Pizza Dough, Two Ways (Plus a bonus recipe!)

It is hard to believe that it’s time to start planning for Thanksgiving already, and this year is the added bonus of a joint Thanksgiving and Chanukah celebration. While I was poring over my stack of Thanksgiving themed food magazines, I came across a welcome distraction. In the November 2009 issue of Food & Wine there was an article entitled “Asia Comes to America.” Joanne Chang from Boston’s Flour Café and Bakery (and Myers and Chang) contributed a handful of recipes for traditional Chinese items made from non-traditional ingredients. The one that caught my eye was for scallion pancakes using store-bought pizza dough. Since I have been eating scallion pancakes almost every Thursday for the past few months (maybe year...), I thought I would give the recipe a try. (Recipe here, I quartered the recipe to make 1)

Does scallion pancakes every Thursday seem a little odd? Not when the delicious Mei Mei Street Kitchen truck parks across from your office every Thursday. When dumplings aren't on the menu, my next choice is whatever they are serving on a hot griddled scallion pancake. Some week’s it is braised beef, cheese, and pickles others it is roast beef, potato salad, cranberry hoisin and Swiss chard, or sometimes the double awesome. I know I can’t recreate the full Mei Mei experience at home, but the scallion pancake seemed like a good thing to try.

With a 22 oz. ball of pizza dough from the store, I didn’t need to use all of it for the scallion pancake. Earlier in the day I turned 3 pounds of local apples into an apple butter flavored with maple and pumpkin pie spice. This apple butter was packed with as much New England fall as I could find! Apples from Shelburne Farm (Stow, MA), pumpkin pie spice and apple cider from Bolton Spring Farm (Bolton, MA), and granulated maple sugar from The Warren Farm and Sugarhouse (North Brookfield, MA). I thought about making a batch of warm biscuits to slather it on, but then I remembered the leftover pizza dough in the refrigerator. Perfect for a no-fuss dessert!

I tore up the remaining dough and tossed the dough balls in a generous amount of cinnamon sugar. After arranging them in a Bundt pan they got smothered in a mix of my fresh apple butter and melted butter. Thirty minutes and a flip later, maple-pumpkin pie spiced-apple butter monkey bread! There is no recipe for this one, tear up your favorite pizza dough (or even refrigerated canned biscuits), toss in cinnamon sugar, top with melted butter and apple butter, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes, invert onto a plate, and watch it disappear in no time at all.

One ball of dough plus a few great sources of inspiration equals a delicious day in the Good Cook Doris kitchen. Hope your fall is just as tasty!

Maple Pumpkin Pie Spiced Apple Butter
Inspired by Overnight Apple Butter, Domenica Marchetti, Cooking Light, October 2004

1/2 cup granulated maple sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider
1 ½ tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
10 medium apples, peeled, seeds removed, and cut into large chunks (2 ½ - 3 pounds apples)

Add all ingredients in a Dutch oven or large, heavy bottomed pot
Cover and cook over medium-low heat 1 – 1 ½ hours or until apples are very tender, stirring occasionally
Place a large fine-mesh sieve over a bowl; spoon one-third of apple mixture into sieve. Using a spatula, press the apple mixture through sieve. Discard pulp. Repeat with remaining apple mixture.  (This took a little while to do, you want to get as much apple goodness as possible in the finished product)
Return  the apple butter mixture to the pot and cook over medium low for approximately 15 minutes, or until desired thickness.

Time: 
10-15 minutes prep time, depending on your apple peeling speed
10-20 minutes sieve time, depending on your arm strength
Total cook time: 1 ¼ hour – 2 hours

Equipment:
Peeler, measuring spoons and cups, knife, Dutch oven or heavy pot, and spatula

Notes:
This recipe is not sweet – if you like your apple butter sweeter you can add up to double the amount of sugar and honey. I prefer a less sweet apple butter, to let the apples’ natural sugars determine the final sweetness.  

I used a variety of apples from our recent apple picking outing: Cortland, Red Delicious, Empire, Golden Delicious, Rome, and a few others I can't remember. 

Mouthwatering Monday: Mix Bakery

I met Kelly from Mix Bakery last year and have been dreaming about the buttercream frosting since then. I am a frosting lover (not everyone is!) and her creations were rich, decadent, and just the right amount of sweet. When the hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday dessert this year, I didn't hesitate with my answer. Cupcakes from Mix Bakery! He ordered my favorite flavor combinations and scheduled delivery for the day of my birthday dinner. Kelly makes all of her cupcakes to order and deliver the delicious treats right to your home or office.

Words can't describe how great these cupcakes are. I may have eaten 1-2 per day for the last week... My friend who is known for eating around frosting on cakes called me the day after dinner to tell me how much she liked the frosting. And the hubby told me I should spread the peanut butter frosting on toast for breakfast. It's that good.

You really need to taste the cupcakes for the full experience, but here is a photographic essay of cupcake deliciousness. I used the cupcakes as a subject to explore all the settings on my  new camera.I did not edit these photos after I took them.

If your mouth isn't watering by the end of this, I don't know what to tell you!

Cupcake delivery!
Mini-chocolate and mini-banana cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream.
Four mini cupcakes = 1 regular cupcakes.

S'mores cupcake with graham cracker bottom
and incredible marshmallow buttercream.

Close up - graham cracker crust and chocolate cake.

Here's where things get a little silly - a good twenty minutes of cupcake photography. I'll show you the highlights.

Graham cracker crust with chocolate chips.

Banana mini cupcake with peanut butter buttercream. Enough said.

Next time you need cupcakes, skip the store and check out Mix Bakery. You won't be disappointed. I'm going to start making up holidays so that I have reasons to order more!  

P.S. We ordered & paid for these cupcakes and were not in any way asked to write about them. They were so wonderful that I chose to write about and photograph them.

Easy Entertaining with Trader Joe’s

As I mentioned in the previous post, my mother-in-law is an expert at using Trader Joe’s ingredients to make quick and flavorful meals. She says, “The joy of Trader Joe’s is that you can take their ingredients, be creative, and in 15 minutes have a dish cooking that is worthy of being served to company.” Her revised book concept is Dinner Party Dishes with Five Ingredients from Trader Joe’s

During our visit she had an opportunity to cook us one of her delicious creations. With a mix of fresh, canned, and prepared foods she put together a full meal with appetizers, salad, entree, vegetable side, and dessert. The meal preparation was quick and everything was ready in advance of our dinner guests’ arrival.

Our appetizers included assorted olives, hummus and whole wheat crackers, and a spinach pie. The spinach pie can be found in the freezer section. After baking in the oven, my mother-in-law cut the rectangular pie into small squares for serving. Inside the flaky pastry crust was a savory mixture of spinach, feta, and spices.

Main course on top and spinach pie on bottom.

After finishing up with the appetizers we moved on to the main meal. First up, a mixed green salad chock full of cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions, garbanzo beans, and flavored mixed nuts (with herbs & spices). I contributed a quick salad dressing to top it off. She had picked up an assortment of infused olive oils during our trip to North Market along with a divided serving dish. We sampled four of the oils as part of the salad course. A crusty French baguette was the perfect dipper to try all of the oils.

The meal was straight from the pages of her soon to be written cookbook! The ingredient that inspired this dish was frozen ravioli. My mother-in-law was thinking about a baked ravioli dish that she had growing up in New York. Using Trader Joe’s ingredients, some lemon olive oil we had picked up at North Market and a few things out of the fridge, she put together a layered baked ravioli dish that was hearty, flavorful, and quite impressive! The baked ravioli was full of vegetables, so a simple side dish was all that we needed. She steamed fresh green beans and tossed them in a little lemon olive oil with salt and pepper for the side.

We enjoyed a lively conversation while we devoured dinner. It was hard to stop eating, but we knew that we still had dessert on the way!

My mother-in-law has a go-to dessert that she uses when entertaining. It’s an elegant (and healthy) dish that requires just a little assembly. She fills an ice cream dish with a slice of fat-free pound cake, a dollop of fruit preserves, a generous amount of fresh berries, and tops it off with whipped cream. But no dinner party is complete without multiple desserts. We also enjoyed some rugelach and carrot cake.

Sans whipped cream

This meal was quick to prepare, delicious to eat, and everyone was satisfied (and quite full) at the end of the night. The next time you’re stuck in a cooking rut or short on time and don’t know what to make, just head to Trader Joe’s to put together a great meal! And don’t forget to ask my mother-in-law for her recipe!

Baked Ravioli
2 packages Trader Joe’s frozen ravioli (any flavor, we used one package of asparagus and one package of sundried tomato)
1 jar Trader Joe’s bruschetta mix
1 jar crushed tomatoes
1 can artichokes
1 cup sliced mushrooms (leftover from the salad)
A few tablespoons of lemon olive oil
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large oval casserole dish, spread olive oil in the bottom (covering the entire dish)
Pour the jar of bruschetta in the dish and spread evenly
Place raviolis in a single layer on top of the bruschetta
Spread the artichokes on top of the raviolis
Top the artichokes with another layer of ravioli
Add the mushrooms next
Top with a third layer of ravioli
Spread the crushed tomatoes on top, covering all of the ravioli
Bake for 20-25 minutes until heated through
Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella on top and bake for another 5 minutes until the cheese is golden brown
Serve directly from the casserole dish

Summary:
Prep time: 10 minutes (opening jars & packages)
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Casserole dish, serving utensils

Quick and Easy Salad Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt, pepper

Add all ingredients into a small salad dressing bottle or dish with a lid
Shake vigorously until well combined
Toss with salad

Easy & Healthy Dessert
Slices of fat free pound cake or angel food cake
Fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, washed
Fruit preserves (cherry, strawberry, or raspberry
Whipped cream

Place a slice of cake in the bottom of a dessert dish
Add a spoonful of fruit preserves
Add a generous amount of berries
Top with a swirl of whipped cream

Tuesday Night Indian - with a little help

We're getting ready to head on vacation, so we didn't stock up on too much at the grocery store over the weekend. Tonight's dinner was a delicious Indian meal - courtesy of Trader Joe's. It will probably take me longer to type up this post than it did to cook (3 minute cook time). This was a one box, three pouch meal. Lentils, rice, and potatoes and peas. On the side I made two pieces of naan (also from Trader Joe's). It was under $5 - great for the budget as well as the schedule.

Do you have a good weeknight meal that you'd like to share? Send it my way and I'll try it out and post the results!

Trofie with Vodka Sauce and Garlic Bread

Tonight's dinner was a repeat (bison burgers), so I am going to feature our weekend meals instead! Friday night we stopped at the store to get something quick and easy for dinner. The Boston University hockey game was on TV - so we needed something that could be eaten on the couch.

We picked up some fresh pasta and sauce from the grocery store and a mini-baguette to make garlic bread. The pasta took about 10 minutes to prepare, I threw in some frozen peas in the pot to cook at the same time. The sauce just needed a quick warm-up before getting tossed with the pasta.

The pasta was called Trofie - it was about 2 inches long and is thin, twisted pasta. The sauce was a vodka sauce - tomato, basil, parmesan, and a touch of cream.

I love garlic bread - ask anyone in my family and they will agree. Here is a quick and delicious way to make it at home.

Quick and Delicious Garlic Bread
1 fresh mini baguette
Appx. 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons of butter
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (depending on how garlicky you want the bread)
1 tbsp. basil (dried or fresh)

Turn your oven to broil
Cut baguette in half (like you are going to make a sandwich)
Place baguette, opened up, in the oven for about 5 minutes (until warm)

Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat
Add oil, butter, and garlic
Saute for about 5 minutes, until garlic is soft - but not brown
Stir in basil
Pour garlic butter into a small bowl

Take bread out of oven
Brush garlic butter generously on both sides of the bread

Pour a glass of wine, put the pasta in a bowl, and enjoy!

Summary:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10-15 minutes
Pasta pot, skillet, spoons, brush, serving dishes and utensils

Quick Chick Dinner

Sometimes it's good to get help from the store! These panko-sundried tomato crusted boneless skinless chicken breasts were the same price as the regular ones. So I took the help! A quick fry in the skillet and dinner is ready!

Instead of our standard rice or cous cous side dish, I cooked up a quick pasta and veggie accompaniment. I boiled some egg noodles, sauteed green beans and baby bella mushrooms in olive oil, and tossed it all together. A light and healthy side dish! A note on portions - we split the chicken in the picture into two portions. It made a better picture all in one piece!