Pizza Toast



Last week one of my coworkers made stromboli for all of us in the pastry kitchen to eat.  Another one one of my coworkers took a bite of the stromboli, pulled out a green sliver and said "I think this is cactus".  Cactus?  Why would there be cactus in you food?  Who eats cactus?  I stood there making fun of her comment.  Well, apparently her and her family does.  Who knew? 

It turns out that the cactus was actually a pepper.

So anyway, it got me thinking about the weird things my family ate...  Chili on top of sticky rice with a slice of American cheese...  Collard greens with sticky rice...  Vegetable stir fry and hot dogs...  With rice...  (I'm sure you're starting to sense a pattern here.  My mom is Japanese and my dad is a white boy from the south.)  Actually almost everything was with rice...  Pizza toast...  Not with rice.

Alright.  So maybe the pizza toast doesn't sound so strange but I haven't really met many people who have had it.  "Oh, it's like a pizza bagel?"  Well, yes.  It is like a pizza bagel...  But on toast. 

I like using sliced bread because, first of all, it has less calories than a bagel.  Second, it has more surface area and comes without that darned hole that tends to drop all the toppings you pile onto a bagel.  Third, I always have bread in the freezer.

The great thing about pizza toast is that bread, sauce and cheese are readily available in most house holds, can be purchased for very cheap (especially if you have coupons!) and it can be made relatively healthy.  You can use whatever ingredients you have on hand but for something on the healthier side this is what I would recommend using: whole wheat bread, pasta sauce, part skim (or nonfat) mozzarella cheese and sliced vegetables (peppers, onions, mushrooms).  It's quick, easy and almost as if you're eating actual pizza.  Almost.

I recommend that you first toast the bread completely before adding the sauce and toppings.  Put on a sheet pan and then under the broiler (use an oven or toaster oven) until it looks like the picture above.

This little guy was my last bell pepper of the season.  Just when I thought my plants were going to die, they made one last effort to produce something.  It made a nice little topping for my pizza toast.



WHOLE WHEAT BANANA PANCAKES

A couple of months ago I came across a white whole wheat flour by King Arthur Flour. I have found that it is lighter and not as harsh as the traditional whole wheat flour yet the nutritional content remains the same. To read about it a little more go to the King Arthur Flour website.

When I bake at home, I try and incorporate as much whole wheat flour into my recipes as possible. If you're not really used to eating whole wheat products but would like to, start off by using 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 white whole wheat flour.

Here is a recipe for whole wheat banana pancakes that I think you will like. If all you have is white flour, that will work fine for this recipe.

WHOLE WHEAT BANANA PANCAKES

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup milk
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 egg
1 banana
2 Tablespoons melted butter


Combine the milk and lemon juice, set aside. Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Smash banana in separate bowl, add egg and milk. Combine wet and dry ingredients together until flour is moistened (it will still be lumpy). Add butter and stir just to incorporate. Cook as you would any other pancake.

Granola

Matt and I have agreed that we are going to be serious about saving money this year. I have started to clip coupons and purchase items that are on sale and with those items I try to come up with recipes that taste good, are somewhat healthy and aren't full of preservatives and artificial ingredients.

I have lots of oats and dried cranberries on hand so I thought I'd make some granola. This is Alton Brown's recipe (it's good) which I tweaked just a little due to the lack of ingredients in my cupboard. For something a little healthier, try reducing the sugar a little and substituting half the oil with apple sauce. If you don't have maple syrup, use honey.

GRANOLA

3 cups oats

1/4 cup + 2 T brown sugar

1/4 cup + 2T maple syrup

1/4 cup oil

3/4 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven: 250 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients, except for the oats and cranberries in a large bowl. Toss in oats. Bake for about an hour or until a nice toasty color, tossing every 15 minutes. Cool. Toss in dried cranberries.

Yield: 6 servings

Price per serving: Aprox. $0.30

Smoothies

A couple of months ago we received a Cuisinart blender/food processor from Matt's mom. It is a remarkable piece of equipment and is the second most frequently used item in the kitchen, the first being the coffee maker. It is pretty amazing the things that you can make with it, a lot of which I hope to write about in future blogs. But first things first. Smoothies.

Why purchase a smoothie from a coffee or smoothie shop when you can make them yourself?

Not only do coffee house smoothies cost about $4 for a 16 oz cup, in most cases they are loaded with sugar and other weird things that aren't naturally found on this earth. Smoothies can be a really healthy, filling way to start off your day if you make them right. To me, it also feels like I'm having a little treat... Especially if you throw a little coconut rum in there on your days off from work.

Purchase ingredients that are in season and a home-made smoothie can be fairly cheap. The smoothies I make run me about $1.20 for a 16 oz portion. The riper the fruit, the sweeter the smoothie will be. Sometimes you can find over-ripe bananas (perfect for smoothies) for $0.25 a pound. That will cut the cost of the smoothies significantly because the bananas I purchased cost $0.70 per pound. Bananas can also be frozen if you happen to buy a bunch of them on sale.



Here is what I typically put in my smoothies...

Makes about two 12 oz cups

16 oz cup full of ice cubes
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup blueberries
4 or 5 medium-sized strawberries
1 banana
squeeze of honey

Blend until the consistency is smooth (Use the ice crush option if it is available). If it is too thin, add more ice. If it is too thick, add more juice. If you want a creamier smoothie, add a little yogurt or milk. If you want to catch a buzz, add some rum. You can change up the fruit, the juice, add protein powder... The possibilities are endless.