Pizza Nights!

This recipe makes great pizza dough and is super easy! I've made it both by hand kneading and with our stand mixer, and its worth it either way (albeit faster with the mixer)! The original recipe is from Crazy Plates by Janet & Greta Podleski but we've done some tweaking over the years. It's one of our favourites, and though it requires a little bit of pre-planning it gives a lot of options. The recipes are collected from many of our pizza nights, hence them magically going from only a bit whole wheat to totally and back again!

You'll need:
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (aka 1 package if you roll that way)
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp honey - I just estimate since its too messy to measure
1 tsp salt
2-2.5 cups flour
(minimum 1/2 cup whole wheat, but we've done it
almost all whole wheat - just add some extra water)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil - again I just estimate to save on dishes!


Start by mixing the honey into the warm water, and then put the yeast in and let it sit for a few minutes to get frothy - like in the handy dandy picture! Then add the salt and olive oil.


Next add 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and of the regular flour, and start mixing.
Add another cup of flour and keep mixing - that's usually enough for us. But, use some more if it's too sticky. Then knead it until its smooth and elastic-y.


Spray the bowl with some non stick spray and cover it and leave it alone somewhere warm and non-breezy for at least an hour. I try and make the dough in the morning before work, so it's ready for us when we get home.


Later on it should look like this!!


The cool thing about this recipe, is that it can make 2 thinner crust pizzas, or 1 thicker crust pizzas, depending on what you feel like, or how many toppings you have on hand. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Punch the dough down and form your pizzas and put them on sprayed pans. Add your toppings. And bake for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven, rotating them if you have two.

Here are some of the combos we've done recently:

Pasta sauce, cheddar cheese, jalepenos, tomatoes.

Buffalo sauce, bacon, green peppers, jalepenos, cheddar, cilantro 

Pesto sauce, chicken, caramelized onions and feta

Pasta sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheddar salami

Some other things we've tried: Bbq sauce, salsa as sauce, taco meat, chorizo, capers, fresh mozerella and even making our own stuffed crust! Let us know what you try out! 

Jerome's Famous Fabulous Fajitas

So recently, our favourite easy weeknight dinner - Tasty Tacos has been given a run for their money with Jerome's perfecting of Fabulous Fajitas! He sort of made something up one night instead of tacos, and now it's a toss up which one to make. They are also nice and quick, and easy to make even after a long day of work. They are very forgiving, so we improvise a bit each time, but I'll try and cover most of the options we have tried.


I'm usually in charge of the veggies. I cut up green peppers and onions into long slices and then sprinkle them with a random mixture of cayenne, chili powder - ancho, pasilla or regular, cumin, and whatever other spice grabs my attention in the drawer! You could also just use a fajita mix, or my Mum's not so secret anymore - taco seasoning.

While I'm doing that, Jerome makes a marinade/sauce for the chicken or beef which we have cut into bite size pieces. He usually puts a spoon of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, the juice and sometimes zest from a lime, cumin, sometimes a dash of bbq sauce, salt, and a variety of spices like cumin, chili powder - ancho, pasilla or regular, and likely random others sometimes. So you coat the meat in the sauce and you're good to go! 

Heat up a large skillet, throw in the meat and cook the meat until it's done. Both chicken and beef work equally well with this recipe.  As you have noticed we like things spicy, if you want a less spicy version you can use milder chili powders, or paprika to get the flavour without the bite. Or just omit a hot sauce or two!

Conveniently, we have 2 cast iron skillets, there are 2 parts to the dish, and there are two of us, so we split it up and it's done in a jiffy! With cheese grating, tortilla heating, occasional avocado scooping etc, being done while everything is cooking. We've got it pretty streamlined now. 

They are super easy and tasty, so I'd highly recommend giving them a try! I might just have to go home and make some, because I'm starving now after talking about them and looking at all these pictures! 

Cheese Making!

For Christmas this year Jerome and I got each other cooking classes which has been a really fun thing to do. You get thrill of finding out what your gift is, and the excitement of waiting for the actual class and then of course the actual experience, and all the cool new knowledge you get from it! My class was today, and it was a workshop on Home Cheese Making at Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz. It is incidentally the sole garden supplier for Manresa which is a 2 Michelin Star Restaurant not too far away that we've been meaning to try out for a special occasion. 

It was a really fun afternoon and I learned a lot about cheesemaking! Our fearless leader was Fiona, who was really nice and funny, and full of useful tips she's figured out making her own cheese, and she made it seem like it was super easy, which was very encouraging! She went through all the equipment you need, and what you can do without and what you can't. She discussed the various different milk options and the pros and cons and where to get all the supplies without going too far away. And she generally made the time fly by while teaching us tons, and making everyone believe that they can do this at home no sweat! 

We learned how to make three kinds of cheese: Chevre, Feta and Mozzarella. We also got to taste them all, and they were all wonderful! It was really interesting to see how they all start with the same basic ingredients and turn into very different textures and tastes with the variation of cooking temperatures, times and some minor ingredients. 

Draining the Chevre

Slicing the Feta

Cooking the Mozzarella

Our formed Mozzarella Balls!

Not bad for 4 hours huh! During our break we got to wander around and explore the farm a little bit which was fun. In the basement of the building we were in there were baby chicks which were adorable, and gave a nice background soundtrack to the class with their cheeping. They had a bunch of chickens nearby, and a very vocal rooster somewhere!  And there were many of the vegetable gardens right outside. Oh, and I nearly forgot one of the funnest parts! We got to milk Trixie the goat!! And then taste the milk while it was still warm. Pretty interesting. 

Trixie

Many started herbs

The garden beds

The chickens!

The farm offers many other really cool sounded courses, which we might just have to check out! I'm going to try and make some of my own cheese here at home before I forget everything, I'll keep you posted! Also, hopefully Jerome will get around to posting about his course soon!