Zucchini Pizza

Pizza Dough

2 tsp yeast

7 oz hot water (120 degrees)

garlic powder

oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 c whole wheat flour

2 c white flour

1 tbsp olive oil

Toppings

marinara/Basil-Cashew Pesto mix

sliced tomato

spaghetti-ed zucchini

fresh basil

colby jack cheese

Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes

Deliciousness.  I had some salmon on the side, extra deliciousness.

Ground Beef Surprise

It's been too long since I concocted something random in the kitchen, so I decided to remedy that yesterday.  I went through the fridge and cabinets and came up with some random things to throw together.  It came out quite tasty, just like all my other experiments.

Ingredient List

I also used about 1/4 c of marinara sauce, which I forgot to write down.

Brown the onion and garlic, then add the chickpeas, corn, and tomatoes.  Cook for a bit, then add the beef.  Mix well, then add the mushrooms and pineapple.  Add seasonings. Add marinara sauce.  Cook until it reaches whatever level of thickness appeals to you.  Serve over pasta. 

Tomato Sauce

A friend gave me some tomatoes from her garden last week.  I was going to make tomato soup, but when I got to the point where it was time to add the heavy cream, I discovered that I didn't have any.  So I turned it into tomato sauce instead.  It came out pretty tasty.  I didn't end up eating it until several days after I made it, and I wasn't smart enough to write down what I did at the time, so I'll have to guess for you.

Ingredients

5-6 small tomatoes

1 1/2 carrots

1/4 small onion

4 cloves garlic

fresh basil

Directions

I made Xs with a knife in the bottom of each tomato, then dropped them in boiling water for 30 sec or so. Then I removed them and the skins peeled right off.  I chopped the onion and garlic and browned them in some olive oil in a dutch oven.  While they were browning, I grated the carrots into the pot.  I chopped the tomatoes and added them.  I let it cook for awhile, stirring occasionally.  I added some fresh basil at some point.  I let it cook down for a bit, and then I removed it from the heat and used an immersion blender to blend it into a tomato-sauce consistency.  

Last night I made some pasta with artichokes, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and some leftover chicken tenders.  I tossed it with the homemade tomato sauce.  Super yummy.

Gazpacho-ish

Cool and refreshing.  Pretty thick though, I should have used regular tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes so there would be more juice .

Chop all ingredients, then put them in a food processor.  My processor is small so I had to do a few ingredients at a time and then mix them together in a separate bowl.  If you have a big processor, feel free to process everything at once . 

veggies

1/4 c onion

1/4 c carrots

2 roma tomatos

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

basil leaves

big handful spinach leaves

seasonings

garlic

ginger

mustard 

cumin

liquids

rice vinegar

olive oil

veggie stock

First I processed the onion, carrots, 1 tomato, and some basil with a dash of vinegar and olive oil.  Then, I processed the zucchini with some olive oil and the seasonings, then the yellow squash with some olive oil, then the last tomato and some more basil.  Then I processed the spinach.  I mixed all the ingredients together, and it was super thick so I added some more olive oil and a bit of veggie stock to try to make it a bit looser.

I added a spoonful of plain yogurt to the gazpacho I had with dinner.

Gazpacho/yogurt, sloppy joe, and some chips.  

Dinner is served.

Pot Roast & Tomato Stew

1 pot roast c. 2.5 lbs

2 cans of diced tomatos (your choice of flavor)

a can of corn

3/4 yellow onion

2 large cloves garlic

flour, cinnamon, cocoa powder

barbecue sauce (your choice of flavor)

coat the meat with flour, cinnamon, and cocoa, place it in the bottom of a crockpot

saute the onion and garlic, then add to the crockpot

add a bit of barbecue sauce

dump in the contents of the cans, water and all

cook on high for 7 hours

shred the meat

Goes well with yellow corn tortilla chips

Pot Roast Sandwich

For the Pot Roast:

Sprinkle whole wheat flour and brown sugar across the bottom of a crockpot.  Roll a 2.5 lb roast around in the flour and sugar.  Mix together 1/2 c pumpkin, 1/2 c orange juice, and 1 c cranberry juice, then pour the mixture over the roast.  Cook on high for 6 hours, then shred the roast.  

For the Sandwich:

Toast a whole wheat bun.  Put a handful of arugula on the bottom half of the bun.  Cover with pot roast.  Add some tomato slices and avocado. Add the top bun.  

Eat. Devour.

Artichoke-Avocado Dip

This could also be called "Leftovers Dip."  I basically through a bunch of things together in a bowl.  I put half an avocado on my burger and wanted to make some sort of chip-dip with the other half.  I also had a little bit of tomato left, so I chopped it up and added it to the avocado.  Then I chopped up an artichoke heart and added that.  And then, I squirted some ranch on top.  And mixed it all up.  It was awesomely delicious with multi-grain tortilla chips.

Loaded Burger

Cook up a batch of purist burgers.

Toast a bun.  

Cover the bottom bun with guacamole.

Add a slice of tomato.

Add a burger.

Add some bacon.

Add some onions & mushrooms.

Add the top bun.  

EAT.

Pumpkin-Chicken Chili

Ok, I'll be honest.  This probably shouldn't be called a chili...because there are no chilis in it.  But that's just because I don't eat spicy things.  If you try out this recipe, all ya gotta do is throw some chilis in the pot and then it can qualify as a chili.  Or maybe that's not how it works...I have no idea.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast 

1 giant scoop of pumpkin (probably 3/4+ c)

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can sweet corn

1/2 c veggie stock

1/2 c beef stock

3 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger root

small chunk of onion

4 radishes

Directions

Chop the onion and mince the garlic & ginger.  Brown them in a skillet.  Trim skin and excess fat off of the chicken, then place it in the bottom of the crockpot.  Don't worry about the bones for now.  Dump the onion/ginger/garlic on top of the chicken.  In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, tomatoes, corn, and stocks, and stir well.  (I used beef stock because that's what I had...I'm sure chicken stock would work just as well).  Add seasonings, stir again.  I used oregano, turmeric, garlic powder, and ginger powder.  Chop the radishes and add them to the bowl.  Mix it up.  Dump the contents of the bowl on top of the chicken.  

Put the lid on the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6.5-7 hours.  

Now for the fun part...removing the chicken bones.  The chicken should fall apart when you try to lift it out with a fork.  If you want to be more thorough than me, I suggest you use a very large spoon to get the chicken out.  Then shred it, remove all bones, and return the chicken to the crockpot.  I ended up shredding the chicken without taking it out of the crockpot, and then I had to go fishing for the bones.  I think I got them all...but I'm not positive....

I was going to make some cornbread to go with this chili, but I was too hungry after my run today to wait for it to cook, so I just ate a bowl of chili by itself.  (Ok, not entirely by itself, I had a bowl of pasta next to it).  I will hopefully make some cornbread tomorrow to go with it.  

Carrot Tomato Soup

I had some leftover tomato paste from the chili I made on Thursday, and I have been wanting to make some variation of my Carrot-Ginger soup, so I decided to make a Carrot-Ginger-Tomato soup.  

Today was a good day for soup making.

1:00

 4:00

 view from my kitchen window:

INGREDIENTS

4-5 cloves garlic

large chunk of ginger root

1/2 sweet onion

10+ carrots

5 radishes

4 sticks of celery

tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes

veggie stock

water

seasonings

DIRECTIONS

I minced the garlic and ginger, then browned them in olive oil.  While they were browning, I cleaned and chopped the carrots.  The carrots went into a soup pot with 1/2 stick of butter.  When the garlic/ginger was browned I added it to the soup pot.  Put the lid on the soup pot and turned the burner onto medium heat.  While that was steaming, I chopped the onion and put it in a skillet to brown in olive oil.  Meanwhile, I chopped the celery and radishes.  I added veggie stock to the soup pot as needed.  I added turmeric, mustard powder, tarragon, and oregano to the soup pot.  When the onions were browned, I added them to the soup pot, along with 1 cup of water.  I added 3 spoonfuls of tomato paste, some veggie stock, and 2 more cups of water.  I sauteed the celery and radishes in the skillet, then added them to the soup pot along with the can of diced tomatoes and some more veggie stock.  

lots of ginger!

I got squirted in the eye while I was peeling it...ouch!

deliciousness