Kitchen Sink Pizza

As August rushes by I am finding it harder and harder to keep up! 

At last weeks lovely cooking demo, a lot of people were saying they were having a hard time using all of their veggies. Last year I found myself in the same boat, it is such a shame when something goes bad! I came up with this little number last summer, and you can use a TON of your veggies. The first time I made it, it was so delicious that I made it again the following week...and although we ate the pizza, that night ended with the fire department blowing carbon monoxide out of my house at 3am because I left the burner on (oooooooops....). I was frustrated because I had burnt the first crust, and by then it was already 9pm and I was exhausted from a long day at camp, I think we ended up eating at 11pm that night. Needless to say I am much safer in the kitchen because of that night. 

You will need: 

Any veggie you'd like! 

I use...

2 Zucchini and/or Summer Squash 

Eggplant 

Kale 

Tomato 

Onion

1 Bag of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 

1/4 cup of Parmesan Cheese 

Olive Oil

Fresh Garlic

Garlic Powder 

Salt + Pepper 

Pizza Dough 

(If I have them sometimes I will add potato, mushrooms, or peppers)

First add olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper to roughly chopped eggplant. Roast the eggplant in the oven at about 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. I leave the skin on.

Caramelize those onions baby! Chop/Slice them anyway you'd like. Remove from pan.

I add the zucchini to the same pan as the onion to get some of that yummy sweet brown onion sweetness.I saute sliced zucchini in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Remove from pan.

Saute the Kale in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic last (in the same pan as onion/zucchini)! It only takes about 3 minutes. 

(YES...YOU MAKE A MESS)

Next, roll out the pizza dough. Bake the crust at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

Take out the crust and...

First goes the kale bed. 

Next the onion, I like it to be a surprise under the other veggies. 

Now the sliced Zucchini. 

Chopped Eggplant goes next. 

Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. 

Bake it for another 5 minutes. 

Fresh tomato on the top! 

(not on my side though...yeah yeah I know...the summer chef doesn't eat tomatoes...)

Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Red Pepper Flake, Fresh Basil to taste.

You have a hearty, tasty, healthy-ish (you use a LOT of O.O.), fresh, funky pizza. 

And now you have to clean it up...since you've used everything but the kitchen sink.

Zucchini Bread

I feel that Sweet Brown herself said it best, 

I know she was taking about a fire, but she could have very well been referencing Zucchini Bread. 

If you don't know who Sweet Brown is you're in for a treat. 

Sweet Brown Original

Sweet Brown Remix

I have never before, and never will again sift 3 cups of flour. Nor am I grating 3 cups of zucchini. I will leave baking up to adorable pastry chefs and my sister in-law. As much as I love science, (teaching science is my fav!), it's too specific for me, there are too many rules in baking.

It's tasty. I'm just mad at it because it was more work than I was looking for.

 I'll get over it. 

3 cups all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoon salt

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used baking spice from Savory Spice Shop Instead)

 3 eggs

 1 cup vegetable oil

 2 1/4 cups white sugar

 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

 2 cups grated zucchini

 1 cup of walnuts 

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Fancy Butter

                                                     

Except it is real butter Fabio....compound butter.

When I was a kid, it wasn't officially summer until Dreyer's had corn. My mother would go to her beloved Dryer's farm everyday and pick up enough corn to feed the neighborhood. My Mimi (grandmother) would come over and help me husk...because I hate husking corn. I still hate it, but today I would give ANYTHING to have one more husking session with my Mimi. 

This was way too easy NOT to make. Not only did Dreyer's give me gorgeous corn, but Savory Spice Shop gave us that awesome Paremesan Pesto spice pack. I saw the recipe in the Gazzette and had to try.

You'll need:

 4 Tbsp. of room temperature butter. 

1 Tbsp. of Parmesan Pesto

As much corn as you can eat.

Instructions: Mix first 2 ingredients. Spread it on the corn. Enjoy!

When you've completed phase 1 and phase 2, which are VERY complicated....you have a really tasty compound butter and corn that was already amazing is now unbelievably good!I feel as if someone came over for dinner and saw my homemade compound butter they would think, "Oh! How fancy! I can't believe she took the time to do that!" But really it's the easiest thing ever soooooo the joke's on them.

 Make it happen...

-Laura

Pickle Me

Let's celebrate 627 blog hits with pickles! Mom... did you read my blog 627 times? 

I'm not going to lie to you. I loathe cucumbers. But there is a very good reason for it. On my 8th birthday we were at the Ground Round and my family and I were having the best night ever. I'm pretty sure a Julia Roberts movie was playing on the wall and I specifically remember my chicken fingers being extra crispy and I can still look down and see my powder blue birthday dress; 1993 was going to be my year. My vegetarian of a little sister quickly ruined EVERYTHING after she got cucumber sick all over the table. I haven't eaten one since, and I'm sorry if I just ruined them for you. I still remember her walking to the car from the Ground Round in my younger brother's SpiderMan pajama's and her "high heels." While I'm laughing now, I'm still not eating cucumbers. 

I will eat pickles, and I did pickle today. When I saw the pickles in my Farm Box this week I knew what I had to do. 

While educating myself on pickling veggies, I found this video on about.com. How to Pickle...Warning: This guy is so lame. Even though this man is zero fun to watch, it's so simple to follow. 

Take the guessing out and sanitize the mason jar. I did, really easy to do and I now feel like Botulism and I are in a good place. 

My Pickles: 

2 cups of distilled white vinegar 
1 cup of water 
4.4 oz. of salt. (I measured this in oz. since the brine recipe from about.com called for 3/4 of a cup of salt, I just used my food scale). 
Pickling Spice (as much or as little as you like! I bought the McCormick brand and used about 2 Tbsp.) 
2 cloves of garlic
2 pickles from your Dreyer Fram Fresh Box 

Boil the liquid and the salt until the salt dissolves. 

Add hot mixture to pickles and spices in jar.

Put in fridge for 2 weeks. 

Here's to hoping I've got great pickles in two weeks. These pickles could very well be a disaster, but that's what this is all about isn't it?

Anyone care to share their pickling adventures? 

-Laura 

How very Ina Garten of me....

I had a professor in college with the driest sense of humor I'd ever seen on a person. I'm still not sure if he had a very dry sense of humor or no sense of humor...anyway, one morning I walked in to my Theatre History 4 class wearing gold sparkle ballet flats. Professor Smith walked up the aisle and stopped at my chair, looked at my shoes and said, "ah, how vey Laura Byrne of you..." 

The other day I made baked peaches that would make Jeffrey Garten say "MmmmMmm..."  They are beautiful to look at, easy to make and since I used French Vanilla Ice Cream to top it off, I would now classify this as a classic french recipe. When I was done I thought...how very Ina Garten of me. I can't take all the credit for the idea, it was all from the fresh box.

For this FANTASTIC and simple (yet impressive) dessert you will need:

2 Peaches halved, pits removed

1 Tbsp. butter 

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. of Baking Spice from Savory Spice Shop in Westifeld, NJ. 

(if you don't have the baking spice you can make your own blend with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger.) 

French Vanilla Ice Cream...lots of it.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the peaches  cut-side up in a baking dish. Fill each peach cavity with a bit of butter, brown sugar, and a bit of baking spice. Pour enough water in the bottom of the pan to come about a half inch up the side of the pan. Bake about 40 minutes, until the flesh has softened and the tops are browned. Serve warm with toppings of your choice, but I highly recommend the FV Ice Cream. Serves 2, or 4 skinny people.

I hope you find your inner Ina this week. 

Make something yummy.

-Laura 

I'm sorry these pictures are so giant, I'm still trying to figure out the formatting on my iPad.

Pre-baked

 

Waiting for the ice cream.

So tasty.

Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with a Knife

See what I did here? My font is mustard... 

I'm not going to lie... I had to do some research about these Mustard Greens. I knew nothing about them, are they the same thing as collard greens? Are they something skinny people put in their green shakes? Who eats them anyway? As much as I consider myself a foodie, I try and stick to typical greens such as kale, spinach, Romain, and if we want to get a little crazy I'll even go for some swiss chard. Needless to say these mustard greens were going to be a stretch. 

Turns out these leaves have great health benefits. They originally made their way over from India, and eventually into southern kitchens during the time of slavery as a substitute for other greens. They are packed full of antioxidants, help fight cancer, aide with anti-inflammatory and lower cholesterol and have other cardiovascular benefits....who knew...  (now all of this research was done on the interwebs so it's definitely true.)

So now I'm looking for recipes and I come across one were the first ingredient is bacon, so naturally I decide to make this one... 

Ingredients
4 slices bacon, chopped
3 bunches mustard greens, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Coarse salt
2 cups chicken broth
Directions
In a large skillet over medium high heat brown bacon and render its fat. Add chopped greens to the pan in batches and turn until they wilt, then add more greens. When all of the greens are in the pan, add vinegar and cook a minute. Season greens with sugar and salt. Add chicken broth to the pan and cover. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer greens 15 to 20 minutes then serve.


Turns out it's from Ms. Rachel Ray herself, some days I love her, some days I don't, today I question her vinegar choices. 

I tasted the greens raw and they actually have this great peppery flavor to them. Too bad I braised the crap out of them with too much vinegar, otherwise this would have been great. It should also be noted I used turkey bacon.I suggest to cut back on the vinegar or perhaps substitute it with apple cider vinegar instead. Today I have failed as the mustard green queen, but there is always next week. Bottom line, this recipe needs tweaking, but the mustard greens have potential.

Here's to hoping my chicken marinade saves the day later. 

Eat on...

-Laura 

Easy as Pie!

Let's talk leeks....

Pull out your pie dish! We're making dinner. 

Tonight I made a super delicious quiche with spinach and leeks.

First things first, you need to make a flakey crust. 

Crust:

1 cup of flour 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1/4 cup of ice water 

1/4 cup of olive oil 

Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork. Mix the wet together, pour in to the dry ingredients and press your pie crust in to your pie dish. 

I froze it for 20 minutes and then I baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes with parchment paper and another pie dish on top. Next, I took the second pie dish and parchment paper off and baked it for 10 minutes until it got to be a nice golden brown. 

While all of the freezing and baking is happening, you can make your filling. 

Leeks + Spinach Filling: 

3 large eggs 

4 oz. Heavy Cream 

1 cup of Skim Milk

2 Leeks Sliced thin

3 oz. Spinach Chopped 

First I sauteed the spinach with olive oil spray, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I let them nicely wilt and then set aside. Repeat with the leeks. 

I  beat the eggs and combined all ingredients above. 

Put it all together...

Finally the flakey crust is a golden brown and your veggie custard is ready. Next I took an italian cheese blend and covered the bottom of the pie crust with cheese, filled the pie with the filling and put some more gooey cheese on top. 

I baked it for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. 

The hubs topped it with fresh a fresh tomato. 

Seriously tasty, seriously easy, really fresh. 

No more pencils, no more books!

I'm going to do my best to stay sane this summer as I find myself in a summer of transition. I'm a first grade teacher changing school districts, I'm a wife selling our home and I'm a dog Mom adjusting our new pup, but my favorite title of the summer is Chef. 

I love food,  I love to eat and I truly enjoy cooking (during the summer, during the school year I'm no fun). During the summer my husband and I join the local farm's CSA program. We pick up a fresh box of fruits and veggies every Tuesday. Most of the time there are ingredients in the box that I have never used before. I'm going to challenge myself in a "Chopped" fashion to use everything in the box. I will research recipes, try recipes from the farm, make up my own fancy recipes, and some weeks keep it simple on the grill. 

Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ has completely inspired my inner Summer Chef and my hope is to come out of this summer a better home cook with new techniques and a better handle on some of these fresh ingredients! 

Dreyer Farms
Savory Spice Shop

This Tuesday (June 25) we were given: 
Zucchini 
Cucumber 
Tomato
Blueberries 
Leeks 
Mustard Greens 
Basil 
Broccoli 
Lettuce 
Homestead Spice Pack from Savory Spice Shop in Westfield, NJ. 

My plans for today are to make my own pesto, eat fresh blueberries, find a recipe for a yummy cheese sauce for the broccoli and figure out these mustard greens! 

Stay cool.

-Laura