Le Pizza Vegetarian - healthy and fast!

One half of this homemade pizza is vegetarian and the other is completely non-vegetarian chicken bbq. I love this pizza crust recipe because it's fast and easy and does not require any sort of kitchen machinery besides good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Mr. Triumph is not really a meat eater anymore, so I have been trying my hand at more vegetarian fair. Even though I really like my chicken bbq pizza, this veggie pizza just may replace it as my favorite. The kids however, are content to stick with pepperoni or cheese.

Troy's Pizza Dough
In a bowl, mix 1 Tbsp. yeast, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 1/2 c very warm water; stir a little and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the following ingredients, mixing well:

1 c. wheat flour (I used kamut flour)
2 3/4 c. white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp oil (I used olive oil)

I like to knead it a little to make sure all the flour is mixed in and then put it into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours (if you are in a hurry - as I was - you can stick it in an oven that has been heated to 150 degrees and then been turned off for about 20-30 minutes).

Punch the dough down, turn it out onto a floured or lightly oiled counter, and knead a couple of times. Divide the dough in half, roll out, and place on a baking pan that has been dusted with cormeal. For the veggie pizza, I spread a little Contadina pizza sauce and then sprinkled mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, grape tomato halves, and slices of yellow bell pepper, zucchini, and mushroom. For the bbq pizza, I cooked the chicken with some pressed garlic, bbq sauce and a splash of pineapple juice. I spread the dough with bbq sauce, cheese, chicken, and pineapple. I topped the whole thing with a little more mozzarella and fresh, grated parmesan cheese.

This next part sounds a bit strange, but put the pizza in the oven on the very bottom rack, and then turn the oven on to bake at 500 and set your timer for 18 minutes (check it at 15 minutes). By the time your oven gets up to 500 degrees, your pizza will be done.

Sorry, the pictures of the finished pizza did not turn out because I was shaking and drooling with anticipation or something like that, yah? Suffice it to say that the veggie pizza is the best thing I've tasted since our trip to San Francisco.

Somehow, this has turned into a

food blog. I guess I have just been busy in the kitchen, experimenting like a mad scientist. To the right is Overnight Apple French Toast which we enjoyed last weekend.

It was like eating a caramel apple on toast - a bit sweet, but yummy.

And because I have been devoting gray matter to ensuring I mix ingredients in proper order and increments, I haven't an idea what to post other than more food pictures.

Here's what it looks like right side up

and who can resist these eyes?

Family dairy

I'm recycling this post for Talk About Tuesday because today is yogurt day and I didn't want to take all new pictures. Read more about why we use raw dairy.

Lately, I've been experimenting with making some of our family's dairy products from raw milk; it's fresh from pasture-fed cows (although this time of year they're eating hay) that have not been given hormones or antibiotics.

Behold, the butter:


Yogurt is very easy to make, if you follow the directions (ahem). I borrowed my aunt's yogurt maker and used a sweet culture from our local health foods store, but you can just use a couple tbsp of plain yogurt for culturing. Basically, you heat the milk to 110 (or 180 if using pasteurized, then let cool to 116) and add in the culture. Afterwards you put it in your yogurt maker or a covered container and keep it around 95-100 degrees for 8-12 hours. Stick it in the fridge as soon as it has set; let cool. Add fruit or a little sweetener if it's too tart for your liking, and enjoy.

Easy, Yummy Granola

This is an old favorite, and I like it much better than the recipe I tried last week (probably because that other recipe is better for you). This is a recipe from my neighbor, the same one I got the bread recipe from,; I like to refer to it as "Souped-up Wheaties." I've only omitted one ingredient - sesame seeds.

It's sweet and chewy enough that you don't need to add any dried fruit like raisins or dates, but I'm sure you could could toss them in after baking it.

In a large bowl mix together 8 cups oats, 1-2 cups wheat germ

8 cups of wheat or bran flakes (I used Wheaties, but if they still made Team that's what I'd use - remember that cereal?)

1 cup of slivered almonds

2 cups of coconut

1 cup of sunflower seeds

At this point, realize that your bowl isn't large enough to allow you to actually mix the ingredients and switch it for the lid of the cake holder. Mix well.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring 2 cups brown sugar,

1/2 cup water or apple juice (I actually had some leftover apple syrup and used 1 cup),

and 2/3 cup oil

to a boil.

Remove from heat and add 2 tbsp vanilla, stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Pour onto two large cookie sheets.


Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Rotate cookie sheets and place the bottom sheet on the top rack and top sheet on bottom rack. Bake for 15 minutes more. Cool, break apart and store. Or pour yourself a bowl and enjoy!

I definitely recommend using the apple syrup in place of the water or apple juice - it makes for a better tasting granola and holds it together better.

Apple Syrup
Boil the following until well mixed:
1 C. applesauce
1 10-ounce jar apple jelly
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Delicious over french toast!

Cake Roulette

I love the taste of this cake, but the bakeability - is not so reliable. The last three times I've made it (which spans about as many years), it's fallen in the center. So baking it is like playing a game of high stakes Roulette. To keep it interesting, you could place wagers for chores or favors.

Fallen centers aside, this cake tastes divine.

Fruit Cocktail Cake
Assemble the following:
1/2 C melted butter
1 - 17 oz. can fruit cocktail
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 C Flour
Dash salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 scant tsp baking soda

Melt the butter

Drain the fruit cocktail

and blend/puree it

Add it to the melted butter

Add the white sugar

Add the brown sugar,

2 eggs and a

dash of salt.

Add the flour

And baking soda

Don't forget the vanilla

Blend for 2 minutes on medium speed

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan and put in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour

Now for the icing -

Melt one cube butter and pour in 1/2 C evaporated milk,

3/4 C sugar,

a dash of salt,

Don't forget 1/2 tsp vanilla. Heat this up and take out about 1/2 c of the liquid

put in one egg yolk,

and whisk together (this will keep you from having scrambled eggs in your icing)

Pour the egg mixture pack into the saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes

Remove from heat and add 1 C flaked coconut. Beat by hand and pour over warm cake.

Serve and enjoy!

If you make this and it turns out beautiful as well as tasting sinfully delicious, let me know.

Wouldn't it be fun if the middles could be pink?

It certainly would. I tried to make pink, white, pink but the color layers dry to wrinkly. The milk chocolate looks the smoothest. Anyway, here's a little eye candy -

Wherein I make the best bread I've ever made

Edited to add: bread recipe at the bottom - I promise you'll love it and how easy it is to make.
and that's according to my husband, so you know it must be true. Because husbands never say things just to make their wife feel good, nope - it's all about the truth.

Actually, it does taste pretty amazing even if I do say so myself. I have made our family's bread off and on for years. When I started, we were just scraping by and all I had to grind the wheat was a hand grinder. Do you know how long it takes to grind wheat for four loaves by hand? Long enough to have amazing biceps (don't forget to switch off so you're not lop-sided and start walking in circles).

About 5 years ago, our neighborhood did a group buy on Nutri mills and Bosch machines. Wow! What a difference pushing a button makes. You might think that my biceps have suffered without all that hand grinding, but Ty is making sure that I still have Biceps of Steel - lifting 80 lbs routinely will do that for you.

Recently, I've been experimenting with different grains and stumbled upon kamut. I really love the flavor of this grain although it is a little different to bake with. I generally use about a cup less of this flour, grind it more coarsely, and make sure to add more gluten to the recipe I'm using. My favorite recipe is also the easiest I've tried so far. If you have a favorite bread recipe, I'd love a copy (please email me). I also enjoy making Ezekiel Fasting Bread - it is a sweet, batter bread sort of like zucchini bread but dense like wheat bread. Try it and see if you like it. I don't recommend it for sandwiches, but it makes lovely toast or a healthy dessert.

Julie's Mom's Wheat Bread
8 C. kamut flour or white wheat flour
2 T. yeast
3/4 C gluten (increase to one cup if using kamut flour)

Mix a little until yeast is mixed throughout flour, then add:

6 C. hot water-not boiling, but hot from tap

Mix this together for 1 minute with a mixer or constant stirring, then let the mixture set, with a cloth over the bowl, for ten minutes (set timer). Then add:

2/3 C honey
1/2 C oil (2/3 cup if not using gluten, or if you want it extra moist)
2 T. salt

Mix a little and keep mixing while adding 6 more cups of white wheat flour (only 5 if your first 8 were kamut flour) for 6 minutes, or knead constantly by hand for 10 minutes. Turn oven onto lowest setting (170 degrees), and spray bread pans with Pam or use butter to grease. Divide into 5 loaves for 8" pans or 4 loaves for 9" pans. If you want to make cinnamon bread, roll one of the loaves out very thinly and sprinkle cinnamon over the entire surface, then sprinkle with raisins and roll up tightly. Pinch the ends to seal and place seam side down in the loaf pan. Arrange the bread pans in the oven and set timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn oven up to 350 and bake for 30-35 minutes more. When the bread is done, take it immediately out of the pans and lay the loaves on clean dish towel until they are cool (approximately 45 minutes). Then put in bread bags and freeze the bread that you will not be eating within the week.

I usually only make one loaf of cinnamon bread per batch, but my family likes it so much I've decided to make half the batch cinnamon loaves. Before using kamut, I had to use half white flour and half wheat in order for my kids to stomach it, but now they eat it just fine (half wheat/half kamut). There is less gluten in kamut, but more protein and the taste is really pleasant. Bon appetit!

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