Three Cheese Almost Margarita Pizza

Three Cheese Pizza. Because Sometimes you just want a plethora of cheeses in your mouth. But then sometimes you have other stuff around to make it better... and you end up making a something that's kinda margarita too. The thing that impressed me the most was that it only took me 15 minutes of prep time to put together this thing. And if you knew me, I never take 15 minutes to cook anything ever, unless it's raw like salad. and that usually takes me about 15 minutes. And I just about always parbake the Trader Joe's pizza dough. Otherwise the dough ends up raw and the ingredients are over cooked. If you parbake your dough is perfectly cooked=)

1 premade dough - Trader Joe's herb dough

1/3-1/2 jar of tomato basil sauce in a jar

1/2 a chunk of mozzarella

a handful of parm

goat cheese - about 1/3 of a small log

4 garlic cloves

a handful of fresh basil

Make sure your dough is almost room temperature by leaving it out about a 1/2 hour before you start. preheat oven to 450.

Roll out the dough on a board and spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with Pam spray. Place the dough on the board and drizzle with olive oil. Par bake this crust for about 6 minutes. then pull out of the oven. While it is baking:

shred the mozzarella, mince garlice, and wash, dry, and slice the basil.

Now. Once the dough is par baked, spread the tomato basil sauce over the top. Top with the Parm. Then layer the mozzarella and goat cheese. Be sure to chunk out the goat cheese to distribute. Sprinkle the garlic then basil. Pop in the oven for 11 minutes. Done.

Dark Meat and Veggie Red Curry

Curries are awesome one pot meals that you can throw together with lots of staples. I decided to use dark meat to be more economical - there was a 5 dollar difference between organic thigh and breast meat. And I think you get richer flavor from dark meat anyway. My mom swore that this was a little too spicy for her liking, but I begged to differ on that one. I didn't even use cayenne, which I typically do. Musta been the jalapenos. Overall I thought it was pretty tasty and it saves very well. and I think I made enough for about 6 people

in a rice cooker or seperate pot, cook up 1 cup of brown rice in double the water.

spices used:

Salt and Pepper

cumin

tumeric

red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

ginger powder

1 pack of dark meat chicken.

1 medium onion diced

4 cloves of garlic minced

2 potatos, peeled and cleaned - chopped into 1 inch cubes

5 carrots - peeled an sliced

4 - jalapenos - seeded, white ribs removed

1 mini bag of cauliflower - equivilant to about a 1/4 head

2 handfulls of frozen peas = about 3/4 - 1 cup

1 can (14 oz or so) coconut milk

1/3 box of chicken broth

3 tablespoons of red curry paste

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of fish sauce (patis)

a large handful of fresh cilantro for garnish

heat to medium a large pot. add a generous amount of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Slice the meat into cubes then drop in. season with salt and pepper. Also season with a teaspoon of cumin, a generous sprinkle of tumeric, a 1/2 tsp or so of red pepper flakes, and a sprinkle of ground ginger. Start peeling and chopping the rest of the veggies and add them in as you go. Be sure to add the potatos pretty early as they would take longer to cook. After the last veggie has been added, pop a can of coconut milk and pour in, soon to be followed by a chicken broth. add paste in, into one section. be sure to break it down thoroughly and stir very very well. Then sprinkle in the brown sugar and fish sauce. heat to boiling. mix in a large handful of fresh chopped cilantro at the end. mix to wilt. Serve over brown rice.

This Beet is Going Greek

I am now on a quest to be thin. I got 8 weeks until memorial day - beach season - and I need to get skinny. Let's see how well I can hold the heavy whipping cream for the next two months. Don't worry, I wont get boring on the blog. The body still wants the extra 3500 calories a week I burn on the runs, so I gotta satisfy somehow.

I actually really enjoyed this salad. it was very easy to assemble and the beets were a nice contrast to the mediteranean flavors. I guess spinach isn't very greek, but neither are beets, so I guess this is more of a Greek inspired meal than a greek meal.

The tomatos were grown indoors in Carlsbad, so they were still local even though they were out of season. Even though it was local and I let it ripen for a week, I think tomatos are still best over the summer. The taboulie salad I got in a tub from Baba Foods at the OB Farmers market. it already has lemon juice in it, but the extra lemon juice just makes it spectacular.

2 massive handfuls of baby spinach
3 precooked beets - Yea TJ's - sliced and set aside
1/2 cup of prepared Taboulie salad (if you are feeling extra motivated make your own: parsley, bulgar wheat, tomatoes, red onions, lemon juice, olive oil, and some spices)
1 tomato
1/2 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar

lay out the spinach and arrange beets in a circle. plop the taboulie salad in the middle and slice up a tomato and also place around hte taboulie. juice the lemon over everything. dress with oil and vinegar. easy on the vinegar because there is already acid with the lemon juice.