Project Food Blog, dinner, flatbread, pizza Sarah Project Food Blog, dinner, flatbread, pizza Sarah

PFB Number Five: Stuffed Flatbread Pizzas

It was a quintessential Fall afternoon, sunny and clear with a soft breeze and cool, crisp air. The perfect afternoon to snuggle up with a book. The perfect prelude to a relaxing evening home with Mom. The perfect start to an even better weekend ahead.

On my agenda was to create an entry for Project Food Blog Challenge Number Five. The fact that I am able to say this amazes me, as the competition continues to showcase some truly talented people. I am honored beyond belief to be here, and grateful for the opportunity to celebrate food and community with new friends.

Those of you who have shown your support deserve more than a simple thank you. You deserve a dozen cookies hand-delivered to each of your doorsteps. If I had the means to do this, you can bet I would be there tomorrow at 4 o’clock sharp, just as you’re saying to yourself, You know, I could really use a cookie right about now. Oh, if only I could.

Onward to pizza. I am no longer a fan of the greasy, pepperoni-laden hunks of dough with way too much cheese and lackluster sauce that most every kid has at their lazer-tag birthday party. While that used to be great in a pinch, my diet has evolved and my tastes have since changed. I’ve always loved flatbread, and this was my starting point for Friday night’s pizzas.

I knew I wanted potatoes to appear somewhere, so this was my next building block. Potatoes and rosemary are great together, and once this thought crossed my mind, I knew I had the stuffing for my first pizza. On top, nutty Gruyere cheese spills over the edge and embeds arugula and toasted walnuts.

For pizza number two, I wanted to include a very delicious pesto-artichoke-olive tapenade introduced to me about one year ago by my friend a fellow blogger, The Chopped Onion. I love pesto on pizza. I guess I love pesto on anything (like a spoon, or my finger), but when smeared on light and crispy pizza, something miraculous happens. With the pesto, artichoke and olive tapenade on top, my chosen filling was a feta cheese and sun-dried tomato spread. At first, this may seem to you like a lot of flavors colliding into one another. Trust me though, they work beautifully.

The dough: I used 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour along with the remaining quantity of all-purpose flour, and I would not recommend attempting a larger amount of whole-wheat. Unless, of course, you know what you’re doing more so than I, which in all honesty is very possible. Nonetheless, the resulting dough was dense and doughy where I expected it to be, and developed a light crust on the outside, which I love. I might play around with flours next time, adding semolina or chickpea flour for variations in taste, texture and workability.

Served alongside an arugula salad with fresh pears from the tree, figs, toasted walnuts and avocado, these unique pizza pies were a lovely way to start the weekend and a great centerpiece for an evening of quality time with someone I love.

Potato & Rosemary-Stuffed Flatbread Pizza with Gruyere, Arugula & Toasted Walnuts

Ingredients for dough: 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp. salt 1 1/4 cup water, room temperature Ingredients for pizza: 1 small white potato, scrubbed and peeled 1 small sprig of fresh rosemary, roughly chopped 1 shallot, diced about 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese or 5-6 thin slices 1/4 cup arugula 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped Instructions for dough: Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. You may have to add more flour on occasion to combat the stickiness. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Divide in half, loosely wrap each in plastic wrap and let rest on work surface for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pizza ingredients. Instructions for pizza: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel potato and thinly slice half of it into rounds no more than 1/8-inch thick. Toss rounds in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Toast walnuts in a small skillet over medium flame and set aside. When the dough is ready, place one half on a floured work surface and roll into as much  of a square shape as possible, about 8-10 inches in each direction. Layer potato rounds onto half of the square, leaving 1/2 inch at the edge. Top with chopped rosemary and diced shallot. Fold the free half of dough over and pinch the edges to seal. If you want, you can fold the pizza in half again and press down to flatten. In a dry nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the pizza for 4 minutes on one side, until lightly browned in spots. Flip over and cook another 3 minutes, until lightly toasted on the other side. Transfer to a baking sheet and top with gruyere, arugula, then toasted walnuts. Place in the oven for 8 minutes, to warm through and melt the cheese. Let cool slightly and slice to serve.

Feta & Sun-Dried Tomato-Stuffed Pizza with Pesto, Olive & Artichoke Tapenade

Ingredients: 1/2 quantity whole-wheat dough, recipe above 1/2 block feta cheese 6 sun-dried tomato halves 1/2 container or 1/2 recipe basil pesto 1 small jar pitted kalamata olives 1 small can or jar artichoke hearts Instructions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, pulse feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes until well combined. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Clean the food processor, then add pesto, olives and artichoke hearts. Pulse until thoroughly combined but not too smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Roll out the other half of the dough into an 8 to 10-inch square, once again. On half of the square, spread the feta cheese mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edge. Fold the other half of dough over the top, pinching the edges to seal. You can fold the pizza in half again if you wish, then lightly roll to flatten. In a dry nonstick skillet, heat pizza for 4 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes, until lightly browned on the other side. Transfer to a baking sheet and spread with pesto tapenade. Bake for 8 minutes to heat through and melt the filling. Remove, let cool slightly, and slice to serve.

The best part about these pizzas is that they are even better the next day. I reheated slices of the potato & Gruyere and I enjoyed the sun-dried tomato & pesto tapenade pizza straight from the fridge. With a crisp apple, I was set for lunch.

If you make these yourself, experiment with flavors. I'd love to try pears instead of potatoes and rosemary, and pesto with sliced tomatoes instead of tapenade. No longer do I play lazer-tag for my birthday, and no longer will I settle for delivery disasters. Growing up never tasted so good.

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Project Food Blog, bananas, bread Sarah Project Food Blog, bananas, bread Sarah

To My Sister: PFB Number Four

If your sister is away at school, it's only natural that you'll send her something fun to remember you by.

I mean, she's a four or five-hour plane ride away, while you have the privilege of seeing your parents and brother most evenings for dinner. You'd like her to have a taste of home in times of stress. But more importantly, she's having so much fun that you're afraid she might forget about you.

And this will simply not be tolerated!

If you love to bake, it's only natural that you'll send her something... baked. Furthermore, if you just so happen to have four of the sweetest, most aromatic ripe bananas on your fruit platter, you'll probably decide to bake her some banana bread. It's a good thing your sister enjoys banana bread more than most other foods she's tried.

This will work out perfectly, so it appears. You soon realize, however, that your sister dislikes anything to do with health. She assumes you eat only squirrel food. You recall her telling you on numerous occasions, Don't put lentils in my bread! You've never done this before, but you figure she means that you are not to add any healthy stuff to her baked goods. You vow to try your hardest, but you always like your family to be healthy and you acknowledge the struggle ahead of you. You strap on your apron like it's true battle garb, and you grip your wooden spoon with the hope that it guides you properly. You're determined to make the best banana bread to meet your sister's lips. You're ready to set forth on your journey, but first you invite everyone reading this to come along with you. It will be fun, I promise. Pick a sunny window and gather your ingredients:

And let's get started!

Begin with 1 1/2 cups of flour:

We're using 1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole-wheat because we want her to have some fiber in her life. But we're not going to tell her that. She won't even notice.

Here we are:

Next, add some baking soda and baking powder, one teaspoon each...

...and a pinch of salt.

Next, a touch of spice. Just the right amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg to add some liveliness and Fall flair, 1/2 teaspoon each:

This completes the dry ingredients. Gently whisk, and set aside.

Now, for the wet ingredients. Ladies and gentlemen, mash your bananas.

Scrape them into a medium-sized bowl and let them relax for a bit. You don't want to stress them out. I mean, they are the stars of the show.

In the meantime, get some butter- about 1/4 cup:

And melt it.

Add to the melted butter about 1/4 cup of good olive oil:

And two of these:

Watch it happen:

Whisk and whisk some more, then pour over the bananas you left in the medium-sized bowl.

Add to this new concoction some sugar and vanilla extract- 1/2 cup white, 1/2 cup brown, and 1 teaspoon extract:

Stir it thoroughly.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, like so:

Add your wet ingredients, like so:

Then, remember that you wanted to add some chocolate chips. Your sister deserves it super much. Give her 3/4 cup of 'em.

When you're done stirring these in, and the batter has come together nicely, pour it into a greased and sugared loaf pan. It will look something like this:

Excellent work! Put it in a preheated oven!

This should be happening at 350 degrees. While you wait (it will be about 50-60 minutes), survey the scene:

I know you don't want to, but you should probably clean it up.

It's okay though, because after a while, you'll get to stare at this:

Creamy bananas, sweet milk chocolate, a touch of spice, the comfort of home.

You must wait for it to cool completely before playing with it. If you leave the house, make sure to leave a note too. Your dad and brother like to help themselves when you leave freshly-baked goodies lying around.

When the time has come, wrap your loaf in some parchment paper,

Seal it with a kiss,

Put it in a shoebox,

Add a silly note,

And send it along to the faraway land of Lexington, Kentucky.

You hope your package puts a smile on her face and a spring in her step. You hope that the warm and sweet scent meeting her nose when she opens it up will remind her of how well you two sometimes get along. You hope she remembers you then-

-just as much as she remembers you now:

I dedicate this post to you, my sis.

[Click HERE for the recipe in text format.]

P.S.- Thank you all so much for your support with my third PFB entry. It was both moving and inspirational, and I owe my advancement to you!

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Yogurt, cooking with yogurt Sarah Yogurt, cooking with yogurt Sarah

Banana Oatmeal Yogurt Bread

I decided to put my knowledge of cooking with yogurt to good use while making breakfast for the week. As I have mentioned before, I really like to make a healthy batch of chai-spice banana muffins or a loaf of cranberry-apple-pecan bread on Sunday to help make my mornings easier. I challenge myself by attempting to bake my entire breakfast into a bread- everything I would ordinarily include in my fast-breaking meal must be in there. This bread, I might say, is quite successful. It has pretty much all I could ever want: Sweet bananas, tender oatmeal, probiotic-filled yogurt, minimal sugar, ground flaxseed, a little almond butter, and whole-grain flour. The only thing I might add is another serving of fruit on the side. And, ahem, please excuse the blurry photo. I was so excited to serve myself another slice that I didn't try very hard. You understand, I'm sure. I used only spelt flour to make this bread, as opposed to half or three-quarters of the flour amount. Therefore, the bread is really dense, but not lacking in moisture because the yogurt does a fantastic job of replacing fat. It's not too heavy, either. Although related to wheat, spelt flour is easier to digest and doesn't give me the super-full-feeling stomach that wheat products sometimes do. If spelt flour isn't your thing, I've added a suggestion at the bottom of the recipe for reproducing it with different flours. I'm curious about trying almond meal flour next time! Banana Oatmeal Yogurt Bread Ingredients: 1/2 cup old fashioned oats 2 cups whole-grain spelt flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. baking powder pinch of salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed 2 1/2 small ripe bananas, mashed 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 Tbsp smooth almond butter 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup organic, nonfat yogurt unsweetened coconut for garnish (optional) Instructions: -Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper. -Combine oats with 1 cup hot water in a small bowl. Stir and set aside. -In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices and flax. -In a medium bowl, stir together almond butter and olive oil until the oil is incorporated. Add mashed bananas, brown sugar, and yogurt. Stir thoroughly. -Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Stir just until flour is completely moistened- spelt flour gets tough if mixed too much. -Pour mixture into prepared pan. Lick the spoon because you don’t have to worry about eggs. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a tester comes out relatively clean. Let cool, invert onto a rack, and thoroughly enjoy! *Note- It’s difficult to substitute other flours in for spelt because they will require more liquid ingredients. If you so choose, I suggest using 1 1/2 cups wheat flour, adding 1/4 cup of oil, and perhaps some milk in 1/4-cup increments until you get the texture right. After all, it’s all about experimentation anyway!
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