This current batch has a hefty scoop of garlic powder and of onion powder added to it. I figured I may as well make it visually distinct too, so it also has poppy seeds kneaded in.

I just hope this violation of tradition doesn’t send me to pizza dough purgatory.

I substituted a fraction of the flour (30 g) for whole wheat flour. I also cast an eye about my pantry as to what more I can add. Here’s what made it into my bread this week:

• roasted walnuts
• sunflower seeds
• black and white sesame seeds
• oats
• bulgur
• red quinoa
• teff

I’m going to try finding different flours besides whole wheat to add. Also, in the immediate plans, finding out what adding whole brown rice will do.

Looking over the list of products at Bob’s Red Mill is very exciting. That’s a lot of variety and bread experimentation possibilities!

What are your favorite grains to toss in?

It’s so easy and rewarding! The ricotta is almost sweet tasting on its own. I’ve made all my batches with whole milk, and am now going to try some with reduced fat milk and compare the two.

I made a small pan of lasagna with my ricotta, using a free form filling of ricotta, cooked spinach, some cooked bacon, an egg and parmasean.

While waiting for the lasagna to cook, I made a batch of orange ricotta fritters using this recipe found on epicurious. The resulting fritters are amazing and addictive! Sweet, slighty orangy in a way that makes you think of honey. Eggy, like dutch babies. Not too sweet! I recommend doubling the recipe though as these disappeared way to fast.

I don’t fry things very often, so when I have hot oil ina pan, my eye tends to linger on other fryable possibilities in my kitchen. Inspired by the simple orange ricotta fritter, I realized that my leftover lasagna filling was almost a savory version of this fritter- all it needed was a splash of flour and maybe more egg. The resulting fritters are just as good as the orange ones!
Slightly salty with a creamy cheese flavor, light, crisp, and a finish of smoky bacon. This recipe is so simple and easy to adapt to many variations. Gruyere with onion would be an excellent next version to try.

Savory Spinach Bacon Ricotta Fritters

This recipe is an approximation on how to recreate my lasagna inspired fritters. The consistency of the dough is very similar to biscuit dough, a good texture to aim for when making these fried goodies.

In a pan over medium heat, crisp up one strip of bacon, cubed into tiny pieces. When crispy, remove with a slotted spoon to a paper bag or another absorbant surface to drain.

Cook two handfulls of raw spinach in the microwave till limp. Allow to cool slightly and squeeze out as much of the water from the cooked spinach as possible. Place the dried cooked spinach to a mixing bowl. Add the bacon bits, one egg, a pinch of salt, about 1 oz of grated parmesan and 1/2 cup of ricotta. Mix thoroughly. Add 1/3 cup of flour and mix the flour in only until just barely combined. The dough should be very thick, similar to a biscuit dough. Place the dough in the refigerator for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375F.

Heat approximately 1 cup of vegetable oil in a high walled pan for pan frying the fritters. Through experimentation I found that cooking the fritters at a slightly lower temperature (275F with fritters already cooking in it) gave them time for the insides to cook with out overly browning the outer layer. Since these are to be cooked all the way through, as opposed to just cooking an outer layer, thorough cooking time is desired to prevent a too wet inside to your fritters.

Using a small scoop that dispenses about 1 Tbs, scoop rounds of batter into your oil. The oil should just barely sizzle around the dough. Using a dry fork, flip the fritters over so that they achieve an even golden coloring all the way around. My best batches of fritter took approximatley 10 minutes in the oil to reach golden brown. Scoop out the golden fritters, draining briefly and then popping on a baking sheet in the hot oven. Continue cooking your dough in this manner adding the finished fritters to the baking sheet in the oven. The oven cooking seems to drive off more of the cooking oil from the product, and ensures that the insides get heated to completion.

Remove the fritters from the oven and sprinkle with salt and enjoy.

Waking up this morning to windows streaming in cold winter sun, I set about to looking up recipes and found this easy peasy one on about.com. Sure enough, just grate apples into your spiced up batter! This recipe is lowfat too.

Even better, this recipe lists an accompanying apple cider syrup recipe too. However, only after I measured out my ingredients into the saucepan did I realize I don’t have apple cider-opps. Substituting in the only fruit juice I have, pomegranate juice, made a wonderful variation: spiced pomegranate pancake syrup, that goes wonderfully with these pancakes.

Happy discoveries and a bright shiny breakfast…

Apple Spice Pancakes with Pomegranate Syrup

Pomegranate Syrup
In a saucepan, mix together:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbs cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Pour in 1 cup of pomegranate juice and whisk over heat till the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for 1 minute then remove from the heat and add: 1 Tbs butter and 1 Tbs lemon juice.

Apple Spice Pancakes

This recipe is based on dry pancake mix. I like having a batch of Alton Brown’s Pancake Mix around. My last bulk batch of it I made also has 5 vanilla bean pods ground up and added- a flavor addition I highly recommend. The ground up whole beans add color to the resulting batter, making your pancakes look like they are buckwheat based. However, during long term storage of the vanilla’ed pancake mix, the beans have a bit of moisture that is released into the mix and causes it to clump slightly. Just sift out your mix into your mixing bowl and break up the clumps when measuring for recipes.

In a bowl combine

• 2 cups of pancake mix
• 1 tsp cinnamon

In a measuring cup whisk together 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1 whole egg.

Pour this whisked mixture into the pancake mix and stir together for only 5-8 seconds. Grate in one large apple, enough to yield 3/4 cup of shredded apple, and briefly stir. Let the mixture sit while you heat up your pan.

Now’s a good time to size up your batter consistency. I found I had to add more milk to the batter to give it a slight bit of run, to help it spread when added to a hot pan. Gently laddle in pancake batter to your hot skillet or griddle pan and cook pancakes on one side till bubbles form and break open. Flip and cook just 1 minute more.

Garnish with pomegrate syrup, and sliced apples and toasted walnuts for extra credit. Enjoy!

I’ve always claimed to not be into cooked apples. I’ve only appreciated apple pie with Sweets’ offered bites.

This lack of desire over cooked apples would perplex my German friends when I was a kid. They were very keen on me being an American, and encapsulating all the stereotypical American desires. They couldn’t quite grasp that I didn’t like Kool-Aid, or apple pie and wasn’t crazy about hot dogs and 4th of July.

But taste buds change and I’ve found a place in my heart for cooked down apple flavors in the form of mini spice muffins…

Mini Apple Spice Muffins

Heat oven to 425 F.

Toast 1/2 cup of walnuts or almond slices in the oven till just golden.

Combine in a saucepan over medium heat:

• apples, grated including skin 2
• brown sugar 1/2 cup
• butter 1/4 cup
• salt 1 tsp
• cinnamon 1/2 tsp
• nutmeg 1/2 tsp
• clove 1/4 tsp
• allspice 1/4 tsp

Bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and lower the heat. Gently simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in:

• milk 1/4 cup

Combine well, then stir in:

• egg, one*

Combine in a bowl the dry ingredients:

• cake flour 2 cups
• baking powder 1 Tbs
• baking soda 1/2 tsp

Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and mix till combined. Stir in the toasted walnuts.

Spray the insides of your mini muffin pan with non-stick spray (or brush lightly with 1 part oil 2 parts lecithin). Fill muffin wells with batter and bake at 425F for 10 minutes or until an inserted toothpick removes with only 2-3 crumbs adhering.

Makes 16 tall mini mufflins.

* I substituted one eggs worth of powdered egg whites (2tsp) and 1 tsp of lecithin, because I need to go to the store and get eggs…

One of the things I enjoyed about babysitting was the exposure to different kitchens and the associated food complexities exhibited there-in. I was a self described food anthropologist (not a snoop)! Some families were all about healthy eating with out any hidden junk food stashed away in a high cubboard. Some families doled out the poor kids confiscated Halloween candy to make it last the entire year.

One of my favorite families introduced me to BagelDogs not too long after my first bagel. BagelDogs came individually packaged and were stored in the freezer. They fit into the realm of pop it in the microwave cooking, and more importantly were good grasp-food for kids. I’ve continued to think of those dogs over the years; they were one of my first examples of food ingenuity. My BagelDogs were before cereal and candy manufacturers went crazy offering bigger and brighter and newer offerings. In my mind they were inspired.

With my run of bagel making last week, plump little images of hot dogs danced through my head. With my bagel-hole-angst in check I tried my hand at making my own BagelDogs, and found that they are even easier to make than bagels! No hole plunging, no dough unwinding, their formation was simple and intuitive. I think kids could handle this dough project as easily as the resulting product. And did I mention they’re tasty? Though watch out- these doggies remain hot for awhile after cooking! Since these dogs cook in the oven, they are well suited for party situations when you want a large number of servings to finish simultaneously.

Garlic Onion Bagel Dogs

Our favorite tested combination of dog flavors is a sauted onion with garlic combo, though these dogs are just as good plain.

Set yourself up to make the dough recipe from the Mini Bagel entry. One batch of Mini Bagel dough wraps four dogs.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Since Bagel Dogs are a rather self-contained unit, they don’t lend themselves to toppings very well (they are very well suited for dunking though). I took this as an opportunity to inject flavor into the dough preparation: saute enough sliced or minced onions to yield 1/2 – 3/4 cup of cooked onion. Add the cooked onion to the liquid phase of the bagel dough and continue to combine in the food processor.

Check the feel of the dough for proper flour to moisture level and adjust accordingly (the dough shouldn’t be sticky but kind of shiny and plastic looking). Allow the dough to sit covered for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough into four equal parts and roll out each part into a snake that is twice as long as your chosen hot dog. With a rolling pin, flatten the dough snake in both directions- lengthwise and widthwise. Place your hot dog at one end of the flattened snake at approximately a 45 degree angle. Roll your dog, wrapping it up with the bagel dough, allowing the dough to overlap about 1/2 inch as it twists along the dog.

Set your finished dog aside and continue with the remaining three dough snakes.

When finished rolling, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the dogs in batches of two for 3 minutes each. Remove the bagel dogs carefully with tongs or a straner to a lined cookie sheet (I always use silpat). Sprinkle the dog with salt and dehydrated garlic sprinkles. Bake in the oven at 425-450F till the dough is golden.

Remember these dogs remain quite hot for awhile, so cut them in half to aid cooling. Also, these Bagel Dogs can be oven cooked half way to be cooked off at a latter time (Hmmm, finished off on the grill?). Fully cooked Bagel Dogs freeze well and microwave well too.

Enjoy!

Bagels are a fun item to make small because then they seem similar to those mini gem donuts! Well, except for the chocolate and sugar, and sprinkles… well, maybe not so similar. However this situation does help explain a special food principle: sometimes, it’s all about the hole. Angel food cake, pineapple rings, donuts, (um… I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I actually just googled “food with holes,” glad to see no Courtney Love results yet…), yes: swiss cheese, lifesavers, cherrios, I think you get the point, err I mean the hole! Holes can be a huge part of the personality package that a food item comes wrapped up in.

So, where does that leave me in my bagel discussion? Getting that bagel hole just right is a tricky science! I tried three different ways to get my bagel shapes, and I’m still searching… any East Coasters willing to help out a West Coast gal with her bagel holes?

Method one: actually following the bagel recipe I found in Best American Recipes 2003-2004, roll out your chunks of dough into snakes with tappered ends. Roll your snake into a circle, and “join the ends to make a doughnut shape, overlapping them by about 1 inch, and form into a smooth perfect circle”.

Method two: after bagels of method one came un-smooth in the cooking, take the ends of your snake, and form a doughnut shape. Now really smash the bejeebers out of the ends, pinching and mashing them together really well, thus resulting in an un-perfect looking circle when the cooking process is finished

Method three: ditch the snakes and make little balls of dough. Poke a hole in the center with a chopstick and force your finger in there good. Now, force a second finger and stretch out that little hole really well. Thus resulting in bagels that look more like little buns with a slight hole. Hrmmmm.

Well, pretty or not, these mini bagels are a cute chewy breakfast treat that really take well to being dressed up with a number of flavors. My favorite variety was roasted garlic mixed into the bagel dough and topped with dehydrated garlic crunchie bits. Other variations: rosemary parmesan, sesame seed, poppyseed, chedder jalapeno… you name it! Cuting a recipe down to make only 8 bagels, like this one, means you can experiment with all sorts of bagel flavors to wow your co-workers with. That is, if you feel like sharing…

Cute Mini Bagels

This recipe is based on a much larger and slightly different bagel recipe in the Best American Recipes 2003- 2004.

Makes a batch of 8 smaller-than-palm-sized bagels.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Combine together:

• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of molasses
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast

And briefly set aside.

In a food processor, combine:

• 2 cups of high gluten flour (or use regular flour mixed with 3 Tbs of gluten flour)
• any dry flavoring ingredients for inside the dough, such as herbs or parmesan cheese

Stir up your liquid yeasty mixture and slowly pour into the dry ingredients while the food processor is running. Check the feel of the dough for proper flour to moisture level and adjust accordingly (the dough shouldn’t be sticky but kind of shiny and plastic looking). Allow the dough to sit covered for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, and shape into bagel shapes using your choosen method of shapping (see above note on methods). Allow the formed bagels to sit for 5 minutes, covered loosely with a cloth.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and prep your last bagel playground. Assemble ingredients to press into the top of your bagels on a plate (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic crunchies, seasoned salt, cheese…). Each batch uses approximately 2-3 Tbs of topping.

Boil each bagel individually for 10 seconds, or until they float to the water’s surface. Immediately remove and place on to the plate of dry toppings. Shake off excess toppings and place your bagel on a baking sheet, topping side up. Finish the batch of bagels in this manner.

Place the bagels in the oven and bake at 425F for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown. If bagels won’t be consumed in the same day as they are being made, cook them for only have the time and then freeze in this par-baked state. The frozen bagels can be defrosted and baked or toasted to golden brown as needed.

This last week I’ve been enjoying making up scones, a treat I don’t have very often throughout the year. Scones are very similar to biscuits: basically flour with shortening or butter and a little added sugar… and eminently mutable with flavor additives.

Favorite Scone Flavoring Ideas

• Toasted Almond: add a touch of vanilla and almond flavoring to the wet ingredients and a handful of toasted almond slivers at the end.
• Orange Cranberry Hazlenut: to the wet ingredients add a good Tbs of orange zest and soak dried cranberries in orange juice (allowing the cranberries to plump up) adding at the end with toasted hazlenuts.
• Lemon Poppyseed: add lemon zest to the liquid addition and a good sprinkle of poppyseeds at the end.
• Ginger Apricot: cut up several pieces of candied ginger and dried apricots, add at the end. An alternative is to steep the cut up ginger and apricots in the cream before making the recipe. Cool the cream, and add as usual in the liquid step with the ginger bits still in the cream.
• Toasted Hazlenut with Chocolate: add chopped up chocolate and toasted hazlenuts in the end.
• Walnut Fig: steep chopped up dried figs in the cream. Cool the cream, and add as usual in the liquid step with the fig bits still in the cream. Add tosted walnuts at the end.
• Cherry Almond: steep dried cherries in cream as outlined above and add toasted almond slices at the end.

Tea Time Scones

This recipe makes 8 hand sized scones. My Mom recommends doubling the recipe to allow more flavor varieties.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Dry step: in a food processor, or mixing by hand, combine all of the dry ingredients and throughly mix:

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 Tbs sugar*
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt

Solid step: with the processor running, add 4 Tbs of cold, (even frozen works) butter or shortening cut into bits. Pulse or mix briefly (5 seconds with the food processor) allowing the butter to integrate and get coated by the dry ingredients.

Liquid step: mix together in a small bowl

• 1/3 cup of heavy cream**
• 2 eggs, beaten***
• any liquid flavorings (extracts, brandy…)

with the food processor running, slowly drizzle the combined liquids into the butter-flour mixture just until all is combined.

Solid flavor additions: if adding any nuts, or solid little flavor bits, cut them up into smaller pieces and add them now.

Turn this mixture out onto a clean surface and press together to make it a unified mass. Shape into a log, 1 inch thick and cut in half lengthwise. Cut each of those halves in half, forming four small rectangles. Cut each of these four small rectangles on the diagonal forming 8 triangle shapes.

Place the raw scones on a baking sheet, and brush with lightly beaten egg whites, and sprinkle with sugar and any dry flavor additives used in the scones (this helps identify your scone flavors).

Bake at 400F for approximately 15 minutes.

* I often like to substitute maple syrup for the 2Tbs sugar. If this is the case, add the maple syrup with your liquid additions, and omit the dry sugar step.

** Buttermilk works well as a variation.

***I don’t usually keep eggs in my household. Instead of whole eggs, I have successfully made this recipe using powdered egg whites. If using powdered egg whites in this recipe instead of whole eggs, measure out the equivalent of two egg whites (this will be specified on your container) and add this in the first step of combining the dry ingredients. Add an extra Tbs or so of liquid (cream or orange juice) as well.

Powdered egg whites can be found in the baking section of your grocery store in a small tub. They don’t require refrigeration, so they make a great pantry item.

Layered on a bed of creamy mild goat cheese, this zucchini pizza reminds the mouth of warm sunny days and hints at the need for Snake River Iced Tea.

Lemon Zucchini Pizza

Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping.

Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough with wax paper to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.

Spread a thin layer of garlic herb goat cheese across the entire surface of the pizza. Layer thin (2mm) slices of zucchini over the goat cheese, allowing the zucchini to slightly overlap. Top with thin slices of red onion, a light grating of parmesan cheese, a sprinkle of kosher salt, and a drizzle of lemon olive oil. If lemon olive oil is not a kitchen item you have on hand, introduce lemon to your pizza by either sprinkling lemon juice on top of your freshly cooked pizza, or by grinding your kosher salt with lemon rind to imbue it with lemon flavor.

Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.

My job as navigator proved to be challenging as well,
“Umm… take a left at this next K-street”.
“K- street? Can you sound it out?”
“No…” I whined not sure what to make my mouth do with all the vowels., “Kam-ah…” in my head whirled the bad Hawaiian joke seen on t-shirts in high school: Kam-on-a-wana-lai-u?

Magically our car was pulled in the direction of good food and we found ourselves at Cafe Pesto. In an unexpected fit of nostalgia we giggled at the appearance of Oregon Chai on the menu and ordered iced sweet chai and a Southwestern pizza. What came to us from that kitchen is one of the best pizzas I have ever tasted…tangy chipotle chicken on a bed of garlicy cilantro pesto, and topped with red onion rings, smooth creamy goat cheese crumbles and sweet chili sauce. We swooned, finishing off every slice, licking the sweet vinegar sauce off of our fingers.

This flavor combination of cilantro pesto and sweet chili sauce has become a cult favorite in our house ever since…

Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto

Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.

Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:
 
 
Cilantro Pesto

   This recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.

 In a food processor or blender combine:

• 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
• 1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
• 1 Tbs of ground pepper
• 1 tsp of salt
• with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste

 Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.
 
 
Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce

   This is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.

 In a sauce pan combine

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 Tbs minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt

 Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.
 
 
Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.

Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.

Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.

Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.

This pizza is also excellent topped with any grilled meat or seafood. If the goat cheese is omited this is a very tasty vegan meal.

Enjoy!