The home stretch

Well, folks...tomorrow is the big day. It's the official "end" to my month long experiment. I'm not sure that it is totally going to end as I plan on keeping a few of my "rules" in tact. I'll share more later this week. It seems a bit odd that it is already over...but on the other hand, I'm really excited. It feels nice being able to say that I have kept to my rules...even though I really wanted to break them from time to time.

I would like to share for one moment my love for Aarti Sequeira, host of The Food Network's, Aarti Party. She is just so pleasant to watch. I really enjoy that she is bringing an awareness to Indian food. I for one am going to look up a few of her recipes come March 1.

I took it easy tonight. I didn't want to be too overloaded with work because I would really like to watch the Oscars. So, I made pizza and an apple crisp. Since tomorrow is my last day I decided to go out with a bang. I'll be having left over pizza for dinner, but will be making another batch of tofu/dill salad, a loaf of bread and a tasty summer vegetable salad. I'll also be sharing my results. So, stayed tuned!

I'm going to keep making my banana bread for breakfasts. I do love cereal...a lot. But having a little slice of this bread really makes me happy. I bought some "red bananas" today at the grocery store. I had two reasons: 1)I've seen them a few times and wanted to try them and 2)The regular bananas were not ripe enough to make the bread. They say they are sweet with a hint of raspberry. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I had a few Empire apples that were on the verge of going bad. So I decided to use them up. I thought about making muffins, but ultimately ended up making an apple crisp! Here's what I did:

4 apples, peeled and sliced
1T butter
1/4C brown sugar
1t vanilla

For the crumb:
2/3C oats
1T butter
1t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. In a cast iron skillet, melt butter with brown sugar and vanilla. When sugar is dissolved, add sliced apples until they begin to soften. Mix all ingredients for the crumb together and put on top of apples. Bake for 20 minutes in cast iron skillet until apples are tender and topping is crunchy.
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It was pretty tasty and definitely a great little desert for my crazy sweet tooth. If I make it again, I'll probably only add maybe 2T of brown sugar. It is slightly too sweet...or maybe I could just use a different kind of apple? Probably.

I did things a bit differently tonight with the pizza. Not too much...but some slight alterations. I threw in 1 small shallot and didn't add in any water. In addition, I used chopped tomatoes and only 6oz of tomato paste. The shallot added a really nice flavor and taking out the water allowed me not to cook it as long.

Pizza Sauce

2T olive oil

1/2 red onion, diced

1 small shallot

4 cloves garlic, minced

14.5oz chopped tomatoes

6oz tomato paste

1t salt

1t black pepper

1 1/2t oregano

1 1/2t basil

1t red pepper flakes

Saute onions in olive oil until translucent then add garlic. Add all other ingredients and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let sit until ready to use.

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I made a few changes to the crust as well. I replaced the oats with corn meal and added 1 extra teaspoon of olive oil.

1 package yeast
1T sugar
1C warm water
1C white flour
1C whole wheat flour
1/2C corn meal
1/2t salt
2t olive oil

Combine yeast, sugar and warm water and let set aside. Combine all other ingredients, then add wet to dry ingredients. Mix and pour out onto floured surface. Knead for 7-8 minutes or until it is smooth. Place in oiled bowl with moist towel on top. Put in warm area and let rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place dough in baking dish (I prefer to use a large cast iron skillet brushed with olive oil) and add your toppings. Bake 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

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Tonight I used sauted onions, red bell peppers, baby bella mushrooms, artichoke hearts and olives. I really like the addition of the corn meal as it gives it a great little texture!

That's all I have for tonight. I hope everyone had a great weekend! See you soon.