Grad school hiatus

While it is already common knowledge that I'm in grad school, I still figured I'd make a really quick post to explain my disappearance here. Last March I started grad school for counseling and decided I would have to put this blog on hold while I'm in school. I still test recipes now and again, but it tends to take up the vast majority of my time. Whether or not this blog will come back to life when I'm done with classes is still TBD. But if anybody has been checking this blog and wondering where I went, now you know.

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza

First of all, I know this pizza didn't turn out to be very pretty. Second of all, I had an extra dough ball in my freezer from my whole wheat pizza crust adventure. And third of all, curiosity won me over in trying this recipe.

I didn't take pictures of the process, because, well I'm hoping people already know how to assemble a pizza. The main difference between this one and others is that it uses alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce. The original recipe also adds mushrooms and onions, but ick.

Yeah...the cheese got super brown. But it's not how it looks, it's how it tastes. And this was pretty good. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either. I definitely wouldn't call it a fail. I'll give it 3 stars, I'd probably make it again.

Baked Pineapple Coconut Cream Cheese Wontons with Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce

Holy long title Batman!! Anyway, I made these yesterday for the Super Bowl. What a game! While I was hoping the Falcons would win, it was an amazing game those last few minutes so I can't really be upset. These wontons turned out to be a lot simpler to make than I expected.

All I did was mix up the filling,

Fill and shape the wontons,

Line them on a baking sheet with a rack so air could flow around them on all sides, and stick them in the oven.

It was a bit time consuming to fill and bake them, but it wasn't difficult. And I only had one pop open during baking, so I'm calling that a win.

The sauce was equally easy. Mix everything up in a saucepan and cook until it thickens. Boom.

I have to say the hardest part of this recipe was probably just finding the wonton wrappers in the grocery store. And finding an oven safe cooling rack to use, but that's a whole other story. (Five stores later...) These could also be fried, but to be honest frying was a bit intimidating. Plus baking is healthier! And the verdict? They're good. Really good. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn't taste the coconut in them though. And personally I think they taste better when they've sat for a while. I liked them more after the trip up to my in laws' place for the game, but they're good warm too. I would like to try to punch up the coconut flavor, but that's really my only complaint. So these are definitely a 4 star treat. 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Like a good chunk of people, I'm also trying to be healthier in the new year. And yeah, I know pizza isn't that healthy. But baby steps, people. So, here we are with whole wheat pizza crust.

I started with proofing the yeast.

Then added the olive oil, honey, and salt.

And then added the whole wheat flour and let the dough rise. I needed a bit more flour than the recipe calls for, but the dough turned out to be not as sticky as I anticipated.

After it got freaking huge, I punched it down and divided the dough in half. The recipe makes enough for two pizzas, so I stuck one dough ball in the freezer and let the other one hang out while I prepared the toppings.

Then I shaped it on a pizza stone that I had sprinkled with cornmeal.

I decided to just make a simple pepperoni pizza to let the crust shine.

To be honest, I expected a noticeably different flavor. But there really wasn't one. That being said, the crust turned out fluffy and soft, and not at all dense like some whole wheat recipes can be. I probably could have left it in the oven a minute longer, just to get a bit more of a crispy crust. But all in all I'm pretty pleased with this recipe. The dough wasn't a super sticky mess like some recipes I've tried. And although there wasn't a huge flavor difference, I can feel slightly better about eating pizza with this recipe. 3 stars.

Salsa Verde Pepper Jack Macaroni and Cheese

Hi, I'm Lindsay and I'm addicted to mac and cheese. (Hi Lindsay.) While I already have a kick a** skillet mac and cheese recipe that I make fairly often, I was curious about this one-mainly for its use of salsa verde. (I linked to the recipe I normally use here. I also don't bother with the bacon because I'm lazy and it's still fab without it.)

This was pretty simple. I boiled the noodles while I worked on the sauce.

After the sauce thickened and I added the cheese, it looked like this:

Then I drained the pasta and added it to the sauce.

This recipe doesn't require any time in the oven, so at this point it was done and ready to eat. It was a bit saucy, as you can see in the above picture. This was a bit spicier than I anticipated, but nothing overwhelming. My regular recipe is still my favorite, but this was a nice shake up. I'm giving it 3 stars.

(And a note on salsa verde. It's taken a bit to find a store bought salsa verde that I like. For this recipe, I used Herdez and enjoyed the results. I'm also out of Hannibal cooking tricks. Sigh...)

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Yes, I know it isn't barbecue season. It's snowed pretty much all day here. But, it is crock pot season, so enter this recipe! Plus my version of barbecue chicken is usually just shredding chicken and heating it up with bottled sauce.

So, I made my own sauce.

And put the chicken in the crock pot.

And threw it all together.

After cooking, I shredded it up and served it in sandwiches. I'd say this is a keeper and will shine again come summer time. It's super easy, and really good. 4 stars.

And, because I can, here's another Hannibal cooking trick:

(Fun fact: Mads did this in one take. From Bryan Fuller, the show's creator, lest you think I'm making this up: "So I called my Japanese food guy and asked for a Benihana chef to bring in for a potential hand double. The next morning, there were two Japanese guys, me, six dozen eggs, and Mads wanders on to the set and asks 'Ok, What are we doing?' ... I tell him we're doing the Benihana egg trick today, but don't worry because we have these chefs from the Sushi shop, and we're gonna handle it. So Mads asks what he has to do, and I tell him - you throw the egg up in the air, you stick the spatula out, it breaks slightly, you twist your wrist, then the egg falls down into the pan. He says, OK, let me try it....he goes on set, and he actually did it. I accused him of practicing, but that's when he told me he used to be a juggler.")

Crispy Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Well, the first recipe of the year was a fail. Great start. So much so that I don't have a picture of the end result. I got the recipe here. It wasn't hard to make, but it did remind me how much of a pain breading can be.

When I tried to cook the chicken, the breading did not stick to the meat. I thought it was just a fluke with the first piece, but the same thing happened with the second piece of chicken.

Side note: look at my pretty new pans!! I'm in love.

That's basically what the end result looked like. Breading stuck to the pan, with random bits still on the chicken. Husband thinks I should still keep the recipe to play with it and make it work, but I'm not so sure. I suppose this will get 1 star since Husband wants me to keep it, even though in my mind it's a total flop.