Homemade Pizza Bread

This time of year, people are starting to think about what to serve in a couple of weeks for the BIG football game.  After all what's a Superbowl without food?  Here's a pizza bread that you can put together using either store bought bread dough or making my attached bread dough, (a very easy version).  What you put inside is up to you!  You can go with vegetables, pepperoni and cheese, (like I'm going to show you), or several kinds of meats and cheeses.  This is a great break away from the traditional pizza, and serves a large crowd easily.  Make up some marina dipping sauce and you've got a touchdown winner for sure.
Let's start with my dough, (if you're not going to buy frozen dough.).  If you buy frozen dough, just thaw out the dough.

You will need:
6 cups of all purpose flour
2 cups of warm water
5 teas yeast (2 packets)
6 Tabs olive oil
4 teas salt

In a small bowl, add yeast to warm water and allow to sit for about 5 minutes, (so the yeast can bloom).

Your yeast will look like this.  It has come back to life and developed a foam.  You will be able to smell the yeast.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour and the salt.  Mix together and make a well in the center of the flour mixture.

Your flour mixture will look like this.

Add the yeast to the flour well.

Mix the yeast and the flour together.  It will be very wet and loose.

Add the olive oil.  Stir the mixture well.

Now working 1 cup at a time - add more flour to the flour mixture.  Stir, incorporating the new flour into the flour mixture.  Once all the flour has been mixed in and the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, (you may have to add a little less or a little more than the 3 remaining cups of flour that you have, depending on the humidity and how much water your flour is holding), the dough will start to form a nice ball.

This is what your dough will look like.

Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough until it is no longer sticky and is nice and smooth, (like a baby's bottom).

 When I knead my dough, I like to use my finger tips to pull the dough towards me and the heel of my hand to push the dough away.  I do this 3 or 4 times, then rotate the dough 1/4 turn and repeat the process.  I keep doing this over and over again.

 Eventually my dough will look like this.

 Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel.  Set in a warm, draft free area of your kitchen for about 1 hour until double in size.  (see, that wasn't hard, was it?).

 It's been 1 hour, time to roll out the dough and assemble our pepperoni bread.  If you purchased your frozen bread and it's thawed out, you will begin from this point.

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray coat it.  On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a long rectangle.

Spread marina sauce, (homemade or store bought), over the dough, about 1 cup, (almost to the the edges).   Place a layer of pepperoni slices over the marina sauce, (about 1 cup), or whatever meat, (ham, sausage, etc), or sliced vegetables.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, (or layer several different type of cheeses for more depth of flavor) about 1 1/2 cups of cheese.

Starting at the long side of the dough, tightly roll up the dough to the opposite end.

Pinch the ends after you get it all rolled up.  This will help to hold in the filling.   Now move your dough to the cookie sheet with the seam side down, and bake 25 minutes, until golden brown and the dough is cooked completely.

If you find any holes, (like this one), pinch it closed before baking, so it doesn't explode and spill out in the oven.

Once your pizza bread is done, remove from oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.  Then slice with a serrated knife and serve with marina dipping sauce.  Delicious anytime!!

Enjoy!

Stuffed Eggplant

We have a local market that regularly sells eggplant for 88 cents each, and I always buy a couple to make my Eggplant Parmesan, (everyone loves it and it's a good meatless meal).  Add when I saw a sale on eggplant for 69 cents each, I got to thinking about stuffed eggplant and that it had been ages since we had it for dinner.  (This dish is similar to my stuffed baked zucchini that I posted last summer.)  And the great thing about this dish is that you can make it with or without meat.  This recipe will feed 4 - 8 people, (depending on how large the eggplants are, and if you cut them in half after cooking them).
First preheat your oven to 350 degrees

You will need:
2 eggplants
2 medium onions
2 - 3 cloves garlic (your taste preference)
salt and pepper
2 Tabs olive oil
1 green pepper
1 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cups boxed stuffing mix (I use chicken flavor)
3/4 cup chicken stock

Wash the eggplant, cut off the blossom end, then cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the inside of the eggplant, (I use a spoon to cut around the edge, and gently scoop under the meat of the eggplant, then lift it out).  Make sure to leave a little edge all the way around, (so it looks like a little boat).  Cut the center portion of the eggplant into small pieces and set aside.

Chop your onion, green pepper, and garlic.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil, over medium heat.  Add the onions, peppers, and garlic.  Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper, (about 1/2 teas each).

 Stir and cook until the onions are starting to get translucent, (about 5 minutes).

Add the chopped eggplant pieces and another sprinkling of salt and pepper, (about 1/2 teas. each).  Stir and cover with a lid and cook until the eggplant is soft, (about 5 minutes).

Note: if you are cooking vegetarian:  substitute more vegetables for the chicken, (i.e.: spinach, parsley, basil, tomatoes, more cheeses), substitute seasoned bread crumbs for the stuffing mix, and substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.  Just boost the flavors - that's what I do for my vegetarian grandson when he comes over for dinner.

 Add the stuffing mix, chopped chicken, and chicken stock

Note:  I am using some of the excess stock and chicken from my homemade chicken soup that I posted last week, but you can use canned stock and any leftover or canned chicken).

Give everything a stir.

Now add 3/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese.  Save the remaining 1/4 cup for the top.  Give everything a stir, and turn off the heat.

Give it a quick taste for seasoning.  It shouldn't need any more salt, (but base that on your family's taste - if it needs more add it). Man does this taste good all ready!

I have even taken it at this point and put this mixture in a casserole dish, topped it with the remaining cheese, baked it and served it for dinner.

Place your eggplant halves on a baking sheet and generously stuff them with the mixture.

Top the eggplants mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese divided evenly among the 4 eggplant halves.  Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

When they come out of the oven the cheese will be all melted and just starting to brown, nicely.   And your dinner is ready.

Add a nice side salad and your meal is complete.  You can cut each eggplant boat in half and easily feed 2 people or 1 hearty person.


Enjoy.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

The winter weather has set in, and with the single digit temperatures, it's now time to turn to warm soups.  Some comfort food from our childhood, such as chicken noodle soup.

But have you read the ingredient label on the back of some of these soups? Sodium ascorbate, mono sodium glutamate, dextrose, soy protein isolate !!  And actual chicken was so far down the list that is was almost non existent.

I know, we all grew up on eating this at one time or another.  But let make some GOOD homemade chicken noodle soup.  We can make a BIG pot, freeze it in serving containers and serve it up when we need it.  You just need a couple of hours and you've got lots of good soup without all the chemicals, (and lots of chicken in it.)   This recipe makes 8 - 10 servings

 I found chicken leg quarters on sale for 59 cents a pound and these 4 sections are twice what I will need, (but I can use the excess for chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, chicken pot pie, and lots of other dishes).

First let's start with the stock:
chicken leg quarters, (some people use chicken breast - you can, but why waste your money).
a couple of medium onions
2 stalks of celery
2 medium carrots
a small handful of parsley, (you can use dried)
a few sage leaves, (you can use dried)
a few sprigs of thyme, (you can use dried)
salt, pepper, garlic powder
clean corn cobs (optional)

 In a large stock pot I put my cleaned corn cobs.
(I save my corn cobs from the summer, when I freeze my corn, and use the cobs in my stocks.  I just freeze the cobs until I need them.  It adds more depth of flavor to your stocks).  This is purely optional.

Next I cut the small pocket of fat off the leg quarter, (this is just where the leg and thigh connect).  This way you cut down on the excess fat in your soup, and you won't have to skim it off the broth.

Put your chicken in the stock pot.

Add your herbs - the parsley, thyme, sage, about 2 Tabs each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Now clean scrub and cut your carrots, onions, and celery in half and add to the stock pot.  Don't remove the leaves from the celery, (they add more flavor), don't cut the vegetables in small pieces, (you want very BIG pieces - just cut them in half, or even leave them whole).

 Add water to cover everything thing, (1 gallon).  Cover with a lid, and place on the stove top over medium high heat.

 Once everything comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and continue boiling for approximately 1 hour.  You want to make sure the chicken is cook completely.

Oh my gosh, does this smell wonderful,  The whole house already smells inviting.

After the chicken is cooked and the vegetables of pretty much mush, turn off the heat.  Remove all the vegetables.  Your going to throw these away.  They don't have any taste or value.  If you compost - this is a good use for them.  If you live on a farm, your animals will love them.  My dog and bird love the leftover carrots.

Remove the chicken and let it cool.

Strain the broth to remove any little bits left in, and you now have 1 gallon of wonderful chicken broth.  This can be used in so many wonderful dishes.  I'm going to use 1/2 of this for our soup, and freeze the other half for use later in other recipes.   Once the broth has cooled, skim off what little fat accumulates on top, (there will be maybe 1 tablespoon on top).

Of course if you want to skip this step, you can also use your choice of pre-packaged chicken broth, or chicken granulated broth products.  But for just a little time and the cost of 2 quart boxes of broth you can make 1 gallon of wonderful chicken broth that taste so much better.

Here's my broth after it has cooled.  As you can see, there's very little fat on top, and I have this huge bowl.

The chicken has cooled enough to handle, and now I've pulled off the skin and removed all the bones, and shredded the chicken.  I have twice the amount of chicken that we will need.

Now to make our chicken noodle soup, you will need the following:
8 cups of broth
2 cups of shredded chicken
2 medium carrots
1 large/medium onion
2 stalk celery
2 cups noodles
2 teas salt
2 teas pepper
2 teas garlic power
1 teas dried basil
1 teas dried thyme

chop your onion, carrots, and celery

 In a large dutch oven pot combine your broth, vegetables, salt, pepper, and herbs.  Cover with a lid and over medium/high heat bring to a boil.

After about 30 minutes, give the soup a good stir, add the noodles and the chicken.  Continue cooking until the noodles are done.

Give the soup a taste, does it need a touch more salt and pepper?  If so, give a little more and another stir.  Now your done.

And you now have a nice hearty bowl of delicious chicken noodle soup.  Tonight I'm serving my soup with a chicken salad sandwich.

So good, and so warming on such a cold winter night.


Enjoy.