When we first got married, I really had the desire to be a better cook. Maybe I had something to prove to myself after all those those years of being single and making easy meals for one. Which was mac n' cheese. or Mexican. Whatahusband had his single meals too. Bachelor pizza
(you know the one that comes in a frozen box) or Meat. Just meat. No sides. For every meal.
When we started eating every meal together, we discovered we needed a new menu and fast. Whatahusband is a team player when it comes to meals, and he cooks alot but...there's only so many days a gal can eat steak before she is craving a side...any side will do...I NEED something I can put cheese on!
So, we set a goal to cook healthy meals every night, from scratch, and gather a new batch of recipes we both loved to eat. All meals had to satisfy both of our dietary wants and needs. After we started cooking this way, a few unexpected things happened...we both started to get excited to try new flavors and combinations of food, we lost weight, we spend time together before the meal talking to eachother and checking on the food, and the sweetest satisfaction of all - whatahusband started requesting our food instead of take-out. Girls, I'm all about being a modern woman, but when it's friday night and we're craving pizza, and he asks me "do you have any homemade dough ready? I really want
your pizza" something inside me feels so womanly, and so completely satisfied.
So, I thought I'd share one of our favorite easy summer recipes.
Homemade pizza with salad and fresh salad dressing. The cookbook (You can trust a Skinny Cook by Allison Fishman) I got this recipe from says "there's something biblical and sexy about kneading your own pizza dough", and it's totally true! Make a homemade meal, look good doing it.
This meal is super easy, tastes better than your would ever think, and is healthy.
SCRATCH PIZZA
Here's how you make the pizza:
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 Tb plus 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cup mozzarella made with skim milk
- 1 cup fresh basil (or dried herbs, it's good both ways. We have a heavy hand with the Italian dried herbs mix from the grocery store spice section)
1. Combine the yeast and water, and wait about 10 minutes.
2. Mound the flour into a large bowl and slowly pour 1 cup of the yeast mixture into it. Mix with a fork until you have shaggy dough. Add 2 Tb of olive oil and salt; start kneading. You want to dough to have the stickiness of a link roller so add the rest of the yeast water if needed.
3. Knead the dough until it gets to be as smooth as a baby's head, about 5 minutes.
4. Lift up the dough out of the bowl, drizzle 1 tsp olive oil into the bowl, lightly coating the sides, put the dough back into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap leaving room for it to rise. Let is rest in a warm spot to rise (I use the laundry room) until it doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
(Note: After I make the dough and it has risen, I wrap 1/2 of it up and freeze it immediately. The remaining directions are used with 1/2 of the dough recipe from above.) 5. Place cookie sheets (I use one large one and one small one side by side) into the over. Pre-heat to 500 degrees.
6. Divide the dough up into thirds which will make 3 thin crust small/medium pizza's. We divide it into 1/3 and 2/3 parts and make the 1/3 for me (pictured above) and the 2/3 into a large pizza for whatahusband.
7. Roll the dough out, then take out the hot pans (make sure the oven is completely pre-heated before you do this) and place the dough on the pans.
8. We sprinkle garlic powder on the dough, then top it however we want! Work fast, you don't want to leave it out of the oven for longer than you need too.
9. Put the topped pizzas back into the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly brown. Enjoy!
SCRATCH SALAD DRESSING
Our homemade dressing flavors as of late are Basil Vinaigrette, Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Ginger.
Basil: http://localfoods.about.com/od/saladdressings/r/basilvinaigrette.htm
Balsamic: I put about 1:1 (maybe 2:1) oil and balsamic vinegar, squeeze in a few turns around the jar of Dijon mustard and pancake syrup. This one has TONS of variations and it's all dependent on your taste, so try using different combinations of oils, syrups, and mustard's for different flavors. We love this dressing, and it will keep in the fridge forever.
Ginger: http://www.food.com/recipe/japanese-steakhouse-ginger-salad-dressing-copycat-shogun-steak-111829
All of these dressing will change flavors and get better with time (especially the balsamic) so make them to your liking! I am seriously obsessed with the ginger dressing, which tastes EXACTLY like the restaurant ginger dressing.
TABLE WATER
Mint water is so easy to make. Bruise the leaves of a handful of fresh mint, and immerse them into a pitcher of water. Place in the refrigerator and presto! You have an incredible summer drink that goes with almost every meal.
