Whole Wheat Skillet Pizza

I'm never making pizza in the oven again. This skillet pizza thing is AMAZING. It's my latest Best Thing Ever.

This was the easiest pizza I've ever made, and I felt safer making it. Because honestly, sliding and pulling pizzas off the pizza stone in a 500º oven always scares me a bit, especially with small children about.

The following recipe is adapted from Dinner: A Love Story which is a lovely cookbook I got from my sisters-in-law. I'm trying to use it more and more because everything I've made from there has been so good. I found that pizza dough recipe took too long, but I found one in America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook that worked brilliantly.

I made Hawaiian pizzas because our family prefers them, but you can use whatever toppings you like.

This recipe makes two 11"-12" pizzas. I used my 12" Lodge cast iron skillet, but you can use any oven-proof skillet and adjust the pizza size accordingly.

Whole Wheat Skillet Pizza
Pizza Dough from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

For the dough: 
1 C flour + 2 tbsp if needed
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1½ tsp olive oil
3/4 C warm water (110 degrees)

Toppings:
olive oil
1/4 C pizza sauce
4 oz deli ham, chopped
1 C chopped pineapple
1½ C shredded mozzarella

Turn on oven to warm (170º) for 5 minutes, then turn off and keep the oven door ajar for another 5 - 10 minutes. Grease a large bowl and a piece of plastic wrap. (I hang the plastic wrap off the microwave, spray with PAM and then place the bowl underneath it.)

Meanwhile, pulse 1 C flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and salt in a food processor to combine. With the processor running, pour the oil, then the water, through the feed tube. Process until the dough forms a ball, about 30 - 40 seconds.

Let the dough rest 2 minutes, then process for 30 seconds longer.  If the dough is sticky and clings to the blade, add another 2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing to incorporate.

Turn dough onto a light floured surface and knead into a ball. Place dough in prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put into slightly warm oven. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 1½ hours.

Turn out dough on floured surface and divide in half. Cover one half with plastic wrap. Roll and form each piece of dough into a round the size of your skillet. Keep one round covered while you cook your first pizza.

Preheat your broiler. Heat your skillet on medium-low heat. Add a glug of olive oil, and place dough round in it when oil is shimmering. (You can press the dough to the edges if it doesn't quite fit.) Cook dough for about 3 minutes, until the bottom starts getting brown. Flip the dough over, and add half the toppings. Cook for another 3 minutes, then slide the skillet under the broiler for 2 - 3 minutes, or until the cheese starts to get brown and bubbly.

Slide finished pizza onto a cutting board and repeat with second dough round and toppings.

Serve and enjoy!

Ham & Swiss Mini Quiches

Most of my favourite recipes come from America's Test Kitchen. The 30-Minute Suppers magazine I picked up four years ago is stained, taped, dog-eared and altogether well used. This recipe comes from that book.

The recipe calls for white bread, but I substitute whole wheat and since our family is only used to brown bread, we don't notice. I also find that every time I've made this recipe, there is enough custard to make 10 - 12 quiches. Tonight I prepped 10 cups and the custard filled them right to the brim. (Thankfully they did not spill over.) I also substitute Swiss cheese, since I love Swiss. Otherwise I make this recipe as is and it has always turned out. Tonight we had no leftovers.

Enjoy!

Ham & Swiss Mini Quiches
From America's Test Kitchen, 30-Minute Suppers, Winter 2010

8 slices sandwich bread, crusts removed
½ C sour cream
1 tsp cornstarch
3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
salt and pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne
3/4 C half-and-half
3 oz sliced deli ham, diced
1/2 C shredded Gruyère cheese

Heat oven to 375º. Lightly spray muffin tin with baking spray.
Using a rolling pin, roll each slice of bread until thin. Spray both sides of bread with baking spray, then line 8 muffin cups with the bread, gently overlapping edges to make the bread fit. Don't worry if you get some tearing, just patch it up best you can and move on. Bake until lightly toasted and edges are beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk sour cream, cornstarch, eggs, yolk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, nutmeg and cayenne in a large liquid measuring cup. To jump-start custard, microwave half-and-half until steaming, about 90 seconds. Whisk half-and-half into sour cream mixture.

Divide ham and cheese evenly among the bread-lined cups. Pouring slowly, fill muffin cups with custard mixture. Bake until the tops of the quiches are set (when you gently shake the pan, the tops don't jiggle) and the edges of bread are golden brown and crisp, 12 - 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Run paring knife around outside of quiches, remove from tin and serve.

Easy Peasy So Delicious Pork Tenderloin

This recipe is so easy, so delicious and so impressive. Even though you'll hardly spend any time preparing or cooking this tenderloin, it's a real crowd pleaser. I usually allow for 1/3 - 1/2 of a tenderloin per person. For our family of two adults and two small children, one tenderloin is just enough.

Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from Cooks Country

1 - 2 pork tenderloins
Montreal steak spice
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1/4 C ketchup
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400º. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack inside of it. Use paper towels to dry off tenderloin (this helps keep the meat from sticking to your frying pan). Sprinkle and then rub with Montreal steak spice all over.

Heat the oil in frying pan until just smoking. Brown meat on all sides. Place tenderloin on the wire rack in baking sheet and cook in oven for 15 - 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix ketchup, sugar, vinegar and 1½ tsp Montreal steak spice in small bowl. When you take tenderloin out of the oven, cover with foil for 5 minutes, then spread sauce over meat and serve.

Homemade Mennonite Noodles and White Sauce

Until the last couple years, I've always aimed to have dinner ready by around 6pm. You know, normal dinner time. And I never thought I'd do this, but since having kids, I've had to change dinner time to more like 5pm. I feel like Seinfeld's parents in Del Boca Vista, but you do whatever you have to in order to keep the kids from endlessly whining.

So today at 4:40pm - 20 minutes before the usual planned supper time - I called my sister.

Quick. I need your recipe for pinchy noodles. I haven't made them in forever and I don't have time to try to find the recipe.

So... these didn't turn out to be pinchy noodles and... the recipe she gave me was - she mentioned much later - for semolina flour and not all-purpose... but... here is a recipe that works for all-purpose.


Also, I should mention the very important fact that this is a Mennonite recipe. So it includes a cream gravy, which you can make with butter or sausage drippings. Using sausage drippings will make this dish more authentically Mennonite (the low German for the sauce is shmaufat) but using butter is perfectly acceptable.

I should also note that these noodles are one of those meals our kids eat and then ask for seconds!

Mennonite Noodles and White Sauce

For the noodles:
1 ½ C flour
3/4 tsp salt
3 eggs

Stir together flour and salt. Add eggs and mix together, using hands if necessary. Turn onto floured surface and knead until dough is smooth.

Roll dough on floured surface until quite thin. Sprinkle with flour. Starting from a long end, roll dough like a jellyroll. Using a knife or a pair of kitchen shears, cut coils of dough 1/8 -1/4 inch thick.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until done, about 3 - 5 minutes. Drain and toss with a pat of butter or glug of oil.

For the sauce:
2 tbsp butter or drippings from sausage
2 tbsp flour
1 to 1½ C milk
½ to 1 C sour cream

Melt butter in saucepan on medium-high heat, or if using sausage drippings, heat up in saucepan. Add flour and stir with a whisk. Add milk slowly, whisking constantly until sauce is quite thin. Allow sauce to come to a boil, stirring quite frequently. Once sauce is thick, finish off with sour cream and heat through.

Serve with noodles and farmer sausage.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Beans - A Quick Weeknight Chili

It's 4:30, the kids are starting to whine: I'm hungry! You look around the kitchen and you've not only forgotten to thaw some meat, but you have no idea what to make.

You start flipping through fast supper ideas in your head.

YES. Hawaiian Beans. That's it.

I think every household has a few of these quick recipes stored away for last-minute suppers. So this is one of my easy meals - I usually have the ingredients on hand, it doesn't require a lot of prep and it's one of our family's favourites. If you've forgotten to thaw out the ground beef, you can cheat (as I sometimes do) and thaw it in the frying pan, and/or start it out in the microwave.

This recipe came from my blessed mother-in-law. For my wedding shower, she gave me this big binder which she'd filled with their family's (and especially my husband's) favourite  recipes. I use that binder a lot.

I like to serve this with a starch (usually potatoes or buns, or sometimes cornbread if I have time) and a simple side salad.

Hawaiian Beans

1 tbsp canola/olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb extra-lean ground beef
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can brown beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp prepared mustard


Preheat oven to 350º. Pull out a casserole dish and a frying pan. 

Heat oil in frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering, add onion and cook until soft. Add ground beef. Break up chunks and cook until just brown with a little pink remaining.

Meanwhile, add kidney beans, brown beans, tomato soup, pineapple, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard to the casserole dish and mix together. Add ground beef & onion and stir until combined.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 - 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.