My friend/coworker Derrick has an interesting outlook on life. He and I were recently discussing smoothies. We both agree that a good smoothie has a lot of fruit in it. But he likes yogurt in his, while I like soy milk in mine. He turned up his nose when I said that. I defended myself with my "I don't necessarily like just a glass of soy milk, but it's really good in smoothies. Really!" He said "show me a soybean with breasts, and then you can call it soy milk. Until then, it's soy juice!" Not a bad point, I guess. Definitely funny. I was forced to look up milk in the dictionary... "1. a white or yellowish liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals for suckling their young; especially, cow's milk. 2. any liquid like this, as the juice of various plants, trees, or fruits (e.g. coconut milk), or any of various emulsions."
Derrick stood corrected (well, actually, he was sitting at the time). We have such a childish, brother-sister relationship sometimes. I am very happy when I'm right and he's wrong. =P
While I'm on the subject, I also think soy milk makes much better steamers than cow's milk does. A steamer is steamed milk with a flavor shot added -- Torani syrup, honey, etc. The soy milk froths better, and stays frothier longer than cow's milk. And, I've said it before, it tastes richer than cow's milk while being lower in fat and calories, in most cases. And just for the record, my favorite steamer is made with Edensoy Original and hazelnut syrup, with a bit of ground cinnamon sprinkled on top.
I mentioned the other day that I'm that not so into the soy milk products that I think are trying too hard to be cow's milk, like Silk and 8th Continent. I think it bears mention, though, that Silk makes a great coffee creamer -- Kevin prefers it to half-and-half! They also make a product called "Spice Soylatte" that is fabulous when it's steamed -- and you don't even need to add anything to it! It tastes a lot like egg nog. Maybe someday I'll get brave and try their vanilla and chocolate beverages. But in the meantime...
A mug of steamed Silk Spice Soylatte with a dash of cinnamon and extra froth!
I feel so accomplished -- I actually made taco pizzas and got a bit of housework done yesterday! I didn't spend any time outside in the (rare) sunshine, but I made dough, baked pizzas, and cleaned out the fridge! And played way too much of "The Sims." I really didn't expect such motivation by the time I got home from work, but somehow mustered some anyway.
I wanted to make taco pizza similar to the one Pizza Oven in Bangor serves (UPDATE: I have just been informed that Pizza Oven has recently ceased to exist! Obviously I don't go there very often, but that was my favorite pizza place when I was growing up! The memories! Whatever will I do?), but I wanted it to be a bit more "guiltless." As I thought about this on my way home from work, I decided I needed a whole grain crust, reduced fat cheese, and lots of veggies. In the midst of these thoughts, an epiphany occurred... I have a set of four mini pie tins. I could make mini pizzas! Not only is it a great portion control mechanism, but it also totally kicks up the cuteness factor! With all this in mind, I was ready to rock.
I started by looking for a dough recipe that sounded good and was whole-wheat flour based. The first place I looked was in my "Vegetarian Times" cookbook, which is very nice and very heavy and had a 100% whole-wheat recipe that sounded decent. Then I remembered that I own "Smart Bread Machine Recipes" by Sandra L. Woodruff. It is, hands down, my favorite bread cookbook. The breads are all whole-grain based and use very few dairy products or refined sweeteners. I know, it may sound a bit too crunchy for the average bread baker, but I love it. I bake something from it for every family holiday meal, and there are rarely leftovers.
A side note -- don't hate me because I use a bread machine. I've had it since the beginning of bread machine time, and I admit I baked a lot of bread in it the first couple of years I had it. Now I only use it to mix dough. I always bake my bread in the oven now. The texture, for whatever reason, is countless times better than when it's baked in the machine. Plus, bread dough is just fun to play with. Someday, when I get my dream purple Kitchenaid stand mixer (to match my purple blender, of course!), the bread machine will be passed on to some unsuspecting person who never knew he/she needed/wanted a bread machine.
The crust recipe I found couldn't have been more fitting for my plans -- it's called "Fiesta Pizza!" Here are the ingredients:
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1/4 cup whole-grain cornmeal
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar (I use Sucanat, an unrefined sugar, for almost all of my baking)
I threw everything into the machine, set it on "dough only," and went about my business. An hour and a half later...
I had a bread machine pan full of what looked to be a very sticky dough. I was scared. I bake a lot of bread, but I still don't always have the best luck handling the dough. This one looked extra intimidating. But I got out my purple silicone spatula and scraped the dough out onto a floured kneading mat. It turned out, surprisingly, to be very easy to handle. From my one pound lump of dough, I made eight two-ounce balls. I froze four. I rolled out the other four and laid them into my mini pie tins. Into each crust went (in this order) a spoonful of salsa, a small handful of organic reduced fat cheddar cheese, a bit of diced red onion, a few pieces of chopped pickled jalapenos, some crushed baked tortilla chips (I like both Baked Tostitos and Guiltless Gourmet), and another small sprinkling of cheese (for good measure). I baked them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the edges of the crusts were nicely browned, and voila...
Aren't they adorable? The red onion, I think, is very pretty. Now... if only I'd remembered to put in the tomatoes I bought especially for this occasion, they'd be perfect! I am not the biggest fan of straight-up tomatoes (though I love tomato sauce, salsa, etc.), but I do really like them on pizza, and they would have made this even better than it already is. The crust is super chewy, with that added cornmeal crunch I love so much. The salsa and jalapenos add just the right amount of heat. The chips make a great topping you wouldn't expect on pizza. All in all, a very successful venture. Next time I'll try to remember the tomatoes.
I've been so busy the past few days, I've been totally neglecting this site. Kevin and I were running around like crazy all weekend for the holiday, we actually went Geocaching on Monday (which we hadn't gotten to do in almost two months!), and yesterday was an errand-running kind of day. I was aware of my negligence over the weekend, but yesterday I didn't even think about blogging until it was far too late in the day for me to be cooking or writing. OK, I admit my new addiction to "The Sims" hasn't helped matters much (I know, I'm a couple years behind on that one -- I just bought the software last month!).
For the past few days, I've been craving taco pizza from one of my favorite local pizza places. I just might get ambitious enough to try making my own this afternoon instead of getting take-out. I can make a whole-wheat crust and control the toppings better. For those of you who aren't familiar with this concoction, here's what it's all about: it starts with a regular crust. Then, instead of traditional pizza sauce and mozzarella, it has salsa and cheddar cheese on it. Next up is a layer of seasoned "taco meat," which is ground beef with taco-style spices. I, of course, get it without the hamburger! Veggies include black olives (which I also don't order -- they use those yucky canned black things that can't possibly be real olives!), onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, and lettuce. Yes, lettuce. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! It's topped off with a layer of slightly crushed tortilla chips. It's pretty heavy-duty stuff, but it's amazing. If I make my own, I'll be able to use reduced fat organic cheese, better olives, baked tortilla chips, and a healthier crust. I will also go a bit lighter on the toppings so that one slice doesn't weigh a pound and a half. =)
I have a ton of stuff to do this afternoon, too, but a lot of the pizza making can be done in between other chores. I can vacuum while the dough rises and clean out the fridge while the pizza bakes. I may have to sacrifice some time out in the sun (today is supposed to be gorgeous for a change), but I think I can make it all work. Stay tuned for the results!
As you may have noticed, I used the long holiday weekend (even though I still had to work today!) as an excuse to take a break fom blogging. After spending a bit of time this morning checking on the food blogs I usually read, it looks like I wasn't the only one! I did, however, prepare for today's entry while making yesterday's breakfast -- I am finally going to reveal my secret smoothie recipe! It's really quite simple, and not so secretive. It's just the way I've found I like them the best.
It all starts with a frozen banana. I always buy more bananas than I know I'll eat before they overripen, and throw the overripe ones in the freezer. I freeze them as is -- no peeling, slicing, dicing, or packaging other than what Mother Nature gave them. They're a bit of a pain in the butt to peel once they're frozen, though. One of these days I'll get enough ambition to at least peel them and throw them in plastic bags before I freeze them. But anyway...
For each smoothie, I peel and break up one frozen banana, putting the chunks into my trusty purple blender (I'm so proud of it!). The banana makes a super-smooth smoothie, and I like frozen banana because it makes for a good, cold, almost milk-shaky drink. To this I add half a cup of soy milk. I've only tried a couple of brands, but I really like Edensoy Extra. Most people, I am finding, go for the soy milk products (Silk, 8th Continent, etc.) that try to be more like cow's milk. If I want cow's milk, I'll buy cow's milk. When I want soy milk, I want my Edensoy! I think it's rich and creamy and not overly sweetened. It add that certain "je ne sais quoi" to my smoothies. Finally, I add half a cup or so of whatever fruit I feel like that day. Kiwis are great, as are berries, peaches, or even peanut butter and jelly! Yesterday, I used a mango...
Since I was making smoothies for two, I used two bananas, one cup of soy milk, and a whole mango, cubed. The mango was a little overripe -- a bit too perfumy for me, if you know what I mean. There's a fine line with mangoes between just sweet enough and too flowery. Don't get me wrong -- I love mangoes no matter what! But to counteract this extra floweriness, I threw in one of my lime juice ice cubes. I always squeeze a bit of lime juice onto mangoes when I eat them "au naturelle," and thought this would work just as well. It did. It tempered the mango without imparting too much tartness. The smoothies were a great way to start a warm, summery 4th of July.
Here are some of my favorite "recipes," starting with one banana and half a cup of soy milk, to make one smoothie:
One kiwi, peeled and cubed (unless you like furry drinks!)
One peach or nectarine, cubed - I usually peel these, but they're probably fine unpeeled, too
1 cup berries of your choice -- I love raspberries, and throw them right in, seeds and all!
1 tablespoon each peanut butter and jelly/jam/fruit spread
1/2 to 1 cup pineapple, drained (crushed or chunks are fine) and a tablespoon or so of shredded coconut
1/2 mango, cubed, and the juice of half a lime
Or... anything else you can imagine!
Because overripe bananas are so sweet, I rarely need to add any more sweetener. I blend all the fruit together, then taste. If I think it needs something, usually just a quick squeeze of honey does the trick.
Just a note: these smoothies don't usually taste much like bananas once you add other fruit. The bananas are so mildly flavored, they really just act as a base. The added fruit becomes the star. If you just want a banana flavored smoothie, I'm sure using another half a banana or so would work out great.
Think you don't like soy milk? Try it in a smoothie and see if you change your mind. =)
Oh! One more thing -- one day, for some reason, I had some mango chunks in the freezer. I didn't really think about it and threw them into my smoothie. The use of all frozen fruit made something not so straw-friendly, but it very closely resembled soft-serve ice cream. Yum!!
