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.

I'm baaaack!

Hey internet, I'm back! I don't even remember why I originally decided to take a break from this blog, but with the start of the new year I plan to get back on here. I didn't stop trying recipes, I just wasn't posting them. Some of the things I tried and deemed successful were:

Easy Baked Ravioli

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

All Purpose Chili Lime Chicken

Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Monterey Chicken Grilled Cheese

Copycat Marie Callender's Potato Cheese Soup (Slow Cooker)

Arrabbiata Pasta

For Christmas I got a new set of really nice pots and pans and I'm so excited to be using them. They make cooking a thousand times easier! I'm excited to get back to this blog and continue my cooking adventures. Maybe eventually I'll be able to do this:

(Source: NBC's tragically cancelled show, Hannibal. I enjoy it way more than I should, but I guess that's what happens when you're a psychology nerd who loves villains.) Anyway, stay tuned for my first recipe of the year!

M&M's Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

I'd never made a skillet cookie before today but always wanted to. The slightly crisp exterior and gooey interior all topped with ice cream...oooh. This recipe seemed like a good place to start.

I didn't take pictures of the process as I wasn't sure if I'd post this, but it's no different than making your standard cookie dough. I'm definitely a fan of this recipe. It's simple and quick. I do wish we had some vanilla ice cream to go on top, but oh well. It was still really good. I can see making this for an easy dessert when we have company over for dinner. 4 stars.

Copycat Pizza Factory Breadtwists (Round 2)

I tried a recipe for these awesome breadtwists once before, but the dough was a giant pain to work with. So I was hopeful that these would taste just as good, but be much easier to make.

The dough was easy enough to make.

The recipe said to let the dough rise for a bit at this point, but I'm pretty sure it didn't. (Technically the recipe actually says "raise", but dough does not raise. It rises. I died a little inside every time the recipe said to let the dough raise. Shudder. End grammatical rant.) Anyway, I rolled it out and spread on some garlic butter.

I folded it in half and cut it into pieces and twisted them. It was at this point that I remembered I didn't have any cookie sheets available so I had to use my half sheet pan. I got ten breadtwists out of the recipe, but I had to bake them in batches.

I didn't have the kind of parmesan cheese required for these, and I figured the shredded real stuff would work just as well. I was wrong. It did not stick to them nearly as well so lesson learned. In the case of these breadtwists, use the fake stuff in a shaker. Anyway, the end result was rather bland. The original recipe I tried is definitely better. I guess I just need to find a way to make that dough less of a pain to work with. 2 stars. However, I do plan to shape them in the method this recipe uses as it is much easier than wrapping the dough around dowels.

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