Food Through My Eyes

Homemade Pizza

2007-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while we love to make homemade pizza. The problem is that it can sometimes taste like cardboard. We used to bring home a whole wheat dough and add our toppings of choice, but it would come out tasting like cardboard. That took all the fun out of making and eating the pizza. Having that awful experience made me wonder if we were cut out to make pizza at home. So this has me asking what makes a good pizza crust? Is it the flour? Perhaps it is the timing of the rise? Maybe it is how it's kneaded?

A bunch of my friends were talking about homemade pizza one day, and I shared with them how I had such a hard time with the whole wheat crust we were using. One of my wonderful friends gave us her recipe for pizza crust. Armed with her recipe, Keith set out to make one of our best pizza nights yet.

This crust was delicious, it had just the right consistency, it baked nicely, and most of all it didn't taste like cardboard. Thank-you Deirdre for your recipe.

Homemade Pizza Dough.

Yield- 3 12 inch pizzas

What you'll need:

4 1/4 cups bread flour, plus extra for flouring the surface

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 teaspoonds salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 cups water, warm

What to do:

1) Pulse 4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt in a food processor fitted with a dough blade until combined. With the processor running, pour the oil, then the water through the feed tube and process until a rough ball forms, about 30 - 40 seconds. Let the dough rest for 2 minutes, then proccess for 30 seconds longer.

2) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 5 minutes, adding the remaining 1/4 cup flours as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size approx 1 - 1/2 hours.

3) When ready to make the pizza, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter, cut it into three even pieces, and cover with plactic wrap. Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape into a smooth, round ball, cover again with the plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 - 30 minutes.

4) Make pizza using desired toppings, bake each one separately on a pizza stone in an oven preheated to 500 degrees for about 8 - 13 minutes.

Happy pizza making!

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

2007-10-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Canadians have Thanksgiving? Yes they do. This former resident of Canada would like to wish all my fellow Canadians a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday eh!

Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October, and just like in the US families all over the country are stuffing themselves with typical Thanksgiving meals.

I love this holiday, food, friends, family are what Thanksgiving is all about. When I was a child my mother filled the house with friends who would bring their favourite dishes to share. Add their dishes to our dishes and there was way too much for everyone to eat. But the feeling was good, everyone felt welcomed and no one left empty handed.

Today, I won't be having Thanksgiving dinner, I have to wait until the end of November for that. Yesterday at our weekly dinner at my mom's, in honour of my birth country, she decided to serve turkey burgers. Not exactly a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving, but it worked none the less. She got the recipe from Rachel Ray's Comfort Foods cookbook. I found the recipe online here.

Each bite was tender and moist, you have to try this recipe. It is that good.

Ladies Night a Restaurant Review

2007-10-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Once a month several ladies from my church get together and have dinner at a local restaurant. It is an event that we look forward to each month. But choosing a restaurant that will please both pocket book and pallet is not always easy. I for one do not like to eat at fast food type places but on this particular night I made an exception. Our restaurant of choice was Zivaz Mexican Bistro. It was cute, inexpensive and the food was decent. Zivaz is what you get when fast food and casual dining have a baby.

Upon entering you will notice a modern Mexican decor. We were greeted by floor to ceiling menus. Usually you place your order before being seated, however in our case, we couldn't make up our minds so we chose to take a table and then order. Check out their menu here. We ordered the Tour de Zivaz which was a sampler plate that the chef puts together for you. When you order it, you don't know what you're getting. On this night the tour de zivaz was mole, enchiladas, fajitas, and rice which was more than enough food for two, maybe three people, depending on your appetite.

After we cleaned our plates we ordered dessert which was presented on large plates with lots of decorating. It wasn't fancy, but pretty and you can tell they wanted their dessert to come out with some sort of fan fare. For me this was the best part of the evening. One draw back was that Zivaz does not serve coffee, so dessert was to be had with an iced tea. --Not exactly how I like to end my evening out. -- All in all we had a wonderful evening, and I am looking forward to the next Ladies Night.

Kalos Orisate! (Welcome)

2007-09-21T09:12:00.001-07:00

Yassas! (Hello)

Last night we had the pleasure of going to Tucson's annual Greek Festival with friends. We had a wonderful time. Being a Canadian born Greek, I was no stranger to what greeted me behind the ticket gate. The smell of baked dishes, coffee, and roasted lamb, the sounds of live Greek music and the rambling of the crowd all welcomed us as we entered. The menu was simple and consisted of Athena Chicken, Spanakopita, Gyro, Pastichio, Souvlaki, Greek Salad, and Baklava. I chose Pastichio, DH had a Gyro, for dessert we had Loukoumades and Greek Coffee.

Pastichio

Pastichio is one of my favourite Greek dishes. It is made in 4 steps, you cooked the beef, the noodles and the cream sauce separately and then assemble them in a pan to bake.

Greek Salad and Gyro

A Gyro is made with spiced meat, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki sauce all on a piece of pita bread. This Greek salad was made with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

Greek Coffee

Greek coffee is not brewed in a machine, it is made with a brass pot, coffee grounds and water. The process is simple and usually the flavour is good, however it was not good here, I found it too weak and sweet. I prefer a stronger flavour in my coffee.

Loukoumades

These are basically donut holes dipped in honey and dusted with cinnamon. What makes them so good is the combination of hot, sweet and spice.

From The Pot

2007-09-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a teenager I have been in love with coffee. Back when I was young and impressionable my mother allowed me to have coffee with cream and sugar. Later when coffee was becoming a regular part of my life, I kicked out the cream and sugar and discovered what I really liked and didn't like about this black gold.

Not all coffees are created equal, just do a Google search on coffee and the blogger's who love it. You will find that there is a certain quality that has become standard among coffee connoisseurs. Coffee has become a science, it boils down to when the beans are picked, when they're roasted, how they're roasted, how they're stored, when they're ground, and how they're brewed. The whole thing is quite overwhelming for me but my taste buds appreciate those who are willing to go to great lengths to brew that perfect cup of coffee.

"Coffee is good, so good, that I want to drink it from the pot." KMF- 8 years old.

Aspiring Chefs?

2007-09-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

I love the fact that my kids love to cook. One son is fantastic with general cooking. He can make almost anything now. My other son is a pro on the grill. My daughter is learning how to put flavours together. All thanks to my husband's great cooking skills.

This morning my daughter and husband decided to make pancake roll ups. Basically it is a thinner than usual pancake rolled up with cream cheese and jam/ or in my case ricotta cheese and jam. They were sort of like a crepe. The cream cheese/ricotta cheese and jam in a pancake worked and the banana's on top were my daughters creative touch.

Experimenting with the blending of flavours are just what make a good cook. I heard a great line from the TV show Rules of Engagement, I am going to have to paraphrase because I can't remember exactly how it went, but it went something like.... This amazing thing happened, this woman took food from her fridge and made a complete meal from it. And that is what my family did this morning. We didn't have all the ingredients to make large batches of pancakes so the roll ups were invented. My daughter loved it, and she loved adding different elements to the pancakes.

I am so grateful to DH for teaching the next generation to look cooking and to love creating. I hope their future spouses will be grateful too.

Buffet Style or Family Style?

2007-09-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

As a mother of three kids with three different activites to go to each week. Evening meals can always be a bit harried. We seem to be running out the door to someone's activity, sometimes leaving the kitchen looking like a tornado ran through it. In order to lessen the impact of a dirty kitchen, we have decided to present all meals buffet style and that means leaving the food in the pots and pans they were created in. And for our family that is fine because we are casual people eating good food in a casual setting, however, this can be a problem when company comes for dinner.

Last week, we invited a couple over for dinner, and we served it buffet style. About a half hour before our wonderful guests arrived, my Dh suggested we set the table, but I thought otherwise and said lets just do it buffet style.

I sit here today thinking what was wrong with setting the table? Have I really become so used to the ease of plating from the stove that the thought of actually setting a table is just to overwheming for me? Maybe I'll set the table next time we have dinner guests. Where are those placemats? Yikes, I'll let you know how that goes.

Not In Love With Breakfast

2007-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

With my passion for food, one would think I would love all times of the day or night to eat. Not true. For me breakfast is boring, perhaps it's because I am limited by my allergies and by the fact that I am not hungry until late morning. It is so hard to choose to eat something when I am not hungry for it. So in my quest to increase my fondness for the most important meal of the day, I came across a suggestion that actually had me wanting to try it.

Ricotta Cheese Toast with Jam

What you'll need:

Whole grain bread, the more whole grains the better I say.

Ricotta Cheese, (any kind will do, but if you are watching your fat and weight, go low fat)

Jam, (I always buy organic jams and ones made with evaporated cane juice instead of sugar)

Fruit of your choosing, it doesn't really matter,

A toaster and a knife.

What to do:

Toast your bread to desired doneness, spread a small amount (1 tsp or less) of jam on toast, add about 2 tbsp of ricotta cheese on top. Slice, dice, or whatever to your fruit, serve and enjoy oh and don't forget the beverage, I love my black coffee in the morning.

If you are a hearty breakfast person, perhaps this can be your side dish, but for me it is all I need to break fast.

End of Summer? Not Here!

2007-09-12T07:41:00.001-07:00

Here in Tucson it is hot, hot, hot. I can't believe we are still seeing triple digit temperatures. The monsoons seem to be hanging around longer than expected and with the rains come humidity. I am more than ready for cooler temps. But I am not ready to give up fresh produce. Thankfully our growing season is all year long and that is an advantage Tucson has over most places in this wonderful country of ours.

One of the ways to keep cool is to make fresh salads. Yesterday for dinner Keith made a delicious simple salad. It had fresh tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, fresh from our garden basil, and feta cheese. It was dressed with olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. How simple and really good.

It's like they were meant to be together!

Sometimes the simpliest of foods are the most delicious.

Bruschetta

2007-09-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is the Bruschetta appetizer we ordered from Casata Italian Restaurant

This is hubby's version of Bruschetta.

What's for dinner tonight? We don't always know what to have for dinner and then we go searching the Internet or our cookbooks for ideas. But tonight was different. We knew we wanted to try to recreate a dish we had at a cute little Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village NYC.

An Evening at Bolo

2007-09-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

I have been to Emeril Lagasse's restaurant Delmonico in New Orleans (before Katrina), I have been to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Spago in San Francisco, so it only makes sense that I would want to try another celebrity chef's restaurant while in NYC. This time it is Bobby Flay's restaurant Bolo. http://www.bolorestaurant.com/index.html

For me there are two things that will have me talking about a restaurant, one is good food, and the other is good service. Bolo possessed both. I was impressed from the moment we entered the restaurant, but I was even more impressed with the food. So lets get right down to it shall we?

For our appetizers we choose a selection of 4 tapas from the tapas menu. Pictured here.

Starting at the top on the left we have a Twelve Layer Potato with Caramelized Shallots. On the right we have a Saffron Rice Cake with Shrimp. These two were my favourites. The rice cake was crunchy but not undercooked, and the twelve layer potato full of flavour. On the bottom from left to right we have Lamb Tenderloin with Arugula and Oven Dried Cherry Tomatoes and finally a Spanish Tortilla with Green Romesco. These two were really good, I just preferred the above two. However I would order these again if I had the chance. I like lamb and the lamb was tender and moist. I never had Green Romesco before but it reminded me of a smooth pico de gallo.

For dinner I chose a Oven Roasted Lamb Shank with Toasted Orzo and Slow Roasted Tomatoes. I wish you could have tried it with me, the lamb was so tender it just fell off the bone.

Keith chose a rice dish Shellfish and Chicken Paella with Saffron Rice, Chorizo & Green Peas. I didn't try his dish because of the chorizo but he said it was absolutely delicious.

Amazingly we still had room for coffee and dessert. I wish I took a picture, it was so beautifully presented. Anyway, dessert was tapas again. I really like the idea of having tapas for dessert. This way you get to try a little bit of everything and not overeat. We had a trio of Chocolate Tahini Ice Cream with Sesame Tuiles, Strawberry Bruschetta with Honey Vanilla Creme Fraiche, and Soft Chocolate Cake with Passionfruit Curd & Caramelized Bananas.

So this ends our experience at Bolo. All in all I loved my time there and I would recommend you go if you are ever in NYC.

Lunch at MoMA

2007-08-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

My official first post. Ok, well perhaps it isn't the official first post, after all I did write an introduction priar to this one. However this is the first one with description of a meal in it.

I am writing about this meal almost a week after I ate it. I was on vacation at the time and when we got back to the hotel I was too tired to write or even collect a thought. Next time I will try to write about it right away.

Let's go back to Friday August 31st late morning. My husband and I just arrived in NYC and we were looking for a place to have a quick bite. We had plans to go to the Museum of Modern Art so we decided to eat at the museum, I am so glad we did.

We chose the restaurant on fifth floor called Terrace 5.
http://www.themodernnyc.com/t5/t5.html Have a look at their menu it is really nice. We had chicken and vermicelli with avacado in a light Thai lime dressing (it isn't listed on their online menu). It was delicious, the avacados were perfectly ripe, the chicken moist and tender, the vermicelli was tender and not over cooked. The portion sizes were large enough for the both of us to share. All in all, it was a perfect introduction to MoMA in NYC.

Chicken and Vermicelli

When The Mood Hits

2007-08-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here it is, my first post about food. Perhaps you are wondering why I decided to write about food when there are so many wonderful blogs and websites about food out there. It's pretty simple, a friend suggested I write about food. She told me her mouth watered when I described what I happened to eat that day. And I guess, I would like to share that with you. I would love to describe to you the different foods my husband cooks for us. I want to share recipes with you. I want to share with you the thrill of finding a great local restaurant. Most of all I want to share my love of food with you.

At this writing I have a photo blog which is supposed to be a picture a day for a year. You can see it here: (http://www.sahminus.blogspot.com/ ) I can't say that I was able to keep it up for a full year. I missed a lot of days and the year isn't over yet, so my plans for this blog is to write as the mood hits.