Homemade Pizza & Key Lime Tartlets

It has not been my intention to turn this into a food blog.  However, there are two things I do every day -- cook/bake and read books.  I don't want to ignore my blog until I have a moment between 3 kids and a husband, all of who require my constant attention for some reason, for only when I sew and/or craft.  So, I hope it's not too annoying that I write a lot of posts about food and book reviews.  And now....onto another post about food and sort of a book review :D  

I've been on a mission to make pizza better than any of the pizza places around here.  We have two mom and pop places that make delicious NY style pizza, but I'm cheap.  When I make dough for 4 pizzas for pennies versus $25 for two pizzas, I would prefer to do it myself.  So, when I found this book, I was super excited.  It's called My Pizza and it's buy Jim Lahey. I found it in the new section at the library a couple days ago.  I sat down to check it out while my youngest was playing in the awesome playroom in the kid area.  They have a giant wooden playhouse complete with puppet theater at the back of it and a wooden grocery checkout FULL of food -- in the library!  Did your library ever have that when you were a kid?  Mine certainly didn't.  A playhouse!!  We love to go play there, especially on rainy and cold days.  One of the nice things is that it's not a "quiet" library.  It is so much better than any fast food restaurant play places.  

Ok, I got off topic.  I've been looking for a good pizza crust recipe, but it seems the ones I've tried just weren't very tasty, or I just didn't know how to cook them.  The basic dough recipe in this book came out wonderful.  I made it tonight.  Well, it actually takes 18 hours to make the dough as you are supposed to make it the night before.  I settled for early this morning after I dropped off the kids at school.  I made mine in about 12 hours.  Next time I will try the 18 hour version just to see if I'm missing something.  

I love this book!  It gives all kinds of wonderful tips for how to get the pizza stone super hot in an electric oven, how to get the oven super hot so it cooks pizza super fast, and how to squish canned tomatoes to make tomato sauce for the pizza.  I used the tomato squish method tonight and everyone loved it.  I even went the fancy route and bought some really nice mozzarella cheese that was still wet and squishy for our pizzas. My husband actually said it was better than takeout!  Woohoo!!

I made four pizzas out of the dough recipe in the book.  Two were plain squished tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and minced garlic.  I also brushed the crust with a garlic and olive oil combo.  The other two I had a mixture of my tomato sauce along with a spicy spaghetti sauce (hubby doesn't like plain tomato sauce), onion, fresh mushroom, mozzarella, and minced garlic along with the olive oil/garlic on the crust. (We are garlic-o-holics in this family. The more, the better.) I would have taken more pics of my pizzas, but unfortunately, they were inhaled before I remembered.  (Thankfully, I got smart with the tartlets and tooks pictures BEFORE I served them.)

This book is chock full of different pizza recipes much like gourmet or artisan style pizzas.  It does have basics like a marguerite style pizza, but it also goes into pizzas with bechamel sauce (white sauce) as well as other things, too.  And, I loved the pictures in this book. They are gorgeous and make you very very hungry.

From Yahoo Shine article about this very book and it's recipes: 

Jim Lahey's No-Knead Pizza Margherita

Makes four 12-inch pizzas
Making the Dough:

500 grams (17 1/2 ounces or about 3 3/4 unsifted cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping the dough
1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast
16 grams (2 teaspoons) fine sea salt
350 grams (11/2 cups) water
1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon and/or your hands, mix thoroughly. We find it easiest to start with the spoon, then switch to your hands.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72°) for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.
3. Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them. For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center, then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn't actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.
4. If you don't intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.

Then, I got a craving for key lime pie last night, so I decided to whip up one today for dinner.  Yesterday was Mr. E's birthday.  While I brought him lunch and had cupcakes at school, it was a swim team night, so we did not have time for a big thing at dinner.  I tried to make up for it today with delicious homemade pizza, a stop with hubby at GameStop, and key lime tartlets.  

I also got the stupid idea that instead of just buying Key lime juice already squeezed, I'd just buy 50 million key limes and squeeze them myself.  Um...not one of my brightest moments, nor was it very fun pulling out about 100 million tiny seeds before juicing them.  I think I squeezed about 25 key limes to get my 1/2 cup of lime juice.  Next time, I'm probably going to buy the juice in the bottle.  

Instead of one big pie I wanted to make mini pies, so I bought these Keebler little tart shells.  They were at Walmart and very inexpensive.  It came with six tart shells, which was perfect for my recipe.  

Key Lime Tartlets

Yields: 6 tartlets

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp lime zest

1/2 cup of key lime juice

Whip Cream Topping

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1-2 tbs powdered sugar (though regular sugar will work in a pinch)

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all 4 ingredients until smooth and well mixed.  Pour into tart shells. (I filled mine to just a tad above the shell.)  Bake at 12-13 minutes until set.  Then, chill in the fridge for 1 hour. 

When ready to serve, whip the whipping cream and sugar until peaks are formed.  Dollop a couple spoonfuls onto the tarts and serve.  

I was kind of nervous when I was investigating various recipes on how to make key lime pie.  It's very straightforward and not nearly as daunting as you might think.  I was pleasantly surprised mine came out perfectly delicious!  

My  key lime tartlets were featured over at Ladybird Ln!! How exciting!!

Cream Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Dear god my mother made these for our "After Christmas" Christmas dinner, and I literally died and went to heaven.  I have never tasted mashed potatoes so good in my life.  Even my 2 year old, who has hated any mashed potatoes I've ever made (and I make good mashed potatoes), ate and ate and ate these potatoes.

They have two secret ingredients - lots and lots of butter and cream cheese! My mother requested they be named for her, so henceforth, these amazing mashed potatoes (which can be made a day ahead of time) will be named Mary's Cream Cheesy Mashed Potatoes.

Also, I usually whip my potatoes, but we used a masher with these and there were NO lumps.  Just make sure you cook your potatoes long enough and the lumps will melt away as you mash.

Mary's Cream Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
4 lbs peeled and cut potatoes
8 oz pkg of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1/2 to 1 cup of half and half

Peel and cut up potatoes into fourths.  Boil for about 25-30 minutes until they are done.  When I can slip a knife through one of the potato pieces like butter, they're done.

Drain the potatoes.  Next, mash the heck of them.  Slice up an entire stick of butter and add to the potatoes and keep mashing.  Next, add an entire 8 oz pkg of cream cheese.  We added it in whole and it melted just fine.  Next, add the half and half until the potatoes are fluffy.  If you're going to bake these, add enough half and half to make them a teensy bit soupy so they won't dry out while baking.  Add salt and pepper to taste -- we probably added about a 1 tsp of both.  You can also add Lawry's Seasoning Salt, but we forgot that step and they still tasted heavenly.

Lastly, I think this step is optional because they tasted so good before we put them in oven.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minute.

If you make them up a day or so before, take them out of the fridge an hour or two beforehand, then add several pats of butter on top and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Seriously, if you don't try these you will never know what heaven is like. 

Melt in Your Mouth Brown Sugar Fudge

I'm a born and raised in Texas girl, and my family LOVES Tex-Mex food.  When I was a little girl there was a local restaurant called The Monterrey House.  They would give you these little bits of candy in the chip basket that were Mexican candies called Leche Quemada.

I loved those little candies, and even now 20-30 years later - god, I feel old - I still remember the taste and never can find anything like it.  So, I've been on a hunt.  I found a recipe that was literally 4-5 hours long.  Who does that?  I'm not stirring for 5 hours.  Then yesterday I found penuche.  It's brown sugar fudge.  It tastes almost exactly like those little candies.  So, today I attempted my own.  Most recipes have heavy cream in them.  But, I looked for a recipe that had marshmallow creme in it because that's what I had on hand.  Plus, on a snowy and icy day in Texas (Yes! Our first White Christmas ever I think!), you don't leave the house because down here we don't know how to drive in that kinda weather.    

So, after cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, my reward was this recipe.  I made the penuche tonight and it's heavenly. It literally melts in your mouth, but it's very rich. One little piece will do you, and if you eat more, you will feel the sugar overload.  My 8 year old loved the taste and texture combination. Everyone else was asleep, so he was my only taste tester so far, but he's usually the best taste tester.  He loves all his momma's cooking :D.

This recipe has an option of nuts, but I left them out as a lot of my family (i.e. me) doesn't like nuts.

Penuche Fudge

2 tbs butter - cold
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2/3 c evaporated milk
5 oz marshmellow creme
1 tsp vanilla
1 c pecans - OPTIONAL

Line a loaf ban with foil or plastic wrap.

In a 2 or 3 qt sauce pan, warm milk on medium then add white and brown sugar.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until rolling boil.  Then, add the marshmallow creme.  Stir and stir and stir until the marshmallow creme is completely melted.

When the mixture is back to a rolling boil set the timer for 5 minutes.  STIR CONSTANTLY!  Do not stop stirring until the timer goes off.  Then pull the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla.  Drop in the butter, as one big piece is fine, and let it sit for 2 minutes without stirring.  The butter will be mostly melted at the end of the 2 minutes.  Then, vigorously stir until well mixed -- for this I used a metal whisk.

Pour entire contents into loaf pan and allow to set until firm.  Mine set in about an hour's time.  Then, remove the plastic wrap/foil from loaf pan and cut fudge into squares.  Store in a covered container for up to a week. 

The BEST gift I have ever received....like ever

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary.  We've been married 3 years.  Almost 4 years ago, we met in the midst of starting our lives over.  I had been married for almost 13 years, and he had been in a long term relationship that had just turned into a marriage.  But both our lives came crashing down, and we had to start over.  If you so desire, you can read my descent into madness at that point in this blog.  (I've considered deleting it off my blog, but I feel like this record of my life should stay, even though it is probably the lowest point I've ever been in my life.)

We met, fell in love, introduced my children into the mix, got married, had an adorable baby, and the rest is history.  This is the man I will grow old with, and I love that.  He is my soul mate, my rock, and my best friend.  I could live on the silliness he emits that bring me to a fit of giggles.  I feel so very lucky to have found someone like him.  Now, our family is a happy one, and I love that other people can see that, too.

This jar was what I woke up to yesterday.  His gift for me.  He spent all morning working on it.  I love that he was tooling around in my crafty things making something for me. He found an old jar I had been saving, painted the lid and glued a note to it.  Then tied ribbons around it.  But...the best part is what's inside.  He wrote countless little notes of why he loves me.  Gosh, I just tear up writing this.  He even folded each one into a tiny envelope.  Where did I find such a wonderful guy? I'm savoring opening them.  I've only looked at a few so far. 

And, we had a date night!  DH had taken the past couple days off.  He even cleaned the carpets today!  We got a little dressed up, and my mom came over to babysit, and we went to dinner at this wonderful Italian restaurant called Guiseppe's.  It's in a quaint old house right next to a bed & breakfast off the square in Denton.  It was delicious!  We had never been there before, but every time we've driven by we kept saying we needed to go.  So, we thought our anniversary was the perfect time.

It was a candle light dinner (with no kids!), and on a Tuesday there was hardly anyone in the entire restaurant.  We had the room we were in to ourselves.  The service was amazing.  I can't remember having such good service -- when the waiter is attentive, but knows just the perfect time to come back. I had this dish called Capellini Rustico, it's pasta in this delicious champagne marinara sauce.  It does not taste like typical marinara sauce.  Even my sweet husband liked it, and he's not a fan of tomato sauces.  Then, we shared a plate of canoli.  My meal tasted more and more delicious the more I ate.  It was such a wonderful night.  Then, we stopped for groceries (with no kids!), and topped the night off with a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix before my hardworking hubby had to head to bed for a day of work tomorrow, while I attempt to get the ready-to-party toddler into bed. 

Yummilicious Thanksgiving Dressing

One of my favorite meals is turkey and dressing.  In fact, I made it Tuesday night. I actually cooked an entire turkey with homemade dressing plus gravy and veggies for a week night dinner.  Yes, I am crazy.

My family has a secret recipe for dressing that is to die for.  We are from Texas.  We like cornbread dressing in these parts, and we don't do the weird apples in the dressing thing.  In fact, we tend to put things like jalapenos in the dressing.  We also don't call it stuffing, it's dressing.  I don't know why these things are the way they are, but I just go with it.

If you love cornbread dressing, then you will love this recipe.  It actually comes from my aunt's sister in law, whose name is Honey.  So, we call it Honey's Dressing.  Everyone who comes over for Thanksgiving and tries it, LOVES this dressing.

When you put it in the oven, it's almost like a soup, but it comes out so wonderfully moist and delicious.  I even converted my husband who tends to prefer "Stove Top" to the real made from scratch thing.

It calls for lots of broth - more than you think is necessary, but it works.  I usually use 1 of those 32 oz chicken broth containers plus about 2 or so cups of drippings directly from the turkey.  You want it to look very soupy and runny when you put it in the oven. 

Honey's Dressing

1 tube of biscuits
2 pans of cornbread
1 onion
1 stalk of celery
1 tbs sage

1 stick of butter
3 eggs
lots and lots of broth

Chop onion and celery into tiny pieces, saute in butter.  Crumble breads.  Mix everything together until soupy.  Bake at 325 for 1 hour. 

Delicious Taco Soup with Turkey

Sorry I've been gone for awhile.  Between the kids' school work, dh's in college and needing math tutoring, and sewing for my first craft fair, I decided the blog would take a back seat for awhile.

I hadn 't told you guys, but it's so exciting! My first craft fair!  I was selected to be apart of this Handmade Harvest Etsy craft fair in about 4 weeks.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back to blogging regularly.  We go all out for Halloween around here, and we have decided to go as an entire family of zombies for Halloween.  So...I've got costumes to zombie-fy in addition to all my other duties.   

On to the soup!

This weekend was our first big cold front.  It dropped into the 50s for the highs, and we're in Texas, so that's seriously cold weather in these parts.  I was getting that hankering for a warm soup or stew to fill our bellies for dinner tonight.  A taco soup recipe caught my eye a few weeks ago, and I wondered how well something like that would go over with the whole family.  Em hates Mexican food.  The baby eats 2 bites of anything and spits out most of it, and Mr. E and dh are essentially human garbage cans.  Those two will eat anything, I think, lol.

I whipped up my own recipe from things I had on hand, and OMG it was so darn good.  Everyone, including the baby, cleaned their bowl.   So I thought I'd share.  This recipe is super easy and super quick.  You can be serving it in 20 minutes.

Taco Soup

3/4 lb ground turkey (or beef)
1 cup of crushed tomatoes
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 pkg of Knorr's taco rice
6 cups of water 
1/2 pkg of taco seasoning
crushed tortilla chips
shredded cheddar cheese
Opt. sour cream

Brown the turkey.  Heat up the dutch oven on high and add crushed tomatoes and both cans of beans.  Add the meat and stir.  Next, add the package of rice.  Add the water.  When it starts boiling, add the taco seasoning and stir until it's all well blended.  Simmer on medium until rice is tender.

I topped each bowl with crushed tortilla chips and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese.  I was out of sour cream, or I would have added it as well.

Mr E and dh both added taco sauce and jalapenos to their bowls for extra spiciness. 

I served it with corn muffins I made from this recipe. 
It was a perfect balance of spicy from the soup and sweet from the cornbread.

Two things for the cornbread recipe:
   1.  I didn't have buttermilk, so I added 1 tbs of lemon juice and filled up the rest of the measuring cup to 1 cup with milk.
   2.  Since I made muffins, it only took 15 minutes for baking while the soup was simmering (the recipe calls for 30 minutes for a pan of cornbread).

This served 5 with a bowl or two to spare for leftovers.