Make-Ahead Pizza Dough....and Pizza Sticks for Lunch

Now that school's in session, you'll find me every Saturday in my kitchen, cooking for the week ahead. I'm determined to stop relying on basic sandwiches this year and branch out into better lunches. Pizza's great, whether warm or cold, so this was a natural starting point for me. My oldest is in middle school and has a microwave at her disposal, so she'll likely eat her pizza sticks warm. My youngest doesn't have access to a microwave, so we've compared these pizza sticks to the Lunchables pizza lunch, which kids eat cold all the time. She approves.

This dough can be made ahead and frozen so that you have two pizza crusts ready to go for dinner one night when Papa John calls out to you. Instead of relying on delivery (which can cost a family of four as much as I spend per week in groceries), pull out your dough and you'll be ready to bake in no time. If you roll your dough into pizza crust shape before freezing, the thawing time will be minimal. The other option is to keep it in a ball and thaw it overnight in the fridge. Either way, pizza night just got a whole lot cheaper and less complicated.

This is not the first pizza dough I've shared with you, but it has a different texture and taste than this one. The one I shared a while back is great for cracker-thin crusts. This dough is softer, which makes it a natural choice for my kids' school lunches.

Make-Ahead Pizza Dough
Makes enough dough for 2 medium pizzas (thin crust)

What You Need:

• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (if desired. adds color and flavor. I used parsley, basil, and thyme)
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups flour (white or whole wheat, or a combination)

How it's Done:

1. Stir together yeast, sugar, and water, and let it sit until bubbly. Stir in half the flour, the salt, herbs, and melted butter.
2. Knead in remaining flour until a stiff dough forms. Knead about 6 minutes.
3. Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl. Cover and place in a warm spot for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Punch the dough down, divide it in half, and roll each half into desired shapes. In my case, rectangles, as I'm making pizza sticks. I want my sticks on the thick side, so I rolled my dough into rectangles that were about 1/2" thick. Place the dough on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. You can freeze at this point if you want. Otherwise, proceed.
5. Let the dough rest 20 minutes. Then, top as desired and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

For my pizza sticks, here's what I did once the dough was rolled into rectangles:

1. I placed each rectangle onto a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
2. I used a pizza cutter to cut through (but not separate) the dough, making 1" wide strips.
3. I spread a bit of pizza sauce -- just a couple tablespoons per rectangle -- on the dough.
4. Then, I topped the sauce with sliced veggies. In this case, sweet banana peppers.
5. Next, I sprinkled about 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan cheese on each rectangle, and baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. I let them cool slightly before recutting the strips.

Homemade Flour Tortillas: My Take on It

It's not that expensive to buy a 10-pack of premade whole wheat flour tortillas. Generally, I can get good quality tortillas for about $3.00 a bag. But when every dollar counts, and you really want to be sure you know what you're feeding your family, it's best to make your own. Making flour tortillas is easy, believe it or not. It requires only a few ingredients and less than 30 minutes of your time. You can make your tortillas while your filling is cooking and by the time it's ready, your tortillas will be done as well.

Lots of home cooks make flour tortillas, and they all have slightly different methods. Here's the method that works best for me. It uses ingredients I'm okay using and it's never failed me.

Flour Tortillas (Half White / Half Wheat)
Makes 14 to 16 fajita-size tortillas

What You Need:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 5 Tbsp butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
• about 1 1/2 cups cool water (maybe slightly more, maybe slightly less)

How it's Done:

1. Combine flours, salt, and baking powder.
2. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips. Once the butter pieces are smaller than peas, add the water. Stir to combine.
3. Knead the dough a few times, until it is a smooth ball. Let it rest a few minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 14 to 16 even portions. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface.
5. Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium high heat (medium if using stainless steel skillet). Drop a tortilla in, cooking it 30 seconds or so on each side.
6. Move tortillas to a plate and cover them with a clean towel while you finish cooking them. Store them tightly covered to keep them soft.

Review & GIVEAWAY!: SodaStream Soda Maker

image courtesy SodaStream

Let me take a few minutes to tell you about my favorite new kitchen toy: The SodaStream. I was given the opportunity to try this baby out for myself in my own kitchen and I fell in love. I was like a kid at Christmas as I took it out of its careful packaging, oohing and ahhing over every bit I unpacked. Here's what I got:

The Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker

60-Liter refillable Carbonator

9 SodaMix Flavors, including:

• 
  
  Diet Cola
• 
  
  Diet Pink Grapefruit
• 
  
  Diet Lemon-Lime
• 
  
  Diet Cranberry-Raspberry
• 
  
  Lemonade
• 
  
  Root Beer
• 
  
  Orange Mango
• 
  
  Energy
• 
  
  Cola

My Water Flavor Essence in Lemon-Lime

It's so much fun to make your own soda at home! Even my husband, who doesn't get excited about much, got excited about the SodaStream. It's so simple to use that even the kids like making their own soda. And for sleepovers and playing with friends -- how cool is it to be able to make your friends fresh soda with the push of a button? Very cool.

So it's fun, you're thinking, but it's still soda, and soda's junk.

Sure, I'll give you that. Soda's not a drink for every day, and not something I'd serve my children at meal times. But if you're going to have some soda now and then, I bet you want it to be a bit better for you and your family, right?

SodaStream's SodaMix Flavors have no high fructose corn syrup, no aspartame (they're sweetened with Splenda), and are lower in calories than store-bought sodas (averaging 35 calories per serving). There are fewer carbs, less sodium, and less sugar than store brands. Plus, you control the water you use as well as the amount of flavoring and carbonation. Like a lot of bubbles and just a bit of flavor? You can do that. Like the traditional store-bought soda flavors? Easy as can be. Like just a few bubbles and lots of syrup-y goodness? You can do that, too. Maybe you prefer sparkling water with no flavorings. Easiest of all.  SodaStream allows you to control and customize what you drink. It's soda on your terms.

SodaStream is better for the environment than store-bought soda, too! When you're making soda at home, in a reusable plastic bottle (SodaStream comes with two of them), there's no buying bottles or cans at the store, and no worrying about throwing them away or recycling them (my community doesn't even have a recycling program!). There's less waste in landfills. There's less energy going toward the manufacturing and shipping of those bottles. Plus, you don't have to cart them from store to home!

SodaStream is fresher than store-bought soda. You make what you need, in a neat 1 liter reusable bottle. Because it's a smaller size than traditional 2-liter store bought bottles, it's likely to stay bubbly until you're through with it. I don't know about you, but I hate it when I open a half-full bottle from the store only to find it's gone flat. SodaStream is still bubbly the next day, and I love that.

SodaStream is a great value! Twenty-five cents gets you a liter of sparkling water. According to my math, SodaStream soda costs about half of the store-bought price, and I get to make my own soda. You all know how much I love making my own.

We tried all the flavors. They're all delicious. There were a few favorites, though, and I'd like to talk about them briefly:

The kids enjoy the Root Beer best. It's delicious, and it's first ingredient is simply sugar.

I enjoyed the Diet Cola best. I thought it would taste like Diet Coke, but it didn't. It tastes like a mix of Diet Pepsi and RC Cola. Best of all (and this is not a scientific finding, and not a product claim, merely something I noticed), I don't feel dehydrated and puffy when I drink it. When I consume Diet Coke and other store-bought colas, I feel unwell. I feel puffy and dehydrated and out of sorts. With the Diet Cola from SodaStream, I feel very hydrated and I love that. I enjoy diet cola, and I like that I can feel good and have my little pleasure at the same time.

My husband's in an intense Army school right now. It involves classroom time all day, plus hours of studying at home. He is ever so thankful for SodaStream's Energy flavor. It's an exact match of Red Bull energy drink, only better ingredients and only 35 calories per serving. He loves it and brings it with him to class each day.

Look at how easy it is to make a liter of soda at home:

I highly recommend giving SodaStream a try. You can buy it online or in many retail locations. It's a great value for your wallet, the environment, and your taste buds.

Or Win It!

That's right! Win yourself the Fountain Jet Soda Lover’s Start-up Kit (approx. $100 retail value.) It includes the Fountain Jet, CO2 makes over 100 liters of soda, 2 reusable carbonating bottles, a sample pack of flavors, and 3 full-sized flavors of the winner’s choice. Sorry, continental U.S. Addresses Only.

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry: Visit SodaStream and leave me a comment telling me which three full-sized flavors you'd most like to try.

Optional Additional Entries:

1. Be a public follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect. Leave me a separate comment telling me you're a public follower.
2. Like All Home Cooking. All Year Long. on Facebook. Leave me a comment about this giveaway on Facebook AND tell me you've Liked me on Facebook in the comments section below.
3. Explore the SodaStream site and tell me something you've learned. (Leave another separate comment)
4. Post about this giveaway on your own blog. Leave me a comment with a link to your post.

I'll draw for a winner on Thursday, July 29, after 6 p.m. eastern time. Good luck!

Disclosure: I was provided with the SodaStream At Home Soda Maker, 9 SodaMix Flavors, My Water Essence Flavors, and a Carbonator free of charge from SodaStream for the purposes of my review. My opinions are solely my own and are in no way influences by this.

I made corn tortillas today!

...and it was easy!

Day170.

Wow! Have I really been at this venture for 170 days?

Anyway, yes, I made corn tortillas. I thought it would be an intimidating process, but it was very easy. Here are the steps I took. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the enchiladas I made with them.

What you need: Maseca Masa, some salt, some water, a tortilla press, a skillet, and a turner.

First, you combine 2 cups of masa, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 1/4 cups water and stir it up until the water's all soaked in and the masa is a nice soft dough reminiscent of moon sand...only less gritty.

Then, you divide the dough into sixteen even-ish pieces.

...and cover them with a damp cloth to keep them from drying out while you work.

You place a ball of dough between two GREASED pieces of plastic wrap...

...and you press it flat.

The dough gets cooked for a minute per side on a dry skillet over medium-high heat.

And here's your reward. Store them covered if you won't use them right away.

They smell wonderfully sweet -- nothing at all like the bitter-smelling store-bought type, which makes me wonder if the store-bought type might have gone rancid by the time they arrive in our homes.

Anyway, I'll never go back now. Nothing beats homemade. Now, I can add corn tortillas to my list of things I no longer buy from the store.

I Make Milk. What's YOUR Super Power?

Day 163.

When I was nursing my youngest daughter, nursing shirts with that slogan were popping up all over the place. I wanted one. I never got one.

The same slogan popped into my mind when I made soy milk yesterday. I do so love stickin' it to The Man by not buying processed foods. So it felt empowering to be able to make my own milk. Plus, as I've shared with you before, dairy doesn't agree with me. Nothing gross... I just experience chest congestion and cough for hours and hours. So it's nice to have dairy alternatives to fall back on.

(although I do love me some cheese...)

Anyway, I bought some soy flour this month, because...well...because it was for sale right next to the graham flour that I had on my list, and I thought it would be fun to try something new. :) Sometimes that's all the motivation I need. I've been using it in breads and as a thickening agent. I noticed a recipe for making soy milk from it on the side of the bag, and thought I'd give it a go.

It worked. But it needs work. I'm looking for a cost-effective source of organic soybeans to use at home. Until then, I'm willing to play with the flour. Learn from me here.

Soy Milk from Soy Flour

What You Need:

• 1 cup soy flour
• 6 cups water
• sweetener of some sort
• some salt

How it's Done:

1. The directions say to bring 6 cups of water to a boil, then slowly add in a cup of soy flour, stirring constantly. I say, bring FIVE cups of water to a boil. When it's boiling, combine the soy flour with the last cup of water to make a slurry, whisking until all the clumps are gone. I should have gone with my gut here and treated it like gravy but I went with the directions. Add your slurry to the boiling water and reduce heat to medium. Oh...the directions also don't tell you to use a large pot because soy milk bubbles up very, very quickly when you add the flour to the water. So use a large pot.
2. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. I would say keep an eye on it because mine created a crusted layer on the bottom of my pot. Could be because I didn't mix the flour with water before adding it in. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that's what went wrong.
3. Strain through a mesh strainer into a pitcher.
4. Add sweetener. And salt. The recipe doesn't call for salt but it really does need a pinch. I used vanilla and honey to sweeten this batch. I am going to play with sweetening in the future.
5. Refrigerate immediately for several hours before serving.

Now, there are people who think soy is very, very bad and won't touch the stuff. In huge doses (like, 6 servings per day or more), it can be less than good for you. But for folks like me, who cook from scratch and don't have any soy in their diets coming from processed foods (soy's in so many things that if you intend to truly avoid it, you had better cook from scratch), soy milk is just fine. But do your own research, and draw your own conclusions. I won't debate the merits of soy with you. It works for my family. :)

Coming soon: More soy milk, and rice milk. Someday, perhaps almond milk, though that would be awfully hard on my budget. So I might do it only once. Rice milk, though...that's affordable. :)

If only I had cacao beans...

**Don't forget to enter to win an Easy LunchBox System!**

Day 159.

What says summertime better than S'mores? As far as I'm concerned, nothing! I have wanted to try my hand at marshmallow and graham cracker making for ages, and I've finally gone and done it. Those puffy cylinders at the grocery store and those sugary graham cracker stand-ins can't hold a candle to homemade. Sure, it looks delicious in my pictures, right? But is it worth YOUR time? I believe so. This is such a yummy, rewarding treat.

Be the cool mom on the block. Make your own marshmallows and graham crackers. And find some cacao beans and make chocolate bars. Just kidding.

Sort of.

I found my marshmallow recipe at The Hungry Mouse. Since I'm not in the habit of copying someone else's recipe verbatim, please go visit The Hungry Mouse for the actual measurements. I'll just give you a pictorial tutorial with my suggestions and opinions thrown in for good measure.

My chocolate graham cracker recipe is inspired by The Prepared Pantry. I changed it up a bit so I will list my recipe here. See The Prepared Pantry for original specifications.

Ready?

Here we go.

First, you will want to make your graham cracker dough. Stir together the following in a mixing bowl:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat graham flour (you can substitute whole wheat instead. graham is just a coarser grind)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Set it aside for the moment. In your mixer bowl, beat 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted sweet cream butter until it's creamy.

Beat in 2/3 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup honey. Next, mix in 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 large egg.

Slowly stir in the dry mixture. You should end up with a firm, sticky dough. If it's too wet to make a ball, add a little more graham flour to the mix.

Move your dough to the fridge and let it chill for several hours to firm up.



Now it's time to start your marshmallows.

First, you mix your gelatin with your cold water in your mixer bowl and stir it up really well.

Don't smell it. Don't do it.

Next you prepare your pans for the marshmallow to set in. This is a very messy process so wear an apron and keep a cloth and broom handy. Sift powdered sugar onto your desired molds. I used a 10" square dish and a 9x11" rectangular dish. In retrospect, two 10" squares would have been better. My marshmallows would have been higher.

prepared pan for marshmallow fluff to turn into marshmallows

Then, it's time to make the sugar syrup. You'll need a tall pot, a whisk, a pastry brush, a bowl of cold water, sugar, corn syrup, a candy thermometer, and salt.

The Hungry Mouse says that you will need to brush sugar crystals from the sides of your pot. I never experienced much of that at all. Anyway, you will whisk together the water, sugar, salt, and corn syrup.

Then you need to clip on a candy thermometer. I have never owned one of these until this week. Trust me. Use it. What I thought was firm ball stage based on my perception was actually nearly 60 degrees colder than it needed to be! Use a thermometer. Here's mine:

Bring the sugar syrup to a boil and keep it there, on high heat, DON'T STIR, just leave it alone, until it reaches 244 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes longer than you think.

Remove it from the heat. Now, go see your gelatin. Stir it up. It will be dry-ish and chunky.

DON'T SMELL IT. DON'T. TRUST ME.

Put your splash guard on your stand mixer's bowl. Slowly pour the sugar syrup into your gelatin, with your mixer on low speed.

Even though you've now added your sugary goodness to the gelatin which you have not, to this point, sniffed,

DON'T SMELL IT. For the love of Pete, DON'T SMELL IT. You'll regret it and doubt your final product. Don't smell the stuff.

Now, set this to mix on medium-high for a full twenty minutes. Amazing things will happen. But for now, get back to your graham crackers.

Go get your dough. Divide it into three pieces to make your work easier. Roll each piece out onto parchment paper, to 1/4" thickness. Use a pizza cutter to cut squares/diamonds, but leave them all connected while they bake. Prick each piece with a fork several times. Slide your parchment onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about ten to twelve minutes.

Let them cool. They will still be soft when you take them out of the oven, but they'll harden up as they cool. Once cool, break them into pieces and enjoy!

Don't eat them all because we're making S'Mores, remember? Right about now, your marshmallow goo should look like pretty, shiny, puffy, white marshmallow fluff!

DON'T SMELL IT!

Instead, add your massive amount of vanilla extract (1/4 cup!) and beat it again for five more minutes.

NOW you can smell it. Go on. I know you're dying to smell it. Pour your fluff (well, scoop...or plop, or whatever) into your prepared pans.

This is a messy, messy process. You need lots of hot soapy water when you're done.

You think this is bad? you should have seen my fingers!

Now, dust the tops of your molds with powdered sugar and leave them alone for the night, uncovered, on your counter.

The next day, unmold your marshmallows. Use a sharp knife to cut around the edges of your pan. Lift the marshmallow up and out and only a clean surface for cutting. I cut mine into squares, You can do whatever you want. Dip the cut edges into more powdered sugar so they don't stick together.

Voila! Marshmallows!

Since I can't do it all ;) I bought some high-quality chocolate for my S'Mores.

Yum.

For more yummy recipes, visit Blessed with Grace for Tempt my Tummy Tuesday!

Even More Peaches!

Day 152.

I still have peaches left over from my recent purchase of 25 pounds of them. And I'm tempted to go back for more from my farmer's market.

Today, I peeled and cut them into slices for future use in recipes. More specifically, I'm putting these up for future pies. While I would prefer to pack them dry, I want to avoid freezer burn and keep them in good condition, so I'm packing them in a light sugar syrup. And that works out well for pie peaches. Here's how it's done:

You will need:

• 8 peaches for each future pie (I'm making enough for two future pies)
• 2 cups of sugar
• 6 cups of water

Step 1: Prepare the sweetener liquid.

I used plain sugar. Heat 6 cups of water on the stove. Slowly add 2 cups of sugar, stirring constantly, until all the sugar is dissolved. Let this solution cool completely before you add the peaches.

Step 2: Prepare the fruit.

Bring  a pot of water to a boil. Drop peaches in gently and let them boil for 30 to 45 seconds.

Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately submerge the peaches in an ice water bath. Leave them there for a few minutes.

The skin will now slide off easily. Cut off any bruised portions.

Cut the peaches into slices or halves, whichever you prefer. Sprinkle the slices or halves with lemon juice or Fruit Fresh to help them maintain their color.

Step 3: Combine the fruit with the sweetener.

Fill your freezer bags or containers. If using containers, leave 1/2" head space. If using freezer bags, be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing.


Step 4: Label and freeze.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor all year long!