Pizza

I have been looking for a pizza crust I really like for years and finally found one a couple of months ago when I tasted Jenn's pizza. She shared her recipe with me and here it is for you.

Crispy Pizza Crust

From Jenn Matthews

3 C flour (or 1 1/2 cup white and 1 1/2 cup wheat)

2 1/2 t yeast (if using wheat flour, decrease yeast to 2 tsp.)

3/4 t salt

1 1/2 Tbs oil

1 1/8 cup warm water

Dissolve yeast in warm water; add oil.  Add flour and salt. Mix to soft dough and knead 5 minutes. Cover and let rise 1 hour.  ( I had never let a pizza crust rise and it is really worth it) Makes 2 crusts. Spray pan with Pam before putting dough on it. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Then remove from oven and add toppings. Bake for 5 more minutes.

Tip: Make the crust ahead of time and then just put the toppings on when you are ready to make the pizza. You can even make a few batches and freeze them, then you have a quick dinner ready to go. (quick meal)

Red Pizza Sauce

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

¼ to ½ tsp. granulated garlic

pinch sugar

Mix in a small bowl.

Use the leftover for dipping sauce. Just warm in the microwave.

Toppings for 13 inch pizzas

Meat Lovers

Spread ½ cup red pizza sauce on pre baked crust.

Add pepperoni, ½ cup diced ham, ½ cup diced precooked chicken, 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425°and serve.

Before cooking

Hot and Ready!

Margarita

Brush ½ Tbs olive oil on pre baked crust. Sprinkle ¼ to ½ tsp granulated garlic over oil. Rinse and drain one can diced tomatoes. Spread ½ to ¾ cup tomato pieces over oil. (Fresh tomatoes are a great replacement for canned). Spread 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil. Then sprinkle ¾ cup grated mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 minutes at 425° and serve.

There are not enough tomatoes on this one, so I fixed the recipe.

Barbecue Chicken
Spread bottled barbecue sauce on pizza crust. Add chicken, onions, bell pepper and sprinkle lightly with cheese.


Alfredo Chicken
Spread bottled Alfredo sauce on crust. Top with chicken, green onions, bell pepper, a little bacon and chopped spinach. Top with parmesan instead of mozzarella for a different flavor. You can sprinkle a little garlic on top if desired.

Barbecue or Sloppy Joe

My mom called these sloppy joe, McKay's mom called them barbecue. I don't have a written recipe from my mom, but it was similar to Grandma Jane's.

From Grandma Jane Matthews

1 pint chili sauce

½ cup brown sugar

3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dry mustard

1 cup ketchup

1 cup tomato juice

¼ cup vinegar

pepper

3 lbs. hamburger

1 large onion

Brown hamburger (salt and pepper it) and onion together. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a pot. Add hamburger to liquid mixture. Simmer about 5 – 10 min.

Or

Put all ingredients in with the browned hamburger and simmer.

Serve on hamburger buns or bread. Lightly toast buns in the broiler if desired.

Toasted Buns

This was Grandma’s original recipe. I have never made that much so here are the amounts I use: 

Serves 4, fills about 6 buns

1/3 cup chili sauce

1 Tbs . brown sugar

1 ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp dry mustard

2 Tbs ketchup

3 Tbs. tomato sauce (I usually don’t have tomato juice on hand)

1 tsp. vinegar

pepper

½ lb. hamburger

¼ cup finely chopped onion

Or just brown some hamburger and add a bottle of barbecue sauce to it. (Quick meal)

Note: I always rinse my hamburger in a colander after cooking to decrease the fat.

Rinsing the hamburger and onion

Recipe Organization

I think I found a way to organize my recipes.
I wanted something that was fluid, since I'm always on the lookout for something new and my recipe box is too small for my ever changing recipe formats. When I got a recipe on something bigger than a 3 x 5 card it went to a file folder and then that was very disorganized. I also have a few recipes that I use out of cookbooks and so I had a stack of books that were rarely used, but necessary when the recipe was called for. There was not room for them to stay orderly. It was a mess.
I have decided to go with 3 loose leaf binders. One will be main dishes, the other two will be divided up with other categories. I can not really make an index that would last long, so I am just putting the recipes in plastic sheet protectors and putting them in alphabetical order. When I print out a new one, I can put it where it goes alphabetically. I am also printing them out in a size 16 font so I don't have to put on my glasses to read them.
This is a work in progress. I am typing the recipes from my cook books and putting them away.  I actually print them for my book when I blog them.
I hope this is going to work!

Strawberries and Cream

Last night for dinner I opened some cream for the chicken alfredo and had some left over, so I washed and cut into bite size pieces a quart of strawberries and then added 1 Tbs sugar, 1/4 tsp. almond flavoring and
2 Tbs cream. Stir it up and serve. This was really good!

Tortellini Chicken Alfredo

From Natalie Sanderson

Serves 6 – 8

First, make a white sauce:

5 Tbs butter

3 cubes chicken bouillon

Melt on low stirring;

Add 5 Tbs flour

Blend, then add:

3 C milk (can do ½ C cream and 2 ½ C milk) Yummy!

Stir until thickened, add;

Pepper and paprika to taste.

Then add:

¼ C sour cream (or plain yogurt)

3 Tbs cream cheese

¾ cup grated mozzarella cheese

2- 9 oz. package cheese tortellini

or 4 cups egg noodles boiled in 8 cups water

(Natalie’s recipe has tortellini, I experimented with noodles and my family really likes it)

2 or 3 cut up cooked chicken breasts

Boil and add drained tortellini or noodles. Add cooked chicken breasts. (You can use your frozen prepared chicken here) Stir everything together with mozzarella cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Optional: Some times I sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top and a little garlic powder.

These are the noodles I like in this dish

Before the sauce is added

This dish is too saucy, I only used 3 cups of noodles

Pressure Cooking Beans and Lentils

Beans need to be washed and soaked at least 4 hours (or overnight) in a bowl of water, enough to cover them at least 1 inch. Do not soak lentils. If you don’t have time to soak, then do the quick soak method below. NOTE: Do not add salt as it will make the beans so tough they will never soften.

 Quick Soak Method – Put beans in pressure cooker and cover with enough water to go 2 inches above the beans. NEVER FILL COOKER MORE THAN ½ FULL. Pressure cook on high pressure for one minute and reduce pressure with the Quick Release Method.  (Cool pan by running water over it) Go to the next step.

 Whether you have soaked them overnight or through the quick soak method, rinse and drain the beans in a colander. Put beans in cooker (Never fill more than ½ full) and cover with enough water to be 2 inches above the beans.

 If you have a jiggle top cooker, you will need to add 1-2 Tbs vegetable oil to the beans and water to keep the foam from plugging up the cooker. Do not add salt.

 Important: To reach high pressure with beans only use medium heat to do this. This keeps the skins from splitting off the bean when the temperature is too high. Most beans cook at 15 psi (High Pressure) but only need a medium heat to accomplish this. Start timing when 15 psi is reached.

Beans           Soaked/Nat. Rel.     Soaked/Quick Rel.    Unsoaked/ Quick Rel.

Adzuki             2-3 minutes             5-9 minutes                   14-20 minutes

Black                3-6 minutes             5-9 minutes                   20-25 minutes

Garbanzo          9-14 minutes           13-18 minutes               30-40 minutes

Great Northern  4-8 minutes              8-12 minutes               25-30 minutes

Lima                  2-3 minutes              5-8 minutes                 12-16 minutes

Navy/White       3-4 minutes              6-8 minutes                 20-25 minutes

Pinto                  1-3 minutes              4-6 minutes                 22-25 minutes

Red Kidney       5-8 minutes              10-12 minutes             20-25 minutes

Lentils                No Soaking             No Soaking                 8-10 minutes

Peas/Split           No Soaking             No Soaking                 6-10 minutes

Peas/Black Eyed   No Soaking          No Soaking               10-11 minutes                                   

Three Bean Soup

1/3 cup black beans (or 1 can drained)

1/3 cup white beans (or 1 can drained)

Add water to about 2 inches above dry beans

1/3 cup lentils

1/3 cup pearl barley

½ cup chopped onion (or 1 Tbs dehydrated onion)

½ tsp garlic salt

¼ tsp salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

2 cubes or Tbs beef bullion

3 cups water

Cook black and white beans with water for 5 hours in a crockpot, on the stove or cook them in a pressure cooker according to directions. Drain and rinse the beans. Put them in a pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about 1- 2 hours more.

Serve with grated cheese to sprinkle on soup.

Bread sticks or garlic toast go well with this soup.
To make garlic toast, just toast and butter the bread, then sprinkle a little granulated garlic on it.

Creamed Peas and Potatoes

This is one of McKay's all time favorites. Grandma Jane Matthews made this with fresh peas and new potatoes from her garden.

1 pound red potatoes
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk (you can substitute 1/2 cup cream for part of the milk if desired)

Scrub potatoes and cut into bite sized pieces (leave skin on). Cook in saucepan with 2 cups water until soft. Drain water and add butter; stir until melted. In a shaker jar, combine flour and milk. Add to pan with butter and potatoes. Keep cooking on medium high heat and stir until sauce thickens a little. Add peas and salt. Keep on heat until peas are warm, then serve.

Cinnamon Crispies

From Betty Crocker’s Easy Breakfasts and Brunches

½ cup margarine or butter (1 stick)

2 cups flour

¼  cup sugar

2/3  cup milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Sugar

Heat oven to 425°. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Heat margarine until melted; reserve 2 Tbs. Mix remaining margarine, the flour, ¼ cup sugar, the milk, baking powder and salt in large bowl until dough forms. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; gently roll in flour to coat. Knead lightly 10 times.

Divide dough into halves. Roll or pat one half of dough into rectangle, 9 x 5 inches. Brush with half of reserved melted margarine. Mix 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon; sprinkle half over rectangle. Roll up tightly, beginning at 5 inch side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Cut roll into 4 equal pieces with sharp knife. Place cut sides up on cookie sheets; pat each into 6 inch circle. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 8 – 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets with spatula. Cool on wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough, melted margarine and cinnamon-sugar mixture.

This one is not sprinkled with sugar before cooking because my family likes a little vanilla frosting on top instead. 

Granola

From Rebecca Davidson

Rebecca is my neighbor and she gave this recipe to me a couple of years ago.  I usually keep some on hand. I have adjusted a few measurements to suit our tastes, so this is not the exact recipe she gave me, but my adjusted one. This is a big batch and it stays fresh about 3 months in an airtight container. It may last longer, if it didn't get eaten.

Measurements are approximate:

4 C rolled oats

1 ½ C puffed wheat (available at health food store)

1 ½ C puffed brown rice (available at health food store)

2 C puffed millet (available at health food store)

2 C puffed kamut (available at health food store)

1 C sliced raw almonds (or whole)

2 C chopped raw pecans

1 C raw cashew pieces

1 C raw sunflower seeds

3 C unsweetened coconut

½ C flax seed

1 ½ C pumpkin seeds (raw)

Mix in large bowl.

In saucepan, heat:

1 ½ C unrefined, virgin coconut oil (available at health food store)

2 C honey

1 ½ T vanilla

½ t nutmeg

1 t cinnamon

2 t salt

Add any combination:

raisins, craisins, dried apricots, dried apples, dried pineapple, etc.

Pour warm mixture over oat mixture and stir until moistened. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Spread mixture evenly on sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes (or until golden), stirring occasionally. I bake for 7 minutes, then stir and put back in for 8 more minutes. Remove and cool. Store in airtight container. Makes about 30 cups.