FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Calzone With A Kick

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Now that I, in my oh so humble opinion, have completely mastered pizza making, it only made sense to move on up to calzones.  Spinach, artichokes, and crushed red pepper?  Done and done!

No pre-shredded cheese for this girl, mozzarella di bufala all the way.

I used Jenna @ Eat Live Run’s pizza dough recipe again.  This recipe is spot on, no-fail goodness.  At some point I’d like to test out a less whole wheat, more authentic Italian recipe, but for now her dough is a staple in my kitchen.

FoodFash Spinach, Artichoke & Red Pepper Calzone

Yield: 3 calzones

1/2 Eat Live Run pizza dough

marinara for dipping

Stuffing:

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1 cup chopped fresh mozzarella

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 artichoke bottoms, chopped

2 handfulls of spinach, chopped

1 teaspoon of garlic salt

1 to 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper

Egg Wash:

1 egg

1/4 cup water

Prepare the pizza dough.  While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees and mix stuffing ingredients together in a medium bowl until well blended.  When dough is ready, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it’s large enough for three calzones.  Cut the dough into three sections.  Dollop 1/3 of the stuffing onto one side of each piece of dough.  In a small bowl, make an egg wash by beating together 1 egg and 1/4 cup of water.  Brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash, fold the dough over to completely cover the stuffing, and press edges with a fork to seam the calzones.  You may have to press twice to make sure that the edges have a strong seam.  Place the calzones on a greased and floured pan.  Brush the calzones with the egg wash.  Using a fork, poke holes in each calzone.  Bake for 30 minutes or until calzones are golden brown.

W-O-W!  As I removed these beauties from the oven, I had a perma-smile and a total feeling of accomplishment.  The egg wash ensured firm and toasty crust.  The contrasting brightness of green spinach and red pepper flakes made for a soft-on-the-eyes filling.  The red pepper flakes added a uniquely awesome kick.  I was 100% pleased and 110% stuffed.

What’s your favorite calzone combination?   

Vegan Lettuce Wraps

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I must have tofu-ed myself out for a bit because it’s been a while!  I browsed through VegTimes for some inspiration and stumbled upon a recipe for spicy tofu lettuce wraps.  Yum.

I stared at the onion for a few minutes, picturing how badly my eyes were going to burn.  I thought of the Pampered Chef chopper buried somewhere in cabinet land and my eyes began to thank me.  I knew this gadget worked well with onions, but it also saved me some time with the ginger and lemongrass as well.

I smooshed the pressed tofu between my fingers like nobody’s business.

And added one handful of shredded carrots and two handfuls of baby spinach after the tofu was cooking and before adding any seasoning.

It’s amazing how just a tad bit of ginger and lemongrass can transform a dish into something wonderful.

In addition to the above modifications, I also used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos in place of soy sauce and opted for two tablespoons of Sriracha.

I was super satisfied with this recipe and think that it will hold up well for leftovers tomorrow.  The water chestnuts and the carrots added a predictably awesome crunch.  The tofu soaked up flavors from each and every ingredient.  And, in my opinion, this would be the perfect dish to serve someone who is wary of tofu.  Thanks VegTimes!

Cake Bakin’

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One would think I’d wait until an ice cream cake was completely frozen to take pictures, but three hours is a long time to sit around thinking about cake!  I can assure you that the piece I had for breakfast this morning was much more pulled together.

I spent a decent amount of time yesterday searching for the perfect cake to test out for FoodFash’s second birthday.  And by perfect, I was looking for something that was the perfect balance of challenging, delicious, and had a less than overwhelming amount of ingredients.

Epicurious simplified my search times a million by putting together a list of thirty top-rated cake recipes.  Talk about easy, ten minutes and thirty mouth watering pictures later I made my decision: Peppermint Ice Cream Candyland Cake.

I opted not to make the candy brittle.  As fun as that looked, I do not have the patience for candy thermometers and sugar art.

As I folded the melted butter and chocolate into the dry ingredients, I wondered why boxed cake happens.  I actually wondered why boxed anything happens as often as it does.  Sure, I understand time constraints on occasion, but I came to the conclusion that boxed anything at the market probably doesn’t save you that much time.

 

Here are some thoughts on this recipe:

1.  I’m more of a brownie girl than a cake girl and this cake was much more brownie-like than cake – win

2.  I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but I do like brownies with ice cream or ice cream with lots of <insert topping> chunks in it – win

3.  Spreading the ice cream with your hands worked much better than using a spoon, which caused fingers so cold they hurt.  This alone would deter me from ice cream cake making in the future – fail

4.  I enjoy making anything that utilizes my KitchenAid mixer and I think cake baking will be more of a regular occurrence now that I’ve had a successful cake baking experience – win

Do you like to bake?  What is your most/least successful baking experience?

And… We’re Back!

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Wow.  The past 48 hours have been nuts!  After the whole server/wordpress/blog hack, and subsequent wipe out, I was one big ball o’ stress.  And to add just a dollop of additional (and unnecessary) stress, I thought now would be the perfect time to give FoodFash a makeover.

The first makeover was a total doozie.  Each time I refreshed the screen, I couldn’t believe how much more I had destroyed what I had already considered a disaster.  Luckily, StudioPress has a return policy, so I was able to return the old theme and swap it out for a more vibrant, more girly, more me theme!

With that all said and done, it was time to peel away from my computer screen and get back into the kitchen.  I bought some pho-like ingredients at the market earlier in the week that needed to be used ASAP.

FoodFash Faux Pho

6 cups of water

2 Not Chick’n Bouillon Cubes

1/4 cup Allegro Hot & Spicy Marinade

2-3 heads of baby bok choy, chopped

3.5 ounces of shitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

2 handfulls of bean sprouts

4 ounces of ramen noodles

Bring water, bouillon, and marinade to a boil.  Add the ramen noodles, mushrooms, and bean sprouts and boil for 4 minutes or until ramen is fully cooked.  Remove the pot from heat and add the baby bok choy.  Stir until the leaves are wilted and serve.

I had been searching for pho recipes for quite some time and never found the yummy, simple recipe I had in mind.  The hot and spicy marinade gives the soup a bold flavor and a decent kick, while the bean sprouts add crunch and texture to ordinarily soft noodles.  And I recognize that this recipe isn’t technically pho in any shape or form, but shhhh…. My belly doesn’t know the difference.