Gluten free pizza dough

I tried there two different recipes

https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gf-pizza-dough/

And

https://minimalistbaker.com/easy-vegan-gluten-free-pizza-crust/

I preferred the GFOAS recipe because it actually rose, but they were both quite heavy and chewy. For reference, I had a gluten sensitive crust from pizza ranch, and it was light and fluffy, but also crisp on the outside.

LEMON BUTTER RISOTTO WITH ZUCCHINI

 I loved it, but the rest of the family did not

https://dishingouthealth.com/lemon-butter-risotto-with-zucchini/

Italian dressing

 Used this recipe to make Italian dressing 

https://thewholecook.com/easy-homemade-italian-dressing/

Serious Eats pizza dough

I tried another pizza dough recipe in hopes that it would be the one. This time, the Serious Eats pizza dough was ok. I think I wasn’t able to get it thin enough, so it was pretty doughy in the middle. The quest for the perfect pizza dough continues!

Pizza beans

This style of meal had been sweeping my Facebook dinner group and I finally got around to trying it. I opted for the “fake” pizza beans from the New York Times, versus the original from Smitten Kitchen.
I liked them and they came together very quickly, I had used dried beans I cooked the day before. I’m not 100% convinced the entire family liked them though. L keeps saying she doesn’t like beans, which hurts me. I’m going to try again, because I have so many beans. I think I’ll try royal Coronas next.

White Vegetable Lasagna

We had people over for an Easter egg hunt and since most people were coming from far away, I wanted to make dinner for them. I made two pans of lasagna. One traditional with tomato sauce and cheese and the other with roasted vegetables and a white base (lots of butter!). This is the recipe I used for the white lasagna, though I veered from the original recipe a bit.

I roasted zucchini, red pepper, and mushrooms the night before and I only had a tomato on hand so I roasted that to. I chopped all the veggies put into the veggie layer and I put the no-cook noodles in hot water until they were soft, as recommended by several other recipes to ensure the end texture was proper.

My mom and SIL both said they really liked it. I won’t make this just for my family, but I would bring this to a pot luck. I

Minimalist Baker work-potluck take-over

Around May, some people at work organize having pot-luck lunches to raise money for the Relay for Life. Groups usually pick a theme for their food. Last year our group did soup/salad and I made a wicked good chili. This year, we opted for Italian food. I have a couple co-workers who have issues with gluten and dairy, so I wanted to make something they could eat too. Well, I probably went a little overboard, but I had a lot of fun making everything. I thought it all tasted pretty good too.

I made

• vegan "meatballs," which also required me to make the 
• vegan "Parmesan cheese"
• No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites
• vegan, gluten-free brownies

I thought everything turned out great. Making everything did take some time. I made everything over two nights and each night I made quite a mess in the kitchen with all the bowls and the food processor.

For the "meat"balls, I used GF-soy sauce instead of the Worcestershire sauce, I didn't use fennel because I didn't have it. I used dried herbs where fresh were called because that's all I had. I also just  skipped the pan-fry step and baked them in the oven. They held together quite well and tasted good too. 

I didn't include raisins in the carrot cake bites and just coated them in finely-shredded coconut.

For the brownies, I used almond butter instead of peanut butter and skipped the chocolate chips because I didn't have any dairy-free chocolate chips. I baked the brownies a bit longer than the recipe called for - probably about 20-25 minutes total, and they still looked wet when I took them out. They definitely set up after cooling, like the recipe said.

I had several people at work ask for my recipes, and that always makes me feel like I made something somewhat tasty.

Summer Pasta with Zucchini, Ricotta, and Basil

Summer CSA and garden season is upon us and I needed to use up some zucchini. This NYT recipe for Summer Pasta with Zucchini, Ricotta, and Basil was very good! I didn't have the ricotta cheese, and it really is a must, but without it, it was still very tasty! I will definitely make this one again, and I will make sure to have the ricotta cheese.

INGREDIENTS

 Extra-virgin olive oil

1  small onion, finely diced

2  pounds zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick pieces (for larger zucchini, cut in half lengthwise before slicing)

 Salt and pepper

2  garlic cloves, minced, or 2 tablespoons chopped green garlic

1  ounce basil, about 2 cups loose leaves

1  pound ziti or other dry pasta

8  ounces ricotta, about 1 cup (see recipe)

 Pinch of crushed red pepper

 Zest of 1 lemon

2  ounces grated Parmesan, pecorino or a mixture, about 1 cup, plus more for serving

PREPARATION

Put a pot of water on to boil. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the onions in 3 tablespoons olive oil until softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat as necessary to keep onions from browning. Add zucchini, season generously with salt and pepper, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until rather soft, about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.

Meanwhile, use a mortar and pestle to pound garlic, basil and a little salt into a rough paste (or use a mini food processor). Stir in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Salt the pasta water well and put in the pasta, stirring. Boil per package instructions but make sure to keep pasta quite al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of cooking water.

Add cooked pasta to zucchini in skillet and turn heat to medium-high. Add 1/2 cup cooking water, then the ricotta, crushed red pepper and lemon zest, stirring to distribute. Check seasoning and adjust. Cook for 1 minute more. Mixture should look creamy. Add a little more pasta water if necessary. Add the basil paste and half the grated cheese and quickly stir to incorporate. Spoon pasta into warm soup plates and sprinkle with additional cheese. Serve immediately.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter

I had a butternut squash to use and a recipe for Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter was going around the dinner group. I made it over a few days because it was a lot of work. It also made a lot of gnocchi, so I cooked all the gnocchi, but only used half with half of the butter sauce and threw the other half into the freezer.
I like how it turned out, but the rest of family didn’t agree. Oh well...


Ingredients

1 1-pound butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 12- to 14-ounce russet potato, peeled, quartered
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 large egg, beaten to blend
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (or more) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
Additional grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut squash lengthwise in half; discard seeds. Place squash halves, cut side up, on baking sheet and brush with oil. Roast until squash is very tender when pierced with skewer and browned in spots, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool slightly. Scoop flesh from squash into processor; puree until smooth. Transfer to medium saucepan; stir constantly over medium heat until juices evaporate and puree thickens, about 5 minutes. Cool. Measure 1 cup (packed) squash puree (reserve remaining squash for another use).
2. Meanwhile, cook potato in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. While potato is warm, press through potato ricer into medium bowl; cool completely. Measure 2 cups (loosely packed) riced potato (reserve remaining potato for another use).
3. Mix squash, potato, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg, nutmeg, and salt in large bowl. Gradually add 1 3/4 cups flour, kneading gently into mixture in bowl until dough holds together and is almost smooth. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls. Turn dough out onto floured surface; knead gently but briefly just until smooth. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces.
4. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Sprinkle parchment lightly with flour. Working with 1 dough piece at a time, roll dough out on floured surface to about 1/2-inch-thick rope. Cut rope crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll gnocchi along back of fork tines dipped in flour, making ridges on 1 side. Transfer gnocchi to baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD Can be made 6 hours ahead. Keep chilled.
5. Working in 2 batches, cook gnocchi in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, 15 to 17 minutes (gnocchi will float to surface but may come to surface before being fully cooked). Using slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to same parchment-lined baking sheets. Cool. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover loosely and chill.

Cook butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat just until golden, stirring often, 3 to 4 minutes. Add sage; stir 1 minute. Add gnocchi; cook until heated through and coated with butter, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Serve with additional Parmesan.

Roasted cabbage and apples with veggie sausage

I had (and still have half) a huge cabbage to use up. I’ve made cabbage and apples with veggie sausage before, but not sure if I followed a recipe. This time, I used a recipe from Bon Apetit. It as easy enough, but not sure of the flavors. My cabbage was green, so perhaps that might have changed the flavor profile slightly. There was lots of cabbage leftover, to.


INGREDIENTS
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium apple, sliced
2 sprigs thyme
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 package veggie Italian sausage
Crusty bread (for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°. Toss cabbage, onion, apple, thyme sprigs, vinegar, 1 Tbsp. oil, and 1/4 cup water in a 13x9" baking dish; season with salt and pepper and roast, covered, until cabbage is wilted and softened, 35–45 minutes.

Pasta with eggplant sauce

I made this pasta with eggplant sauce from Smitten Kitchen.
I thought it was just ok. I probably won't make it again unless I need to use up an eggplant.

Pesto vegetable soup

I made this Pesto Vegetable Soup with veggies from the CSA share and from the garden. Even though it was hot out, the bowl tasted like summer!

Instant Pot Caramelized Onion Risotto

I was inspired after reading a Wall Street Journal article about using the Instant Pot to make a couple dishes. I didn't have access to the recipe the author used so I improvised. The first, a ratatouille, turned out o. The second, soubise, or caramelized onion risotto, turned out quite a bit better. I caramelized the onions a day or two beforehand, also in the instant pot. For the risotto general process, I used this recipe from hip pressure cooking. I halved the recipe and instead of the sautéed onion, I just put in the caramelized onions, and I added at least a quarter cup of cheese at the end. It was super quick and I thought turned out great!


Ingredients
2 cups of Arborio Rice (can be substituted with "Short Grain White Pearl" rice)

4 cups (or 1L) of chicken or vegetable broth 

1 onion, chopped 

1 swig of white wine

 Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

 salt and pepper to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS

 In the pre-heated pressure cooker on medium heat add the oil, and onion. Sauté the onion until it becomes translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the rice and lightly toast it to release the starch. When you add the Arborio rice to the onions, the rice will turn from solid white to translucent as it absorbs the oil and onion juice, then in about a minute back to white. Wait until just a couple of grains look golden and your rice is toasted! Add a swig of white wine and un-stick any grains from the bottom of the cooker with it and stir the rice until the wine has fully evaporated. Add the broth (or broth and veggie mixture), mix and close the top immediately. Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. For electric pressure cookers: Cook for 5-6 minutes at high pressure. For stove top pressure cookers: Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker indicates it has reached high pressure, lower to the heat to maintain it and begin counting 7 minutes pressure cooking time. When time is up, open the cooker by releasing the pressure. For electric pressure cookers cook for a minute less (since the release takes longer) and remove the inner pot from the cooker immediately to keep the rice from over-cooking . The risotto should appear just slightly too wet. Stir, and the rice will continue to absorb the extra liquid in about 30 seconds. If the rice is still very wet, put the open pressure cooker back on a medium flame, without the lid, and finish cooking it this way - stirring often- until it reaches the right consistency. Add in the cheese and stir.

Gnocchi with cheesy pomodoro sauce

I made this Gnocchi with cheesy pomodoro sauce in the instant pot. I sautéed the onions and garlic, added the herbs-all dried, then added the tomatoes, s&p, red pepper flakes, an extra 1/2 cup of water and a package of frozen gnocchi. I programmed the IP for 4 minutes on high pressure, and then did a quick release. I added shredded mozzarella cheese then transferred to a baking dish. When in the dish, I topped it with mozzarella and Parmesan then broiled for about 5 minutes.
There was a lot of sauce, which might have been because I used crushed tomatoes vs whole. I liked how it turned out, but may not make again due to other great gnocchi recipes.

Instant pot recipes

During the Christmas season, I got an instant pot. It is a 7 features in 1 cooking pot. So far, I've used it quite often, at least once a week, rather than trying to catch up with single posts, I'm going to list everything I've made so far here!

Minestrone was pretty good, but the pasta was a little soft.

Coconut curry-I roughly followed the linked recipe, but added a few more spices (whole cumin, some fenugreek, in addition to what was listed) and used sauté at the beginning with the aromatics and spices. I threw in potato instead of cauliflower and included red pepper and some mushrooms that needed to be used up.

Macaroni and cheese- turned out great! I used penne I had on hand and was worried about it getting too soft, but the 4 minutes was just right. I used about 1/2 cup of whole milk.

Broccoli and cheddar soup- I thought this was very tasty and was super quick! I sprinkled some veggie bacon and scallions on top of mine. Leela liked the bacon, but not the onions.

Tomato soup- fast and easy!

Steel cut oats - 1c steel cut oats, 3 c water, 1/4 c raisins, 1 cinnamon stick, salt. All placed in pot and stirred a bit. Put lid on, press 'manual', set time for 13 min on high pressure. It beeps and then says 'on' for a while, until it comes up to pressure. Once it is done, Do a quick release of the pressure. Once steam is gone, I open the lid and stir the oats. Put the lid back on and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Then it's done! You can also add a bit more vanilla extract, banana and maple syrup and voila - tasty :)

Eggplant and Tomato Pie

I am still working through our CSA veggies. I decided to make the New York Times Eggplant and Tomato Pie. It worked out pretty well because I had frozen pie dough and marinara, in addition to the CSA eggplant and plethora of tomatoes from the garden.
It went together easily enough. I roasted the eggplant ahead of time, while I was working from home. Then at dinner time, I put everything together and baked it all up.


I thought it looked pretty and tasted good, but it wasn't as well received by the rest of the family. Though Leela said she liked the eggplant and took a few bites of it, which I was pleasantly surprised by. In the end, I'm not sure if the pie dough was the right choice. I also had frozen pizza dough, so that or the dough from the recipe may have been a better choice.

Lemony Pasta with Collard Greens

I still have some salad to eat this week, but so far I've done a pretty good job of using up all the veggies. I had some collard greens I needed to use up from the CSA share, so I looked around for different recipes besides typical "southern" collard greens. I found a Martha Stewart recipe for Spaghetti with Lemon and Collard Greens. I followed the recipe fairly closely, but used penne and feta in place of the spaghetti and Romano. I thought it turned out great. I love the lemony flavor with pasta and greens!
I would definitely make this again to use up collards or another green. I might even throw in some white beans next time too!

Zucchini and Mushroom Pasta

This recipe from The Healthy Foodie was my inspiration for dinner last night. I saute'd the mushrooms in butter, then used olive oil for the zucchini and green onions. I combined everything then added salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. I had some pasta and added Parmesan cheese on top/mixed in.
I thought it turned out great. I would definitely make this again.

Spaghetti Pie

While making the pasta for the Zucchini and Mushroom Saute, I accidentally poured the entire one pound box into the cooking water. I ended up with A. LOT. of pasta!
The first thing that popped into my head to use it up was a spaghetti pie. One of my friends from college made a really good pasta pie with ricotta and spinach. Since a couple people over here are averse to green food, I've decided to opt for a more traditional (if spaghetti pie is traditional Italian) cheese and red sauce spaghetti pie. I couldn't find an existing recipe that fit everything I wanted - cheesy, tomato-saucy, and without meat, so I guess I'll say I was inspired by the SK/Food and Wine recipe and added some red sauce to it.
A little less than one pound of pasta (whatever was leftover from the previous night) that I had added some olive oil to so it wouldn't all stick together in the fridge overnight.
Three eggs
A little less than one cup of milk
Salt and Pepper eyeballed to be as close to the recipe amounts as possible
about a cup each of shredded cheddar and Parmesan
about a half cup of red sauce
All the above ingredients were mixed together and poured in my 10" spring form pan. Then I spread another 1-1.5 cups of red sauce on top.

I prepared everything the night before and baked it the next day after sprinkling on more Parmesan cheese at 425degF for about 40 min and broiling the cheese on low for about 3-5 min for a nice crust.

I was hopeful for the leftover rescue dish, but it didn't turn out as planned. It was very watery, maybe from the sauce? It didn't really stick together either. It was less pie and more spaghetti in a pie plate. In terms of flavors, it was OK. It didn't seem like there was enough salt or pepper and the cheese didn't get mixed well into the noodles either. This is a no go for the future, but maybe I'll try a smaller version with a lot less liquid.

Posto, post W30

We ate at Posto last night and I felt good after eating all the things!
Lemon arancini, beet salad with goat cheese, bruchetta with goat cheese and some pizza.
I'm going to have to try to re-create the arancini sometime soon.