Happy New Year

Around here the new year started with a quiet little bang. We stayed up until midnight which has got to be a first for me in many years. We were watching a movie it didn't end until 11:30 p.m. we figured "Hey while were up we should ring in the new year" The neighbors were still lighting off fireworks when we crawled into bed around 12:05 a.m. The funny thing I was back up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning I guess I have plenty of time to sleep when I am dead.

Time to get back on track with my portion control and eating. I swear during the holidays I misbehaved every way possible and had absolutely no self control. I have reset my goals (bumped things up a bit) and am back on track starting today and for the new year. Now if the weather would just cooperate with me and be less cold and wet I would happily be out riding.

I did roast a beautiful chicken for our New Years Day dinner, and it was all made possible by being able to have fresh herbs straight from the garden even this time of year.

I heated the herbs up with some butter to infuse their wonderfulness into the butter, so when I basted the chicken it got the full flavor of the herbs.

Roasting a chicken is easy you basically season it and slide it into a well preheated oven (I roasted mine at 350) for a hour and a half to two hours depending on your oven and temp and size of bird.

I wanted to make a dessert on New Years Day, but we went for a hike to enjoy the frosty air and sunshine.

Two of my favorite guys! I let them lead, that way I can take photos of obscure ice formations that don't turn out.

Is that not one of the cutest faces on the planet? Right now those eyes are beseeching me to let him off the lead so he can follow the scent of a deer, coyote, squirrel, rabbit, chipmunk, slug to the ends of the earth...That's a big not.

We hiked for roughly three hours, which was about all my poor feet could handle.

It really was a perfect day for a hike.

For my delayed dessert I made a slab pie, and I was impressed at how simple it was. No recipe was needed for this. Basically what you do is make a pie crust for a two crust pie and add some filling (I used some of my home canned jam). It worked like a charm and the bf was amazed at the flavor.

So you put all your butter, shortening, salt, sugar (I added some raw sugar) flour into the bowl of your food processor and give it a whirl until you have crumbs.

Add your liquid.

TaDa!(should be a word) you have pie dough.

My kitchen helper today is Katsu!

Cut the dough so one chunk is a little larger.

Roll the larger half of dough out first. I did a circle, but you could do a square or oblong it doesn't really matter.

spread your fruit filling onto the dough leaving about an inch of edge. I used 2/3 cup of my homemade and canned jumbleberry (this is a word in my world) jam. I could have used just a smidge more, but decided err on the side of caution the first go round.

Roll out the top of your slab pie.

Place the top on and fold over the edge and crimp it with a fork. Poke some fork holes in the top (being careful not to poke all the way through to the bottom) Brush the top with some milk (or egg) and sprinkle with some additional raw sugar.

Bake in 400 degree oven until the bottom is golden brown.

It was wonderful and easy to make and tasted like a poptart should. As a matter of fact if you have kids and they like poptarts don't let them anywhere near this or you will be cranking one of these out of the oven every morning.

I have spent the long weekend going through things and getting a box of odds and ends together for the consignment shop, working on a healthier menu for next week, cleaning, sorting and throwing away things. I purchased this years day runner yesterday and I need to work on that. I am currently sorting through recipes some I have collected with good intent only to decide that I am never going to make/bake this or that. I have a brand new shiny recipe box (thanx again K.B. I love it) that I need to organize and fill. I read my first dyed in the wool romance novel in over twenty years this holiday break...Fiola, I loved it! Keep up the good work. I don't do resolutions because in my opinion that is a sure fire way to jinx yourself. What I am going to do is try and be kinder to myself and others...lets see how that works out.

Sourdough Starter That Never Really Started

I am more than willing to admit defeat on this one. I have never met a loaf of bread I didn't love or couldn't make except sourdough. I fell into the belief that I could make my own delicious tangy sourdough bread by simply starting a starter. Let me just tell you right now they lied.

I added the recipes required amount of flour, water, and yeast following it to a T, because after all baking is a science.

At first things looked really promising. It started to bubble and it started to have the faint aroma of tangy yeast.

I fed it, and it grew in size then doubled in volume. I thought hey this is easy!

It looked amazing all bubbly and thick and it smelled amazing!

I went the distance, I fed it, talked to it really thought I had done well raising it...my kids were jealous about how much attention this starter was getting. My kids figured they would have done better in life if I had loved them as much as I loved this starter.

I finally made a loaf of bread from my starter and thought it was really good. It wasn't very sourdoughy (should be a word), but I thought that maybe the flavors would develop more as the starter aged.

Sadly it wasn't meant to be...starter died, the cause I assure you is quite unknown. I fed it after making bread with it and within 48 hours it had died.

What I want to know is what did I do wrong?! I mean I had a nice temperature controlled kitchen, clean sterile environment. What in the heck did I do wrong! Women came across the great plains in covered wagons pulled by oxen they suffered from famine, disease, arrows aimed with deadly intent, but by god they managed to get the sourdough starter from Missouri to Oregon in tact and ready to make bread for the evening meal. I grudginly admit defeat and I am not even mad about it there are plenty of fantastic bakeries in town I will enjoy purchasing my sourdough bread from one of them...for now.

Pizza

It should come as no great surprise, to anyone, that I love pizza. To me pizza is the perfect food. Pizza crust is just a platform to transport all manner of delicious foods to your mouth (literally). Last nights pizza was no exception. A pizza is only as good as its crust, and that is something (until last night) I had problems with. I could never get my crust crispy enough or thin enough for my liking. Well I discovered a new recipe for a cracker crust pizza dough that I think for me ticks all the boxes.

Cracker Crust Pizza Dough 3/4 cup cool water 1/4 cup canola oil 1-1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 teaspoon sugar 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more as needed Directions For the pizza dough, pour the water, oil, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. Add 1 cup of the flour and whisk until smooth. Switching to a wooden spoon, gradually add the remaining flour, stirring until the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead until it is smooth and supple (like a baby's tushie), about 5 minutes. Divide the dough into two or three equal pieces, shape each one into a rough disk, cover with a cloth, and let rest on a board between 30 minutes and 3 hours. I let mine rest for as long as it took me to clean house.Roll out each piece of dough between two sheets of parchment paper (this makes it easier to transfer to your preheated pizza stone in the oven. Brush a little olive oil on the surface of the crust and spread on a little sauce cheese and whatever else you have planned.

For our pizzas last night I used a really light tomato basil sauce and roasted garlic.

Then I added on some grated mozzarella and the last little bit of fresh mozzarella I had taking up space in my fridge.

Then I slid the pizza parchment paper and all onto my preheated (500 degrees)pizza stone and cooked it between 15 and 18 min.

The last couple of minutes of cooking I tossed a handful of chopped fresh spinach onto the top of the pizza.

The pizza was amazing, the crust was crisp, the cheese melty (should be a word), and the sauce was not to heavy. To say the least we cleaned our plates.

The sauce was super easy to make and can also be made ahead. I took a can of diced tomatoes with the juice and poured into a small sauce pan. I added 1 whole sprig of basil, a pinch of fresh rosemary, pinch of sugar, oregano and chili flakes. I also added a clove of that roasted garlic a couple of tablespoons of water (you could use red wine)and brought it to a boil turned it down to a simmer and let it bubble away for about 20 min. You may have to add a little more liquid during the cooking. Let the sauce cool some and put it into your food processor and give it a couple of good turns. When you have the consistency you want your done.

Pizza the perfect food!