Category Archives: Bake

Dish 3: Margherita Pizza

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You know what I thought the other day?

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it’s like I have no control over my feelings.”

Well, le duh. Isn’t that the point of feelings? That they pop up at inconvenient times, or great times, or get directed in the most unexpected direction. What’s with that? Or it’s a sunny day, and you’d rather watch episodes of Parks & Rec under the down comforter instead of go outside. Sometimes you have to swat them away like a fly, and then sometimes they happen at the perfect time, with the perfect person. They’re the best, they’re the worst. They’re everything, aren’t they?

Anyways, how I feel about this pizza and dinner is perfectly clear: win win win.

Crostini w/Cinnamon-Honey Mascarpone & Strawberries
Arugula Salad with Avocado, Orange and Lemon/Olive Oil Dressing
Margherita Pizza with Garlic Cheese Crust
Chocolate Souffle with Vanilla Ice Cream
Drink: Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay

Also, I’ve started a new project: La Bicyclette Noire where I’m challenging myself to get on my bike every day for 100 days. So while I get my rhythm and routine down my posts here may a bit scattered for a while. I hope you check it out!

Crostini
Toasted French bread slices + 1 pint strawberries + {8 ounces mascarpone cheese + 2 tsp cinnamon + 2 T honey}

Arugula Salad
2 cups arugula + 2 navel oranges + 1 avocado + 1 tsp lemon juice+ 2 tsp olive oil

Slice avocado into cubes and arrange on salad. Slice oranges and place on top of avocados as the orange juice will help prevent the avocados from browning.
Use olive oil and a squeeze of lemon as salad dressing.

Margherita Pizza
Pizza dough (from Smitten Kitchen. Seriously. So easy.)
Tomato sauce: 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes + 1 Tablespoon oregano + 1 clove garlic, blended to desired consistency
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced into thin medallions or strips
1/4 cup shredded, fresh basil
Olive oil
Garlic salt
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Prepare pizza dough.
When dough has risen, preheat oven to 550 degrees F with cookie sheet in the oven.
Roll out pizza dough in long rectangle on lightly floured surface.
When oven is preheated, remove pan and line cookie sheet with parchment paper (don’t let it hang too far off the side). Transfer dough to pan.
Brush one inch of crust with olive oil, gently sprinkle with garlic salt and shredded cheese.
Spread sauce evenly in the middle, arrange slices of mozzarella, and sprinkle with basil.
Bake on bottom rack for 5 minutes, then 3 minutes on second to top rack, or until cheese on the crust starts to brown. (The parchment paper will get really really brown, so keep your eye on it.)
Set done pizza on hot pads as the pan is going to be hot as Hades. Slice and serve!

Makes one 8×16″ pizza. Serves 2-3.

Gooey Chocolate Souffle
1 1/2 sticks melted unsalted butter + 8 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate + 1 1/2 c sugar + 4 eggs + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 tsp vanilla + 3 T cornstarch

Mix all together, refrigerate for 1 hour to set, bake 1/4 c batter in ramekins (sprayed with Pam and sprinkled with sugar) at 350 for 30 minutes until cracked on top.

Dish 2: Avocado Orange Salad and The Best Weekend

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I’m never going to let the summer end. Especially this one. There have been a couple road bumps, a few missteps, but overall it’s been one of the best ever – I’ve made new friends, and reconnected with old ones. I’ve spent my weekends outside by pools, lakes, at the bars, at houses, instead of inside on the computer. Baking has been replaced by happy adventures with friends, and for the first time in a year, I’m totally confident in telling anyone who will listen about how happy I am. I obviously missed last weekend’s Monday Link Love post, but I just had such a great weekend, that I honestly forgot. I’m not letting this summer end. It just isn’t going to happen. Nuh uh.

There were bike races

Playing at the pool

And The Forest Feast’s Avocado Orange Salad. Dish #2, done!

Aren’t my girlfriends the cutest?

Dish 1: Grilled Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

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This watermelon is brought to you by a front porch, thunderstorms, a new dress, veal ravioli (thank you Ricardo’s in Chicago), Moonrise Kingdom, and several nice martinis. Then by a Mad Men themed dinner party with good friends, dressing up for each other, gorgonzola and fig bruschetta (yes, please), and dancing on the patio next to candlelight.

It’s been a good week.

If “dessert salads” are a thing, then this watermelon salad fits squarely in that category. Watermelon salad with feta and mint is splashed all over food blogs now, so why not see what all the fuss is about? Why not try grilling fruit? And if you have a pineapple handy, why not throw a couple pieces of that on the grill too?

I think my new mantra for the summer is “why not?”

Grilled Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

1 watermelon (seedless or not)
Feta cheese
Two sprigs mint

1. Grab your easiest ingredients in the world (see above)
2. Slice watermelon into 1 inch thick pieces leaving the rind on (it’s easier to handle large pieces on the grill, and you can cut the pieces more after grilling if you wish) and spray each side lightly with some olive oil Pam or brush a thin layer of oil on.
3. With grill heated to about 550 F, grill watermelon 1-2 minutes on each side.
4. Let drain on a drying rack, serve with feta and mint sprinkled on top!

Good Reads

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GiustoGusto
You know when a dish looks so delectable that you almost start tearing up? Say hello to my newest blog crush and Muzzi in Caruzzi. On top of insanely delicious food, he features a Booze of the Month and he homebrews. Is this real life?

The Forest Feast
My buddy Christopher introduced me to the Forest Feast, and I’m in total blog love. I’m also completely envious over her (1) location: right next to tall, beautiful trees in California (2) her simple and savory recipes (3) her originality in combining the directions with her photographs in her handwriting and fonts. This blog is in the “everything they do is wonderful” stage, for sure.

Stouts and Stilettos
These ladies are awesome, and I love seeing a new post pop up in my Reader, because of the range of subjects related to beer they write about. That’s one of the best way to engage, and keep your readers coming back in my opinion. For example, you can find anything from “The Quest for the Holy Grail of Beer,” a recommendation on a beer and cake pairing, to a re-blog like “Some Thoughts on Beer Glasses.”

The Beeroness
This lady has it going on. If you Google search “baking with beer,” you are most likely going to come across a lot of chocolate stout cupcakes and cakes. Well this lady has my utmost admiration right now, because she keeps coming out with fantastic recipes using beer that are well beyond that traditional use. For example, Strawberry Beer Sorbet and IPA Marinated Citrus Porch Chops with Peach Poblano Salsa.

How Sweet It Is
I’ve been “starring” every single post from the last several weeks she has published, and I’ve re-read her Triple Berry Kale Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette at least seven times since yesterday. At the very least.

I hope you get to check some of these out soon, as they’re all staples in my morning routine these days. Spend some time with them, get inspired, get smitten.

25 Dishes Before 25

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The word “and” as well as ampersands mean a lot to me. I’ve never been able to identify myself as just one thing or from just one place: I’m a reader, a writer, a baker, a golfer, a beer-lover, so on and so forth. I’m from Muncie, Georgia, Italy, and Paris. I’m composed of pieces from each place I’ve lived, different identities…I’m quite a few long sentences filled with lists. This leaves me open to a lot of different experiences in life, and I’m constantly looking around the corner for something new to learn. Right now I’m extremely happy to call myself a baker, but recently I’ve closed myself off to the possibility of being better at cooking, and I want to change that. I want to keep learning and growing in as many directions as possible.

My friend Ashley created a list of 25 things to do in her 25th year, which inspired this idea. My goal is to make 25 different dishes using ingredients I have never cooked or baked with, before I turn 25 (next May). I have started this small list (some are simple and inexpensive, some are pricier), I may remove or add ingredients/dishes, and I’d really love your ideas on what to make with these! My plan is to list the next ingredient with each of these posts so I can get some input and recommendations on how to use them.

I can’t wait to share this with you. And for my friends who live in the area – let’s do some of these together, yeah?

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Infused With Founders Cerise

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How is your sumer to-do list coming? Have you played in a sprinkler yet? Made popsicles? Had a summer fling? Have you found any beer infused recipes to tackle? Was that even on your list? Well it should be.

My weekend was spent crossing things off that list, and we’re going to consider Thursday night as the beginning of the weekend. Thursday I went bowling for the first time since high school, and sang karaoke for the very first time (TLC “No Scrubs,” in case you were wondering). Then Sunday I spent the day with great people out at our local reservoir, playing in the water, laying under the sun, jumping off docks. There were sunny times had by all. And then there was chocolate covered fruit.

We’re going to soak almost ripe strawberries in Founders Cerise, a beer brewed with cherries, and dip them in melted semi-sweet chocolate. The beer is going to take your still-crisp strawberries, deepen and fill out a full, rich flavor. That richness is also then going to balance out the semi-sweet chocolate so that you have the perfect semi-sweet strawberry. And then we’re going to eat them all.

Before the recipe, though, I have to tip my hat to the Beeroness, whose Beer Soaked Chocolate Covered Cherries inspired this experiment. This girl knows her stuff.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries infused with Founders Cerise

1 pint fresh strawberries, just barely ripe
1 bottle Founders Cerise*
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1. Use a fork to poke holes two – three times in each strawberry.

2. Layer the strawberries in a small bundt pan and cover with Cerise. I used a bundt pan because the strawberries fit perfectly in the roundness of the pan. *If you have to use another pan that is more level, you’ll need another bottle of Cerise to cover the fruit.

3. Let soak for twenty minutes, rotate the strawberries, then soak for another twenty minutes.

4. Drain the beer, and pat dry on paper towels. Let air dry for one hour, or until the strawberries are just a little sticky to the touch. You may need to pat dry every so often to help the process along.

5. Melt and preferably temper your chocolate over a double boiler, dip strawberries and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. If you have not tempered the chocolate, store in the refrigerator for up to one day.

If you can manage, share these with others…you’ll get a lot of smiles.

Monday Link Love

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Gin and tonic cake. Sounds like summer to me!

World Beer Cup 2012 winners! Sun King, one of my favorite Indiana breweries took home awards in categories 41 with Dominator Dopplebock, #64 with The Velvet Frog, and #83 with Ring of Dingle.

I’m a little over mustaches (but not beards. Beards are forever). However, these are beautiful cards and beautiful colors.

How Adam Yauch grew into his voice

Never. Never will I ever understand Waffle Jello Shots. Blegh x 2.

In June I am travelling to Atlanta, and I AM SO EXCITED TO GO The Brick Store Pub. Bonus: there is a Belgian Beer Bar upstairs.

I’m smitten with Gimme Some Oven and these Blackberry Lime Margaritas

This Tumblr has made me laugh out loud so much over the last week

This is from way back in 2011, but it’s my favorite Joy the Baker post. I read it regularly for kicks of inspiration and confidence.

What does eating locally really mean anyway? “…our choices aren’t black and white; we can turn the contrast up or down, depending on what we value. And for me, the ground that something grows in is important, but so are the people who sell it to us, and the social structures we support by buying it from them.”

Unstoppable Pecan Pie

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I’m an over-exaggerator. I realize and accept it – a beer I try is probably the BEST beer I’ve had, the ice cream I had the other day is the.most.amazing. Rocky Road I’ve ever had, and I have about fifteen different “favorite” songs. It’s just that there are so many mediocre things in the world, that the extraordinary simply amaze me. So you can probably take this with a grain of salt, but this pie…Oh heavens this pie. I didn’t know what to do with myself after a piece of this – I really didn’t! How do you follow up something like this?

You make another pie.

Which is what I did.

I now have two pecan pies…I may be in trouble. It’s a good thing I have a lot of tupperware and friends who love goodies.

My Grandmother’s Stovetop Pecan Pie

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup white caro syrup
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 frozen deep dish pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Bake frozen pie crust on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes while you do the next step.

4. Transfer the pecan mixture to medium saucepan, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens, slowly but constantly stirring. It should look frothy, but take it off the heat when it starts to bubble and foam up constantly. Add vanilla and mix again.

5. Fill baked pie crust with pecan mixture, and bake again for 20 minutes.

Fin!

what if beer isn’t an option?

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What do you do if beer isn’t an option?

I’ve mentioned being a “lightweight” before – that’s something I’ve always been conscious of and just had to work around. I primarily just watch the ABV of beers and maintain a lot of self-awareness. I am (I think we all are) glad beer is alcoholic, because without it, beer would simply be something else (a whole other discussion entirely). But I would be perfectly content if all beer was 4% ABV. I really would. I would get to try more than one at a time!

That’s been a challenge, but I deal with it and use to help me appreciate the beer in front of me. It also allows me to spend a little more on that one beer. (I can actually afford to have a sour!) However, and here’s the more personal bit, I’ve recently started taking medicine that does not mix well with alcohol. It isn’t terribly serious or dangerous, but simply having one, say Upland Wheat (4.8%!) makes me feel like I’ve had five, and pretty much results in a mild/ugggghhh hangover no matter how much water I drink or how much food I eat beforehand. Essentially, it’s making me feel terrible.

So what’s a girl to do?

I’m going to take a break from beer for a while, and see if cutting that out helps things at all. Word on the street is that making soup helps.

Normally I would write out the recipe, even if I don’t change anything, because usually with baking I write different or more specific directions. But this soup was so easy and had such few steps that I’m going to direct you right to (never home)maker’s Easy Thai Mushroom Soup…now I don’t know how mine ended up looking like broth instead of coconut soup, but it still tasted delicious. The one thing I would add, though, is that I preferred this on the second day after all the flavors were able to develop and get a lot spicier.

We’ll see how this goes, and if anyone has suggestions on the “no beer” adventure, I’m all ears!


10 Things for Friday

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cutest whisk in the world!

I bow down to this genius…Irish Car Bomb Pie. I’m convinced anyone who reads that will have the urge to step in the kitchen and try it themselves. I’m hoping to have a really special occasion so I can justify spending the time and ingredients making layers upon layers of goodness. (Thanks Newg!)

Guide to affordable beers (at Pete the Planner, by Mike from HBG)

Most common cooking mistakes…aahhh (via Put it in Your Face)

Super simple, but this party popcorn looks like fun

I really like this infographic “How beer saved the world“

This is already a week old (it’s crazy how quickly things come and go on the interwebs, isn’t it?) but in case you haven’t seen it, the cupcake vending machine

Wall Street Journal turns its eye to rye beer (I really just pictured the eye of Sauron looking around…)

The video on Joy the Baker’s newest post on quiche made me tear up a little…she’s an inspiration in more ways than one, for sure

I want to make these Bacon Oatmeal Raisin cookies all the time.

While we’re having a few days of 60 degree weather (as opposed to the 70s and 80s) I’d like to make clam chowder for the first time