BLT Pizza

I LOVE trying new pizza recipes.  When I found this recipe, I knew it was one we needed to try.  I did exactly what she said to do, except I added red onions and I didn't measure at all.  That's one of the best things about making pizza ... you can just throw whatever you want on top.  No measurements needed.

Ingredients:
Dough - use your favorite recipe or store bought.  (There are a few recipes on the beans blog that you could try.  I'll be posting my go to recipe soon ...)
Alfredo sauce, I used store bought but you could totally make it if you wanted to
Tomatoes, sliced
Red onion, thinkly sliced
Bacon, cooked
Rocket (arugula if you are in America)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Method:

It's not complicated.

Roll out your dough and spread alfredo sauce on it.  Top with tomatoes, red onion, bacon and mozzarella cheese. 

We cook our pizzas in a outdoor pizza oven but you can do it in the oven on 200C/390F for about 10/20 minutes.  You just want the dough to be cooked through and the cheese to be melted and golden.

Top cooked pizza with arugula.

Delish.

Bacon Salad. With Bacon.

 

So, the other night, Ellie was cooking a putanesca (not this one but if you want to try one, this is a good one to try) for dinner.  I was tasked with making a salad.  Ryan had seen a salad he wanted to try that was topped with bacon and pumpkin seeds.  Turns out the salad he was thinking about was actually a soup so we never did find a recipe.  No biggie though.  I threw this little beauty together and it was DELICIOUS!

There aren't really measurements ... it's a salad.

Bacon, however much you like.

Red Onion

Garlic, I think I used about eight cloves

Spinach
Avocado

Mushrooms
Mixed seeds (my mix was pumpkin, sunflower and pine nut)
Fresh Parmesan cheese

Dry toast the seeds in a small frying pan until just brown.  Just enough for a topping.  You don't see my seed topping in the photo because we had to change platters while we were assembling the salad so my seeds are actually on the bottom!  Anyway ... set the seeds aside.

Chop bacon, dice onion, sliver the garlic and saute together.   While that is cooking, slice the mushrooms and add to bacon mixture when it's just about done.

On a large platter, lay spinach.  Top with bacon mixture.  Chop avocado and lay on top of salad.  Sprinkle with seeds and grate parmesan cheese on top.

I didn't add any dressing. 

I like to think that the bacon was the dressing. 

But, you could add dressing if you like ...

Roasted Bell Pepper Salad

I tried this recipe ages ago ... I'm pretty sure I clipped it out of a magazine.

It's another of those with no real measurements.  

Roasted bell peppers (capsicum), I love all three colors but here I just used red and green.  Sliced.

Red onion, thinly sliced

Black olives, sliced

Feta cheese, crumbled

Olive Oil
Sherry Vinegar
Sea Salt
Pepper

Spread the bell peppers on a plate.  Top with red onion, black olives, feta cheese.  Drizzle with the oil and vinegar.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Let set for 30 minutes. 

Delicious.

Super Easy Salsa

 

I've been trying to cook out of the pantry this week and I needed some salsa to go with our burrito bowls the other night.  I did a bit of research on line and then threw this together ...

2 x 400g (14oz) cans of tomatoes

1 small can of green chillies

1 small red onion, cut into 8chunks

whole garlic cloves, to taste

1 cup fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

1/2 tsp cumin, more or less to taste

juice of one lime

1/4 tsp sugar

Put everything but the tomatoes and chillies into a food processor or blender.  Pulse it til it's chopped up.  Add the tomatoes and chillies and pulse til it's as smooth or chunky as you like.  That's it.  So easy.  So yummy. 

Used the leftovers in chicken chimichangas last night !

Guac Salad

 

This salad is so yummy and fresh.

 And it's just guacamole ingredients, just not chopped and smushed !

So ... just make as much as you need depending on how many people are eating it !

avocado, chopped

cherry tomatoes, halved

red onion, slivered

fresh coriander (cilantro)

a squeeze of lemon

salt and pepper

DONE !  YUM !

Fresh and Delicious Quinoa

I found this delicious looking recipe on pinterest and had to try it. I'm glad I did too ! It's amazingly delicious !  I did almost everything the same ... really, the only things I changed were that I roasted the red bell pepper, how I added the garlic, a few measurements and a bit of the how to assemble.  Here's my version ...

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tbsp coconut oil (but I think any oil would do)
1 & 3/4 cup water
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, chopped into chunks
a punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper
small handful coriander/cilantro, diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste

Roast your red bell pepper, set aside.  Here is a little tutorial on how to roast peppers, if you need it.

Put the coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it’s hot add the rinsed quinoa and toast for a minute or two. Add water, stir once, cover, and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes.  Watch it though and turn it off as soon as the liquid is absorbed ! (I like my glass lid for this !)

Mix the lime juice, oil, cumin, minced garlic and salt. Stir. Set Aside.  This is the dressing.

In a big bowl ~ tomatoes, beans, & onion.  Remove skins from red bell peppers, chop and add to bowl. Chop avocado but don't add it yet.

When the quinoa has finished cooking, remove it from heat and fluff with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then add to the bowl with the other ingredients and stir.  Add dressing.  Stir.  Add avocado and coriander/cilantro, gently stir.

Creamy Ham and Greens

 

So, last night was a bit of a scrounge around and see what I could find to make for dinner.  I need to go shopping but I'm really not motivated to do it because we have two late sporting nights ... tonight and tomorrow ... and then it's Friday ... and then we have another Christmas party ... and I'm waiting on the $250 food voucher that should be coming today ( it was part of the deal we got when we bought our new fridge last week )  And ... And ... And ... 

What I came up with was ... spanish tortilla ... potatoes baked like for spicy potatoes but without the spicy.

I had some ham in the freezer that needed using, I had silverbeet, rainbow chard and kale in the garden that needed picking, I had a bit of cream leftover from Rory's birthday carbonara and I always have garlic and onion on hand .... 

This is what came of those ingredients.

1.5 cups slivered ham, chopped ( I had a triple smoked one )
3 cups mixed greens, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 a red onion, diced
cream,  (I only had 1/4 of a cup and I think it was plenty !)

Start with a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your pan, add garlic and ham.  I started with the heat pretty hot and then turned it to medium pretty quick.  Once the garlic and ham have started to brown, add onion.  Cook a minute or two more than add the greens.  Cook a minute or two and then add the cream.  Cook a minute or two more ... or until the cream is no longer runny and seems to be coating the other ingredients.  Serve hot.  So yum !!

This served the four of us.

the mini-me ~ a bella russia original

last night we did pizza night with friends

it is tradition with these friends that you make your signature pizza on your first visit

so, last night ... it was Bel's first visit ... and she pulled off a ripper

THE MINI-ME

she calls it

You will need ...

Pizza dough
Tomato based pizza sauce
Kalamata olives, diced
Red onion, slivered
Feta cheese, finely diced
Broccoli, finely diced
Sun dried tomatoes, finely diced
Fresh parsley
Mozarella

Yogurt or sour cream
Garlic, crushed
Fresh chives, chopped

Here's how you make it ...

Mix yogurt (or sour cream) with garlic and chives to taste. Set aside.

From Bel ... and I quote "The key with the mini-me is the spacing and finely chopped-ness. It is a vegetarian dish from the backstreets of Florence. The recipe has been passed down through families over centuries and was initially dated back to some time near AD250."

Everything after her first sentence may or may not be fictional ....

Using your favorite pizza dough, spread it with a tomato based pizza sauce, evenly space all ingredients (as you will see demonstrated in the photo below). Top with a light sprinkling of mozzarella. Cook in pizza oven, BBQ or oven .... you decide.

Top with garlic chive yogurt ...

Fancy Toasted Sanga

So ... some nights, due to our crazy schedules, we need to all eat at different times. I hate cooking twice, and I hate serving Rory (who is usually eating last) something cold or re-heated. I mean, that's ok for leftovers but I have this thing about the first serve of something being totally amazing but that's just another of my oddities ... let's move on.

I have been trying to plan not only meals but specifically for our crazy schedule. So ... on this particular night, we did toasted sandwiches ... aka, grilled cheese. The kids had grilled ham and cheese and then later, much later !, Rory and I had these ...

I liked them, although the basil I chose was a bit strong. Next time I'm going to try the Opal Basil. We have about 4 varieties of basil growing in our garden so I'll give them all a go maybe and see which one I like best for this ...

Super simple. Heat up your sandwich press.

Between two pieces of bread ... Sliced Tomato. Basil Leaves. Thinly Sliced Red Onion. Salt and Pepper. Provolone Cheese.

Toast til it's Toasted.

And I served it with a handful of plain Kettle Chips. My favorite.

Tuna Mac

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe before.
It's one of my favorites.

And so easy ...

1 bag of shell pasta
1 small jar of pimento stuffed green olives, I chop mine in half
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 can of tuna (i like it in spring water but whatever), drained
1 cup mayo (i make mine like this), add a bit at a time, you may not need this much ~ or you may need more ... you just want the pasta nice and coated ! (not like mine looks in the photo !)
a couple squirts of american mustard

Cook the pasta al dente. Drain. Cool a teensy bit so the mayo doesn't go icky. Add all ingredients and mix. And that's that. I love this warm ... and I love this cold and leftover !!

40 Clove Garlic Chicken Pizza

We had leftover 40 clove chicken the other night and I decided to try a little experiment. Seriously ... I think that's pretty much all I do these days ... experiment ! I wanted to try and change up the dough a bit. Last time I made it, I found it a bit hard to roll out and I had read that adding a small amount of gluten flour will help with elasticity. So ... I made my dough like this ....

1 and 1/3 cup water
2 TBLS honey
2 TBLS olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole wheat spelt flour
1 TBLS gluten flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 tsp yeast

This dough was really nice. It is much wetter and required more flour on the surface to roll but the taste was great ! I think I'll try adding half as much gluten flour next time and see what that does. I'll tweak it til it's perfect !! :)

Here's the pizza before we put the mozzarella on top ...

The toppings went like this :

Tomato Sauce:
2 TBLS tomato paste
1 TBLS thickened cream
Leftover garlic and onions from the 40 clove garlic chicken

Mix and spread on dough.

The Rest of It:
One small potato, unpeeled, uncooked and thinly sliced
Leftover 40 clove garlic chicken, maybe we used about 1/2 a cup ? Do it to your liking.
A handful of fresh baby spinach leaves
A dozen or so kalamata style olives
Three homemade sun dried tomatoes, defrosted earlier and cut into chunks
Red onion, sliced
Spring onion, chopped
Camembert cheese, slivered

And then top with mozarella cheese. Bake in oven 15/20 minutes on 400F/200C.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS !!