Heart-Shaped Treats for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love holidays. It's so much fun to hang up little decorations or plan special meals. I've always liked celebrating them, but it's gotten even more fun since having kids.

Yesterday, for dessert, I made tapioca pudding. I was washing strawberries to freeze for smoothies when I had an idea to cut them into hearts. Check out this cute pre-Valentine's Day dessert:

Today, we had friends from MOMS Club come over and help us decorate cookies. It was Oliver's first time having friends to the house, and he was excited to show them his mixer and mixing attachments. The kids were all younger than Oliver. One was mostly interested in feeling the sprinkles. Another had fun decorating, but he insisted on eating his cookies as soon as a bit of frosting got on them. After eating a number of cookies, his mom decided he'd better be done. Oliver decorated about six and then ate half of them. The rest of the 50 cookies were decorated by moms. Well, we had fun.

Hosting this cookie decorating day gave me a chance to compare various sugar cookies. Homemade cookies were vastly superior! Don't get me wrong, I love Pillsbury biscuits, crescent rolls, and refrigerated pie crusts. You can do so many creative things with those products. I've used their sugar cookie dough for fruit pizzas and was pleased. However, I discovered last night that their sugar cookies were terrible  for cut-out cookies. They expanded and puffed up and completely lost their shape. While cooling, they deflated. We were left with weird, oval-shaped, flat cookie blobs. I used the cookie cutter to try to re-cut them. It was better than before, but we were still left with flat cookies that looked icky and had rough edges. So, Oliver and I had to make an emergency batch of sugar cookies ourselves, and they turned out beautifully (you can find that Taste of Home recipe here). Bookmark that recipe! They made the best sugar cookies that tasted great and held their shape.

After cookie decorating fun, I got busy making a heart-shaped pizza!

...and then we finished the night off with a mini heart-shaped, red-velvet cheesecake (I halved this recipe from McCormick, and used a heart-shaped springform pan like this:

                                                                        

Oliver wanted to sing a song, so we sang, "Happy Valentine's Day to You," before diving into our cheesecake goodness.
I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day celebrating with your family, friends, or loved one.

Fruit Pizza

Fruit pizzas are my husband's trademark dessert. He makes them a few times a year, and Oliver loves to help. This was my first time making one.

They are so easy to make, but, best of all, they're a great dessert to make if you have a little helper in your household like we do. You could even make mini-fruit pizzas for a children's party to let each kid decorate his/her own!

Here's what you need:
Crust:
1 tube of sugar cookie dough (I used Pillsbury)
Sauce:
(Note: You can just use a can of your favorite frosting.  I won't tell anybody.)
8 ounces of cream cheese or neufatel cheese
4 ounces (1/2 stick) of softened butter
2 cups of powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
Toppings:
Various fruit - We used two kiwis, a can of drained mandarin oranges, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries
Glaze:
The zest and juice from one orange
1 cups of powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

To make:
1. Spread your cookie dough out on a pizza pan.  I had to use my knuckles to gently push the dough from the center to the edges.  Prick the dough all over with a fork.  Bake according to package directions.

2. Beat cream cheese, butter, and the 2 cups of powdered sugar together to make frosting "sauce."  Alternatively, pop the top off of your can of frosting.

3. While your cookie crust is baking and cooling, prep your fruit. Wash what needs washing and chop what needs chopping. If you're using any fruit that is prone to browning (apples, pears, bananas, etc), toss them in a bit of lemon or lime juice to slow their oxidation.

4. After your cookie pizza crust cools completely, spread the frosting all over the crust, leaving about an inch of space along the circumference of your pizza.

5. Decorate with fruit!  This is the fun part.  You can look up images of fruit pizzas online to get really fancy, or just help your kids put the toppings on.  You really can't go wrong.

6. Whisk the juice and zest of an orange with a cup of powdered sugar until smooth. This is your glaze. Drizzle it liberally all over your pizza.

7. Slice your pizza and dive in!

Pinterest Challenge Day 23: Calzones

This pin has been really popular among our challenge group. It's a calzone that looks difficult to make but isn't. After hearing everyone rave about it, I decided to try it, too:

http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066246033/

I bought the refrigerated Pillsbury dough for it because I didn't leave time for making my own. Using the premade dough made this recipe really easy because I didn't even end up needing to roll it out. I just unwound it on a greased cookie sheet and was ready for the next step!

I still made my own sauce because, as I've said before, I don't like the store bought pizza sauce. I kept it fairly simple and diverged a bit from the sauce I usually make. I drained a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. I mixed the drained tomatoes with half a cup of olive oil, six cloves of minced garlic, and a couple tablespoons of minced, fresh basil. I spread that out on a cookie sheet and baked it at 250 for an hour. Then, I tossed that mixture in the food processor with about a tablespoon of sugar and a couple pinches of salt:

Andrew ended up liking the sauce better with the sugar instead of honey, so I think I'm going to stick with that change from now on.

I spread the sauce in the center third of the dough and sprinkled a few veggies on top. Then, using kitchen scissors, I sliced through the rest of the dough into strips on each side of the sauce like this:


I added some shredded mozzarella cheese and a touch of Parmesan. Then, following the guide from the pin, I criss-crossed the strips over the sauce and cheese mixture. I ended up with this:

I baked it at 375 for 30 minutes, as directed, and pulled this out of the oven:

Isn't it a gorgeous calzone? Here's how it looked sliced:


Cheesy and oh-so-delicious! Between Andrew, Oliver, and me, we ate the whole thing. It's that good!

Meatless Monday: Grilled Pesto Pizzas

My favorite sister-in-law (OK, my only sister-in-law) posted a photo last month of some individual pizzas she'd made for Meatless Monday. They had assorted roasted vegetables on top, and they looked mouth-watering. She made a lot of changes, but she gave me the recipe she based hers off of. I decided to use her pizzas and the recipe as a guide, and I created my own grilled pizza recipe. With me as the brains of the operation and my husband stationed as grill master, we created some fabulous pizzas. Although Oliver was skeptical about trying them, even he agreed that they were quite tasty. We've made them a couple times since.

A preview of the finished product:

The only cooking that we do for this recipe indoors is for the pesto. You can make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. I love when I don't have to be in a rush to get dinner made exactly on time. As for the veggies, feel free to change them up. Some people love eggplant; some hate it. You can probably use summer squash instead, or add extra zucchini. I bet mushrooms would be good, too.

We get two individual pizzas out of this recipe. It easily feeds three people, but if you're entertaining then it's probably nice for each person to have his or her own. I'll provide the calorie count and cost break down for both at the end of this post. As a note, the calorie count will vary depending on how much oil you use on your veggies.

Here's the recipe for individual Grilled Pesto Pizzas:

Sauce:
1 (0.5 ounce) envelope of pesto sauce mix
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil

Pizzas:
1/4 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 bell pepper
Olive oil, for brushing
Salt, to taste
2 pocketless, whole wheat pitas
1 tomato, diced
1 cup shredded, part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Whisk sauce mix, water, and 1/4 cup olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until thickened.
2. Cut zucchini and bell pepper in half, lengthwise. Slice the eggplant into strips, ensuring they're large enough to not fall into the grill. Brush olive oil over the zucchini, bell pepper, and eggplant and sprinkle with salt to taste.

3. Heat grill to medium. Place the zucchini, bell pepper and eggplant on the grill, directly over the heat. Cover and grill for 6-8 minutes, turning once, until the vegetables are crip tender. Remove from grill.

4. Place pitas on the grill and cook for approximately 2 minutes, until toasted.

5. Meanwhile, chop the grilled vegetables. Mix the grilled vegetables, tomato, and pesto.

6. Flip the pitas on the grill. Spread the pesto-vegetable mixture onto the pitas. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes, until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Per serving (2 servings), approximately:
Calories: 630 calories
Protein: 22 grams
Cost: $4.50

Per serving (3 servings), approximately:
Calories: 420 calories
Protein: 14 grams
Cost: $3.00

Meatless Monday: Pizza

Happy Meatless Monday! Wow, I wish I was better at getting recipes posted every week.

Recently, I haven't been cooking as much. I'm on limited house work and activity due to pregnancy complications, so we've been eating a lot of easy meals (pasta and sauce, anyone?). My husband has also been grilling out a lot for us recently. Next week, I think I'll feature his portabollo burgers.
This week, I thought I'd cover pizza. I wanted to do this because, previously, I always bought premade crusts when I wanted to make my own pizza. It's amazing how expensive they are! Why pay $5 for a pizza crust when the grocery store sells frozen pizzas for $3?

A couple months ago, I decided to make my own crust. It is so much cheaper, and it's not that difficult! Then, I decided to start making my own sauce. The flavor is much (much) better than grocery store pizza sauce.

Toppings are your choice, of course. Some good vegetarian options are mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and garlic. I frequently use spinach to make sure my toddler gets his leafy greens. I learned that spinach should go over the sauce but under the cheese. My son started picking out the larger pieces, so now I puree some spinach into the sauce, and it works perfectly.

Here's how to make your own pizza pie. Start with the sauce, since it needs the most time to bake.

Pizza sauce:
4-5 large tomatoes

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

salt

1/4 cup spinach (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 250 F.

2. Chop your tomatoes, or pulse them in your food processor. They shouldn't be fully pureed yet--keep them as chunks of tomatoes. Mix them with the olive oil and garlic. Spread the mixture on two cookie sheets (it should be pretty thin) and bake for about an hour or until the edges just start to brown.

3. Puree the baked tomato mixture with the honey, salt, and spinach (if you're using). Taste the sauce, and feel free to adjust it by adding more olive oil or dried basil or dried oregano.


While tomatoes are baking, start your crust. Please read the directions on your yeast. I've noticed that the quick-rising yeast often needs hotter water. Some yeast calls for temps of 105 while others call for temps of 130.

Pizza crust:

1 cup warm water

1 package of yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese

Chopped veggies (optional)

Sliced basil (optional)

1. Stir the water, sugar, and yeast together until dissolved. Allow mixture to sit for approximately five minutes until it foams a bit. Stir the olive oil and salt into the mixture.

2. Mix flours into the yeast mixture. Once it's too difficult to stir, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes, until it's smooth. If it's sticky as you knead, you'll need to add more flour (all-purpose). You might end up having to add up to a cup more.  Form it into a ball.

3. Take a clean bowl and drizzle the bottom with a touch of olive oil. Put your ball of dough in the bowl and turn it once to coat it. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set it up somewhere high to rise.

4. After about 20 minutes or so (once your tomatoes are done baking), take your dough and punch it down to release the air. Have fun trying to toss the dough, or set it on a pizza pan and use your fingers to push the dough flat and to the edges (you might need some oil on your fingers to do this).

5. Once your pizza dough is spread out on your pizza pan, prick it multiple times with a fork to let it vent. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cheese on the dough. Bake the crust without any other toppings at 400 degrees for about 7-8 minutes.

6. Pull the crust out of the oven and spread the sauce on the crust. Top the crust with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese, veggies, and basil (if using). Bake for another 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees, until the cheese begins to brown.

Per slice (8 slices): Approximately 330 calories and 9 grams of protein

The Story of the $20 Pizza Tip

It started with $40. I left the house at 3pm with $40 in my pocket. Oliver and I were heading to his pediatrician to get him checked out, as he had a few bouts of diarrhea today. It cost $5 to see the pediatrician, so I left with $35 in my pocket.

I planned on stopping at the grocery store to pick up some items for dinner, as we ate through our cabinets and refrigerator this week. However, on the drive home, Oliver didn't stop crying. It was a half hour drive...

I decided not to stop at the store. For the first time in a long time, I had a little extra cash, and I thought, "I'm just going to order a pizza." Andrew and I have lived in our townhome for 14 months now, and we've ordered pizza once. It was going to be a nice little splurge.

Andrew got home from work minutes after Oliver and I returned from the doctor's office. I let him know my pizza plan, and we looked up a local pizza place. I ordered a large cheese pizza and a salad, and the total with tax & delivery was nearly $15. I didn't want to give the delivery guy just $15 and only tip him change; however, I also didn't want to give him a $20. I laid $15 on the counter and gave Andrew the $20 bill to break. He returned a few minutes later, took Oliver, and fanned out some bills next to me... what I assumed was for the pizza guy. I glanced down and saw a $5 and a few ones.

The pizza man arrived a few minutes later. I went to the door with my fan of money, handed it to the guy, and took the pizza and salad. He exclaimed, "Thanks!" and left.

After Andrew and I ate our pizza, he gathered up some money to deposit at the bank. He asked where the "other" money was. I looked at him blankly. "What other money?" I asked... and then, I knew. I told Andrew I gave the pizza guy the pile of money he'd given me.

Andrew looked at me, kind of smiled and said, "No, seriously."

Yes... seriously.