cooking ala mel

Pizza Sauce

May 1, 2011

The past few times we’ve made pizza, we’ve used whatever jar of sauce we had on hand, which was never really a sauce good for pizza. We are out of jarred sauces (woo!), and I wanted to make pizza Friday night, so we made our own. It was probably one of the best sauces I’ve had in a while for pizza. I think we got our cheese combination right too (mozzarella and parmesan/romano, with a hint of cheddar). Just a few tweaks to our dough (we think we’ll add some garlic next time for more flavor), and we’ll be set. We’re slowly on our way to making the perfect pizza.

We topped this pizza with baby bella mushrooms and spinach. Each time we make the pizza dough, it makes more pizza; I think the dough is rising a bit more each time so it stretches out more. I’m not complaining, though – I love having pizza leftovers!

Pizza Sauce

makes enough for about 2 pizzas (1 recipe of dough)

1 (14 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, slightly drained

1/2 t red wine vinegar

1 t extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 t salt

3/4 t dried oregano, rosemary, thyme & black pepper

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. You can store it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Garlicky White Bean Hummus

April 28, 2011

When we recently had our celebration of the end of a grueling week of tests with chocolate cake, we also had pita chips with roasted red pepper hummus and a block of cheddar. We completely destroyed the entire bag of pita chips and probably about 2/3 of the cheese. I really enjoyed slathering on the hummus and then topping it with a wedge of cheddar – the best flavors going on right there! Since that night, I haven’t been able to get hummus off of my mind. Al and I picked up some more pita chips, and we always have shredded cheddar; I just needed the hummus. As we were going through the pantry since we only have a week and a half of school left and we need to start clearing things up, I found a can of great northern beans. Now, I know it’s not the most traditional for making hummus – that’d be chickpeas – and the flavor isn’t EXACTLY the same, but it is still sooo delicious with a little bit of cheddar atop a pita chip. And it’s fantastic with carrot sticks! Apples, too..and grapes..oh boy. It’s hard to stop with this hummus!

I spiced it up with garlic, some dried sweet & hot peppers, Onion Onion, dried chili pepper flakes and a little bit of salt. The flavor is outstanding. Nice and garlicky with a bit of a kick.

I’ve been enjoying this as part of my lunch after I work out; nothing’s better than some extra protein after a strenuous workout! Alex keeps trying to eat my pita chips when he wanders over to the “pantry” when it gets later in the night, and he just needs to munch. No way is he going to waste the pita chips with mindless eating when he’s not really hungry! Only if you’re having hummus too. 🙂

Garlicky White Bean Hummus

1 15.5 oz. can Great Northern Beans, drained, reserving about 1/4 cup of the liquid

2 cloves garlic, warmed for 5-10 minutes in a 400ºF oven (if you don’t like too much garlic, use one clove)

2 T dried hot & sweet peppers

1 T Onion Onion seasoning

a few dashes of dried chili peppers

1 t salt

In a food processor, combine the garlic and spices. Pulse until combined. Add in the beans and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides. Taste and adjust seasoning to your taste. Serve with veggies, fruits, pretzels, pita chips, etc. Keep refrigerated in an air tight container.

Celebratory Cake

April 22, 2011

I had four tests this week, starting Saturday. Tonight at 6:30 marked the end of the last exam. A few of my friends and I decided we’d have a mini celebration before two of them went home for Easter. So on Thursday when I had a bit of a break from anything but studying, I baked up a chocolate layer cake.

I used the same recipe that I used for my friend Jaclyn’s birthday cake, except this time I made one and a half recipes of the chocolate icing, and for the filling, I mixed in some raspberry preserves with some of the chocolate icing for a big of tang. It went a lot better than that cake did, in terms of layering it and icing it, but the oven in the dorm isn’t really the best for baking cakes; the heat is extremely uneven, so the cake ended up a little wonky. It tastes and smells heavenly, though, so that’s fine with me!

I originally wanted to put a quote on top in icing, “One may go a long way after one is tired,” to relate to how we didn’t give up this week (I’m lame, I know), but I ran out of icing after the first word. I ended up just putting some mini M&Ms on top for a burst of color. You can never go wrong with chocolate cake!! 🙂