College Gourmet

Traditionally when I think of Pizza at home, I’m remarkably un-enthused… maybe that’s because it brings to mind the bad frozen pizzas that haunt my past.  But no more!  Now I can’t take credit for this entirely, the wonderful people over at annies eats crafted the dough (which is one of the best parts!) and after that you can top it with whatever you want or whatever you have laying around!

One substitution I did make was using AP flour rather than bread flour, while I’m sure that would yield an even better dough, frankly I didn’t have any laying around.  So if you too find yourself without bread flour, don’t fret, AP flour will get you by! :)  You can also note that 1/4th this recipe is about perfect for a one person dinner pizza.  Go ahead and make the whole recipe but break it down in to fourths to have a personal pan for your self and save the other 3 for another day!

Basic Pizza Dough
Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1½ tsp. salt
1¼ cup water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend.  Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture.  With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil.  Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.  Switch to the dough hook.  Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.

Press down the dough to deflate it.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball.  (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.)  Cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes.  Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Shape the dough with lightly floured hands.  Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil.  Top as desired.  Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.

If you’re smart about what you put on your pizza and where you shop, and have some of the right ingredients laying around Pizza can be pretty inexpensive.  While I know everyone may not enjoy the same ingredients, this is a break down of what I spent to make my pizzas:

Pizza crust: so cheap it was next to free.

Pepperoni: $2 at Aldi

Mozzarella for 2 pizzas: $2 at Aldi

Pizza Sauce (for SEVERAL pizzas): $1 at the Dollar Tree

Onion: Left over from something else (free?)

Olives: $1 at the Dollar Tree

Peppers: $1 at the Dollar Tree

Parmesan: I’ve had it for a while so it wasn’t a new cost, but $1 at Dollar Tree

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$7 for everything, keeping in mind that some of the ingredients will last for several several pies.

Pictures will come soon, I’m making Pizza #2 tonight!

This week I’ve been pretty low on time, so I’ve wanted something I can whip up pretty quick, but I wanted to make sure it kept me full.  With this in mind I decided to go with pasta and nuts and a play on a piccata sauce.  Traditionally piccata sauce is found on fish or chicken, but since i didn’t have either I just used it with the toasted sunflower seeds.

What you need:

Spaghetti

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsps Lemon Juice

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 tsp Garlic

Italian seasoning

2Tbsp to 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

First start the water for your pasta and add a little salt to help season the pasta.  Next in a small skillet melt the butter on medium-medium low heat. Add the sunflower seeds and the garlic to the skillet and let them lightly saute but be careful not to let either burn.   Once the sunflower seeds and garlic are ready take them off the heat and stir in lemon juice.  After the pasta is al dente, drain in and toss in the piccata sauce as well as some Italian seasoning and parmesean cheese.  Salt and Pepper to taste and enjoy!

Welcome one and all to the first post of the new year,  as you may have read in my previous post, I’m starting a food challenge!  The idea of this challenge is to spend less than $40 a month on food, or roughly $10 a week.  To start out strong I decided to just make dinner with things I already had laying around, and with a bit of inspiration from the marvelous internet i came up with Spaghetti Soup.  This recipe is really easy and it can easily be made vegetarian or vegan!


Spaghetti Soup

What you need:
1 medium onion
1-2 Cloves Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
28oz Can diced tomatoes
1/4-1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
28oz chicken/veggie stock/broth/bullion
Frozen Meatballs (optional)
Spaghetti
Salt and Pepper

Other Things you can add:
1 Red bell pepper
Spinach or Kale

To start, you’ll want to chop and sauté your onion, followed by your red bell pepper (if you’re using it) and garlic. Toss in your bay leaf, lightly salt and pepper the veggies then and add your diced tomatoes.  Refill your tomato can with stock, broth, or bullion and pour that in as well.   Finally add in the spaghetti sauce and stir.  Cover your pot and bring to a light boil.  Add your meatballs and let the soup return to a boil, then add the spaghetti and cook until spaghetti is al dente. If you’re using any leafy Greens give those a loos chop and through those in as well, and throw the lid back on.  After the spaghetti is al dente and the greens are wilted, go ahead and taste your soup and adjust the salt and pepper if needed.

Personally I suggest serving it with a slice of a french loaf on the side!

I’ve realized I live in excess when it comes to food. Not that it couldn’t be worse, but I could certainly be a lot better.  I get in ruts, I make a lot of the same food over and over again, and I give in to cravings all to easily.  I started this blog in an attempt to help others learn and go on a bit of a culinary adventure myself, and frankly, I failed.  As I’m working harder than ever to support myself, I realize how much money I spend and how much I really waist. 

With that realization I have decided to push myself.  Starting January 1st 2012 I will be greatly restraining my food budget in an effort to not only live a healthier life but to also push myself to come up with some new recipes and new ideas.  While I’m not completely certain about the rules yet, I have some general guidelines I’m looking at:

1. No more than $40 dollars a month.  Originally I was thinking $20 but that doesn’t seem practical, I think $10 a week is much more of a realistic goal.
2. Depending on how close I am to my monthly limit, I may allow a few extra dollars for some of the basics, such as flour. Though I would prefer not to do this, I realize at times this may be necessary to keep myself from getting behind on what I’m trying to do.
3. I may allow myself one “out to eat” opportunity a week, or perhaps every other week. The main reason is because my friends and I tend to get together at restaurants. I know myself well enough to realize that I won’t turn down food every chance we go out.
4. I will try to make at least one new recipe every week and post twice a week.

So that’s the idea…  I’d love to get some feedback and get some second opinions on this from out in reader-land.  I’m going to try to have a bit of everything, from main courses to dessert, and from meat to vegan.