THE pita pizza

So ... I haven't blogged in 3 1/2 months.  Sorry!  I have no real, solid excuse ... just lots of little, mini-excuses.  :)  They are, but not limited to ...

I haven't been cooking much of anything terribly interesting for the past 3 1/2 months.

Really, I haven't been cooking much of anything.

My ancient Canon point-and-shoot is pretty much dead ... the iPhone does ok, but just ok.  :)

Until we sprung the clocks ahead a bit ago, it was usually dark at dinnertime.  (Thus ... crappy photos.)

I've been busy knitting.  (And hanging with friends.  And working.  And doing yoga.  And watching "New Girl."  And other stuff.)

You know, same old, same old.  :)

Forgive me?

I figured it was about time I tried to get back into this food blogging thing again, and what better way than to introduce you to a meal I have been obsessed with for, oh, the past eight months?

THE pita pizza.

Now, we all get in food ruts, right?  Meals we eat over and over and over and over and over and over again, (ahem, 2 - 5 times a week for eight months straight,) because they are simple, because they are mostly healthy, because they are economical, because we can eat them straight out of the pot/straight off the cutting board, because we LOVE them.  Right?  We try variations on our food rut, always to be slightly disappointed, and return to our original.  The favorite.  The bestest.

This is one of those meals at my house, people.  In a bad, bad way.

But if this pita pizza is bad, I don't wanna be good.  :)

THE Pita Pizza
serves: 1

Ingredients:
1 whole-wheat pita
extra-virgin olive oil
shredded mozzarella
sliced pickled banana peppers (pepperoncini would also be excellent) - homemade if possible
sliced/diced pickled roasted red bell pepper - homemade if possible
sliced green olives
crumbled feta

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat.
2. Assemble pizza.
3. Bake, until the pita is crispy and the cheese is beginning to brown.
4. Allow pizza to rest for a few minutes before slicing and devouring.

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So, what food ruts have you been in?  For how long?  I challenge you, food bloggers of the world -- post about your food ruts!  It's liberating.  ;)

hello, fall.

Fall is definitely in the air . . . while we've had goofy days that are hot and humid, generally, the weather is cooler, the nights are darkening earlier, and it's starting to feel like the seasons are changing. I'm not complaining -- fall is my favorite season, and I'm happy to see the end of the stifling, humid, stuffy weather. Wee!

To counteract the cooler temperatures, I thought it was time to start cooking warmer foods! (And this dish is downright hot!) Adding a few sliced chipotle Field Roast sausages and extra cayenne to "Smoky Red Peppers 'n' Beans Gumbo" from Veganomicon made for a spicy, warming dinner last night!

From the moment the butter hit the hot pan, (and I did de-veganize this recipe, since I had butter but not margarine on hand,) I had a feeling this recipe was going to be a winner . . . and I was so right! Using local onions, local garlic, local peppers, local okra, and home-cooked kidney beans, this dish screamed flavor and nourishment every step of the way. I kept urging the pot along, wishing everything would just cook FASTER, so I could hurry up and eat already! :) As I said earlier, adding the sausages and several hefty shakes of cayenne upped the spice quotient enough that I didn't need extra hot sauce; if you are sensitive to spicy foods, I'd definitely leave the cayenne out if you are going to add spicy mock meats. (One can always augment at the table, right?) Although this recipe yields a ton, I'm certain it will only get better as it sits, and the hearty stew-like gumbo will certainly freeze well. If leftovers last that long!

One more note . . . this recipe calls for a half-teaspoon of liquid smoke, and liquid smoke is one of those ingredients that just scares me a little bit. It is so strong, I'm always worried it will overpower a dish and kill my taste buds. However, that is not the case with this recipe! I'm certain I would miss the liquid smoke if it wasn't there, but in the finished dish, I couldn't even detect a hint of "excessive smokiness" that I usually find in recipes containing that ingredient. Measure carefully, and enjoy the finished product! :) I know I did.

major kitchen action

I have eluded to the overly-busy schedule I have been keeping up with these past few weeks, and coupled with plenty of stress, let's just say I haven't been feeding myself as well as I could have been; too much eating out for me! I was long overdue for a weekend full of cooking, and boy, was it fun!

Here are the results of all that action in my kitchen . . .

I haven't had much dessert on hand at home or at work, and I was craving something warm, homey, and tart-sweet. Enter, rhubarb-peach crumble:

Although peach is a nontraditional partner for rhubarb, this is quite good! I should have added a little more extra sugar to the fruit, since it is still VERY tart, but I love the contrast with the sweet-crispy-toasty topping. It's always a bonus when I can clear TWO bags of frozen fruit out of my freezer, and get a dessert out of the deal, too!

At the time of purchase, I had no plan for the parsnips I picked up at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. The more I thought about those parsnips, the more Shredded Parsnip and Beet Salad in Pineapple Vinaigrette, from VCON, stuck in my mind -- and I figured, I better oblige!

The first time I made this recipe, I found it called for WAY too much dressing. I cut the dressing recipe in half this time, and am much happier with my salad. It's less soup-like, more slaw-like!

I should try this recipe with orange juice instead of the pineapple juice sometime. I always seem to have OJ on hand, but have to slap down four bucks to purchase the pineapple juice for this recipe. Anyone out there ever subbed OJ with good results? Do tell!

Lately, I have been mildly obsessed with the blog Anja's Food 4 Thought. Her writing is clear and concise, her photos are breathtaking, and her style of cooking seems perfectly aligned with my own. (Plus, she seems to be as obsessed with baked goods as I!) Even though I'm super anxious to try her Almond Butter Granola Bars, I found myself whipping up Herbed Chickpea Pancakes for dinner last night:

OK, someone please help me figure out WHY I have never made savory chickpea pancakes before? They are dead easy, super-cheap, and SOOOOOOO good -- I especially love the herbed yogurt recipe she includes. It took me a couple of tries to find my mojo with this recipe, learning that I needed to use a little more oil and a little higher heat than I thought, and I just couldn't help but flip them, even though she calls for them to be cooked on only one side. Since I destroyed most of my first batch on the learning curve, I sort of HAD to make a second batch for dinner tonight, right? At least now I have leftovers for lunches this week! MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

To continue on my quest to return to eating a more colorful, produce-rich diet, I tossed together a simple roasted red pepper soup for lunch today:

I really should have written down at least the measurements for ingredients, because I may never be able to replicate this one! (Lunch was a long time ago, you see.) Hmm . . . here's what I think I did:

1. Saute about 3/4 cup finely chopped onion in olive oil
2. Add 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped roasted red bell peppers, (I bought the hugest jar at Costco not too long ago, so I didn't feel bad about blowing through an expensive ingredient on this soup,) 3 cups vegetable broth, 1 tsp agave nectar, and salt (about 1/2 tsp?) and pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil.
3. Lower the heat and simmer the soup for 10 minutes, or longer, if you are busy doing something else.
4. Add 1 cup Greek yogurt to the pan, and puree. Garnish with any fresh herb you like -- I'm on a chive kick this week, so that's what I used. Simple and delicious!

Alongside my soup, I had a couple of tiny quesadillas:

I slathered homemade corn tortillas (!) with homemade refried beans (!) and queso fresco, and fried 'em up in my cast iron until crispy. It's been ages since I've made tortillas, and I forgot how EASY they are to whip up -- and how vastly superior their flavor and texture is to storebought corn tortillas! Homemade tortillas actually taste like CORN, not like dry paste. :) I used four for my quesadillas this afternoon, and stuck the other four in the freezer, to be enjoyed at a later date.

And last but not least, after a long, cold walk around the neighborhood I want to move to this summer, I felt like baking again! So, now I have a lovely batch of Tuscan Lemon Muffins for breakfasts and snacks this week:

I haven't tried these guys yet, but if the baked version is as good as the dollop of batter I licked off the spatula earlier, they will be a HIT! I made a few changes to the original recipe, as ever: I subbed Greek yogurt for the ricotta, omitted the lemon juice (figured the yogurt would provide enough acidity,) added 1 tsp lemon extract (to make up for the missing lemon juice,) and used 1 cup AP flour plus 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour, instead of all AP flour. I really wanted to use all whole-wheat flour, but lemon is such a delicate flavor, I was afraid it would get lost in the whole grainy goodness . . . this split seems to work well. I ended up with 8 standard-sized muffins and a dozen minis for the kids, too! (I thought I'd shower them with treats this week, since it's my last as their teacher.)

Hope your weekend was filled with good food, too!

just call me a lentil convert

First, let's talk about lentils.

I apologize in advance to lentil-lovers out there, but I've never really been able to get behind lentils . . . now, I love red lentils in all their buttery, golden-orange, lucious splendor, but any other lentil? In my opinion, brown and green lentils kind of taste like dirt. Not an appetizing meal addition!

But, I keep trying -- I know how nutritionally powerful lentils are, and I really WANT to like lentils! So, I made a lentil salad last night:

Ingredients in my lentil salad: 1 1/2 cups cooked regular lentils, 3/4 cup dry orzo pasta (cooked according to the package diretions,) 2 tbsp chopped parsley, 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion, 3 1/2 ounces feta (crumbled,) juice of one lemon, 1 tbsp olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Verdict? I LOVED this! Yum! What a light, yet filling dinner, served over a bed of salad greens. I bet the leftovers are going to be even better, once the flavors have had a chance to marry.

Anyone have lentil recipes they love? I want to keep getting to know lentils!

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Summer in Minnesota is very, very short. This is sort of bittersweet for me, because I love being able to shop the farmer's market weekly, stock up on gorgeous produce, and support my local farmers, but at the same time . . . I HATE THE WEATHER. I turn into a lazy, whining pile of sweat in the heat and humidity! So, I try to make the best of it.

My farmer's market has been flooded with gorgeous produce of every color these past few weeks, and I've been trying to pick up something (or a couple somethings) at least weekly to preserve for the coming winter. This week, I grabbed three huge bunches of Chinese water spinach to steam, chop, and freeze, (Dan and I are becoming quite good at sitting around on the couch prepping veggies,) and I also found a good deal on red bell peppers -- 9 gorgeous peppers for $5! They were destined for my broiler. :) Result:

Last year, I read that one could freeze roasted red peppers, and I tried that out, but wasn't terribly happy with my results. The peppers seemed to lose some of their rich, smoky flavor in the freezer, and were also pretty mushy after thawing. Inspired by Liz, I decided to try pickling my peppers. Although I don't have canning skillz, I decided to try a refrigerator pickle with these guys -- they won't last an eternity, but they'll last long enough. I threw in 1/2 teaspoon salt and three chopped cloves of garlic, covered everything with a light vinegar brine (1 part vinegar to three parts water -- I don't want the peppers too sour!), and parked the jar in my fridge. We'll see how this works!

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Last but not least, remember I used to bake bread? Well, the humidity is down and the weather is slightly cooler, so I can do that again!

Our bake-a-long has been on hiatus this summer, (and rightly so -- no one wants to heat the oven up unless they absolutely have to!), and I sort of biffed our last project -- I did make a batch of the "Sunflower Seed Breakfast Loaf," but never really posted about it. So, I made it again! This is a gorgeous, soft, slightly sweet, slightly rich bread that makes INCREDIBLE toast. And I'm a toast girl, so this bread makes me happy! Yum! I used a combination of whole-wheat bread flour and AP flours in this loaf, and it worked beautifully. Hooray nutrition!

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Happy Sunday, everyone!