At Home with Kristi

This is a variation  of this recipe

(Printable version coming soon)

First, I grated some Romano cheese

I used about 2/3 of a cup of grated romano and a little over 1/2 cup of mozerella

Spread that on the bottom of a pizza pan (with sides) that has been sprayed with non-stick spray

Next measure out 6 oz of low fat cream cheese and put it in the mixer with 4 whole eggs, 1 tsp of Italian seasoning and 1 tsp garlic powder and mix until smooth

Then pour the liquid mixture over the cheese on the pan

Put that in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes

Meanwhile, I made some homemade pizza sauce because all the commercial sauces I found had lots of sugar, but feel free to use whatever kind you want.

I started with tomato puree

Then added

• a few cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh basil
• 1 packet of Splenda

Then I set that to simmer while I got my toppings ready

Use whatever you want, as long as its low carb. I used a mix of regular and turkey pepperoni, onions, green olives and mozerella

Your crust should be about ready to come out of the oven now, it will be golden brown

Spread it with your pizza sauce

Load on the toppings

Sprinkle on the cheese

And return to the 350 degree oven for another 10 minutes

Remove and marvel at how good it looks

Slice it and serve

It really does taste like pizza, not “eggy” at all.

We’ve been trying the past couple years to do a bit more traveling together.  Last May we went to Memphis for a short vacation (see that post on my old blog which I haven’t transferred over yet)

This past weekend we drove up to Chicago.  Matt’s sister Jennifer and her husband Mark flew down from Minneapolis and met us there.

The drive up was fine, but boring. It was windy and cold, snowing by the time we got to Midway.

I had gotten a great deal on rooms at the Four Points Sheraton, one block off Michigan Avenue downtown.  The hotel staff there was some of the nicest I have ever encountered, and I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels.

Once we got settled in the hotel it was dinner time.  Jen and I had read about “priority seating” passes you could get from the hotel front desk for Gino’s East, where we planned on eating.  We stopped at the front desk and they gave us one.  We walked the 3 blocks to Gino’s in the snow and icy wind to find a line of about 20 people standing outside.  We gave the person at the door our priority pass and were seated within 10 minutes!

We enjoyed our first taste of real chicago deep dish pizza.

After eating we went back to the hotel and watched a movie on Matt’s laptop.  (note to self, bring av cable next time so we can hook laptop up to tv and not watch movie that small and soft)

That was the extent of day 1 in Chicago, it was too cold and nasty to go out and do anything else.

To be continued….

A few months ago I discovered the amazing thing called no knead bread.  I was skeptical at first, but after trying it the first time I was hooked!  I’m pretty sure this is the original one I used, and then this one as well.  As I said, these recipes produce amazing bread, but it seems that I don’t have the ability to leave a recipe well enough alone.  One of the major changes I made is that I like a sweeter bread, so I add sugar and honey.  Here is MY version.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour (I usually mix white and wheat half and half but use whatever you like, as long as its bread flour)
• 1 tbsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup warm water

Throw all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix in the water. It will look like a mess!

Coat a large bowl or other container with oil and throw the ugly dough in it, turning to coat.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave out in a warmish (room temperature) place for 12-24 hours.  You will see it start to rise in a couple hours but leave it alone!

Once the allotted time has passed (you’ve slept and gone to work and come home probably), turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Turn the dough over on itself once or twice.  DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH!  All you are doing is bringing it together.

Now, you can either make one loaf using a dutch oven or cast iron skillet which will end up looking something like this

Or you can shape it and make loaves or rolls.  I was making baguettes this time, so I shaped it into two long logs.

Once its shaped you want to let it rest, covered with a tea towel  for about 30 minutes.  I didn’t leave this one rest long enough and I’ll show you in a minute what that does.

It will puff up a bit more as it rests.

Bake at 425-450 for approximately 2o minutes.  It does very well if you cover the pan in foil to hold in the steam, makes lighter, aerier bread.

Now, let me show you the difference  not letting it rest long enough and not covering it in foil makes.

Bread not rested well and not covered in foil

Well rested, “steamed” bread

See all the nice holes!  That’s good bread!  (and yes, that one is mine too, just a different batch from awhile back)

I made some yummy french bread pizza from my bread for dinner tonight!

Get the pdf of this recipe