Showing posts with label bbq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bbq. Show all posts
We're Knee-deep in Deliciousness --- Experiencing Deep Dish Pizza
4/11/10: BBQ Chicken Deep Dish Pizza and Cookies and Cream Cake
Meal details: For the main course I made a deep dish style pizza with a bbq sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, bell pepper, and onion topping. And for dessert I made a chocolate cake with a cream cheese frosting, all of which had Oreo crumbs whipped in! I'm an Oreo fiend so you can see why I chose this type of cake!
Defining moments: I finally was able to use a Christmas gift I received last year. They're called Evenbake Cake Strips and they are from Regency.
Another defining moment for me this week was making a deep dish pizza. Never did that before!
Recipe sources: The recipe for the pizza crust came from the King Arthur's Flour blog, Baker's Banter. I didn't follow the instructions for the topping though, I made my own by combining chicken, bell peppers, onions, bbq sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese. The Cookies and Cream Cake is a Pat and Gina Neely recipe and I specifically chose it because I am part of the Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.
What I learned: You know those cake strips I just mentioned? Well, I learned that they are suppose to help your cakes remain level and moist. To use them, you have to saturate the strip in water, squeeze a little, wrap it around your cake pan, pour the batter in, and bake. Really simple and I discovered that it actually works! My cakes (I made a two layer cake) came out with a level top and they were incredibly moist. So I give this unique kitchen gadget 2 thumbs up! :D
Any modifications? I just modified the pizza toppings, I did everything else according to the recipes.
How it tasted? Can you believe that people are still talking about that pizza days afterwards? In a good way, too! ;) Everyone loved the pizza and the Cookies and Cream cake was exceptional. Annemarie, who is from Chicago, said that the pizza crust is just like the real thing. Wow, huh?!
How about a 2nd time? Are you kidding? Of course!
Meal details: For the main course I made a deep dish style pizza with a bbq sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, bell pepper, and onion topping. And for dessert I made a chocolate cake with a cream cheese frosting, all of which had Oreo crumbs whipped in! I'm an Oreo fiend so you can see why I chose this type of cake!
Defining moments: I finally was able to use a Christmas gift I received last year. They're called Evenbake Cake Strips and they are from Regency.
Another defining moment for me this week was making a deep dish pizza. Never did that before!
Recipe sources: The recipe for the pizza crust came from the King Arthur's Flour blog, Baker's Banter. I didn't follow the instructions for the topping though, I made my own by combining chicken, bell peppers, onions, bbq sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese. The Cookies and Cream Cake is a Pat and Gina Neely recipe and I specifically chose it because I am part of the Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.
What I learned: You know those cake strips I just mentioned? Well, I learned that they are suppose to help your cakes remain level and moist. To use them, you have to saturate the strip in water, squeeze a little, wrap it around your cake pan, pour the batter in, and bake. Really simple and I discovered that it actually works! My cakes (I made a two layer cake) came out with a level top and they were incredibly moist. So I give this unique kitchen gadget 2 thumbs up! :D
Any modifications? I just modified the pizza toppings, I did everything else according to the recipes.
How it tasted? Can you believe that people are still talking about that pizza days afterwards? In a good way, too! ;) Everyone loved the pizza and the Cookies and Cream cake was exceptional. Annemarie, who is from Chicago, said that the pizza crust is just like the real thing. Wow, huh?!
How about a 2nd time? Are you kidding? Of course!
Not My Best Showing
11/15/09: Pizza and Apple Pie from Scratch
Meal details: For the main course I made three different types of pizzas: Broccoli and Parmesan, BBQ Chicken, and Traditional. For dessert I made two apple pies, one with Gravenstein apples and the other using apples picked from a wild apple tree growing on our farm.
Defining moments: This would be my first time making apple pie! Can you believe that one?
Recipe sources: I came up with the pizza toppings but I used a recipe created by Cat Cora for the dough. Check it out here. I chose this recipe because I am part of the Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. (Learn more about this fun challenge by visiting this page.)
For the pie now. I made the pie crust using the following recipe that came from The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, but I did shorten the instructions significantly.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
I didn't follow a recipe for the apple pie filling, I just did what Annemarie usually does. Which is...
Apple Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
8 cups of apple slices *
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Directions:
Place bottom crust in pan and dust with the flour. Add the apple slices and sprinkle sugar on top, no need to mix. Dot apples with butter. That's all there is to it! No cooking whatsoever.
* I used Gravenstein and a wild apple for my pies this time. For those who are interested in making their own, I suggest using the following varieties: Northern Spy, Idared, Jonathan, and Empire.
What I learned: It was difficult for me to make six, 10" sized pizzas using Cat Cora's pizza dough recipe. There just was not enough dough to work with, and because of this I had to break out a box of pizza dough mix. So if you are going to do this recipe, expect four, 10" sized pizzas or six, 6" sized pizzas. The dough is lovely to work with by the way!
I learned something invaluable this week and that is to bake my apple pies for a longer time! I've only done one type of fruit pie before and that was peach. With a peach pie it is easy to tell when it is done because you just wait until the peach juice bubbles. But this is not so with apple pie. So I was having a hard time deciding when to grab my potholders and I ended up under baking. Oops! :( Next time I will bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and no less.
Any modifications? No, I followed the pizza dough recipe exactly.
How it tasted? The pizza dough was delicious and I liked how thin I rolled it out. Everyone liked the Broccoli and Parmesan pizza the most; the BBQ Chicken came in second.
The pies were just OK namely because of me under baking them. I was really disappointed by that! The wild apple didn't impart enough flavor; won't be using them again.
How about a 2nd time? I will be using the pizza dough recipe again but will double the recipe or just make one large one.
The Broccoli and Parmesan Pizza. I simply brushed the dough with olive oil, pre-baked it for two minutes, added the vegetables and cheese, then placed it back into the oven for 20 minutes at 375.
This is the BBQ Chicken version. I pre-baked the crust for two minutes, added the BBQ sauce, chicken, and mozzarella, then placed it back into the oven.
This is the Traditional Pizza. It is larger than the others and the dough was made using a boxed mix and some of Cat Cora's dough. The toppings are store bought pizza sauce, chicken, and a Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mix.
Mr. Apple Pie, I hope our next meeting shall be more pleasant.
Meal details: For the main course I made three different types of pizzas: Broccoli and Parmesan, BBQ Chicken, and Traditional. For dessert I made two apple pies, one with Gravenstein apples and the other using apples picked from a wild apple tree growing on our farm.
Defining moments: This would be my first time making apple pie! Can you believe that one?
Recipe sources: I came up with the pizza toppings but I used a recipe created by Cat Cora for the dough. Check it out here. I chose this recipe because I am part of the Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. (Learn more about this fun challenge by visiting this page.)
For the pie now. I made the pie crust using the following recipe that came from The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, but I did shorten the instructions significantly.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
I didn't follow a recipe for the apple pie filling, I just did what Annemarie usually does. Which is...
Apple Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
8 cups of apple slices *
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Directions:
Place bottom crust in pan and dust with the flour. Add the apple slices and sprinkle sugar on top, no need to mix. Dot apples with butter. That's all there is to it! No cooking whatsoever.
* I used Gravenstein and a wild apple for my pies this time. For those who are interested in making their own, I suggest using the following varieties: Northern Spy, Idared, Jonathan, and Empire.
What I learned: It was difficult for me to make six, 10" sized pizzas using Cat Cora's pizza dough recipe. There just was not enough dough to work with, and because of this I had to break out a box of pizza dough mix. So if you are going to do this recipe, expect four, 10" sized pizzas or six, 6" sized pizzas. The dough is lovely to work with by the way!
I learned something invaluable this week and that is to bake my apple pies for a longer time! I've only done one type of fruit pie before and that was peach. With a peach pie it is easy to tell when it is done because you just wait until the peach juice bubbles. But this is not so with apple pie. So I was having a hard time deciding when to grab my potholders and I ended up under baking. Oops! :( Next time I will bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and no less.
Any modifications? No, I followed the pizza dough recipe exactly.
How it tasted? The pizza dough was delicious and I liked how thin I rolled it out. Everyone liked the Broccoli and Parmesan pizza the most; the BBQ Chicken came in second.
The pies were just OK namely because of me under baking them. I was really disappointed by that! The wild apple didn't impart enough flavor; won't be using them again.
How about a 2nd time? I will be using the pizza dough recipe again but will double the recipe or just make one large one.
The Broccoli and Parmesan Pizza. I simply brushed the dough with olive oil, pre-baked it for two minutes, added the vegetables and cheese, then placed it back into the oven for 20 minutes at 375.
This is the BBQ Chicken version. I pre-baked the crust for two minutes, added the BBQ sauce, chicken, and mozzarella, then placed it back into the oven.
This is the Traditional Pizza. It is larger than the others and the dough was made using a boxed mix and some of Cat Cora's dough. The toppings are store bought pizza sauce, chicken, and a Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mix.
Mr. Apple Pie, I hope our next meeting shall be more pleasant.
Cooking Al Fresco
7/5/09: Grilled, Barbecued Hot Dogs with Kohlrabi Coleslaw, Bush's Grilling Beans, and Muffins. Muffins?! (Read on to see how the muffins fit in this week.)
So where are the muffins? I helped my younger sister bake a batch of muffins to be eaten as snacks when we're doing farm work. Can't pick and haul sweet corn on an empty stomach!
Here are the muffins my sister and I baked on Sunday afternoon. We used our own blueberries that we froze in July 2008. Blueberries are my favorite fruit!
Drum roll please! Presenting our very own Weber Grill! Don't you love the sleek lines and chrome legs? :)
And here is a nice, cool side of our famous Kohlrabi Coleslaw. As I said above, I used kohlrabi that my family grows. I was there when we sowed the seed, weeded, thinned the plants, picked it, washed it, grated it, and mixed it with dressing. Whew! What a journey! (By the way, the variety name for this kohlrabi is Winner. It definitely ended up staying true to its name!)
- Meal details: Main course, grilled hot dogs smothered with BBQ sauce.
So where are the muffins? I helped my younger sister bake a batch of muffins to be eaten as snacks when we're doing farm work. Can't pick and haul sweet corn on an empty stomach!
- Recipe sources: Didn't have to flip through a cookbook this week. The hot dogs are not rocket science and the coleslaw is actually my family's recipe.
- Defining moments: WE GOT A WEBER GRILL!!! And we ordered a cover, too! (The cover is one of my favorite features I must say.) The charcoal grill is round (just like the one Bobby Flay has, except he has a cobalt blue one), and it fires up in no time. It isn't that hard to clean either and I am using a scrap of aluminum foil to do the job, yeah, not really professional, but it works!
- What I learned: I learned how to start a charcoal grill. Very important learning experience, and I am glad I still have both eyebrows!
- Any modifications? Nadda.
- How it tasted? Everything was superb!
- How about a 2nd time? Without a doubt. We've done this meal before a number of times.
Here are the muffins my sister and I baked on Sunday afternoon. We used our own blueberries that we froze in July 2008. Blueberries are my favorite fruit!
Drum roll please! Presenting our very own Weber Grill! Don't you love the sleek lines and chrome legs? :)
And here is a nice, cool side of our famous Kohlrabi Coleslaw. As I said above, I used kohlrabi that my family grows. I was there when we sowed the seed, weeded, thinned the plants, picked it, washed it, grated it, and mixed it with dressing. Whew! What a journey! (By the way, the variety name for this kohlrabi is Winner. It definitely ended up staying true to its name!)
Roll Out the Red Velvet Cake for Our Mother Mary!
5/10/09: Chicken BBQ Pizza from The California Pizza Kitchen and Red Velvet Cake for dessert.
So any mods this time? Well, I sort of winged it with the pizza recipe. I never did follow it, even for my first attempt. The recipe ingredients sort of sowed the "seed" in my mind and I went on from there.
Here is what I did:
Here's a cake for Mary. You can see that I used the star tip with the piping bag for the filling--before it broke!
What's this?! My photographer happened to take a shot of me cooking the chicken! Boy, you're a sneaky one, sis!
- Sources: Pizza recipe came from recipezaar.com and the cake was from Annemarie's Betty Crocker cookbook. I made the Chicken BBQ Pizza before, so check it out here.
- Defining moments: First ever Red Velvet Cake and first time using a piping bag. You can certainly tell it was the first time--read on!
- What I learned and modifications: Did you know that Red Velvet Cake and Devil's Food Cake are one and the same except that the former has red food coloring added? I didn't know that one!
So any mods this time? Well, I sort of winged it with the pizza recipe. I never did follow it, even for my first attempt. The recipe ingredients sort of sowed the "seed" in my mind and I went on from there.
Here is what I did:
Becky's BBQ Chicken Pizza
Prep: 1 hr. Cooking: 25 min.
Yield: Two 10 x 15" cookie sheets
Ingredients:
Prep: 1 hr. Cooking: 25 min.
Yield: Two 10 x 15" cookie sheets
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
- 3 boxes of Jiffy Pizza Dough Mix
- 4 cups of bbq sauce (I add some ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and granulated garlic to Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce)
- 1 medium onion
- 1 1/2 c. bell peppers
- 2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook the chicken in the dutch oven with 2 cups of water. After they turn light brown take them out and cut them into small cubes, then transfer them back into the pan and wait until they are thoroughly cooked. In the meantime, cut the onion and peppers and prepare the bbq sauce and pizza dough. After the chicken is done move it to a small bowl and toss it with a small portion of the sauce. While the chicken is cooling knead the dough and role it out to the pan size. Spray the pans with cooking spray and move rolled dough to each pan. Pat down and stretch dough up sides of pan. Bake crust for 2 minutes. Take pans out of oven and brush crust with bbq sauce. Top with onions, peppers, chicken, and cheese. Place back in oven and bake for 25 minutes. Cut each pizza into 8 pieces. IMPORTANT NOTE: I must leave two pieces free of onions and peppers for Annemarie. :)
- How it tasted? Can you really complain about this pizza? No, I didn't think so. The cake was good, too, even though it was missing a rose. I believe Mary wouldn't find fault with it so that's good to know. :)
- What about a 2nd time? Yes, indubitably.
Here's a cake for Mary. You can see that I used the star tip with the piping bag for the filling--before it broke!
What's this?! My photographer happened to take a shot of me cooking the chicken! Boy, you're a sneaky one, sis!
Going Against the Grain
12/28/08: Chicken BBQ Pizza from The California Pizza Kitchen
- Sources: recipezaar.com. See recipe here.
- Defining moments: Tried an iffy recipe. Yes, when I first came by this recipe I thought it sounded really "extrana" (aka "strange", I'm learning Spanish right now, hehehe), so I kind of was risky that day. Paid off though as you will soon find out!
- What I learned: Boxed pizza dough is really easy to use. All I had to do is dump the box contents into a bowl, add water, stir, let sit 5 minutes, and that's it. Maybe it was too easy. . . I like to feel like I am doing something.
- How it tasted: My goodness, everyone flipped over this one! I guess it was a good idea to try something a little bit out of the ordinary.
- How about a 2nd time? It was liked so much that I made it again in the middle of the week.
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