Settling in with 'Shrooms

Believe it or not I fell asleep before I could write these up last night - probably about 9pm-ish. I'd eaten lunch late and didn't want to stop for dinner until I was done working on the apartment and ate around 8:00. It took almost twelve hours to go through all the paperwork and organize all the documents, but it was absolutely worth it. Two drawers that were overflowing to the point of not quite closing are now clean and well-ordered, two "junk drawers" no longer hold as much junk, and the china cabinet is home to some boxes that had been sitting on the floor for months as well as holding office supplies in an easy to reach fashion!!!

Drawer One, Before:


Drawer One, After:



Drawer Two, Before:


Drawer Two, After:



I still wasn't too hungry but had some shitake mushrooms to use and saw a recipe on a break earlier for a "pizza" on a tortilla with garlic butter. I didn't want to go to all that trouble but found inspiration and cut up some mushrooms, spinach, garlic, and added a bit of goat cheese and a dash of parmesan. The pizza was nice and light, and I was surprised at how well the tortilla crisped up.


And a nice glass of sauvignon blanc to relax with:


I was still a little hungry and waited a bit, but had dessert - blueberry Greek yogurt with a bit of slivered almond and granola.


Oh, and chocolate chips! ; )

Late Night Veggie Delight

Lunch yesterday was a little bit heavy and a little bit late. I knew it would be some time before I got hungry and sure enough several hours passed before I noticed it coming on, probably because I took a 3 hour nap! I rarely nap (and never for 3 hours!) and even managed to sneak out of naps as a kid because it means I'm up until the wee hours of the morning. Upon awakening I was in the mood for a little snack. That was just about the time The Beanpole decided to go lay down for a bit so I put together a little strawberry Greek yogurt with granola and flax. I find this to be the ideal snack - filling enough to hold me over for a couple hours but light enough that I don't feel overwhelmed.


With the yogurt I made a nice warm cup of roobios tea that my friend over at Kitchen Concoctions sent me in a holiday exchange. She has great taste and sent The Book of Tea with it. Even better I had recently received this charming tea set from my "sister" in Japan as a wedding gift.


The Beanpole napped for a couple hours and when he woke up we set about figuring out what to do for dinner. Friday's mushroom pizza was good but I could not get my mind around anything but a pizza with a little bit of goat cheese. None of the local joints offer this (blasphemy!) so I whipped up some pizza dough and we set out to the market for some toppings. We ended up with some bell peppers, shitake mushrooms, broccoli, and goat cheese. I'm not sure what I did differently this time but the crust rolled out a little bit thicker and a little bit larger so we even ended up with two leftover slices! We didn't eat until close to 9:30, and pizza is the perfect late-night dinner. My portion:


My stomach has been acting up the past couple of days after a week of resting quietly and I thought a banana might help calm things down a bit so I sliced one and spread a tiny bit of peanut butter in the middle to help it get down. I LOVE pb + banana but plain bananas are the bane of my existence.


And what do you know? It worked!

Culinary Confessions

The lazy chef is back and making a pizza tonight. It was that or go out for the third night in a row. The Beanpole and I indulged in Indian Monday night, and begrudgingly settled on Chinese takeout last night. After all the cooking of late my poor body was screaming for something fresh and homemade. Eating vegetables raw isn't an option for me anymore and cooking anything even a little elaborate was out of the question AND we couldn't agree on any dining out options so pizza was the only logical choice. Never mind that we could both eat it every day. Instead of ordering a big greasy pie though I quickly started proofing some dough and we ran to the local market to load up on the good stuff. Tonight's toppings include portabella mushroom caps, broccoli, yellow pepper strips, onion, tomato slices, carrot slices, and sweet Italian chicken sausage. Even with the ice cream treat The Beanpole begged for at the store we saved some money and managed to eat much healthier than we would have had we simply ordered in. Not too shabby for two lethargic loons like us.

Post-Election Presidential Pizza

My original Election 2008 plans included staying in solo, making a pizza, enjoying a glass or several of wine and camping out with Brokaw, Maddow, et al. Fortunately a friend and I decided that if history were happening in Chicago we should be part of it so I abandoned my wild evening with the cat to celebrate with around 250,000 other fired-up fellow citizens. So, in honor of the new President of the United States I made the pizza tonight instead, elitist leafy greens and all! I found the recipe for the dough on another cooking blog. The wine wasn't noticeable but the texture was perfect and the edges crisped up quite nicely. I made the full recipe and cut the dough in half to throw in the freezer for a future pizza night. Depending on your desired thickness one half should be perfect for two servings, especially with a salad or dessert.


Drunken Pizza Dough (Lynsey Lou)
1 1.4oz package fast-acting yeast
1/3 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/3 cup white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc as I had it on hand, but any will do)
1/2 tsp maple syrup (I omitted, but would add with salty toppings for a sweet kick)
2 tbsp oil (I used olive)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Any desired toppings (I used low-fat mozzarella, goat cheese, grated parmesan, 1 chopped portabella mushroom cap, black olives, freshly chopped garlic, and arugula)

In large bowl, combine water and yeast. Let set about 10 minutes until foamy on top. Stir in remaining ingredients until mixture forms a soft dough. Knead 5-8 minutes until smooth and elastic and form into a ball. Add to an oiled bowl and turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Turn onto lightly floured surface and roll to desired thickness. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add sauce and toppings to liking, place on pizza stone or back of a baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes until cheese is nice and bubbly. If a crisper crust is desired, transfer directly to rack after 10 minutes to finish baking.