Spicy Red Juice

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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A while back, I did a juice cleanse. Prior to, and since then, I’ve read numerous articles here and there about the true benefits of juice cleanses. Most articles debate the actual health benefits of juicing. Trust me, you should Check This Out because the truth, for me, is that when I did my three day juice cleanse, I had a lot more energy, my hunger was successfully filled, and it was an easy way to cut out some of the extra, heavier foods, I tend to include in my daily diet.

As I have said often, when it comes to food in general, I believe mainly in balance. I don’t think a juice-only diet is particularly spot-on and certainly isn’t a great option for everyone, but here and there, especially when only done for a few days and paired with exercise and a decent amount of sleep, it’s entirely okay. Long term, I believe the healthier route probably falls along the lines of including juices into an already balanced diet of fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins.

I sort of jumped off the juicing kick, despite the folks at Breville sending me a free replacement  juicer when ours died without warning. The other day, however, fresh juice was the one thing I was majorly craving. Being a lady who enjoys listening to (and indulging in) the foods my body wants, I raided our refrigerator and fruit bowl to make a juice.

The result was this pleasantly balanced, slightly spicy juice. I love using ground turmeric for the color, especially when cooking rice or broths. Fresh turmeric, however, also has a great slightly spicy flavor with notes of ginger and orange. It’s high in manganese and iron, as well as a great anti-inflammatory. Along with the ginger in this juice, the spiciness is fully present but not overwhelming, balanced nicely with the sweetness of apple, orange, sweet potato and carrots. Juice cleanse or not, this is a great juice completely worthy of being consumed anytime you want.

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Spicy Red Juice

Yields about 24 ounces of juice.

Ingredients:

1 large fuji apple, cored
1 large sweet potato (yam), peeled
1 large navel orange, peeled
2 stalks celery
1- two inch piece of ginger, peeled
1- one inch piece of turmeric root, peeled
1 large beet, peeled
2 large carrots
1/2 a meyer lemon, peeled

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Directions:

Run all of the ingredients through a juicer such as this one. Stir and drink immediately.

*For the highest quality of nutritional benefits, fresh juices are best consumed right after being processed so the ingredients don’t have time to oxidize while being exposed to air. :)

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Posted in Beverages, Breakfast, Gluten-Free, Juice, Kids, Life, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz: Vanilla Ice Cream

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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I understand we’re nearing the middle of January, but I’ll tell you right now – ice cream has no particular season. It really is enjoyable year-round. My mother-in-law gave me the KitchenAid ice cream attachment for Christmas and since then, I’ve been researching (and pinning) ice cream recipes left and right.

There are numerous flavors I cannot wait to experiment with, but I have never made homemade ice cream in my life (until now) and decided that something extremely straightforward and not at all fancy would be a good place to start.

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I checked out David Lebovitz’s book, The Perfect Scoop at our local library. David is a professional cook, pastry chef, author, and blogger. I’ve been a fan of his blog and recipes for a few years and knew that this book wouldn’t lead me astray when it came to finding a good ice cream recipe. This book features numerous homemade ice cream recipes, sorbets, granitas, and other frozen treats. Many of the recipes sound incredibly irresistible… Lavender-honey, fresh ginger, pear-caramel, roasted banana, and panforte (an Italian cake featuring toasted almonds, spices and candied orange peel) being at the top of my list for recipes to attempt.

For my first ever homemade ice cream, I decided to follow David’s recipe for vanilla bean ice cream. I halved the recipe, as we also had dark chocolate brownies on hand and no need for a full quart of ice cream. After the first bite, however, I wished I had made the full recipe as this ice cream is perfectly sweet, creamy, and deliciously amazing on its own. So good in fact, my husband, Silas and I decided to have dessert at 4:30 in the afternoon when the ice cream finished, before dinner rather than after.

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Vanilla Ice Cream
Recipe modified from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop

Yields approximately two cups of ice cream.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Directions:

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, and half of the heavy cream in a small pot over medium heat. Once the milk is warm, scrape the seeds from the halved vanilla bean into the milk mixture. Add the scraped bean, too. Cover the pot and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, allowing the vanilla to flavor the milk mixture.

Pour the remaining heavy cream into a small bowl (steel is preferable if you have one) then set a mesh strainer over the top of the bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed egg yolks and milk back into your small sauce pot.

Over medium heat,  stir the egg/milk mixture constantly, scraping the bottom of the pot while you mix. Continue stirring and cooking the mixture until it thickens and can coat the back of your spoon or spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer, into the remaining heavy cream. Put the vanilla bean into the custard, then stir in the vanilla extract. Continue stirring the custard over an ice bath, until the custard cools. Place the custard into your refrigerator until it’s thoroughly chilled.

When you are ready to churn the ice cream, remove the vanilla bean from the custard. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream will not freeze hard in the machine, but reach a soft-serve consistency. You can serve it like this if you wish (it’s delicious) or scoop the mixture into a lidded container and allow it to harden in the freeze for at least one hour for it to reach a scoop-able consistency.

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Posted in Cookbooks, Dessert, Gluten-Free, Ice Cream, Kids | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Day to Day Life: Week One

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

It’s a new year, but I’m keeping these weekly posts going for 2014. Here’s a look at the last week!

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Many days with skies like this.

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Our New Year’s meal included black-eyed peas, collared greens, dirty rice, buttermilk cornbread and cranberry strawberry apple sauce.

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We also enjoyed a salted honey pie for dessert.

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Somebody waiting for midnight (made it, without getting overly grumpy!).

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Cheers to 2014! I also love these little mason jar shot glasses. And the smoked maple bourbon, which smells like pancakes and maple syrup.

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Torta panini!

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Euclid had a tough week.

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My favorite weird craving : pickles, cream cheese and black pepper on hazelnut toast (toasted in the panini press, because it makes the best toast, hands down).

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A moment of reflection and light.

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A last minute, thrown together dinner for my husband and I : pan seared cod topped with black bean, corn, and avocado salsa, along with basmati rice.

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Silas finished up winter break with a sleepover. We went to the SOU basketball game. These are some serious game-watching faces.

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Boy grub featuring homemade cheese pizza, veggie Canadian bacon/pineapple/half-olive pizza, and a jalapeno pineapple pizza for the husband-boy. Dark chocolate brownies for dessert.

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What sleepover is complete without a round of wrestling in Mexican wrestling masks?

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Buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

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A January portrait.

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Apparently I can check out 3-D movies across the street at our library, so we had an afternoon family 3-D movie hangout session.

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Homemade vanilla bean ice cream! Warmed up leftover dark chocolate brownie! So good. Recipe this coming week.

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A tasty post workout meal : pinto beans, steamed rice, pepperjack cheese, piquillo pepper + passion fruit salsa, avocado, and a side of tortilla chips.

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Saturday Sites: Week One

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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In any given day, I spend time reading other blogs, researching recipes and articles, often coming across things I find both inspiring and interesting. This year I’ve decided to dedicate one post each week to sharing some of those things. These posts aren’t limited in any way; there will be food-related things, recipes, photos, articles relevant to my life currently. My hope is that you find something within these posts that interests you, too. With that, we’re off:

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– We often had Fritos around the house when I was a kid. These homemade baked chili cheese fritos sound like they’d be fun to make.

– While I won’t be cooking Ted Allen’s steak, his recipe for roasted jalapeno chimichurri sounds incredible!

– I’ve always been more introverted than extroverted, shy and quiet, and I spend too much time in my own head. But I joke that getting married and step-parenting two boys has taught me significantly, how to yell. Loudly. This article resonated with me in ways I didn’t expect. I needed to hear/read this at the peak of dealing with a child who can often try every single one of my nerves and certainly doesn’t hesitate to push boundaries at any given moment.

– This cocktail!

– And while we’re at it, this one too! I was on the spin bike at the gym when I read this post and had to bookmark it immediately.

– I received the KitchenAid ice cream attachment for Christmas and have been researching recipes since then. This brown butter ice cream sounds decadent without being overly frilly – my favorite style. I love the color as well!

– When I read this article, I thought to myself, “damn, here we go jumping on the bandwagon…” I had decided a couple weeks ago that in 2014 I wanted to consciously make the effort to take time in each day for myself, using those moments to meditate. I have never been good at doing this; it’s hard for me to calm my mind or focus on anything other than what needs to happen next in the day. Regardless, I’ve been trying to carve out even a mere 10 minutes of time to just stop, breathe, really practice being grateful and accepting of my life wherever it’s at… and so far, it hasn’t been as challenging as I expected.

– When I was in college, my roommates and I found lots of ways to distract ourselves from studying. I laughed so hard when I found this site, as this is in fact one method of distraction we too loved.

I’m not usually into green juices. I’ve tried numerous types. If I can drink them down in one large gulp that bypasses the majority of my taste buds, maybe we’re okay, but probably not. However, after the mass quantities of random grub I’ve been consuming for a good month now, this green juice actually sounds delicious.

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This reminder came precisely at the moment it was needed most.

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Black-Eyed Peas

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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Happy New Year, folks! Do you have traditional foods you eat to welcome the new year? My mom is Japanese and one of the traditional dishes served to bring prosperity and good luck for the coming year is nishime – a Japanese vegetable stew that often features pork as well. As a kid, I simply examined each component of the nishime with great caution. There were often vegetables we didn’t eat at any other time, like Japanese potatoes and lotus root – plus knots of konbu that I approached with little, hesitant bites. I would gladly eat a bowl of nishime now, but my husband is not Asian and in fact comes from a Southern family. When it comes to traditional new year’s dishes, I go that route – black-eyed peas and greens being the highlight of the meal.

Black-eyed peas are not actually peas, but beans, belonging to the same legume family. There are a number of explanations for why people eat black eyed peas on new year’s day including demonstrating humility, a desire for expanding wealth in the coming year, or simply as a gesture for monetary luck since dried beans are thought to resemble coins. Personally, I simply enjoy the fact that black-eyed peas are a good source of vitamins A, C, and K, fiber, potassium, folate and iron.

I served these black-eyed peas with buttermilk cornbread, dirty rice, and collard greens. We then had a salted honey pie for dessert. The black-eyed peas are flavorful on their own. You can eat them as is, with steamed rice, alongside cornbread… Whatever you prefer!

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Vegetarian Black-Eyed Peas

Makes 10-12 servings. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large poblano pepper, roasted, diced with stem removed
1 large carrot, peeled and diced small
1 stalk celery, diced
One 14-ounce tube Gimme Lean Sausage
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups dried black-eyed peas
8-10 cups water or vegetarian chicken broth

Directions:

In a large stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, cooking until the onion is translucent (5-7 minutes). Add the diced pepper, diced carrot, celery, and Gimme Lean. Use a wooden spoon to break the sausage up into bite-sized chunks. Stir occasionally, cooking until the sausage becomes lightly golden brown all over.

Add the thyme, creole seasoning, salt, and peas to the pot, stirring to combine everything well. Add the water or broth and stir again, just to combine everything. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until the black-eyed peas are tender (2 hours or so).

Serve hot, with steamed rice, cornbread, and/or your preferred accompanying dishes.

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2013: My Favorite Recipes

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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We’re getting close to the end of 2013. I am not one for making resolutions, as I fully believe in working to make myself better year-round, without set deadlines. It’s an ongoing challenge. Of course there are things I’d like to do – change things up here a bit, add new weekly posts, monthly posts. I plan to work out equally as much as the last year, if not more. I hope to maintain balance between business and downtime, as well as decadent recipes and healthier recipes. I plan to be grateful, daily, for this life. But as I said – I don’t make set goals, save for incorporating all of these things into daily life.

That said, to wind up the last year, I’ve compiled a short list of my personal favorite recipes from the last year:

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 1. Summer Corn Salad : I love the freshness of this salad in the summer. It’s super easy to throw together, even at the last minute.

2. Olive Oil Poached Albacore Tuna Salad : My favorite thing about this tuna salad is, hands down, the connections its brought into my life in 2013. I am grateful for the ladies at Sammich, who reached out after reading this post I wrote.

3. Vegetarian Mediterranean Pizza : Its taken a number of tries, but this Mediterranean pizza is the best I’ve made. As far as cost efficiency for feeding my family, this was spot-on, too.

4. Vanilla Bean and Pear Vodka Cocktails : I enjoy the crisp sweetness of this cocktail. Generally I’m more of a bourbon on the rocks kind of lady, but if cocktails are what I’m in the mood for, this is a simple, tasty one.

5. Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese : This recipe was born out of an abundance of pumpkins I was gifted from one of the water polo moms. Pumpkin mac and cheese was a huge hit with the kids and adults, alike.

6. Tomato Potato Tart : I love the simplicity of this tart, which showcases the flavor of ripe tomatoes. Plus the colors are so happily vibrant.

7. Crockpot Yogurt : The best part of this recipe was that it was so much simpler than I expected. I anticipated this yogurt-making to be difficult, but really most of the work happened overnight while I was in bed.

8. Blueberry Nut Overnight Slow Cooked Steel Oats : My husband is a huge fan of overnight oats for a number of reasons. One, the smell throughout our house overnight is overwhelmingly intoxicating. Two, in the morning when I am still sleeping (and also because I don’t generally eat breakfast), he has a filling breakfast waiting. This is my favorite version, hands down.

9. Toasted Coconut Cardamom Rice Pudding with Blueberries : I could eat rice pudding daily. This version is creamy, flavorful, warming, and delicious!

10. Miso Mushroom Ramen with Vegetarian Wontons and Crispy Tofu : Coming from Kaua’i, saimin or ramen, is something I crave all the time. After going back to the islands in August, I got back to Ashland only to wind up super homesick for all the foods I grew up eating. This saimin is a vegetarian version of Hamura’s Special Saimin.

11. Gluten and Grain Free Banana Pancakes for One : I love the ease of this recipe, especially when I am cooking breakfast or lunch for just myself. Plus the pancake is filling without being overly heavy, which I also enjoy.

12. Vegetarian Moussaka : This particular recipe is labor intensive, but the layers of flavor are rich, deep, and delicious. This moussaka pushed my culinary comfort levels in new directions, especially since it’s based on a type of cuisine I know little about. I loved that aspect as much as the final meal.

13. Vegan Chick’n and Herb Dumplings : I developed this recipe to submit for a Field Roast’s Cooks in the Field position this year. Although I didn’t win the position, I was pleased with the outcome of this dish. I don’t typically cook vegan, as I thoroughly enjoy dairy products… But for the sake of this contest, I had to make something vegan and wanted to rely on comfort food, thus this version of chicken and dumplings. I was proud of the effort and care put into this recipe.

14. Spicy Bloody Mary : I know I just told you cocktails aren’t my thing, especially over a good shot of bourbon. However, a good, spicy bloody mary is quite tasty from time to time. And this, this is a goodie.

15. Vegetarian Chicken Sausage with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pesto : Although there is a photo in this post that warrants a comparison to cat turds, I was happily surprised with the outcome of these homemade vegetarian sausages and look forward to experimenting with more flavors in the new year.

16. Gluten Free Oatmeal French “Toast” : This french “toast” as a happy experiment I entirely plan on doing again and again…

Posted in Appetizer, Baking, Beverages, Booze, Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Juice, Kids, Life, Lunch, Meatless Meat, Salad, Sauces, Sides, Snacks, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Best of 2013: Your Favorites

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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Alright, friends. 2013 is coming to a close and the year has been filled with foods of all varieties. I decided to do a roundup of your reader-favorite recipes from the last year. I enjoyed revisiting some of these recipes I sort of forgot about.. Thanks for sticking around for the last twelve months. This blog certainly wouldn’t be as enjoyable without each of you readers! I am excited about where this little blog space will go in the next year, as I have some ideas for new content and certainly look forward to more cooking!

Without further ado, here are your favorite recipes from 2013:

1. Double Herb and Cheese Stuffed Crust Veggie Pot Pie

2. Vegetable Chow Mein with Tofu

3. Baked Barbecue Panko Tofu

4. Energy Boost Juice

5. No Orange-Orange Juice

6. Panko Crusted Tempura Shrimp

7. Jalapeño Cheese Tamales

8. Leo’s Limoncello

9. Homemade Banana Pancakes

10. Slow Cooked Black Beans

11. Cheesy Herb Pull-Apart Bread

12. Creamy Jalapeño Mac and Cheese

13. Malted Waffles

14. Ginger Apple Plum Jam

15. Glazed Blueberry, Meyer Lemon and Vanilla Bean Pull-Apart Bread

Posted in Appetizer, Baking, Beverages, Bread, Breakfast, Dinner, Jams, Juice, Kids, Life, Lunch, Meatless Meat, Sauces, Seafood, Snacks, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Day to Day Life: Week Fifty-Two {5 2}

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

It’s crazy to think this is the last week of these posts for the year. Next week will be January. It’ll be 2014. This has been a fun project, initially begun so I could include some posts that weren’t just food oriented. I am planning to continue this next year, along with some other new projects in this little space in the interwebs. With that, here’s a look at the last week:

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A Christmas morning tradition for six years now. Nutmeg-gy cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. (This is the only food picture I took on Christmas, mostly because I was flustered cooking. Christmas Eve we had barbecue salmon, mashed potatoes and a salad. For Christmas day, we had a large, early lunch that consisted of mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, Tofurky with delicata squash, sweet potatoes and carrots basted with homemade barbecue sauce, herbed sourdough stuffing, cranberry-apple-strawberry sauce, fresh green beans with mushrooms and garlic butter, and homemade mac and cheese. There was also a decent amount of bourbon.

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We didn’t get a tree this year, as we had been doing a lot of out of town travel well into the holidays. My mother in law gets a tree each year, so we just brought gifts over to place under her tree, then spent Christmas Eve at her house so the kids could wake up there Christmas morning and open their presents.

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Since Vincent is now 15, he’s aware that Santa isn’t showing up once he goes to bed. And seeing as he doesn’t go to bed until 2 or 3 in the morning (hopefully), I told him he could be Santa for Silas and eat the cookies and fruit that had been left out. He left this note for his brother: “Om nom nom COOKIES and FRUIT    love ~ S   P.S.Vincent is my ‘Favorite.’ You are good. Ew marshmallows.”  I doctored up the note early in the morning before Vincent got up, adding “I love you more,” under Vincent’s “you are good.” Hah

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Silas’s friend Sydney and her mother gifted him a snowboard, which was crazy but thoroughly appreciated by this little boy…

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Homemade kid-gifts are always fun.

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Vincent and his mom gifted me this awesome Mexican wrestling mask. I am trying to think of ways to incorporate it into my everyday-wear.

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Fun hanging out with dude. He and his brother are so different in the best ways.

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Cold days around here… Accompanied by sunshine and fog.

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My mother in law’s birthday is the day after Christmas. I had told her weeks ago I’d make her the fried shrimp she loves so very much… So for her birthday dinner we had fried shrimp, creamy grits, and then cheesecake for dessert.

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Our post-Christmas lunch consisted of fish tacos and veggie burritos. Unbeatable.

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Crazy child.

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I got a panini press… This was the first sammich off the press: locally made ciabatta bread stuffed with ranch, veggie chick’n, fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, fontina and mozzarella cheeses, and basil. I cannot wait to use this gift more frequently.

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Poor little Euclid hates the remote control helicopter Silas got. Especially after it crashed into his head.

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More blue, fog, and sun.

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Whole wheat biscuits and gravy.

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Apples to Apples Junior. Since I know my husband, who judged this round, “dead fish,” was the obvious (winning) response to “healthy.” I have just been informed about Cards Against Humanity and am convinced it should live in our shelves of games…

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Burrito bowl!

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Yogurt Nutmeg Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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Merry Christmas, friends and folks. I know, I know… A cookie recipe? On Christmas? Well, yes… consider it a gift or a beautiful custom birthday gifts. If you’re feeling the holiday baking burnout, I don’t blame you. I think I’m there, too. Don’t worry though – these cookies needn’t be saved simply for the holidays. They are simple, tasty, and a great starting place for cut-out cookies.

I’ve used the same recipe for sugar cookies for decades. (Pardon me, have I reached an age where “decades” can be used to describe periods of time in my life? Holy crap…) This year, however, I had decided I wasn’t making sugar cookies. I didn’t have any real reasons except trying new things sounded more fun (I didn’t do that either, by the way, as far as cookies go). At the last minute, I decided to order some food coloring pens and make a batch of plainly frosted cookies that the family could decorate to include in some homemade gifts for people. I decided to try a new recipe for the first time in years…

I have discussed my need for solitude in my kitchen, but this time of year seems perfect to push those boundaries at times. Making cookies specifically for Silas to help decorate reminded me of the fun that can arise from letting go of obsessive tendencies to control everything about how recipes will turn out – be it the way they look, taste, etc. We had Nana over helping decorate as well, and my husband even joined in for a few cookies despite his possibly broken ribs.

The recipe for these cookies was based on these sour cream-nutmeg sugar cookies by Foxes Loves Lemons. The yogurt I included, rather than sour cream, keeps the cookies extremely moist. While I don’t particularly enjoy using artificial coloring, I did enjoy using my new food coloring pens to decorate these cookies. They offer  an easier way to pay attention to detailing without the mess of frosting. The cookies themselves aren’t overly sweet, which I enjoyed. Topped with just a light amount of royal icing, the sweetness reaches just the right amount.

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Yogurt Nutmeg Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Yields 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on how you cut them.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg *
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • Really, if you can find whole nutmeg and grind it yourself, the taste makes all the difference in the world. I have stopped buying pre-ground nutmeg completely because I find it too coarse.

2 pasteurized egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

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Directions:

In your mixer, beat the sugar, butter, yogurt, egg and baking soda at medium speed until it’s well combined. Add in the vanilla, almond extract and nutmeg.

Gradually beat in the flour, about one-third at a time. The dough should not be too dry, but not too sticky. If it’s too sticky, gradually add a bit more flour.

Split the dough into two small discs, flattening them slightly. Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and chill at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unwrap, then place the dough on a well floured surface. Roll the discs of dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut it using your favorite cookie cutters.

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes OR until they just begin to brown around the edges (start checking them at 6 minutes). They will be very soft when they come out of the oven. Carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool completely on a rack.

While the cookies are baking, prepare your icing. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the egg whites, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat on low speed until frothy. Add the confectioner’s sugar, about half a cup at a time, mixing on low speed until each sugar addition is fully incorporated. The mixture should appear shiny. If you want to add color to the frosting, do so at this point. Turn the speed up to high and continue beating this way until stiff, glossy peaks form in the mixture (5-7 minutes of beating on high speed). Transfer the icing to pastry bag and pipe it on your completely cooled cookies as desired. Or use a small offset spatula to frost the cookies. Decorate as you desire.

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A Delicious Mediterranean Pizza

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Julie Hashimoto-McCreery

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When we were trying to decide on what to have for Christmas dinner I voted for homemade pizza. One, because I’ve got it down to an art that feels hassle-free. Two, because it tastes good (seeing as pizza is my favorite food group). Three, because there is no wrong day to eat pizza – certainly even on Christmas. But my husband requested comfort food, which also goes over well with everyone else. There will certainly be mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, creamy macaroni and cheese, garlic green beans, a vegan roast, homemade cinnamon rolls early in the morning…

I decided that we’d just have pizza earlier in the week. So we did. When we used to go out for pizza, the Mediterranean was always a hit. Generally it’s vegetarian already, but easily made so even if that requires asking for no chicken, or whatever meat may be included. Toppings often include feta, olives, and artichoke hearts, along with some variety, restaurant to restaurant. I’m glad the days of eating pizza out in restaurants are behind us, unless we’re travelling. The local pizza place we used to order an incredible Mediterranean pie from charges $25.25 for a 16-inch pizza. I can make three large pizzas for less than $25 that satisfies every family members’ preferred topping choices. Plus they taste better than many places we can get pizza from, reasonably!

With that, I present my go-to take on this pizza. It’s a great vegetarian option even for non-vegetarians. If you want to keep this pizza from being spicy at all, you can cut back the number of pepperoncinis and leave off the red chili flakes. Personally, I like the spiciness along with the saltiness of the olives and feta!

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Mediterranean Pizza

Makes one large (16-18 in.) pizza

Ingredients:

½ recipe of this dough, or enough of your preferred recipe for 1 ball of pizza dough
¾ cup prepared marinara sauce
1 1/2 – 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
6 oz. jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained
one 2.25 oz. can sliced black olives, drained
5-6 whole pepperoncini, sliced with stems removed
2 oz. feta cheese
3 oz. fresh spinach
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
1 roma tomato, diced into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

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Directions:

Preheat your oven to the highest setting it will go (ours goes to 550°F). If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat as well, for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface, into a 16-18 inch round (approx. the size of your pizza stone or pan). Place on your preheated stone, working quickly. Prick with a fork all over 8-10 times. Bake the dough for 2-4 minutes, until not doughy, but also not browned at all.

Spread the sauce evenly around the pizza dough, starting at the center and working your way out towards the crust. Evenly place the spinach all over the sauce. Next, sprinkle on about 3/4 of the shredded mozzarella. Arrange the artichoke hearts, olives, pepperoncini, feta, and diced tomato all over the pizza. Next, add the remaining cheese. Sprinkle on the chili flakes, oregano, and basil.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden on top and the crust, nicely browned. Allow the pizza to cool slightly, then cut and serve.

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