Pizza. You're doing it wrong.

I messed up when I was making pizza. I was using the pizza stone and in the process of transferring the pizza to the pizza stone using the paddle, I messed up and got a lot of pizza sauce on the pizza stone and part of the pizza was falling off of the pizza stone. I still let it cook though, and it turned out alright. Part of the dough was very soft due to the excess pizza sauce. The pizza didn't get nice and bubbly like it did last time. It was still tasty. I put some feta cheese on top and that was delicious, I think it needed more though.

Here are the toppings: garlic, tomatoes and spinach.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I made whole wheat sandwich bread from Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads". The process took two days. The first day I made two separate doughs, each with its own unique ingredients. The next day I combined the two doughs, added some extra ingredients and let it sit for about an hour. I then put the dough into the loaf pan and let it sit again for an hour before I put it in the oven. It is a fairly complicated procedure but the result was pretty good. It did taste like bread, and it didn't taste as doughy as my bread has tasted in the past. The downside to baking your own bread is that you have to slice it yourself. I wanted to use this bread in my sandwiches that I take to school but it was hard to cut a perfectly thick slice. I usually cut slices that were too thick and my sandwiches ended up very bready. I would still prefer store-bought whole wheat sandwich bread to this bread, but it's a step in the right direction. I hope to try a more exciting recipe from that book next.

Cinnamon Rolls

I had been craving cinnamon rolls lately so I finally decided to make them. I followed this recipe: http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2008/01/01/rollin-and-tumblin/
I made the mistake of using powdered sugar in the filling instead of regular sugar (I read the recipe wrong). I'm not sure how big of a difference it made. I also feel like there isn't enough filling. I used whole wheat white flour, so the cinnamon rolls do have a bit of an earthy taste, but I don't mind it too much. They definitely would have been better with bread flour. I tried one of these right when they came out of the oven and it was very good - the center was all soft and warm and the frosting was also good. The frosting is just powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. I'm not sure how these will taste the next day. I put them in the refrigerator because they have milk in them and it just seems wrong to leave something with milk in it out. Overall I'm happy with how they came out.

I also got to use my kitchenaid to make the dough! It was my first time using both the paddle and dough hook attachments. It was very exciting.

Kitchenaid doin' it's thang:


A cinnamon roll before it was put in the oven. Not very flattering due to the powdered sugar - it would have been cuter if I used regular sugar.


Here is a cooked cinnamon roll:

Lasagna

I made lasagna again. It's just not very exciting. It's the same way I always make it, with ricotta, tomato sauce, an egg, onions, broccoli, spinach and cheese. I still think it tastes good but I'm a little sick of it. Plus I made it earlier this week with the intent of eating it every night of week but I didn't eat it for dinner once. I did have it for lunch today though.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi! I made extra fatty chocolate chip cookies today. Typically if I make a cookie, I try to find the recipe that requires the smallest amount of butter but today I went all out. I was going for a "chewey" chocolate chip cookie, meaning it requires extra butter. The problem with these cookies is that I didn't know when to take them out of the oven - I didn't want to overcook them and I didn't want to undercook them. The first batch I pulled out too early and the centers of the cookies were completely undone. I ended up putting them back in the oven for a little. The second batch I think I overcooked, since I saw how the first batch came out and didn't want to make the same mistake. Overall, the cookies are good - you can't really go wrong with an obscene amount of butter (1.5 sticks) and sugar (1.5 cups). Quite frankly I think that there's too much butter in them - they have a faint greasy texture which I am not a fan of. I'll have to see what I do next time. This recipe made a lot of cookies, so at least the butter is fairly spread out.

Pasta with Pesto

This was my first experience making pesto. The ingredients are fresh basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, pistachios and fresh garlic. I didn't know how much of each ingredient to put in there, so I just winged it and tasted it as I went, adjusting appropriately. I think it turned out fine, I personally enjoyed it. But thas jus me!

Blueberry muffins with chocolate chips on top

I decided to make blueberry muffins tonight. I actually used fresh blueberries instead of frozen but I'm still deciding whether or not they are significantly better than frozen in muffins. They were certainly plumper than the frozen. These muffins turned out pretty good, and I put a few chocolate chips on top just for kicks. I didn't put anything extra healthy in them, other than the flour being white whole wheat. I personally don't feel that chocolate goes well with blueberries but I felt that the muffins needed a little something something on top. I think it worked out fine.

Oh, and thanks to my roommate, I know how to take closeup photos now! Check out this puppy: