Super Simple Pizza, Pizza Crust - total rise time 2 hr 20 min

I have been on a simple ingredients-amazing results kick and this pizza is no exception. Homemade dough, homemade pesto, with fresh mozzarella, and a homegrown tomato.

I feel like the only thing that stops me from constantly eating pizza is the dough takes so dang long to make. I have seen recipes with 18 hours of rising. Geez. This dough can be made in the afternoon and the pesto is just a whirl in the food processor. This pizza could be dangerous.

As always, I highly recommend all leftover be consumed the next morning with a fried egg over easy on top.

Really Simple Pizza Dough
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Stir the first three ingredients in a large bowl.  Add water and oil and stir until combined. Dump on a floured surface and knead everything into a ball.  If it's harder than it looks to make a ball let it rest for a couple of minutes then come back to it.

Knead it for a minute or two and roll into a ball. Lightly oil your bowl, place ball in, roll the ball around so it gets coated in oil. Then cover in plastic wrap and leave for an hour or two. It should double in size.

Dump it back on the floured county and press all the air out. Fold back into a ball put it back in the bowl and under the plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle baking sheet with cornmeal, preheat the oven to 450.  Roll out the dough and top with toppings. 

Bake for 10 minutes until lightly blistered.

I had a lot of dough left over I baked it up and used it as toast the next morning.

Basic Pesto

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Makes 2 cups

• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 cups basil leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Taste and adjust.

Can be refrigerated for a week, and frozen for a lot longer!

Crispy Salmon Succotash

This recipe has been on my queue for quite some time and I kept skipping over it. What a mistake. These simple ingredients really took salmon (a staple at my house) to the next level. I used canned corn and store bought tomatoes but I can't wait to try this again with homegrown corn, tomatoes, and basil.

Crispy Salmon Succotash
Adapted from What's Gaby Cooking
Serves 4

• 4 6-ounce salmon filets
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 ears of fresh corn, or 1 can of sweet corn
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, quarted
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup basil, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar but I couldn't find it)

Salt and pepper the salmon. Heat a cast iron skillet with the olive oil over medium-high heat.

Sear fish in the skillet on one side until crispy, flip then cook until the middle of the fillet is done. You might have to do this in batches. It might get a little smokey.

In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients to make the succotash.

Serve the succotash on top of the salmon.

Next time: I think this would be good on grilled salmon too.

Steamed Clams with Garlic and Chives

This was my first time cooking and eating clams. It was surprising easy. Like less than 15 minutes to make easy. And it comes with dipping wine butter, y'all. Steven loved the clams and I loved the dipping. Can you guess which one of us is the porker?  Henry loved the shells and his peanut butter sandwich.

Highly recommend you pair these with a summer day, a cool breeze, a shady patio, and a glass of the leftover wine.

Steamed Clams with Garlic and Chives

Adapted from Whats Gaby Cooking

Serves 2 for dinner, more for appetizer

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes
• 1 cup pinot grigio (use the cheap stuff)
• 2 pounds of clams (about 2 dozen)
• 3 tablespoon chives
• 1 lemon
• toasted baguette for serving

Heat butter and olive oil in a large shallow skillet over medium-heat.  Add garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes until garlic is fragrant.

Add wine and increase heat to medium high. The wine should be simmering.

Add clams, cover, and cook for 6 minutes until clams have opened. Toss any that are closed.

Add chives and juice from the lemon. Give the pot a stir and serve in a big serving dish.  Make sure to get all the cooking liquid to dip the toasted baguettes in.

Easy Steak Dinner

This steak has a lot of flavor. In a good way, of course.  I marinate it during the day and make Steven grill it once he gets home.  Paired with a can of green beans and this was my easiest meal all week!

Easy Steak Dinner
Adapted from Dinner: A Love Story

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon, hot sauce
• juice from 1 lime
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound flank steak

Add all ingredients to a large ziploc bag and squash it around. Marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Grill on medium-high for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Slice against the grain and serve with lots of sides. Flavor is bursting out of this thing so a little goes a long way.

[Guest Post] Chick-fil-A Sunday Breakfast

So. 

You live in Texas. 

What is the one thing you want on Sunday that you can never have besides more vodka for your bloody marys? [And yes! Favorite pastimes here in Texas include closing all liquor stores on Sundays...]

Chick-fil-A!

Sunday May 8th was Mother's Day and I thought the perfect surprise for my wife and mother of my 2 year-old son would be to wake up early, put on some cartoons for Henry, brew some strong coffee, and fry some chicken breasts to crispy golden glory to recreate the soon-to-be-classic Egg, Cheese & Bagel sandwich from Chick-fil-A. The coffee was mostly for me because I am a certifiable ass for the rest of the day if I do not meet my daily coffee quota by precisely 7:01 am.

Overall, this was a very good Chick-fil-A copycat. Next time I would make a smaller recipe so any leftovers aren't sentenced to a chewy and flaccid end in the workplace microwave.

Chick-fil-A copycat breakfast sandwich:

(chicken recipe adapted from Urban Cookery)

Dry Ingredients for Chicken:

• 1 Cup Flour 
• 2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar 
• 1 Tablespoons Cornstarch 
• 2 tsps Salt 
• 2 tsps Paprika 
• 1 tsp Black Pepper 
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder 
• 2 tsps Dried Basil (I used fresh since our Basil plant was ripe for plundering)

Wet Ingredients for Chicken:

• 1/2 Cup Pickle Juice [keep any extra pickles for funsies] 
• 2 Eggs 
• 1/4 Cup Whole Milk

Meat & Other Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts 
• 6 eggs (2 scrambled eggs per chicken sandwich to put hair on your chest) 
• 3 whole wheat bagels (for those who do not stay true to the sacred recipe or think whole wheat bagels aren't "fun" enough... your favorite bagel or morning carbohydrate will do just fine) 
• American cheese slices
• Vegetable Oil 

The night before, cut your chicken breasts into 4th's (length-ways and width-ways), store chicken in a Ziploc bag of pickle juice in the fridge, and mix the dry ingredients in bowl for overnight storage. I threw extra pickle slices in the marinating bag for good measure. I ended up with 12 fried chicken pieces - which is way more than 2 adults, one toddler, and one hungry dog can eat for a reasonable breakfast.

The morning of, wake up around an hour earlier than normal. Set that coffee maker for autopilot so you can keep those demons subdued with that heavenly nectar of life. Heat a large pot or skillet/wok with oil to about 350 degrees F. I used vegetable oil because that is all I could scavenge from the pantry. Peanut oil would probably give a more authentic taste and I plan on using it the next time.

Pour milk into a large shallow bowl and beat the eggs into the bowl. Pour your dry mixture in a large shallow bowl or plate. Take your chicken out of the bag and drench in the wet mixture, shake off, and plop into the dry mixture, evenly coating all sides. You can shake off any loose dry ingredients and repeat the dredging process for a double coating, but I think the chicken turned out just fine with one coat of batter.

Fry until golden brown on both sides, turning occasionally.  When chicken pieces are deemed done, remove from the oil and place on a sheet of paper towels to soak up any excess grease. Salt and Pepper to taste.

When the last of your chicken pieces begin to fry, scramble your eggs, toast your bagels, unwrap your American cheese slices, and warn your toddler that the morning cartoons are about to be cut short.

Assemble your sandwiches and serve with more hot coffee!

Rosemary Cheese Straws

I was way too excited to make these and at first I was disappointed. I thought they would be hard and crunchy like a cheesy crouton, but they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside more like a savoury pastry.  Definitely didn't stop us from eating every list one of them!

Rosemary Cheese Straws
Adapted from Shutterbean
Makes 15 straws

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• flour, for dusting
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• 1/2 heaping cup of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet

Roll of the puff pastry to 10 by 12 inches. 

Beat the egg and brush the surface of the pastry - you probably won't need the whole egg.

Sprinkle cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper. Press slightly over the topping to push them into the puff pastry.

Cut 1/2 inch strips. Place on the parchment paper and twist. I found it to be the easiest when I mushed one end to the parchment paper then flipped the strip slowly moving my hands down.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Flip and bake for 2 more minutes.  Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature. 

Perfect Baked Potato

I am not great at cooking. It's only the best of the best of what I make that ends up on the blerg. I still have a lot of basics to master. For example, the baked potato. I have made dozens of bad baked potatoes. Or good baked potatoes that we didn't end up eating until 10 o'clock at night because they were not even close to be done. I have also spent over 30 bucks at a BBQ place for 5 plain, no topping, baked potatoes when I couldn't get mine done while hosting a dinner party.  Embarassing.

BUT NOT ANYMORE! Behold this beautiful spud! Perfectly cooked on the inside with crisp, salty skin. 

I don't know if it makes any difference but at HEB I used to buy "baking potatoes" and they were pretty big. This time I specifically looked for potatoes labeled as "russet". They looked the same as "baking potatoes" but were smaller.

Perfect Baked Potato
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

• 1 medium Russet potato, scrubbed clean
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Poke the potato all over with a fork.

Bake the potato for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Return to oven and bake for additional 20 minutes (turning the potato at 10 minutes).

To make sure it's done, squeeze the potatoes at the ends with an oven mitt - it should give under pressure. If its not done keep cooking at 5 minute increments.

Cut down the middle (lengthwise) and squeeze to open. Add ALL the toppings.

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli

Today, I was not a lonely porker. I was still a porker, but so was Steven! Chicken and broccoli is what Steven always gets when we order Chinese and after his first taste, unprompted mind you, he yells "A+, BETTER THAN GOING OUT, BLOG-WORTHY!"

Now our Chinese food place is pretty bad (but cheap!) so that didn't set the bar high but Steven couldn't even tell you the name of this blog so an unprompted blog-worthy label is high praise.

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli
Adapted from Simply Whisked
Serves 4

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 large head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Marinade: 

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water

Mix marinade ingredients in a medium bowl and mix the chicken in.

Mix up all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Steam broccoli for 3 minutes (won't be done) and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the chicken (with all of the marinade) and 1/2 of the sauce mixture.  Cook the chicken stirring constantly until the chicken is done. The sauce will burn so stir it often.

Add in the broccoli and the rest of the sauce. Cook until broccoli is tender but still has a crunch. Add in water to thin out the sauce if its too thick. I added in around 2 tablespoons.

Serve with rice.