Spanish Chicken Pizza

I had heard people talk about "pregnancy brain" and before I was pregnant I shrugged it off as something in their imagination. I was even in denial about it at the beginning of my own pregnancy. I would tell myself it wasn't real and that my forgetfulness was due to tiredness. Or that I really wasn't being forgetful. Or . . . what were we talking about?

It's really hard, though, to deny when you can't remember anyone's name for the life of you and you find yourself going back to the grocery store for something you had on your list. Or when you are watching a baseball game with your husband and commenting on how a certain player is having a better year this year, and then just an hour later ask your husband if same player is having a better year this year. Luckily husband knows better than to call you on something like this.

When your mind is in a fog, or when you're just plain busy, recipes with just a few ingredients are your best friend. This one is so simple I am almost embarrassed to post on it, but it has been a favorite combination of mine through the years and thought I'd share it. I often have all the ingredients for it on hand so it's a recipe I can turn to when time is short and I don't feel like pasta or a sandwich. Usually I make the crust from scratch because I have a no-rise recipe that works well for me, but this is even faster if you buy a pre-made pizza crust. Besides being fast, I like that it is a lower-fat recipe that doesn't even taste like it is healthy. I love artichoke hearts, especially paired with tomatoes, and the little salty chunks of green olives are perfect on it. Whether you're short on time or short on memory skills, it's a great meal for a weeknight.

Spanish Chicken Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 baked 12" pizza crust
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken breast
• 1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 medium Italian plum tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 cup quartered artichoke hearts (from 14 oz can) drained and coarsely chopped
• 3 medium pimiento-stuffed green olives, sliced

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pizza crust on ungreased baking sheet and spread diced chicken evenly over the crust. Top with 2/3 cup of the mozzarella cheese.
2. Arrange tomato slices over cheese. Top with artichoke hearts and green olives. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and pizza is thoroughly heated.

Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 10 min Serves: 4

Recipe Source: Betty Crocker The 300 Calorie Cookbook

Grapefruit Slush

One thing I never realized before I got married and my husband and I started our own little family unit was that traditions take work. Sometimes they just happen on their own, but a lot of the time it takes planning and effort to keep a family tradition going. I had all these grand plans the first year we got married about the things we would do to celebrate the holidays, different seasons, special occasions, birthdays, etc. Most of those either didn't come to fruition or were quickly forgotten the next year because I got lazy.

A few of the traditions stuck around, though, and this grapefruit slush is one of them. The recipe comes from a friend I met in Minnesota, and when she would make it for parties and other gatherings it was always one of my favorite things served. I was looking around for something to bring to an Easter dinner at my brother's house a month after my husband and I were married and e-mailed her for the recipe. It has become an Easter tradition at our house ever since.

Part of the reason the recipe has stuck around is that it is pretty easy. Easy is good when it comes to finding a tradition you want to keep. It's also delicious, so it's never hard to convince me that the little effort required to make it is worth it. It's so refreshing and "Spring"y that I've really started to crave it when the weather starts to warm up. The only hard part about it is explaining what it is to people who haven't eaten it before. It's a cross between a drink and a side dish/dessert, since it is mostly liquid but I generally serve it with a spoon to help eat the fruit pieces in it. You can easily change the fruit used to fit your tastes or to include what is on sale at the grocery store. You certainly don't have to limit eating it to Easter, and although I want to make it a special treat I'll admit that I cheat sometimes and serve it during the summer.

Grapefruit Slush

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 3 cups water
• 5 pink grapefruits, sectioned (See here for instructions on how to section grapefruit)
• 3 sliced bananas
• 1 small can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 cup blueberries (frozen works great. Blackberries work well here, too.)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup lime juice

Directions

1. Mix sugar with water in a large bowl and stir to dissolve completely. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into 2 9x13 pans. Freeze at least 4 hours. (Overnight is best).
2. To serve, remove pans from the freezer and cut into chunks. It helps to let them sit on the counter for 15-20 minutes to soften, or use a knife to hack it up. Add frozen chunks to a punch bowl and pour a 2-liter bottle of Sprite or Fresca over it. Stir to dissolve and break up large chunks. (It helps to let it sit for a few minutes to do this. Alternatively, if you aren't serving a large crowd, just add some of the frozen chunks to individual glasses and pour sprite over them. Put remaining unused fruit mixture back in the freezer.)

Prep Time: 15 min Freeze Time: 4-12 hours Serves: 16-20 people

Recipe Source: Family recipe of the lovely and talented Katie Millett

Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

Doesn't this picture look like a great engagement photo?

No? No, it's not pasta and tomatoes getting married. Just my sister and her fiance. So you're saying this is not really what you'd expect if I said I was going to take engagement photos for you?

Darn.

I was hoping to fool you. And everyone else in my family. The exciting news is that my youngest sister is getting married in August to a great guy that we all like. The not-so-exciting news for me is that since I'm the only family member living close to the happy couple (and partly because of my husband's dSLR that I have taken over for food photography) I get to try to take engagement pictures for them. And let me tell you, I know nothing about taking photos of people. Heck, it's taken me years just to start to figure out how to take pictures of food. And food doesn't have facial expressions. I feel like I should remind them what my food pictures looked like when I first started taking them (go ahead, check out this lovely one) and say that I'll be ready after practicing for a few years. Unfortunately, we're going to try to take the pictures this Saturday and not a few years from now, so in the meantime I'm cramming my head with all the portrait picture wisdom I can find: Full sun in midday = bad. Cloud day = good. The sun should be behind someone's shoulder but darned if I remember if it is me or the people in the picture.

With all the cramming, time is a little short this week, so fast meals like this one are lifesavers. It is ready in less than 30 minutes and tastes like it was simmered for hours. You can use chicken sausage, wheat pasta and less cream to easily transform it into a healthy meal, or you can make it as written. Either way it is delicious. It does use fresh basil, which can be hard to find cheaply this time of year, but since the rest of the ingredients are inexpensive I feel like it is worth the splurge. It is definitely worth the flavor it adds.  If you're looking for a fast weeknight meal, this is a perfect one to add to your collection.

And seriously, are you sure this picture doesn't scream "engagement" to you?

Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 pound farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
• 1/2 cup (packed) fresh basil
• Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (or Parmesan)

Directions

1. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and crushed red pepper. Sauté until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up with back of fork, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is tender and sausage is browned, about 3 minutes longer. Add tomatoes and cream. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sausage mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Depending on the brand of sausage and tomatoes you use, you may need to add 1/4 tsp or more of salt so don't skip this step.)
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot. Add sausage mixture and toss over medium-low heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry. Transfer pasta to serving dish. Sprinkle with basil. Serve, passing cheese separately.

Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: 10 min Serves : 6

Recipe Source: Bon Appetit Jan 2006 via epicurious.com

Pizza Torta

There are some real perks to being pregnant. One is how nice other people are to you. People hold doors for me, let me on the bus first, ask me how I'm feeling, etc. The woman who cleans during the day at work made a special point to stop me in the hall and let me know that if I ever need to use the bathroom to come right in, even if she has it closed for cleaning. It was very sweet of her, although the mental image of my giant belly sliding across a freshly washed floor as I rush into the bathroom will probably keep me from taking her up on the offer. Still, it's nice to feel special, and I'm always grateful to people who make a point to try to make my day easier.

Another perk is eating more. As you might guess from someone who blogs about food for fun, I kind of love food. Being told by my doctor that I should try to gain more weight after an appointment where my weight gain was a little backwards was definitely not a sad occasion. Challenge accepted, doctor. Since I was already eating constantly before, I made the sacrifice and added a lot more rich, fatty foods to my diet. To me, that includes this torta rustica with ricotta, pepperoni, cheese, spinach and black olives. It's rough following doctor's orders sometimes. Like a calzone on steroids, it's a yummy batch of cheesy deliciousness in a pizza dough crust. I love the way the layers look when you cut into the pie, and love even more how wonderful they taste together. It's a recipe that you could easily adapt to your own personal tastes, but this is the way that I prefer to fill it. The spinach layer on the bottom just might be my favorite part. Bonus that spinach is fairly high in iron, so I get to pig out AND get some iron in my diet. Being a good patient is really rough sometimes.

Pizza Torta

Ingredients

• Pizza dough for two medium pizzas
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 pound fresh spinach, cleaned
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 small can sliced olives, drained
• 4 ounces slices pepperoni
• 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, oregano and black pepper; set aside. In a heavy bottomed skillet without adding water, cook the spinach over medium heat until wilted, about 3-5 minutes. Add nutmeg and salt and continue to cook until the excess moisture has evaporated.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9" deep dish pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. On a floured surface, rolled 2/3 of the dough out into a 12" round and transfer to pie plate. Trim excess, leaving a 1" overhang. (You can save the excess to make a decorative braid for the top of the torta if you'd like.) Roll remaining dough into a 10" circle.
3. Spread spinach onto bottom crust and spread the ricotta layer over the top. Add mozzarella, sliced olives and pepperoni in layers. Top with 10" round of pizza dough and fold over bottom crust edges to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut vent holes in the top dough layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake until bubbly and lightly browned, 45-50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool 10 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 45 min Serves: 6

Recipe Source: adapted from Creative Cook's Kitchen

Mile High Buttermilk Biscuits

Do you rate recipes that you try? I can't remember when I started it, but every time I make a new recipe I give the end result a star rating so I can remember if it was a winner or not. 5 stars means it was excellent and I will make it again and again, 4 stars means very good, but maybe I will only make it again occasionally, 3 stars means it was okay but not worth the effort. 2 stars and 1 star recipes I normally don't have to rate since they were so bad that it would be impossible to forget them. When I lived with my sister and we'd try recipes together, she'd write her own ratings on top of the recipes, too. They weren't in star form, but they still got their point across. I still laugh when I run across a page of a cookbook I used occasionally and see a 2 star rating from me and a big "YUCKY" from her.

The rating system works pretty well for me, but every once in a while I come across a recipe that I like so much that 5 stars isn't enough for it. It's the kind of recipe that is perfection for me, and these few recipes get 6 stars. They often get an exclamation point after the stars, too, since I'm usually in food bliss when I write the rating down. This biscuit recipe is one of them. It makes buttery, fluffy biscuits that aren't dense or floury. They have a deep, rich flavor from the buttermilk and a lovely, soft texture. They are a slight modification of a drop biscuit recipe so they are less work than rolled biscuits, but they still look beautiful when they are baked. I only make them when I know other people will be around to eat them because I am likely to eat the whole pan in one sitting. The recipe isn't difficult, but do make sure that you move quickly once you add the buttermilk because the faster you get them in the oven, the fluffier they will be. Don't worry, though. Once you know what they taste like, you'll have no problem rushing to get them in the oven.

 

Mile High Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cups cold low-fat buttermilk

To form and finish the dough:

• 1 cup flour distributed in a rimmed baking sheet
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Directions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Spray the inside of a 1/4 cup measuring cup with non-stick spray. Spray a 9 inch round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pulse a few times to mix. Distribute the butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and pulse until the consistency of somewhat pebbly, coarse cornmeal, about 8-10 pulses. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add buttermilk. Mix with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. (Dough will be wet and sticky and slightly lumpy)
3. Working quickly and using the sprayed 1/4 measuring cup, scoop level 1/4 cup of dough and drop onto baking sheet with the 1 cup flour. (You may need to use a small spoon to help you drop the dough onto the sheet.) Repeat with remaining dough until you have 12 even mounds on the baking sheet. Using floured hands, scoop up a ball of dough and gently roll it in the excess flour. Shape gently into a ball, shake off excess flour, and place in prepared cake pan. Repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. (You should be able to fit 9 dough balls around the outside of the pan and three in the middle.)
4. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter, taking care not to flatten them. Bake at 500 degrees for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 12-15 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove from the oven, let sit in the pan for 2 minutes, then invert the pan on a clean kitchen towel and carefully break apart biscuits. Cool 5 minutes longer and serve.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20 min Serves: 6

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated July/August 2004 

Nacho Pasta Bake

Compared to the asparagus ricotta tart, this dish is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to elegance. I'd even go so far as to call it homely. It's a jumble of chicken, corn, green bell peppers, cheese, salsa and pasta all mixed up in a casserole dish. It could even be called a casserole, but we'd never do that at my house or my husband wouldn't eat it. Sometimes a rose by another name doesn't smell as sweet.

The good thing is that the ease of preparation and the final taste of this dish well make up for lack of style points. It's an easy weeknight meal that tastes like nachos and can be easily adapted to your personal tastes. You can switch out the chicken with beef or change the type of cheese or throw in some extra veggies for good measure. Just make sure you use a favorite salsa since that will affect the final flavor most of all. With the weeks winding down until this baby comes, my feet swelling, and my energy dropping, any recipe that requires less prep time in the kitchen is now my new friend. If it goes on top of tortilla chips, consider us best friends forever. No matter how homely it is.

 

 

Nacho Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• 8 ounces orecchiette or other small shaped pasta
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
• 1 can (11 oz) corn kernels, drained
• 1 can (4.5 oz) green chiles, drained
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups salsa, divided (make this a salsa you really like, since the flavor of the final dish will be made or broken by how much you like the salsa you use.)
• chopped green onions
• tortilla chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
3. In a large bowl, combine pasta, onion mixture, chicken, corn, chilies, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Monterey jack and chili powder.
4. Spoon some salsa onto the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish and spread to cover the bottom of the dish. Spoon chicken mixture on top of salsa. Top with remaining salsa and spread evenly with remaining cheese. Bake until mixture is heated through, about 20-25 minutes.
5. Spread chopped green onions over the top of the dish and serve over tortilla chips.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20-25 min Serves: 6

Recipe Source: adapted from Creative Cook's Kitchen

Asparagus Ricotta Tart

Aren't there some foods that seem naturally fancy? That no matter what you do to them, they lend a certain elegance to the final meal? A friend told me a little while ago about a time when she was going to a dinner and her 9 year old daughter told her to bring back a chocolate covered strawberry. My friend said she didn't know if there would even be chocolate covered strawberries there, and her daughter answered, "Isn't Jana doing the dinner? She's fancy. Of course there will be chocolate covered strawberries." Case closed. I love the way kids draw conclusions.

I do agree with the idea that some foods just naturally seem elegant. Two of these for me are puff pastry and asparagus, so put them both together and this tart is in the realm of parasols and tea time with William and Kate in my mind. The fact that these tarts are easy to make doesn't detract from their fanciness at all to me. It just makes me love them more. Puff pastry, if you haven't had an opportunity to use it yet, is just about the most magical thing in the world. This sheet of dough that you can buy in the freezer section of a regular grocery store bakes into the prettiest, puffiest layers of flaky crust and buttery goodness. It makes the perfect, easy crust for the ricotta mixture and asparagus. With very little hands-on time you can have an impressive-looking, impressive-tasting tart that would be perfect for Easter brunch, an appetizer, or a side dish with a soup.

All elegant, of course. 

Asparagus Ricotta Tart

Ingredients

• 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed according to package directions (There are two sheets in one package. You can find puff pastry in the freezer section, usually near the pies.)
• 1 large egg, beaten, for crust
• 1 large egg, for filling
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed

Directions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower position and hear oven to 375 degrees. Unfold each pastry sheet one at a time and, using a rolling pin, roll each pastry slightly to smooth out the seams and increase the size.
2. Lay each pastry sheet onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each pastry with the beaten egg. Fold the edges on opposite sites of the tart over by about 1/2 inch and brush with beaten egg. Repeat with remaining two edges and brush with egg. Fold the first two sides over once more and brush with beaten egg. Use a paring knife to cut through the folded edges and corners. (See photos below) Prick the inside of the tart shell repeatedly with a fork. Bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack. (If the middle of the pastry has puffed up at all during cooking, push it back down. It's easier to do this before it cools.)
3. Turn oven down to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat together egg, ricotta, cream, milk, salt and pepper. Pour half of the mixture into each baked tart. Lay half the asparagus on top of the ricotta mixture in each tart. Bake another 15-20 minutes or until golden and set. Serve hot or cold.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 30-40 min Serves: 6-8

Recipe souece: adapted from America's Test Kitchen and Sweet Paul magazine