Born Again Pizza Piety

Yesterday I redid the Greek yogurt pizza recipe. This is an interesting recipe that originated on Pinterest and has been circulating the web. The crust recipe is easy enough to find and easier to make: self rising flour + plan Greek yogurt. That's all you need. I didn't have self rising flour so I did mine with regular flour, baking powder, and salt for the crust.

Last time I made this with my friend Karen and we screwed it up royally. It's like, the easiest crust recipe on earth but we made it too sticky and we didn't take time I knead it :-/

This time, I made my own sauce using tomato paste, and topped the pizza with black beans, mexican and parmesan cheeses, and cherry tomato halves. O so good! Definitely deserves a repeat. Next time I'll make it with my gluten intolerant friend and rice flour. Mmm.

xo, Kristin

One Skillet Wonder

A few months ago I started subscribing to Bon Appetit in the hope that somehow their cooking knowledge would somehow osmosis into my brain just by salivating over the wonderfully arranged food photography. Unfortunately that's not how things worked.

This month Bon Appetit actually had a few recipes for food ne sais pas people like me: one skillet wonders. Basically you throw all the ingredients into one skillet and cook it. That's what I like to hear!!

And it turned out well. Can't believe it.

xo, Kristin

Pumpkin Bread & Muffins

Since we had a snow day Wednesday, I didn't have to go into the high school to teach. To celebrate I made pumpkin pancakes, and then on Thursday decided to use the left over canned pumpkin to make pumpkin bread!

For a few months I've been meaning to make pumpkin bread. I used this recipe for both the bread and the mini-muffins. They turned out great! I devoured the bread yesterday with my family and we've been steadily working on the muffins. This is definitely a repeat recipe.

xo, Kristin

Pizza Piety

My two friends from undergrad, Inky and Karen were over this week for New Year's. We had a nice Baldwin House reunion and were finally able to hang out without the stress of schoolwork hanging over our heads, which meant that we had time to experiment a little in the kitchen.

So was birthed this pizza. We used whatever I had in the fridge and pantry. The dough is made from 3 ingredients: flour, baking powder, and plain greek yogurt (using a take on this recipe). On top is grated cheese, pasta sauce, corn, mixed greens, leftover ham, and some sliced up hard boiled eggs for the vegetarian half of the pizza. 

Once it was cooked, it was tasty but the dough wasn't very crispy. Next time we need to actually knead the pizza dough, and maybe spread it a little thinner for a crispier crust. This definitely calls for a repeat!

We finished off the meal by whipping together some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

xo, Kristin

Study Break Pancake!

Just as the title says. Mmmm chocolate chips <3

xo, Kristin

It's Chili in Here

It's almost winter. It's cold out. It's chili season!

Chili is so easy, I don't know why I haven't made it before. I used one of those McCormick's packets, a pound of beef, and then added in canned and fresh vegetables:

Chili isn't really a picture-friendly food, but although it may look gross, trust me--it was good. I made enough to have leftovers, and I'm looking forward to eating the rest tomorrow. Hopefully chili's like soup, and it'll be even better the second time around. 

Update (1/4) - Chili is not like soup.

xo, Kristin

Grandma's birthday

Tomorrow is my grandma's birthday and tonight my mom and I threw her a mini-party with just the three of us. My mom made great steak with mushroom sauce. There was also shrimp, to make it surf and turf.

We finished it off with a birthday cake my mom and I collaborated on: chocolate with peanut butter frosting. Mmmm....

xo, Kristin

Indian Balloon Bread

Today I went to my aunt's for a study party and dinner. My aunt is also doing a masters in teaching program and so it's convenient to get together for study parties to complain about school and eat. This time she made an awesome dinner. I will not try to take credit for her great skills. 

Anyway, she made some kind of thai soup with pumpkin, lemon grass, sweet potato, and coconut milk. She also made Indian balloon bread. It's so funny! I think I'll have to try it sometime. The recipe is simple, mostly flour, butter, and peanut oil.

Then you roll the dough out into circles and pop it in some hot peanut oil. As they fry, an air pocket forms within the dough and poofs them up into "balloons." It was neat to watch.

xo, Kristin

My aunt made the dough, but I rolled them out. You can tell by their oblong shape...

Becoming balloons!

Soup du Jour-ney

I've hit a lot of bumps on this food journey. Most of those bumps consist of studying and lack of time. None of them include food poisoning...so far...

That is why I'm happy to say that today's food adventure had a happy ending. My friend Carly is staying with me and she suggested we do an escarole soup tonight. Through teamwork we made it work!

Paired with beer and Hungry Ghost bread, it was an awesome meal!

It was a take on this recipe.

xo, Kristin

InBread Eggs

I made bread for the first time! It's for a soup party I'm going to tomorrow in CT. Decided on braided Easter egg bread because I had it before and I thought it looked pretty. I also like how the eggs are peaking through like HIDDEN TREASURES :D

Recipe found here.

Xo, Kristin

Before

After!

Pumpkin pancakes

Happy October! Here in Massachusetts the leaves have changed colors, there're a lot of gourds everywhere, and it's sort of getting cold.

In celebration of this most fab season, and fall break, my high school friend Allie and I made the pinnacle of all fall foods: pumpkin pancakes!!!

So tasty, so easy, so fall.

Recipe found here.

xo, Kristin

Meat me there.

Today I was having such a craving, and so for dinner I thawed some ground turkey and made turkey burgers!

Outfitted with oat bread, ketchup, and spinach, it was soooo good.

Finally, I paired it with a side of sweet dumpling squash: a teeny but colorful autumn squash I found at Stop and Shop last week :)

xo, Kristin

I bread to differ

First, I want to mention that this week is my "no carbs challenge!" week. I am abstaining from bread, baked goods, pasta, etc. Any kind of simple carb you can think of (even beer! D:). I started yesterday and will go all the way until Sunday when I will finally break my sad fast at my friend's Octoberfest party. Woohoo, beer and bratwurst on buns!!

Also, like Martin, I am a throw things in the pan kinda person. Therefore, tonight's dinner:

xo, Kristin

3, 2, 1... FOOD!

I've been wanting to eat healthier, and so I've been trying out new foods. This week I've tried my hand at baked butternut squash from the gardens, onion and garlic turkey burgers made from ground turkey and croutons I found in the dorm's communal food cabinet, and concord grapes.

I had never had concord grapes before, but I always wanted to try then. I've always wondered where grape juice and popsicles get there "grape flavor" from, since they taste nothing like traditional red/ green grapes!

Well that's the flavor of concord grapes. My first time biting into one, I thought I was eating a gummy candy. They have exactly the flavor and texture of grape fruit snacks. So odd! Love it though ♡

xo, Kristin

Cake-tastrophy ??

This weekend I celebrated my grandpa's birthday with my family. I decided it would be fun to make a cake from scratch, and so I tried out the really chocolate-y recipe from the back of the Hershey's cocoa box.

I thought things were going well until the cake deflated, wouldn't come out of the cake pan, and then finally cracked down the middle. Turns out the baking powder was expired. Whoops.

But in the way things work out sometimes, what I thought would be a hot mess turned out to be a delicious chocolate delight ☆♪

xo, Kristin

surPIES!

Pie is just a gift from heaven. I made 3 apple pies today. Two are a surprise for my ex-cross country team, since they have their first meet of the season tomorrow. One was for me to eat with friends. I'm considering eating less carbs. Goodbye pies...

Rating: 10/10 (Who can go wrong with apple pie??)
Total Time: 1hr 15 mins total
Difficulty: 3/10

Also, check out my friend's food blog! Her blog, Eat The Impossible, addresses allergy friendly recipes!

Kristin

Lets be fruity

It's berry season! To commemorate this, I've been eating boatloads of strawberries, and enjoying homegrown raspberries and black berries.

The other day I tried my skill at making perfect oatmeal pancakes. They turned out really good. I topped them off with real maple syrup and some store-bought fresh raspberries. Great and filling breakfast!

Rating: 9/10
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: 5/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, a friend that used to live in the grad house dropped off some peaches from the peach tree in her new backyard. I couldn't believe how much fruit this tree produced. There must've been at least 50 peaches in the bag she brought to us, and she said that wasn't even half. Since they were getting ripe fast, and I was a bit skeptical about biting into the peaches, which were topographically not-so-pretty, I decided to make a peach pie.

It's probably a good thing I didn't eat them raw because I found a couple worms while slicing up one of the peaches. I guess that's what you can expect from a back yard peach tree.

It was my first time making a fruit pie with peaches, and so I was kind of nervous at first, but I made it just as I would make an apple pie and it turned out great! I decided to skip any kind of lattice crust because the crust is the best part, and I want to eat a lot of it. Duh! The pie is vegan and uses an oil crust recipe passed along from grandma.

I like this picture because the pie looks like a face going :O

Rating: 9.5/10
Total Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: 5/10

Can't wait for apple season. There will be MANY more pies to come.

Kristin

PotLuck

Martin and Debbie have arrived safely in Japan, and wont have internet for a little while, and I am on a month break from school and get to avoid preparing anything more difficult than a bowl of cereal! :D :D

I guess the blog's going to take a couple weeks hiatus. In the meantime, I leave you with some pictures from the potluck party I threw in my dormitory.

The good thing about potlucks is a lot of people bring food, and so you don't have to eat the food you yourself prepared for the potluck. The other people get stuck doing that. Ha ha! Plus, the added advantage of actually throwing the potluck means that you get to keep all the delicious leftovers.

Other people prepping food. That's what I like to see! Here we have pasta, egg plant, melting chocolate, and something green.

Mac prepares a spinach, strawberry, and fetta salad. OMG YUM.

Gorging on food. Sipping wine. Enjoying the Olympics. 

Kristin

Free meal!

Tonight I made myself sauteed kale and tomatoes with rice. Preparation was exactly how it sounds. Not hard. Not impressive. Very delicious. 

The brown rice I bought using my parents' credit card last month at Price Chopper.

The tomatoes I got for free at Stop and Shop because they were mislabeled and I complained about it.

The kale I pilfered late last night from the college community gardens.

Rating: 7/10
Prep time: Set the rice to cook in rice cooker 30 mins before sauteing veggies. Total prep time, 35 mins.
Difficulty: 3/10

Next time I'll cut up the kale into smaller pieces and not overcook the rice (I hope).

Kristin

Salad-y Malady

Once in a while I get a horrid wake up call to the disastrous realities that stem from preparing food for myself. Last night was one of these instances.

Who would think that hotdog, spinach, macaroni salad, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and onion would be an odd combination?

What I got from it was a nauseous feeling.

BUT, I'm not totally convinced yet that it was the combination of foods that made me feel a little sick. While preparing the food, I had to keep sticking my head in the fridge to take out some of the ingredients. Right now, our communal dorm fridge smells rank.

One of my housemates put strongly smelling food in there and it made everything else (even the freezer) smell like her food. Which is not pleasant. Then, my food began to soak up the not-so-savory smell.

SO, it could be the smell and not the food combo giving me this weird feeling. Thoughts? Does this salad sound na$ty?

***

Update (7/22) - The next day I went and ate the leftovers. I ended up taking the hotdog out. Nauseous feeling avoided!

Kristin