arugula Whole Wheat Pizza

I definitely don't write about healthy eating as much as I talk and think about it in life. I should start doing it more since it's a HUGE part of what I think about when it comes to food. One of my all-time favorite things to eat is pizza - not the kind you find at Round Table - but real pizza with hand-made crust and wholesome, fresh ingredients. It's not that easy to come across, and I always think about making it, but for some reason I never quite get around to doing it. With a week or so off work for the holidays I finally made the time - and this pizza is the result. I searched for a good whole wheat pizza dough, but found that most recipes included white flour (the evil flour)  ; ) and I really didn't want to compromise. It's not that I never use white flour - in fact I use it a lot - it's just that I wanted a healthy crust that I can use over and over, just so I can eat pizza every single day and feel good about it! Well, maybe not every SINGLE day.

Fortunately, I came across Whole Wheat Pizza Dough from Wolfgang Puck and was attracted to that one out of all the ones I came across because it was so simple and it didn't waiver on the whole wheat. I like the way it turned out, but I'm still going to play with the recipe next time to see if I can add a little garlicgirl twist. But the best thing about this pizza is that it's healthy and the toppings make this dish amazing (at least I think so).

Anyway, this is my last post for 2009. I wish everyone a prosperous new year and hope we get to share lots of good food in 2010!

Nina's Whole Wheat Asiago and Arugula Pizza

Serving  1-2 small pizzas (but there'll be enough dough for 4 small pizzas)
Ingredients

Wolfgang Puck's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
3 + 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c cool water
1/4 c warm water
1 package active yeast (or 21/2 tsp)
1 tbls honey (I used pure maple syrup)
pinch of salt
1 tbls olive oil

Topping
2 c baby spinach leaves or Arugula
4 italian sausage, cooked and chopped or broken in small pieces (note: you can cook and slice thinly, or roughly chop. You can even remove from casing before cooking so you don't have to cut up).
1 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c goat cheese, crunbled
1/2 c asiago cheese, shredded
juice of half a lemon (optional)
splash of olive oil
pinch of salt and freshly grated pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, gently smashed (to rub in bowl before tossing spinach)

Preparation

Dough

note: I didn't use a food processor. I mixed and kneaded the dough by hand (it was sort of therapeutic). I'm not sure if it comes out better the other way. I liked the consistency, but then again I'm used to eating a lot of whole wheat/grain.

Dough Preparation (from WP website):

1.In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the honey and let sit for 5 minutes, until foamy.

2.Put the flour in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade. Mix the 1 cup cool water with the olive oil and salt. With the motor running, pour the olive oil mixture and the yeast slowly in through the feed tube. Process until the dough forms a ball that rides around on the blade.

3.Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until double in bulk. Punch down the dough and knead it on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and roll them into tight balls. Place on a tray, cover with a damp towel, and let rest for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator before use.

 4.Roll or stretch each ball of dough into a 7-to-8-inch circle. Place the circles, one at a time, on a wooden peel or on a baking sheet and build the pizza as desired.

Topping
- In medium mixing bowl, pour about a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil in bottom and then rub raw garlic all around through the oil and around the bowl.
- Add the Arugula, a little pepper, a little salt - and the lemon juice. Toss thoroughly and set aside.

Pizza
- Once you've spread the dough out on a pizza pan (I used a round stone), you're ready to add the topping.
- First the sprinkle the goat cheese from the middle until 1 inch before the edge.
- Now the Asiago....and then the Mozzarella.
- The last layer before putting in the oven is the sausage.
- Bake at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the cheeses have melted and the crust looks golden brown on the edges.
- Now the fun part: Remove and top the pizza with the Arugula.
- Cut in 6 or 8 slices with a pizza cutter.

Serving suggestion: Get a nice glass of wine, sit down with someone you love and enjoy this healthy and delicious pizza. I like to pile the Arugula on each slice and sort of fold it New York Style (even though it's nothing like NY pizza). I just like the idea of eating wonderful greens with pizza!

Don't forget to add anything - and everything - you like. Next time, I'll put a layer of thinly sliced garlic just because I was looking for a little more of that garlic bite!

Happy New Year!

Black Sesame and Garlic Green Beans

Green is a color that makes me happy. It's my favorite color to look at and I definitely have enjoyed eating green foods even as a little kid. Things like green olives, brocolli, dandelion greens, mustard greens and green apples. As an adult I've discovered even more green things that I love to eat (and drink): green tea, green tea ice cream,  avocado, wasabi, and capers (are capers considered a vegetable?). Needless to say I find myself preparing a lot of green veggies these days. If it's not a salad, it's usually a stirfry like the green beans in this post. Vegetable stir frys are great because if you do them right, you can still maintain the crunchiness of the vegetable, and because they're quick, and because you can be really creative with flavors and what you put in them. Of course garlic makes it's way into most of my stir frys. Here's a simple one that I like a lot. I wish you lots of good green eating!

Black Sesame and Garlic Green Beans

Ingredients

- About a pound of green beans, rinsed and trimmed
- 2 tbls (or less) freshly minced garlic
- 2 tsp black sesame seeds
- kosher salt to taste

- tsp sesame oil

- 1 tbls canola oil

Preparation

- Heat medium pan and add a little oil to cover the bottom.

- When it's HOT (but not smoking) add the green beans. There will be a really nice sizzle.

- Toss for a minute and add 1/2 the garlic and the salt. I throw in about a tsp on kosher salt. Alternatively, you can use tamari or soy sauce.

- Stir fry for another couple minutes. When you see that the bottom is starting to carmelize, add a few splashes of water and continue to toss.

- After a few more minutes, add the remaining garlic and continue to stir fry. When you need to, add a little more water.

- About two minutes before they are done, add the sesame oil and the sesame seeds.

- It takes about 8 minutes total before it's done. You don't need to cover.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve as a side with almost any type of meal, or serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Best Peanut Butter Cookies

I admit it - I'm a cookie snob. Even so, I'll eat almost any kind but I certainly know and seek out a good cookie. One of my all-time favorite cookies is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie from Pacific Cookie Company in Santa Cruz, CA. I love it because it's chewy while also having a slight shortbread texture to it as well. And the semi-sweet chocolate just adds the perfect combo. I've been using a recipe for quite some time, but yesterday I did it a little bit different and I think the result was a winner. And even though they got rave reviews from some at the family Christmas bake off, they didn't come close to taking the prize with my brothers NY Cheesecake and Pear Torte entries. The reason? It was "just a cookie..." But it did get a couple winning votes thanks to my daughter and one of my nephews.

BEST Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

11/2 c all purpose flour

1 c peanut butter

1/2 c softened butter

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbls milk

extra sugar to roll cookie dough in

Preparation

- In medium bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and sugars until fluffy.

- Add in egg and vanilla and beat a bit more to mix thoroughly

- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

- Add dry ingredients  and the milk to peanut butter mixture and mix thoroughly.

- Spread sugar on a flat dish or surface.

- One spoonful at a time, gently form a small ball in your hand and then push one side into the sugar so that it's a little flattened and coated with sugar. Don't flatten too much.

- Place sugar side up on a cookie sheet. Do this for the remaining batter, making sure that the cookies are placed at least a couple inches apart. You might need to bake a few batches (it's better to that then to have them run into each other).

- Bake for only about 10 minutes - they should be slightly golden.

- After a minute or so, tranfer to a flat cool surface and then sprinkle with a little more sugar.

Note - of course you can also add chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup or more, depending on how chocolately you like your cookies).

Serving suggestion - Eat one or two and then give the rest to other peanut butter cookie lovers. Try to resist eating 10!

Enjoy!

Nina's Breakfast Bake

I can find special moments in almost anything, but I think most people - including me - know how special Christmas morning is. It doesn't really matter what's going on, whether things are going great, or not so great - Christmas morning always feels cozy and special and calls for something special for breakfast. And special doesn't have to be fancy (at least that's what I think), it simply means that you put a little more thought, and a little extra effort into preparing something a little bit different. Before we broke for the holiday, my friend Kathy at work was sharing with me a recipe she found from the web for a breakfast casserole she was going to make on Christmas morning. At that moment, I decided to do the same, and even though she printed me a copy, I ended up doing my own thing after glancing at the recipe. I hope you all enjoy your special moments, dishes, and future Christmas mornings.  Here's what I did:

Nina's Breakfast Bake

Serves about four

6 medium eggs

2 c freshly prepared frozen or fresh hash browns

about 1/2 loaf of sour dough french bread, cubed (crusts removed)

1 cup milk

about 8 slices bacon cooked and broken apart

11/2 c cheddar cheese (or your favorte cheese), grated

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 tsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

• 
  
  Heat oven to 350 degrees
  
  
  
• 
  
  In medium bowl beat the eggs with the milk, dijon mustard and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir in a handful of the grated cheddar.
  
  
  
• 
  
  In a casserole dish, lay the foundation of hash browns (make sure you aborb excess oil from the hashbrowns. I did this with paper towel).
  
  
  
• 
  
  The next layer is the bread. These layers create a bit of a crust at the bottom of the casserole.
  
• 
  
  Now it's time to sprinkle the broken bacon pieces on top of the bread.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Pour the egg mixture over the layers and top with the remaining cheese.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Bake for about 30 minutes. You can stick a toothpick in the middle to make sure it's completely cooked since all ovens are a bit different. Remember, this is your dish and you can add anything you like, sausage or mushrooms, veggies, etc...
  

Serve with a side of fruit, fresh-squeezed juice, or toasted bagels - or whatever you desire!

Happy New Year!

Garlic Olive Oil Spaghetti

There aren't many food memories as close to my heart as this "dish." And I put the word dish in quotation marks because I'm not sure that it could be technically called a dish since it has only a few ingredients and takes a few minutes. For my family, this was basically the Sicilian version of slapping together a bologna and cheese sandwich. I remember telling my aunts and my mom that I wanted "plain spagetti" because back then I really couldn't appreciate a tomato sauce. So my wonderful Auntie Connie would take literally a few minutes and toss together some spaghetti, fresh garlic, olive oil, parley, and some awesome, parmigiano cheese. And then...best of all, she'd add the water that she cooked the pasta in, and the result was one of the most satisfying, steamy bowls of soulful happiness! To this day, this little dish warms my body on a cold day, and warms my heart any day! My mom and her family used to call it "Lague Logue" and that never made sense to me. Turns out, it was the broken Sicilian way of saying Aglio e Olio which means garlic and olive oil. My brother actually helped me figure out why they called it that funny name.

Serves 4

Garlic Olive Oil Spaghetti or Aglio e Olio

Ingredients:

1lb spaghetti
a few, or more,  cloves of garlic - smashed, or smashed and minced
parmigiano cheese, freshly grated - or Pecorino Romano (my favorite)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a few splashes of olive oil
a bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Optional - crushed red pepper flakes

Preparation:
Start cooking spaghetti according to directions
When the pasta is almost done, in a large saute pan, heat olive oil and throw in the garlic for about 45 seconds. It's important not to brown or burn.
Now, with tongs, pull the spahetti out from the water and add to the pan with the olive oil and garlic.
Add the parsley, salt and pepper to taste and toss for a couple minutes. Add a little more olive oil if needed.
Now to serve, put the spaghetti in the individual serving bowls, and add a cup of the water from the big pot that you cooked the pasta in, and ladle over the pasta. I like it soupy, but if you don't, just add very little water.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and some more of the parsley, and some more black pepper and red pepper if you desire.

Now slurp it up!

Of course you can add anything to this: almost any green veggie, cauliflower, chicken, etc. But I think the beauty of this dish is in the total simplicity.