Never Enough Pizza...

I love pizza. Occasionally I do get tired of it when I end up eating it every day for over a week (ahem, Christmas break), but overall I'm basically up for pizza at any time. My favorite guilty-pleasure pizza: Little Caesar's, affectionately referred to in my apartment as "Lil' C's". I know it's gross when I'm eating it, but I just don't care. 

However, as much as I love pizza, I know it's not the best food to eat as an entire meal considering the fact that It's basically just bread with some oil on it. And so I make my own so I can justify eating it anyway.

Homemade Marinara:

It is not hard to do. It's fast, easy, and it tastes better than the store-bought stuff. This recipe makes enough for one pizza, but feel free to double it for use on pasta, mozzarella sticks, or more pizza.

1 1/2 tsp olive oil 
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional, but it creates more depth)
1 - 2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil over medium heat and chuck in the garlic and red pepper until fragrant (about 30 sec). DO NOT let the garlic brown or it will be nasty and you'll have to start over.
2. Add the assorted tomato products, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring your tasty concoction to a simmer and turn the heat to low. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Pretty simple, huh?

The unfinished product

Pizza Crust:


I've been buying pre-made pizza dough for a few years now, but this stuff is cheaper. It just takes some foresight since the dough needs to rise. For the flours, feel free to use all-purpose or bread flour. Bread flour just creates a more...familiar texture. 

1 c bread flour
1/2 - 1 c whole wheat flour (start on the low side and add more later if needed)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup warm water*
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Combine whatever flour you're using with the salt
2. Combine water, yeast, and sugar in a cup or bowl. Let stand for a few minutes until it's frothy on top
3. Add oil to yeast mixture
4. Mix the water into the flour, adding more flour as needed until the dough forms something resembling a ball.
5. Throw the dough on a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, and then form it into a ball
6. Grease a bowl with cooking spray, chuck the dough ball in it, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place** for 1 hour or until doubled in size
7. Plop the monstrosity onto a pan, form it into a pizza shape, and you're good to go

*It's technically supposed to be 110 degrees, but basically all that means is hot, but not scalding. 
 **I like to turn the oven on warm and set the [glass] bowl on the stove. It just rises better.

Pizza:

I always do half-and-half with toppings when I make pizza. This time I decided to do half a standard pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, onion, and red pepper. The other half was olive oil, fresh mozzarella, two cloves of minced garlic, and a chopped tomato.

Basically, put on whatever you want and bake it at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or so (just keep a close eye on it) and you've got yourself a pizza.

Visually unimpressive, but tasty

 
Love life and eat pizza.

No Boys Allowed

As the title suggests, this post is for ladies only, so if you are not a member of my gender, close this page right now or read on at your own peril. 

Those who know me well know that I have a raging passion for the empowerment of women. I love being a woman and I think that we have a lot to offer the world, but our inherent skill set and unique point of view are chronically underutilized. There are so many beautiful things that come from womanhood, but there are some aspects of it that are not so pleasant, one of the most prominent of which comes from the systems that has come to most define our sex, namely a certain monthly visitor. 

I also have a deeply-seeded love and appreciation for the body I have been given. Having taken many classes on the human body and its inner workings has led me to believe that it is truly God's greatest creation. A highlight of the body is the reproductive system: a system that carries out a process so intricate and temperamental that it is truly a miracle that any of us were born at all. It is surely something for us to marvel at, and I am particularly grateful for the opportunity that it will allow me in the future to create and nurture my own children. However, I wish that Heavenly Father could have spared us females the month torture that is the menstrual cycle. Seriously, it sucks. 

A remarkably accurate representation.

This was on my mind yesterday because it was the repro lecture in my pathophysiology class and we looked at problems like dysmenorrhea and other such plagues. I also spoke to one beautiful woman whose uterus was taking a particular beating this month. Finally, I stumbled across this clever website. 

The Period Store was founded by a couple of clever gals (thankfully) who wanted to help a sista out. The gist of it is you pay between $15-$30 to receive a custom package right before your period. Depending on which package you choose, it comes with a feminine hygiene product of your choice, an artisan sweet, a print of a piece of custom artwork celebrating womanhood, sample packs of medications (which must invariable be some variation on Midol), and tea packets. You can buy one package or set up a subscription and get a package every month timed to your cycle. They also have a blog so funny that even the most dignified madame can't help but snicker at it.
 

Some of the offerings

Personally, I think it's a clever idea. However, I'm poor so there's no way I would pay cash-money for that stuff. Instead, I decided to look into dietary solutions for dysmenorrhea. (I know, you were wondering when food was going to come in.)

Painful cramps and other such symptoms have a number of causes. Causes include those nasty prostaglandin E's, levels of which can skyrocket to 10 times normal in a woman experiencing a painful period, as well as some nutrient deficiencies.

I did some quick research and found some interesting dietary and lifestyle changes that can have a positive impact on these pesky symptoms. I will link in different studies as their results are mentioned. For one, DON'T SMOKE. I actually found some mixed results in different studies in regards to smoking, but it's always a good habit to kick since it's bad for pretty much everything. 

Some of the other themes of changes that decrease menstrual pain and other issues that are probably more relevant to Mormon girls are an increased intake of calcium. This particular study used supplements, but dietary calcium absorbs better and greatly reduces the prevalence of side-effects from supplements. As an aside, some vegetables are good sources of calcium, but the body does not absorb it well, as opposed to calcium from dairy, which is readily absorbable. Short story short, stick to dairy for your calcium.

Another prominent finding in helping cramps was the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids. Good sources include fish, flaxseed (ground, not whole), walnuts, and others. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables was also found to be a protective factor. Interestingly, but not entirely surprisingly, excessive sugar intake was correlated with increased menstrual pain.

So the next time your uterus throws a hissy-fit, try putting some of these suggestions into action. All of these things have been shown to have wide-spread health benefits, so so them anyway regardless of whether they help with cramps, they're just plain ol' good for you.

Yeah, having your period sucks, but what marvelous blessings come from it in the form of the opportunity to be a be a woman and create. In your prayers or simply in the course of your day if you're not the praying type, take a moment to be in awe of your incredible body and thank God or Mother Nature for such a wonderful gift. And remember:

P.S. If you're not sure what exactly is going on in your body during your monthly rage-fest, come and talk to me, and I can give you a simple explanation. Plus, recipients of my run-down have said that it's pretty funny.

What's My Deal?

I always have the best of intentions when I go grocery shopping. I really do. However, the food I buy does not always last long enough to have the opportunity to be turned into something more delicious than its raw form. So once again, I have allowed my food to start to go bad, but never fear! I have a trick up my sleeve.

In this instance, I had a zucchini and two tomatoes that were starting to compost in my fridge. I couldn't think of a specific dish that I could use them in so I did the next best thing: I roasted them.

Roasting vegetables is always a good option because it intensifies their flavors and they can thus be added to anything and it will be delicious. There are specific temperatures and roasting times for each vegetable that you can easily look up somewhere, but I'm lazy so I just toss everything in a bit of oil, pop it in the oven, and try not to burn it. The result is rich, caramelized vegetables as seen here in a poorly lit, poorly photographed image:

Trust me, it's delicious

 Here's how I did it:

1 medium zucchini
2 roma tomatoes
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil

Chop it up, toss with the oil, throw it in a pan, and stick it in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until lightly caramelized. The veggies should be tossed every 5-10 minutes to make sure they cook evenly, and, more importantly, that they don't burn ('cause then they're gone forever). 

These can be added to pasta, quinoa, or pretty much whatever else you can think of. I added mine to some couscous and it was darn tasty. If you want to do more with roasted vegetables, try this recipe for roasted veggie enchiladas. They're pretty tasty too.

And just for fun, here's some Mozart:

 

Pumpkin in Springtime

I've alluded to this in previous posts, but I'll say it straight up right now: I am trying to get away from refined carbohydrates, namely sugar and white flour. So when I saw this recipe, I decided that I had to give it a try. There is no flour or sugar, and, with the right ingredients, it can be gluten-free as well. As a side note, I don't mention gluten free recipes because I actually care about eating gluten-free. It's simply for the sad celiacs in our midst. Seriously, eating gluten-free if you don't have a gluten allergy is a waste of money and precious calories that could be used to eat pizza and french bread. 

Muffins are the stuff of life.

One key change I made to this recipe was that I did not blend the oats. My blender was simply not up to the challenge of pureeing a quart of slimy pumpkin batter so I just mixed in the appropriate amount of oats. The only thing that would prompt me to go through the effort of blending the mixture in batches would be if I had an aversion to the texture of oats, but happily this is not the case. If you, like I, don't have a problem with what is essentially oatmeal in muffin form, then don't bother with the blender.

Now, this recipe has some odd proportions. It calls for 1 cup of pumpkin, but those small cans of pumpkin (aka the normal-sized ones as opposed to the jumbo cans that make, like, 5 pies) have 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin. So naturally I'm like, "What the heck am I supposed to do with 1/2 cup of leftover pumpkin?" Srsly. Consequently, I did one-and-a-half batches to make the proportions a little more sensible. Here's my version:

1 1/2 c (or two 6 oz individual yogurt cups) plain greek yogurt
1 15 oz can pumpkin
3/4 c honey or agave nectar (if you really want, you could substitue this for roughly 1-1 1/2 c sugar)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or you could use this recipe for pumpkin pie spice if you don't have the premade stuff. If you're missing an ingredient or two, as long as you have the cinnamon, you won't notice much of a difference in this recipe)
3 1/4 c oats

Blend the liquid ingredients, mix in the dry stuff, throw it all in a greased muffin tin or two, and bake it in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Just as a heads up, these are not the dessert-like muffins from Costco. These could actually be considered a part of a balanced meal. Consequently, they don't rise very much (meaning they're not light and fluffy) and they're not overly sweet. If you can't handle that, try sprinkling some sugar on top before baking or spread on more honey before consumption. That being said, I found them to be moist and delicious, so go ahead and give 'em a try. The above recipe makes about 14 muffins and should take 30 to 40 minutes from start to finish.

On another note, how do you feel about JT's big comeback? Not sure? Well, check it out.

I Think I Smell A Rat

Some of you may know that I am a first-year nursing student. What some of you may not know is that once a week, my area of study requires that I wake up at an ungodly hour to go work in a clinical setting to get some hands-on nursing practice. I love what I do - I just wish it were a little later in the day. I have to be out the door by 5:25, which means that every minute I am awake before that time is a minute that I am not sleeping. Basically, time is of the essence, but because I'm me I still feel the need to maintain my normal morning routine, which so happens to include breakfast. So to save on time I make my breakfast the night before so I can simply pop it into the microwave, scarf it down, and walk out the door. Normally I make some variation on this recipe, but I decided to try something new.

I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and thought I would give it a shot. What drew me to this recipe was the lack of refined sugars and flour (wheat isn't really that good for you folks). It has a nice mixture of fiber from the oats, protein from the nut butter and egg, vitamins from the banana, and deliciousness from the chocolate chips. It proved to be a winner.

Chocolate chips. Yum.

This recipe is nice and filling (I ate breakfast around 4:50 and I was not hungry when I left clinical at 11). It's also nice because the texture and the flavors of the nut butter and banana can hide the presence of some healthy additions (I added some psyllium husk leftover from another recipe in place of some of the flour). It was also nice because I made it right after getting off the phone with a mechanic I visited a couple of weeks ago and did not replace my rear hubcaps correctly after doing some expensive repairs on the brakes. They definitely came off while I was driving so I was trying to get the mechanic to pay for replacement hubcaps. I'm a stress eater so I gorged in peanut butter and chocolate chips while I was cooking and singing this song in my head:

The original recipe is vegan and can very easily be made gluten free. However, I decided to substitute some ingredients with what I had on hand. Here's my version:

1 very ripe medium banana, mashed
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp canola oil (always choose canola over vegetable oil - it has valuable omega 3 fatty acids)
3 tbsp milk
1/2 c rolled oats
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tbsp psyllium husk

All you really do is mix everything together and then cook them like regular pancakes. The batter will be very thick so don't be surprised when you have to spoon it into the pan instead of pouring it in. These took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. I did chocolate chips with half and blueberries with the other half. You could probably add chia seeds, flax seeds, or whatever else to the batter. 

Mm...blueberries.

 Long story short: eat these. And don't go the Meineke on State Street.

Running Out of Time

So I wasn't planning on cooking anything this week since it was a typical school week, meaning that I was insanely busy. However, on Tuesday during my walk home from campus, I realized that I had some rainbow chard in my fridge and I was unsure whether it was going bad or not, which made sense since I wasn't sure how long it had been in my fridge. I checked. It was going bad. I couldn't waste perfectly good chard so I did what any self-respecting cook would do: I made it into soup.

Upon discovering my wilted chard, I recalled some italian sausage that had been in my freezer for longer than I care to admit, and I quickly decided to use these ingredients to make a version of the Portuguese dish caldo verde. Seriously guys, whenever ingredients are toeing the line between being edible and giving you food poisoning, soup is the way to go. The suspect ingredients are thoroughly cooked and it's easy to mask any less-than-fresh flavor. Now, if your food is truly rotten, don't go taking any unnecessary risks; take it from the girl who has had food poisoning multiple times (though never as a result of my own cooking). Anyway, back to the food:

I thawed out the sausage, browned it, chucked in some herbs and spices, added water, and finished it off with the chard at the very end. Now, I said before that I would share my successes as well as my failures, but this doesn't really fit into either of those categories. The soup wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It was the sort of soup that you would be pleased with if it was free, but disappointed by if you paid more than $2.50 for it. However, it was a success in the respect that it turned my sad and forgotten chard and sausage into something that could be reasonable referred to as a meal.

Now for a picture. I will preface this image by saying that 1) I got my camera for Christmas in 2008 and it was kind of dated then so it's not the best quality, and 2) Natural light does not exist in my apartment. You know that painful feeling of walking out of a dark movie theater and being blinded by the sun light? Yeah, I get that every time I walk out of my apartment.

I know you're just dying to try some so here's the recipe (Sort of. I don't measure anything when I cook like this):

4 oz Italian sausage (aka 1/4 lb.)
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves minced garlic (fresh garlic is the way to go people, but you could also substitute 1/2 tsp. garlic powder)
1/2 to 1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 to 1 can white beans
3-4 c water or chicken stock
1/2 bunch chard, washed, stems removed, and chopped or sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Top with parmesan cheese, if desired

Brown the sausage, add the onions and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, and red pepper, and beans and cook for 30 seconds. Add water or stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add chard. Chuck in however much salt and pepper you feel like. Serve immediately.

As a side note, don't mix in all of the chard if you're not going to eat it immediately because the chard will get mushy and gross. Conseuently, it's best to store the broth and chard separately. Just toss some in a bowl with the broth after you reheat it. 

Also, if you find that something you make is on the bland side, 90% of the time it's because it doesn't have enough salt. Salt intake is correlated with high blood pressure, but it also brings out the natural flavors in foods (hence, why you put salt into cookies and such. Makes 'em taste better). I never add more than 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to any dish at one time, and then I add more in small increments if needed. You can always add more, but you can't take it out once it's in. However, hunks of raw potato in an over-salted soup or stew will absorb some of the salt and save you from having to trash a whole meal.

Happy eating! 

How Pinteresting

In case you're wondering, I do have a Pinterest board for cookin' stuff.

I've made anywhere from 30% to 50% of the recipes on there, which I think is quite the accomplishment. Some are fantastic and others are not so great, but most of them are fairly easy and moderately healthy with commonish ingredients.

Check it out.

Here we go again...

As some of you may know, I have blogged before. The ill-fated site began and ended two summers ago following my freshman year of college. It saw exactly three posts, and I remember none of their subjects. Ultimately, blog number 1 ended because I realized how little I actually had to say in blog format and consequently I did not post for a long time before I decided to take it down. But now...

I'm back.

Why now do you ask? Well, I have been admiring my friends' blogs for some time now (see these classy ladies here and here). I know that I can't be like them (reference the above experience for my failed attempt to do so) so I came up with a different idea.

I love food: I like eating it; I like making it; I like looking at it; I like reading about it. I just love food. Cooking has always been a passion of mine, and, through a lot of experience and a great deal of trial and error, I've gotten pretty good at it. My roommates have been known to call me the domestic goddess on a regular basis. You've probably guessed by now that this is going to be a food blog, and you would be right. However, there are a million cooking blogs out there already and I'm just a lowly college student so I've got to do something different, right? Here's what it comes down to:

I talk to people all of the time who feel like they can't cook. It's too hard or it takes too much time or every time they do make something, they're stuck with enough leftovers to feed a small nation for a week. It doesn't have to be that way. It's possible to make good and healthy food for one or two people on a budget while balancing a hectic schedule. I do it all the time.

So that's basically it. I want to share my kitchen wisdom (when I feel like it, of course) with the culinary paupers amongst us (jk folks. I really don't think that I'm that great of a cook). So I'll be sharing my successes and my failures from my stove - my recipes and nutritional knowledge. Plus, I'll throw in some random stuff from time to time like this: the source of my blog title and some great music to work some kitchen magic to.

Have fun and love food.