Pizza at home in your kitchen or in your backyard?

Is it crazy to want to build a pizza oven in your backyard? No, no, it's
not. Mario Batali has one at his vacation home in Michigan. (Please see
NY Times article from Aug 07:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/travel/escapes/17away.html I am jealous.)

I am a new home owner, and I am thinking about getting one of these. My
husband thinks we should start smaller, like perhaps just getting a normal Weber
grill. I guess that's fine for now, but I dream big, REAL BIG.

Of course, you don't need a pizza oven to make homemade pizza. I make
pizza all the time on my pizza stone. You can pick one up William-Sonoma
or Sur La Table. They are inexpensive and are also good for just
re-heating pizza.

Here's a quick and foolproof recipe for making your own pizza in your
own, indoor oven.

1 pkg dry active yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
3 cups flour, (all purpose is fine, if you want to be fancy you can use
the "00" flour.)
1 TB olive oil
1 cup warm water

Pour warm water into a large bowl. Add salt and honey and stir. Then,
sprinkle contents of dry active yeast packet into bowl. Let sit for 10
minutes. The yeast should bloom, and it should smell like bread and be
foamy on top.

Add olive oil and stir, then add three cups of flour. Stir with wooden
spoon until dough forms. Pour out on counter, and knead for 2 - 3
minutes until dough becomes a smooth, cohesive ball.

Then place ball into another bowl that has been greased with a little
olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap, and let sit on counter for 60-90
minutes. The dough will rise.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees, be sure to put pizza stone in as oven
preheats.

Roll dough out on to counter and roll out with rolling pin until you get
a shape that will fit on your pizza stone.

Once oven is pre-heated, pull pizza stone out and sprinkle liberally
with cornmeal. Place dough on stone, and sprinkle top with a little
salt and olive oil. Cook for 6 minutes in oven.

Remove from oven and put on your desired toppings. Cook for another 6
minutes.

Pre-cooking the dough before you add toppings guarantees that the crust
will be nice and brown and flavorful.

Sausage and Fennel Risotto

2 cups Arborio rice
8 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
1 onion chopped
1 cup pecorino cheese
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
1 fennel bulb, sliced thick
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 cup white wine (something light and dry)
1 TB olive oil
2 TB butter

In large pot on stove heat up (on low) 8 cups chicken stock.

In another large sauté pan, brown sausage and set aside. Cook fennel in the same pan until softened, and then set aside.

Add 1 TB olive oil to pan and cook onion until soft, then add rice. Cook for 1 minute. Then add 1 cup white white, and let rice absorb. Then start adding chicken stock in 1 cup portions and stir, each time allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more. Do this for about 30 minutes. Taste rice to see if it's ready. If it is, stir in sausage, fennel and parsley. Then add 1 cup of cheese and the 2 TB butter. If the rice become too thick, just add some more stock to loosen it up. If needed, add a a little fresh ground pepper.

Serve with salad or green vegetable. I like it with roasted broccolini.

White Bean and Asparagus Soup

2 carrots (chopped)
2 onions (chopped)
2 celery stalks (chopped)
(If you have a food processor, let it do the work for you!)
1 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups chicken stock (homemade is best, but store bought is very good)
2 16 oz can white (northern) beans (rinsed)
2 cups asparagus (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)


In soup pot sauté carrots, onions and celery with olive oil for 15 minutes. Cook at a medium heat. Then add salt, pepper and thyme. Then add asparagus. Let cook for another 5 minutes. Then add beans and stock and bring to a boil. Let boil for a minute or two, and then turn down heat to low-medium and let cook for another 30 minutes.

Taste before serving, and add salt/pepper if needed.

Asparagus season is about to start, so this soup is great to serve in the next few months.

Is there really a difference between Bread Pudding and French Toast?

Kristin and I had a discussion on this topic earlier this week, and we've have decided that there is no real difference. It's bread and eggs and cream. One is served after dinner, and one is served in the morning. But I like my breakfasts to be more like dessert anyway. I mean, couldn't you serve donuts for dessert, or perhaps apple pie for breakfast? It would be perfectly okay with me.


I make my French Toast as a casserole. It's inspired by a recipe I saw on Paula Deen's Food Network show.

I altered Paula's recipe a bit. She uses a bit more cream and butter, if you can believe that.

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees

Egg/Cream Mixture
8 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients and beat until smooth.

Slice one loaf (16 0z) French bread. Each piece should be 1 inch thick. Line up in a well buttered 9 x 13 baking dish. Pour egg/cream mixture over top. Let sit in fridge for about an hour, or even overnight.

Pecan Cinnamon Crumble Topping
1 stick softened butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Mix altogether with hands in small bowl

Spread crumble on top of casserole and place in hot oven for 45 minutes