I love pizza. Jeff disagrees with me. He says that since my pizza is cheese-less (lactose intolerant & personal choice) its technically a flatbread. Whatever. I love flatbread. :)
This version was just for me, so no cheese. It tastes great this way, but I have included cheese in the accompanying recipe.
I love how versatile pizza is. I generally make an uber veggie one for myself, and pepperoni or BBQ chicken for Jeff. It is a great source of happiness for me that the boys also prefer my veggie filled pizza. For the win!
I wanted to try some new pizza flavors, and southwestern seemed like a good place to start. If all goes well, look for another new flavor coming soon.
This pizza is so good! Tons of fresh veggies, lots of flavor, and refried beans? Yes please!
Sorry, not much more to say, I just couldn't stop taking photos...
southwestern pizza
makes 1 large pizza
ingredients:
2/3 can of refried beans (I used vegetarian beans, waaay less sodium)
4 garlic cloves, diced
1/3 large green bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 yellow onion, sliced thin
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup corn
handful of tomatoes (your choice which veriety, I used sun gold), sliced
1/2 small can sliced black olives
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
fresh cilantro for garnishing (optional)
your favorite pizza dough (I love the Pioneer Woman's recipe)
directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a small oven safe pan roast the garlic, bell pepper, onion, and corn in the olive oil for 30 minutes. Take out and set aside.
Set oven to 500 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and lay down rolled out pizza dough. Spread evenly with refried beans. Top with the roasted veggies, tomato slices, olives, and seasonings. Bake for 11-12 minutes.
Remove form oven, cool for several minutes. Top with optional cilantro and serve.
note: This pizza is almost better the next day. I usually love cold pizza, but not one with beans on it. To reheat bake on a baking sheet at 375 degrees F for 6 minutes. Delicious!
This dish is comfort food to the max. And by comfort food I mean completely delicious while being heart attack inducing. This dish contains bacon, potatoes, cream, wine, and cheese. Basically, this dish gets tons of compliments, but its a good idea to not mention the ingredients before serving. Jeff couldn't get enough and ate two huge portions for dinner before he realized what he was eating! I see this as a great intro to french food for people who think french food is all snooty (ridiculous).
I don't make this dish very often because I usually cook pretty healthy meals, but Jeff loves it, and it makes the whole house smell SO good! Plus, Liam was pretty darn cute stalking me around the kitchen hinting oh so sly saying, "Mommy, I LOVE bacon!"
Start out by dicing up half a medium sized yellow onion and adding it to a hot pan with olive oil on medium heat. Stir occasionally and let soften.
Slice up six strips of bacon and add them to the pot.
Cook the onion and bacon for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the moscato and allow it to cook down mostly, about ten minutes. Surprised about the moscato? It was on a lark that I used it instead of something drier, but the sweetness really works, and it smells so good! Jeff even commented that each bite was full of flavor. He kept waiting for the ball to drop, thinking he just got one really saturated bite, but he said every bite was just as good.
Cut up six medium yukon gold potatoes and mix them in. Cook stirring occasionally until the potatoes have begun to soften.
Stir in half a cup of heavy cream. At this point also add a teaspoon of thyme.
Shred the Gruyere and stir it into the pot. I like to use my le crusuet pot so I don't have to transfer, but if you don't have a pot that can go on the stove AND in the oven, switch containers now and pot into the oven on the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, until golden, bubbly, and beautiful. I like to bake mine for 32 minutes and then broil for 2 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let sit out for five minutes to set.
Just look at this. The perfect cold night comfort food meal.
Serve with some good bread to soak everything up. Enjoy!
Heat the olive oil in the glazed cast iron pot on medium heat and toss in the diced onion. Once it becomes fragrant stir in the bacon. Stir them occasionally for about 10 minutes. Stir in the moscato and cook until mostly evaporated. Add the potatoes and cook for ten more minutes. At this point preheat the oven for 350 degrees F. Pour the cream into the mixture and stir for a minute or two. Add in the thyme. Fold in the shredded Gruyere evenly. If you do not have a le crusuet style pot and have been using a regular pot, now dump the food into an oven safe dish and put into the oven for 30-40 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to set on the counter for 5 minutes before serving.
Note: The bake time can differ depending on the size your potatoes are cut (mostly). I like to bake my dish for about 32 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes, just to get a nice golden crispy top.
There is a story that goes with these muffins. Yesterday morning the boys wanted breakfast, so Liam helped me make pancakes. I made it the cheater way with Bisquick mix, sugar, an egg, and some milk. I make pancake batter in a large measuring cup so I can measure, mix, and easily pour all in one cup. We ate all the pancakes, cleaned everything up, and played for a while. The boys were happy playing by themselves so I told them to keep playing and I'd go take a quick shower.
Shortly after I finished getting ready for the day I came out to find Jack quietly playing in Liam's room (as always), and I walked out to the kitchen to find... Liam cooking.
Liam had poured all our remaining Bisquick mix into a large clean measuring cup just like I had, taken the pancake recipe out and laid it on the counter for reference (even though he can't read yet), and put the empty Bisquick container back in the pantry. Then he had taken out the sugar and scooped some out with a large wooden spoon just like I had before putting the container away (I know because he left out the sugary spoon).
When I walked out he was in the process of adding eggs. Yes, EGGS. My recipe used one egg. Liam was halfway through cracking number six! I was actually pretty impressed how tidy his work space was. He only spilled a tiny bit of egg white on the counter, and I had only taught him how to crack an egg recently. I'm really glad I came into the kitchen when I did, because he had five more eggs set out, ready to crack open! He had literally emptied the egg carton form the fridge and put it back in empty. When he saw me he perked up and announced, "I'm making pancakes! We ate the other ones already so we need more!" Then he hopped off his table to go grab the milk. Happy and totally nonchalant about the whole thing.
I was gobsmacked. I couldn't figure out first whether to take photos, be pissed about so many eggs getting wasted, or be impressed that he took initiative, that he's a great cook, or remembered perfectly how I made pancakes (minus the number of eggs used).
Okay, I was mad impressed, and thought he was adorable, but I still made it clear that I was annoyed at how many eggs he used. He was so cute, and I HATE wasting food, so I tried to think of some way to save the egg-y batter.
Enter in the cheesy omelet muffins. So named because when Jeff came home from work that night and tried one, that's what he said they tasted like. I tried my best to scoop out the small amount of sugar in them, then added some milk and a handful of shredded cheese. They bake really well, and turned into a perfect breakfast. Jeff never has much time in the morning, so I like to have a speedy breakfast option available. These can be pulled from the fridge and microwaved for a minute, then eaten in the car. Perfect. Sometimes culinary accidents make some interesting finds!
I told Liam he was getting to be a good cook and he replied, "Grandma says when I cook at her house I am a chef." Sounds about right.
My batch made eleven, but I could have filled them each a little less and still had twelve good sized muffins. Just don't fill them too high, because eggs puff up quite a bit when they cook.
perfect egg-y cheesy muffins.
Cheesy Omelet Muffins
makes about 12
bake time: 20-25 minutes
ingredients:
1 cup Bisquick mix
6 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
large handful of shredded cheese (cheddar or 3 cheese blend)
pinch of black pepper
directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12 muffin tin pan.
Mix all ingredients together well and pour into muffin tins.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing. Eat warm.
Refrigerate to store, microwave 1 minute to reheat.
You ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone in the house is sick, or has crazy busy schedules, and you haven't been to the grocery store in what seems like a month? Welcome to the last month at our house.
Finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Liam is the only left with a light cough, Christmas chaos is far behind, and I finally have time to grocery shop.
In the meantime I can make pea-sto pasta. I've been making it for ages, but I really appreciate it now. Quick, hearty, comforting, with pretty healthy and sparse ingredients. Yes please!
This is one of those recipes that I've been making for years, but somehow totally forgot about when it came to blogging. Its great. The ingredient list is minimal, the pea-sto sauce can be made quickly in a blender while the pasta is cooking,
This is total comfort food. Warm, creamy, filling, and you can get your veggies and protein all in one dish. Bonus, the kids love it. I'm pretty sure that the brighter color a food is, the more the kids will like it.
I like to use my baby bullet blender for this because it is the PERFECT size. You can use any blender or food processor, I just don't want like to use one that's too big because I feel like I lose too much sauce even if I use a spatula to scoop out as much as I can.
You might wonder (or not) why I use garlic powder in this recipe instead of garlic cloves. The real garlic would be very strong raw, and one of the best parts about this recipe is how quick it is to make. I didn't want to spend so much extra time roasting or sauteing garlic.
I completely forgot to set out the pine nuts in the above photo, but not counting the pasta, this is all you need. Really.
I like to use frozen peas because they taste the freshest. Don't try to blend them still frozen. Just don't. Microwave them for about 2 minutes until warm, Add the peas, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, pepper, and basil to the blender (food processor, etc.) and blend. I like mine a bit chunky, but feel free to completely puree.
My favorite three things about this recipe are so random:
perfect if you're craving pesto, but are a bit short of basil and want to fill the sauce out a bit more.
you can always prep the sauce ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate it separately to have instantly.
the creamy sweet texture from the peas makes this dish feel so fatty and decadent without adding a million calories.
The pea-sto sauce can also be used as a good sauce over chicken, or you can bake and cut up a chicken breast and mix it in with this pasta. I am SUCH a fan of a balanced (ish, at least) meal you can eat out of a bowl. I love mixing things together!
Pea-sto pasta
2 large servings
total time: 15 minutes
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, warmed
1 large handful basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp parmesan
2 tbsp pine nuts
4 tbsp olive oil
4 oz. dry pasta
directions:
Boil a pot of water and add the pasta. Cook al dente. Drain. Set aside.
Start making the sauce as soon as you add the pasta to the pot. Toss the rest of the ingredients (peas, basil, pepper, garlic, parmesan, pine nuts, and olive oil) into a small blender or food processor. Stop when your sauce is a chunky or pureed as you prefer. If you want to thin the sauce out a bit add a bit of water or olive oil (1/2 tbsp at a time). Scoop out the sauce and add it to the drained pasta. Enjoy!
This is a great easy breakfast option. You bake the eggs in individual mason jars and can eat them right out of the oven (well, after you allow them to cool a bit...), or seal them up and eat them up to a week later.
Even better, these can be customized to everyone's liking. I made these for Jeff so of course these contain bacon and cheese, but the mix-in options are endless.
Don't worry if the jars look very full directly out of the oven, the eggs loose the puffiness when they cool, and they sink down a bit. After they cool there is plenty of room to seal them and store them in the fridge.
Start by prepping your mix-ins, in this case bacon. Cook two strips of bacon and set aside.
I like using large measuring cups because they pour easily. Beat in the eggs, then add the remaining ingredients, and pour evenly into 3-4 mason jars depending on size. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over top and they are ready to bake. It is so easy.
This is a good height to fill the jars.
Bake the jars on the oven rack for about 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Don't be concerned if the jar contents have puffed up.
Warm and fluffy.
See, they shrink down to easily seal. Don't worry, there's still plenty egg-y goodness in each cup to fill you up. Just take the lid off and microwave for about a minute when you plan on eating them. So quick and easy. Great for busy morning breakfast on the go.
Easy Egg Bake:
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/2 C milk
1/4 C shredded cheese
2 strips bacon, cooked
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the bacon into matchsticks and cook. Set aside.
2. Whisk the eggs well, add the milk, cheese, and bacon.
3. Pour the egg mixture evenly into 3-4 mason jars and sprinkle over top with salt and pepper.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool slightly before eating. Otherwise, let cool completely, then seal and refrigerate for up to a week. Microwave with lid removed for about a minute or until warm.
As Jeff says, "It's like if a burrito was soup, or maybe it is like drinking a burrito. Wait, but it tastes way better than that sounds..."
I'll get back to the soup in a minute. Making soup started with us taking a nice family walk first. We live just a few blocks from a park, so we see turkeys often enough, but usually they get nervous and run away if we get too close. Not these turkeys! We saw two of them close enough that I had to warn Liam not to try and pet them.
Jeff had to give Liam some leverage to see some turkeys across the road. Ever find that you need to bribe your kids with snacks to take a walk with you? Mine love waffles.
I always bring my camera for walks in case the boys do something cute, but this time I took more pictures of the sky than anything else. The colors were just beautiful. I don't think of myself as a very good photographer, and I didn't even have to edit these to get the lighting and colors.
I guess it was just the perfect time of day for photos. I love photos of clouds. Especially clouds with depths and several colors.
I honestly can't even pick a favorite scenery photo because I love them all.
I love when we see deer on our walks. There were several deer here, but they were extra skittish because they had two babies with them, so this was the only shot I could get of them.
I call this the "I'm in a good mood but I still don't understand why you're taking my picture" face.
As long as this kiddo has his snuggle blanket with him to chew on he will stay in his stroller forever. Unless you stop walking for a moment, then he will try to climb out over the side and crawl away. Because he's a monkey.
Insert obligatory couple photo here... Oh yeah, back to the soup. It was a perfect evening, room temperature with a slight breeze. But the air was still crisp like Fall. I wanted to make something quick and easy for dinner that would also be healthy and make me happy (not all healthy and quick foods make me happy. Like kale. Gross...).
Pinto bean soup is great because it doesn't take all day, the ingredients are few and are basic pantry staples, and they are also healthy. And cheap! Even better.
Start out by chopping up a yellow onion and sauteing it with some olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Stir it around over medium low heat until fragrant.
Add vegetable broth and pinto beans. Stir around to incorporate and put the lid on. Leave the soup alone for about 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes the beans should be very soft. Use a potato masher to smash them a bit. I like my soups very thick so I added a can of vegetarian refried beans. At this point I also added the seasonings (black pepper, garlic, chili powder, and cumin).
Adjust the seasonings to taste, and take the soup off the heat when it reaches a consistency you like.
This soup is thick and hearty but still have large pieces of onion and pinto beans floating in it. If you want a smooth soup just use an immersion blender at this point.
You can eat the soup plain, or dip things into it. I almost made some polenta fries to dip into the soup, but then I forgot. Yeah, I'm honest.
Jeff liked his with sharp cheddar and tortilla chips dipped in.
The soup tastes great alone, but there are so many ways to dress it up. I can't wait to try some new add-ins next time I make this!
print recipe
pinto bean soup
by Liesl September-27-2014
like eating a liquid burrito (but better)
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 tsp black pepper
60 oz. pinto beans, cooked and drained
30 oz. vegetable broth
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp refried beans
Instructions
1. Chop up a yellow onion and saute it in olive oil and salt on medium-low heat until fragrant and soft. 2. Add the vegetable broth and pinto beans. Stir briefly and put the lid on the pot. Turn the heat up to medium and set a timer for 30 minutes. 3. When the timer goes off add the pepper, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Then stir in a can of refried beans. Stir to get out any large chunks. Taste and check that seasonings are to your liking. When the soup is hot all the way through take off the heat and serve. Top with cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 4-6 servings
