Summer nights are just wonderful for grilling. And, what mom doesn’t love enjoying dinner outside with LESS CLEANUP? I do, that’s for sure.
Food Description
Pizza is one of my favorite foods ever. It just is. It’s wonderful. Well, to be healthier and know our ingredients, I’ve started making the dough, sauce, and preparing the toppings…all for the grill. Another wonderful thing is to pop something you might normally bake and freeze for the little ones onto the grill while you’re enjoying your meal and closing the lid.
Process
Pizza Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
{I used organic, canned versions of the above, but pureeing and making your own would be great!}
1 TBS ground oregano
1 1/2 tsp dried minced garlic
1 tsp ground paprika
DIRECTIONS
Mix all together.
Pizza Dough
INGREDIENTS
1 cup warm water
1 tsp raw honey
1 TBS yeast
2.5-3 cups flour (I use spelt or whole wheat or a mixture of both.)
1 tsp sale
toppings of your choice
shredded cheese of your choice
DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water and stir. Set aside until frothy (7-10 minutes).
Pour yeast mixture into large bowl and add salt and flour (slowly). Mix together. Add more flour if needed to make dough consistency.
Knead 5-10 minutes.
Let rise for thicker dough.
HOW TO COOK IN OVEN
(Adapt for your grilling on pizza stone or directly on grate. Use parchment paper under pizza placed directly on the grill, for easy transfers.)
Grease your pizza pan or stone with extra virgin coconut oil.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place kneaded dough on pan and spread. Add sauce, toppings, and cheese and cook for 25-30 minutes.
Blend olive oil and fresh garlic and spread with brush on the crust.
Grill-Baked Butternut Squash
- Cut lengthwise down the middle.
- Scoop out the seeds.
- Lightly coat the exposed flesh of the squash with butter or olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Add cinnamon and/or nutmeg to spice it up a little bit.
- Place cutside up on the grill and cook with lid closed until fork tender, about 1 hour.
What I Learned
I’ve made this quite a few times now and still haven’t quite perfected the soaking of the grains for the dough. It turns out quite chewy, but with a great taste. I’m still working on it, so if you have any tips, please share. You can also easily freeze this uncooked dough in freezer bags.
Reaction
The boys love pizza, much to my delight! It is something that I’m careful to cut into small bites, especially with the chewy dough, and this is not an easy task. The squash turned out well and I just stored it in the refrigerator. This made it easy to cut into bite-size pieces and warm up for a few lunches the rest of the weekend.
Summary
Homemade pizza is one of my favorites and personalizing it with your own toppings can give it that perfect taste your wanting. I love the yummy taste from the grill, but the recipe works well on the pizza stone in the oven too. We will continue to enjoy pizza this way through the fall and winter to come.
Tags: grilling, soak, tomato, vegetable, whole grain
This has been a great post-birthday week. The boys have been a little wacky on napping, but we really are enjoying our second year! They’ve added wheat germ, tomatoes, and pancakes to their list of firsts this week and liked every bit of it.
FOOD DESCRIPTION
I finally put the ingredients that I bought for healthy flour to work this week and made some whole grain pancakes. I didn’t introduce syrup or any toppings although real maple syrup, butter, fruit jellies, peanut butter, and other spreads would be great. We also didn’t do these for breakfast, as I’m not so inclined to get up that early yet, but rather had them for lunch. I some times get the question about “when” and I will tell you that I always think ahead when planning my day, or especially something new. I put the boys down for their morning nap and went right to work making pancakes and preparing other small fruits and vegetables for meals in the refrigerator and freezer.
PROCESS
- Whole Grain Pancakes I made the pancake recipe from page 330 of Ruth Yaron’s book Super Baby Food, including the Super Flour mix from page 289. It was an easy recipe, mixing dry ingredients and adding eggs, milk and oil. I followed the recipe exactly and made them four at a time on my skillet. I moved them to cool on wire racks (after tasting one for myself, of course). Once they were cool, I kept one aside for lunch taste test and packaged up the rest with wax paper in a freezer bag. Be sure to let your pancakes bubble all the way on the first side before flipping. Also, watch for your skillet to get too hot as you’re cooking. It’s often the right temperature to start, but soon gets too hot and your pancakes will come out looking brown. Don’t mash them down or keep flipping them over as they will get tough.
PANCAKES
Mix in this order:
2 cups Super Flour
2 teaspoons baking soda (or baking powder)
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons oil (or melted butter)
Healthy Extras (I did not add any, but plan to next time around.)
SUPER FLOUR
2 tablespoons soy flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons brewer’s yeast
(put all of the above in a two-cup dry measuring cup)
Top off the measuring cup with whole wheat flour.
Don’t overbeat the batter. Heat your skillet until hot and just a few drops of cold water jump and sizzle. You don’t want them to just lie there or evaporate instantaneously. Pour about 2-3 tablespoons of batter on the pan. Cook until the surface is filled with bulbbles. Flip and cook the other side 1 to 2 minutes more. Do not continue flipping or press down on the pancake or it will be heavy and tough.
- Spinach & Tomato Sauce With the addition of tomatoes this week, I decided to blend some together with spinach and garlic powder. This made a yummy sauce that I’ve served as a puree on a spoon and plan to mix with some whole wheat pasta for a single dish meal as well.
WHAT I LEARNED
A great way to have pancakes ready for breakfast is to make a batch ahead of time and freeze them for up to 3 months. They can heat in the oven or toaster oven for just a few minutes or just a few seconds in the microwave. To keep them separated and fresh when frozen, I placed 3 of them on a folded piece of wax paper. I had 4 of these groups to freeze, making 12 total pancakes in my freezer bag. See the example below.
REACTION
The pancakes were a great finger food addition to lunch and provided a nice, healthy alternative to bread, bagels, or crackers. I felt great about the ingredients and both boys liked the taste and texture.
SUMMARY
I’m excited about these new pancakes and look forward to thawing and serving for breakfast with a yummy topping soon!
Please share your thoughts or ideas.
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Tags: breakfast, flour, recipe, tomato, whole grain
