NYC Pizza? Umm, YES PLEASE!

This is what I want to do for my 30th birthday. Scott's Pizza Tours Let's start planning!!!!

A Feast for Kings

This was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple so I wanted to go all out and show Steve my domestic skills. It was just him and I for dinner, but I didn't want to skimp. I wanted to make a feast with all of our favorites.

Instead of an entire turkey, I made a turkey breast. I bought one of those freezer-to-oven bagged breasts which turned out delicious, tender, and juicy. The bagged turkeys have NEVER let me down. The turkey came with a gravy packet too which was equally delectable. 

We looove mashed potatoes but I came across a recipe for turnip mashed potatoes. I don't think I've ever eaten a turnip and Steve wasn't too sure he had either. But the description said it tastes like a really mild radish. We love radishes so I decided to make two batches of mash - one regular and one turnip style. The turnip potatoes were AMAZING. The difference between the two were subtle, but the turnip mash had a slight bite to it and if you didn't know there was turnip in there, you'd be licking your lips trying to figure out why your mashed potatoes tasted kind of spicy. 

I made my own stuffing, using a simple recipe that my mom gave me. But, instead of white bread I used whole wheat bread just because it was what I already had on hand. I sauteed a yellow onion and three stalks of celery in a cube of butter and poured it over stale bread cubes. I added 2 tablespoons of poultry seasoning and a can of chicken broth. Since I didn't have a whole turkey to stuff, I baked the stuffing in the oven for about 40 minutes. YUM. Sometimes I add apples to the stuffing but we had some home-made applesauce frozen from a stash Steve's mom gave us earlier this year and I figured that would satisfy our appletite (ha!).

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving veggie dish like green bean casserole or carrots or broccoli, or cauliflower, or ANY OTHER VEGETABLE, I had to come up with something creative so that Steve would get his vitamins. So, I made a tomato, red bell pepper, and radish salad. I cut the veggies up in big pieces and tossed them in a home-made vinagrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, walnuts, thyme, salt, pepper, and a weird herb Steve planted for me outside) and added some crumbled feta cheese on top. This was a hit. Steve couldn't get enough!

I usually make the Pilsbury croissant rolls for Thanksgiving, but this year since I was on a domestic binge, I decided to make some semi-homemade biscuits. I used my go-to Bisquick recipe that I posted about before. 

Last, but certainly not least. The pumpkin pie. I really wanted to try out a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Tirimisu. Steve wasn't really into the idea, and requested pumpkin pie instead. So, I attempted my very first pumpkin pie of all time and found a Paula Dean recipe for pumpkin pie using cream cheese. It came out so good that pretty much all I could think about all day today was getting my paws on another piece of that pie!!!

Now, we have so many leftovers we'll have lunch and dinner for the rest of the weekend and I am planning on making a turkey and mushroom soup next week. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gorged yourselves like we did. Cheers to good food, family, and friends!

Mini Deep-Dish Pizzas

Recipe from my new favorite cookbook magazine, Everyday Food, a Martha Stewart magazine. This recipe is perfect for appetizers at a party or a fun night with kids. You can add different toppings to each "muffin" for a variety of pizzas! Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

• Olive oil for muffin pan
• all-purpose flour, for rolling
• 1/2 pound homemade or store-bought pizza dough in 12 pieces (I made my own dough with my breadmaker!! and it worked!!)
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• pizza sauce (I made my own)
• desired toppings (I used pineapple, artichoke hearts, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and mushrooms)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly brush muffin pan with oil. On a lightly floured workspace, roll out dough pieces to rounds that fit the muffin cups. Fill each cup with 1 round, gently pressing dough into bottom and sides of cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Add about a tablespoon of sauce to bottom of each dough cup. Add cheese, and then toppings. Bake until dough is golden brown and crisp, 12 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes before removing from cups. Serve and enjoy!

Nut Tree Pumpkin Muffins

Thanks to my dear friend Marissa for giving me this recipe. I tried it out last week and these muffins were incredible! Super moist and yummy. 

Recipe Source: Nut Tree Remembered: The Cookbook Vacaville Museum and Nut Tree, Vacaville, California

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I used 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice instead)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup water
12 California walnut halves (I used chopped pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix in oil, eggs and pumpkin. On low speed, gradually mix in water until well blended. Pour batter into greased muffin pans. If desired, top each muffin with a walnut half. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Homemade Pizza

Not surprisingly, pizza is one of our favorite foods. We order out from a local pizza parlor, Paisanos regularly, and Dominos is our staple pizza place for a quick and inexpensive dinner. But every now and then I make pizza at home!

Dough: I use either Pilsbury pizza crust or Trader Joe's pizza crust. And for my next pizza, I am going to try making pizza dough from scratch with my bread maker.

Sauce: I make my own sauce using a small can of tomato paste, canned tomato sauce (with no seasoning) and petite diced tomatoes (either fresh or canned, whatever you have on hand). I mix the sauces together in a small bowl, and add oregano, ground pepper, garlic salt, basil, and some crushed red pepper.

Cheese: I use shredded mozzarella either from an already shredded bag or fresh mozzarella that I shred myself. I also sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Toppings: My favorite toppings are artichoke heart, mushrooms, and pineapple chunks. But you can add whatever you want. Pepperoni, bell pepper, tomatoes, already cooked chicken, sausage, whatever you can imagine! 

I prepare the dough on a non-stick baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal so that the pizza doesn't stick to it. I also sprinkle the cornmeal on top of the dough to give it a little crunch! Meanwhile, I prepare my pizza stone in the oven at 450 for about 15 minutes. I add the sauce, cheese, and toppings to the dough and then transfer the pizza to the pizza stone from the baking sheet. This can be tricky but if you used enough corn meal on the baking sheet, it should slide off pretty easy. 

Cook the pizza for about 15 minutes or whatever the dough instructions say.

Slice and enjoy!!

Pork Tenderloin

One of my favorite dinners is Pork Tenderloin. My mom used to make this meal all the time and I would call it "round meats" and I would always request this for my birthday or any other special occasion. It's probably my favorite cut of pork and it is really easy to cook.

Ingredients:

• 1 pork tenderloin 
• 1/2 yellow onion sliced
• sliced brown mushrooms
• sliced bell pepper of your choice
• baby carrots
• shallots
• garlic
• white wine
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Heat oven to 325. In a 9 x 11 glass baking dish, drizzle olive oil into the bottom of the dish. Add some white wine, balsamic vinegar, and a little bit of water to bottom of pan. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Add to the pan. Slice veggies and arrange around the pork in the pan. Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil. Bake 10 more minutes uncovered until pork is only slightly pink in the middle. (Or use a thermometer to test internal temperature) Let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve with veggies. I usually make mashed potatoes or rice with this dish.

Steve thinks this recipe is "heaven, basically"