Homemade Pizza! (That doesn't taste "homemade.")

I figured you were getting tired of beans. I mean, not that beans aren't fun...they are the musical fruit, after all. And yes, for my sixth grade science fair, my partners and I titled our project, "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit" and actually measured which bean produces the most gas. We put balloons on top of test tubes filled with beans and hydrochloric acid (stomach), then baked them in the oven at the temperature of the stomach, and measured how much the balloons blew up. As an intervening variable, we added Beano to some of the test tubes. Mock all you want, but science was painful for me and this, at least, is a good science-related memory, as well as a good story to tell, and now I know useful things, like that black beans give you the most gas and lima beans the least. But I have a feeling that this news does not shock you in the least. Life experience has probably given you what test tubes and balloons gave me. Which leads me to my real point here, which is...pizza.

I thought we'd fun it up, since the fun times are beginning to roll now that the weather is getting warm and wondrous. And homemade pizza is undeniably fun. Allow my sister and my son to demonstrate:

But have you ever noticed that when you make pizza, it's good and all, but to really enjoy it you have to keep it in a whole separate category from the pizza you would order from a pizza place? "Oh, this pizza is really good...for homemade pizza."

Well, for a couple years, I gave out a homemade pizza recipe that was all right, and I take it back. If I gave it to you, throw it away, because Our Best Bites has the best one, hands down. It might take a couple times making it to get it just how you want with the crust and all, but it's worth it!

Here are all the links you need:

Dough

(The best thing about this dough is it's versatile and, like they say in the book, it has magical powers.) My son begs for these breadsticks on a regular basis. You can use the dough for pizza, breadsticks, stromboli, stuffed pizza rolls, etc.)

Garlic Bread Seasoning

(You will need this for your sauce. But I have a tip: always, always have a batch of this is in your fridge, to sprinkle over your breadsticks, or to sprinkle over fish, grilled veggies, some people like it over chicken, etc. I go through a batch of this quickly, and you will, too.)

Pizza Sauce

(This sauce takes seconds to make, and tastes super fancy. Don't bother with all those work-intensive pizza sauces. You've got this recipe now.)

Make the Pizza

(I don't have a pizza stone or a french rolling pin, but mine still turn out great, so don't fret if you don't have all the stuff they mention. And listen to them when they tell you to brush the crust with olive oil and then sprinkle garlic salt. It truly does crisp it and keep it from getting soggy. And it tastes like delivery. This is the best pizza-making tip I've seen yet.)

(So I have created some weird traditions, it's cool. Also, it may not look that pretty, but I don't care about how pretty it looks - just how pretty it tastes.)

In my experience, if you don't want your dough too fluffy, you need to roll it out as thin as possible, thinner even than you think. I don't like thick, fluffy crust, except on the edges, so this took me a couple times to get down. Also, make sure and pinch up the edges so you have a nice thick crust on the edges there - like you ordered from Dominos or something.

If tomato sauce isn't your thing, their Guiltless Alfredo Sauce is excellent.

And if you're feeling extra fun, you can make Stuffed Pizza Rolls, a fun way to incorporate all of these individual recipes into one fun whole. Good for little hands, too. :-)

(I promise I'm not endorsed by Our Best Bites. I just think they're the best.)

Quinoa Chili & Vegetarian Chili (both slow cooker)

I intended to post this Tuesday. Twofer Tuesday. Tuesday got busy. Sorry. (I know you don't care when I post, I'm mostly just apologizing to myself for my little play on words not working out.)

I wanted to get my two favorite chili recipes up pronto because the weather is turning and I tend to think of chili as a cold-weather meal. (How could you not? It's pronounced the same as "chilly.")

I realize I've posted a lot of meals involving beans lately. But this is a meat-free blog, so you probably expected that. I'll work on it, though.

Quinoa Chili

First: 

1. This is adapted from Six Sisters Stuff (link here) by my friend Liz. Her M.O. is to add lots of spices to meatless meals to make things more interesting. I love her adaptations and only make it her way.

2. If you don't like quinoa, but still want to incorporate this superfood into your diet, this recipe is for you. All the flavors drown out the nutty taste. The nutty taste doesn't do it for me, either, but I love the texture of the quinoa in this chili.

3. This will make you dinner for three days. Perfect for company, or for a week you don't want to cook much. The leftovers are awesome as vegetarian taco fillers in a whole wheat tortilla with sour cream and cheese.

(The first time my toddler climbed into his chair and buckled it himself was when we were going to eat this. Coincidence? Doubtful.)

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with Italian spices (undrained)
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (undrained)
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can corn, drained (or use the empty bean can to measure out frozen corn, that's what I do)
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups of chicken stock or broth (I will use chicken or vegetable broth - whatever I have on hand - but the only veggie broth I love is the Pacific stuff. It's the best).

A little red bell pepper, chopped
Some baby carrots, chopped
A half or one minced onion
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp chili powder
Throw in a handful of spinach. Why not? Adds more color and you can never get through that Costco bag in time, anyway.

Directions:

Place everything in a 6-quart slow cooker and cook 5-7 hours on low. Keep warm until ready to serve. Garnish with cheese and/or sour cream.

*The nice thing about the quinoa chili is if you use veggie broth, you get to pretend you're vegan for a few minutes...until you load in the sour cream and cheese.


Vegetarian Chili 

(Adapted from this recipe, but really, do it my way. And that photo doesn't even look like it.)

Ingredients:

1 can (about 15 oz) Amy's Organic Black Bean and Vegetable Soup
1 15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can vegetarian baked beans (do NOT drain...and I vote you get Busch's. I really like their vegetarian beans.)
1 14.5 oz can chopped or diced tomatoes in puree
Frozen corn, eyeball it
Half an onion, chopped
Some green bell pepper, chopped (eyeball it)
2 stalks celery, chopped (optional, just as good without)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder, or to taste
Dried parsley
Dried oregano
Dried basil (it calls for a tablespoon of each spice, but that's waaaay too much. Eyeball it. Maybe half a tbs? Really. Eyeball it. I trust you.)

Directions:

Combine all in crockpot, and cook 3 or 4 hours on high. The original recipe says 2 hours, but your vegetables will still be crunchy if you only do 2. So don't listen to those allrecipes powers that be. Listen to me. It's delicious with cornbread, too. Tastes even better as leftovers.