Archives for November 2012

Whole Grain Pizza Dough

November 8, 2012 by Erica

This is my favorite pizza dough.

You can always buy pre-made pizza dough in a bag at the grocery store, but it just doesn’t taste as good. Plus your friends will be impressed when you serve them pizza on homemade crust! They don’t know how easy it is. Shhhhh. Don’t tell.

The first time I ever used spelt flour was in this pizza dough. I was making the original Eat, Live, Run recipe and realized I was out of all-purpose flour. Emergency! I went digging around in my cabinets and found an unopened bag of spelt flour I must have bought to try out a forgotten recipe. Well, I was doubtful, but in it went! And it turned out amazing, and I’ve made it that way ever since. Crisis averted! Anyway, if you have a favorite whole grain flour (or just have all-purpose flour in your pantry), you can definitely sub that in here.

This dough is nice and chewy and gets golden and a little crispy in a hot oven. Go make it right now, because tomorrow I’m posting a fall pizza recipe perfect for a Friday Pizza Night!

Whole Grain Pizza Dough

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

Makes 2 medium-sized pizza doughs

Ingredients:

1 ⅓ cup warm water
1 packet yeast (¼th oz)
2 tsp sea salt
1 ¾ cups spelt flour (or all-purpose or another whole grain flour)
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Combine warm water and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the salt and both types of flour. When the dough holds together, dump it onto a floured work surface and knead for 8 minutes, incorporating the olive oil a ½ Tbsp a time as you go. (You could also do this in a KitchenAid mixer, but I’ve never tried this way.)

When the dough is soft and elastic, rub with olive oil and place in a clean bowl. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm spot for one hour.

After an hour, the dough should have about doubled in size. Cut in half and store in ziploc bags (either 1-2 days in the fridge or much longer than that in the freezer). I like to use one half immediately and freeze the other half for later – just defrost in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to make your pizza, sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza tray. Stretch out the dough, top with your favorite ingredients, and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Healthy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Lemon Tahini Sauce

November 7, 2012 by Erica

I don’t want to get too political or anything… but I am one happy girl today.

OK, now back to food.

Until recently, I didn’t think I liked sweet potatoes.

I think I’d mostly seen them in a casserole dish (there’s your first mistake) covered with marshmallows and tasting as sugary as candy. That’s just not my idea of a potato, you know? If I have to pick a potato, it’s going to be white and mashed up with lots of butter and cream. With so many dishes on the table at Thanksgiving, even I can’t do them all, and my potato compartment has historically been reserved for mashed potatoes only.

But last winter my roommate introduced me to sweet potatoes without all the other sweet stuff, and I kind of liked them! And now, after making these stuffed guys, I really like them.

These taste simple and yummy and are simple to make. Saute some onions, spinach and chickpeas while the potatoes are cooking, whisk together the dressing, heap it all on top of each other, and grab your fork.

This dish is healthy and so filling! It got the Nate stamp of approval – always a good sign. Best served with some Utah beer, as pictured above!

Healthy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Lemon Tahini Sauce

Inspired by The Kitchn and Smitten Kitchen

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 small sweet potatoes
½ red onion, diced
1 lb fresh spinach
3 cloves garlic, minced (divided)
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup tahini
2 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup water
½ tsp kosher salt
parsley for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

First, bake the sweet potatoes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash sweet potatoes thoroughly, pat dry, and pierce each one several times with a fork. Place on a baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.

While sweet potatoes are baking, make the dressing. Combine all dressing ingredients (lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, water, kosher salt and half of garlic) in a small bowl and whisk (or blend with an immersion blender – my favorite!) until smooth.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until translucent and beginning to brown. Add in the chickpeas and the rest of the garlic and cook until the chickpeas begin to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon zest.

Toss in the spinach in large handfuls, waiting a minute or so for each handful to wilt and make room in the pot before tossing in the next. Once all the spinach has been added and reduced a bit, stir in about half the dressing. Toss so that everything is evenly mixed and continue to cook for a minute or two until the chickpeas and spinach are heated through.

Cut a slit down the center of each sweet potato and stuff with the spinach and chickpea mixture. Serve with extra dressing on the side and parsley for sprinkling.

Enjoy!

Tuesday Book Review: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

November 6, 2012 by Erica

I love books. As a kid, I fantasized about Laura and Mary Ingalls suddenly turning up in the Boston suburbs. In college, I got a talking-to at work for reading on the job (I think it was Harry Potter). And now, I’m the girl who reads Dickens on the elliptical. Welcome to my nerdy life!

I’ve been meaning to start posting short book reviews here – not fifth-grade-style book reports, just my thoughts on what I’ve been reading lately. I have a loooong to-read list (surpassed only by my to-cook and to-bake lists!), and I love sharing book recommendations almost as much as recipes. So can I tell you about what I just finished reading?

It was John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel East of Eden, and I loved it. I was hesitant to pick up this book, even though it was rated highly on GoodReads, because I remember Steinbeck, frankly, as very boring. When I think back to Grapes of Wrath, I just remember dryness, associated as much with the writing as the setting. That’s probably unfair, and I bet if I picked up Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men again, I’d enjoy them much more than I did in high school English class. Anyway, suffice it to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how un-dry East of Eden was.

This story, set at the turn of the century in California’s Salinas Valley, tells the story of two generations of the Trask family cursed to relive the fate of Cain and Able again and again. The characters are deep and fascinating, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to even the most unlikeable of them. Steinbeck’s prose is beautiful, and I loved the descriptions that really captured the texture of life in the Salinas Valley. The story is loosely based on the book of Genesis, but you don’t need to be familiar with the Bible to understand the plot or themes.

Disclaimer: I love long novels. I’m not sure how many pages this one was, because I read it on my Kindle, but it was not a quick read! That was lucky for me, because I had a long bus ride to and from Vegas last weekend :) And in general, I just love epic novels that build up a world you can get lost in. When I finally put one down, that world is gone, and I feel like a friendship has ended! If that’s your style too, I would definitely recommend East of Eden. And even if you’re just looking for a beautiful and entertaining story, I highly recommend picking this up.

What should I read next?

(Sidenote: Go vote if you haven’t yet!)

Asian Orange Ginger Dressing

November 5, 2012 by Erica

Sometimes a girl just needs a salad for dinner. Like after Halloween. Or eating this cake.

Those aren’t Nate’s favorite nights, I have to say.

This orange and ginger dressing is more exciting than your standard salad dressing, though. Even Nate gives it the thumbs-up (and then asks about dessert). I like to make it to top a grain and veggie salad (the recipe for that is below, too), but it would also be delicious on a spinach salad, noodle dish, or even tofu (I’m going to try that next!).

I recommend it when you want something super flavorful and a little different from the norm… and when you plan on eating cake later.

Asian Orange Ginger Dressing on Grain and Veggie Salad

makes about ¾ cup dressing

For the dressing:
zest and juice of 1 orange
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp freshly grated/chopped ginger
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
1.5-2 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari or soy sauce

For the salad (adapted from Oh She Glows):
1 cup uncooked quinoa, drained and rinsed
1 cup uncooked wheatberries, drained and rinsed
1 cup shelled edamame
1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped or grated
1 red pepper, diced
½ head broccoli, stems removed and chopped into small pieces
½ cup chopped parsley

Directions:

Cook quinoa and wheatberries according to package directions. (I prefer to do this the night before.)

Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl. If you have an immersion blender, this is a great time to use it. If not, you can use a regular blender or simply mince the garlic and ginger extra fine, then shake or whisk. Taste and adjust – you may like a bit more tamari or a bit more oil.

Toss veggies and cooked grains in a large salad bowl. Serve dressing alongside.

Enjoy after a weekend of cake! This will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Candied Lemons

November 2, 2012 by Erica

Happy Friday!

I’m so excited to share this cake today. Mostly because it’s just SO pretty. (Apparently candied lemons will do that to just about anything. Even a cake that rose slightly higher on the sides than in the middle!)

But I’m also excited to share it because it tastes good! I am typically a frosting person, but this cake is so flavorful on its own that it really doesn’t need much extra. The tart lemon, aromatic rosemary, and rich olive oil are all noticeable in the finished cake, without being overpowering. This made me so happy – I hate it when unique ingredients seem to bake off and are totally undetectable in the finished cake. The spelt flour adds nutty whole-grain flavor, too. All combined, it is both sweet and savory, and something a little outside the ordinary – in a very good way!

I’m lucky that Nate and I had a few friends to help us polish this off. (Thanks guys!) Otherwise I guarantee I would have gone to bed with a big stomach-ache.

While I didn’t intend to use an existing recipe for this cake, once I started researching, it just sort of happened that way. I guess I’m scared of developing my own recipes when baking, or even modifying existing ones, because you can only do so much taste testing as you go. At some point you have to stick it in the oven and commit to any horrible newbie vegan baking mistake that comes out on the other side. I don’t know. I’ll get there. For now, this is a lovely recipe from The Gluttonous Vegan. It may seem to have a lot of components, but it’s really very simple (mix it up and put it in the oven) and fun to make.

If I tell you to bake this cake this weekend, will you do it?

Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Candied Lemons

Adapted from The Gluttonous Vegan and Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

For the cake:
3 cups spelt flour (whole wheat pastry flour would also work)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon, freshly squeezed

For the candied lemons:
2 lemons, thinly sliced
½ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar

To top:
Sprig of rosemary

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch cake tin or two smaller tins.

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour through rosemary) in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Pour in the olive oil and almond milk and beat until those are incorporated. Now add the canola oil and mix again. Finally, mix in the lemon juice and zest.

Pour batter into the greased cake in. If you can, mound the batter up in the middle a bit, as the sides may rise more. (I ended up using a spring-form pan because it’s really the only cake-shaped pan I have. If you have a 9 inch cake tin, that should work, or use 2 smaller ones.)

Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The original recipe said to bake 25-30 minutes, but mine took 42. This will vary a lot based on your oven and the tin that you use! I would say test every 5 minutes starting at 30 minutes. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.

While the cake is in the oven, candy the lemons. This part is optional, but I absolutely love the way they look (although they served purely as a garnish; we didn’t really eat them). Bring the water and sugar to boil in a large pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add in the lemons. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lemons are translucent. Remove with tongs and drain on wax paper, then refrigerate until cooled.

Next up, make the glaze. Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, continuing until you have a pretty runny consistency.

Last but not least, assemble your cake! Once the cake has cooled, place it on your serving platter and drizzle the glaze over. You may not use all the glaze. (In fact, I recommend using only half unless you have a major sweet tooth.) Finally, garnish with candied lemons and a sprig of rosemary!

So pretty. Enjoy!

Archives for November 2012

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