Deep Dish Pizza

One of the things that I made for the Superbowl party was deep dish pizza. NOM. I used the crust recipe from America's Test Kitchen (I love that show) with my own sauce. It turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself! The best part? The recipe makes two doughs, so we had one pizza for that day and I froze the other for later.

You really should try it, it's fantastic!
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=21349

Superbowl!

Yes, I know the Superbowl was a while ago, but I forgot to post about it. It was a quiet affair with myself, hubby, Max, my dad and my grandpa. Out of all of us, only grandpa was pleased with the outcome. <sigh> Why, Pats, why???

But I digress.

I made way more than enough food for the 4 adults attending, but it's all freezable so that worked out well. In fact, I'm having leftover chili for lunch today. Mostly I wanted to put up cute pictures of Max wearing his Superbowl shirt that I re-created from hubby's well worn t-shirt. He has the best halftime show dance moves!

"Strawberry" Oatmeal

Keep in mind that I'm using the word strawberry very loosely here.

So, you know those oatmeal packets you can get? Specifically the strawberries and cream ones? Yeah, I love those. But I know they're not very good for you, so with some creativity (and bravery) I've come up with an alternative:

"Strawberry" Oatmeal
1/2 cup low fat plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup oatmeal (dry)
1 1/2-2 cups very hot water
1 strawberry flavored fizzy vitamin tablet (like airborne)

Put everything in a bowl big enough to hold it and stir occasionally until the tablet is dissolved. It doesn't taste exactly like those oatmeal packets, but it's pretty darn close.

Per the labeling on my ingredients, it comes out to 215 calories and 3.75 grams of fat - with a really good dose of protein, fiber, and of course vitamins.

Friday Flashback

Looking Forward to the Weekend
Quick Work Hack - Keeping Food Warm
Tex-Mex Sticky Rice
Making Fabric Yarn (or T-Shirt Yarn) See the sweater in the basket? Yeah, it's still not done.
Chopping Magazines – Or Creating an Idea Book

Corn & Clam Chowder-Soup

I know what you're thinking: it must be a typo. Nope. I really mean chowder-soup. I was in the mood for chowder, clam or corn, either would do. But I had an inherent problem - no potatoes, and I really didn't want to go to the store. So I pulled out my trusty cookbook, 365 Great Soups & Stews, for a little inspiration. I decided to use the Chinese Crab and Corn soup as a base, kinda. It has corn and shellfish, I wanted corn and shellfish, and the soy sauce and ginger sounded intriguing. Otherwise the two recipes bear little resemblance.

The result is creamy without being thick and chunky, just like a cross between a chowder and a soup. And it's delish. Ignore the odd color, that's just the soy sauce.

Corn & Clam Chowder-Soup

4 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp dried chives
1/4 tsp dried grated ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp soy sauce (or 4 packets)
12oz clams in juice (frozen or canned)
16oz frozen corn (approx 2 cups)
1 package instant mashed potatoes, plain or butter flavor
1 cup milk

Blend half of the corn - it helps to thaw it a bit first. Put all of the ingredients except for the instant potatoes and milk in a large pot. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the milk and instant potatoes. It's important to keep stirring while adding the instant potatoes so they don't clump. Return to a simmer for a few minutes so the flavors can blend. That's it, enjoy!

Easy Backsplash

The kitchen re-do is slowing down, but has not yet ground to a halt. To go with the new counter top (and the repainted edge, it's now gray) I put up a tile back splash the other day - no grout needed. I picked up a bunch of 2"x2" off-white tiles at a garage sale last summer for $15 and have been itching to get them up in the kitchen.

Step 1: Clean the tile. Mine were pretty dirty, they'd been sitting in various garages for years. (that's not all of them, BTW, just what I needed for this project)

Step 2: If they have those little tab things or webbing on the back, cut them off. Be careful, I take no responsibility if you slice your finger, only if I slice mine. Not that that would ever happen.

Step 3: Put a little dallop of construction adhesive on the back of the tile. Make sure it's approved for both tile and the type of wall you have, in my case wood.

Step 4: Start in a corner that you want to look good. My "bad" corner is behind the microwave, though I must say it turned out pretty well. Smush the tile against the wall, give it a little wiggle to smear the glue more evenly, and move along to the next. Make sure to keep tight to your edges and set the tiles close together.

Step 5: Cut the tiles as needed to fit. I cut the tiles by hand with a tile cutter I picked up at the hardware store. It wasn't easy, but it did the job and $5.00 is a lot better than renting a tile saw.

Step 6: Let it dry and admire!

ignore the outlet

Since the back splash is not in an area that will get wet or dirty I didn't bother with grout, caulk, or sealers. For the back splash behind the sink I'll use some paintable silicone caulk to make it water tight.

Link Party at Nester's!

I'm linking up today at Nesting Place's It's Not Perfect But It's Beautiful party with my Recovered Couch. She has the best posts over there, I'm so thrilled to be joining in the fun!