Pizza Dough

Yeast intimidates me, so I typically stay away from anything that involves it! It seems like sometimes you carefully follow the directions step by step only to go check on it after the "rising" period to discover it hasn't changed a bit since you left it! So much to go wrong - the yeast is old, the water wasn't the right temperature, etc. So frustrating after you have devoted so much time to a recipe!

This weekend though I made a small step towards overcoming my fear of yeast. I made a homemade whole wheat pizza dough! Andy was out of town so I figured I would be the only one have to suffer through if it didn't turn out so I gave it a shot. Of course, when it worked I found myself wishing I had waited until he was here to enjoy it with me! At least there are plenty of leftovers for him to enjoy.

I followed this recipe for the dough, which was super easy as I let the bread hook on the mixer do the kneading for me. The recipe is for 2 crusts, so I put half in the freezer and fingers crossed that will make for an easy dinner down the road.

Here is my dough after it had risen...

My next concern was about how sticky the dough might be to roll out/shape into a pizza crust, but thanks the the olive oil rubbed on it before it rose, that wasn't a problem at all! I rolled it out using a rolling pin without a problem - I was going for the "rustic" shape (who says pizza has to be round, right?)

If you try the recipe, don't be afraid to roll the dough out pretty thin. The dough rises a little bit more as it bakes.

As for toppings, you can try absolutely anything but I was inspired by this since it was where I had first seen the dough recipe. Andy and I have made a number of bbq chicken pizzas so this isn't too different from what we have done in the past except replacing the chicken with chickpeas! I added a little cilantro to the top for color too.

And finally, the finished product!

Can't wait to try another combo on the dough in my freezer!

More to Celebrate

August is a big month of celebrations for us, and today is a double celebration! Up first, happy birthday Mom!

Wish we were with you to celebrate in person but know you are having a great time in Jackson Hole!! (which funny enough is also where Andy and I got engaged)

And Mom was kind enough to let us have our wedding on her birthday, so today is also our 3rd anniversary. Happy anniversary Andy! It has been a fun 3 years and I look forward to many many more!

(Photo compliments of Paul Johnson Photography...they were awesome!)

Maybe next year we can celebrate both occasions in Jackson Hole??

Atlanta

We headed to Atlanta Saturday morning for a duel celebration of Andy's birthday and our upcoming anniversary. We had debated for a week or so what we should do to celebrate and finally decided it was best for us to get out of town, even if it was just for a night, so that we could remove ourselves from all the distractions around the house. We had a great time just being together with no real plans!

We made it to town in time for a late lunch at Highland Bakery and then spent the afternoon shopping around Inman Park and the Howell Mill Road area. Some cute house stuff here and here and a cute new clothing store here.Then we headed into Buckhead and found the Patagonia store for Andy and shopped around Lenox for a bit before checking into our hotel.

After a quick change we headed to dinner at Parish. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera along so no pictures, but we had a great meal. It is a casual environment with great food. I was most impressed by the appetizers so we shared a fried veggie basket, smoked chicken over hoe cakes, beef carpaccio (only thing that was not so good), bbq shrimp, and a pimento cheese burger with a fried green tomato for Andy! We had way too much food, but hey it was a celebration meal!

This morning we got up and headed to Decatur to explore the DeKalb Farmers Market. We had both heard about it from a few different people, but it is definitely an experience you have to see yourself! First of all it was packed....

And it is nothing like any farmers market I had ever seen before. They had products from all over the world, and there was a very international feel with not much English spoken between the people working there. The produce was not exactly local (no Georgia peaches?? no Silver Queen Corn??), but they did have all sorts of unique spices, flours, oils, etc.

It wasn't just produce either, but a huge seafood and meat section.

There was a whole section of what we typically think of as trash first....carp, bream, etc...Not to mention the pools of "live" catfish. I tried to snap a picture on my phone to show the few I saw floating upside down. None of those for me please!

We finally lifted our jaws up of the floor, found a few things to take home (including some awesome looking fresh baked bread), and headed out. We were off to meet Fran and Jay for brunch at Empire State South.

It was our first time there and we thoroughly enjoyed it! It is in the bottom of a tall building in midtown, but it has been decorated to have a real bungalow/cottage feel. The menu was small, but all of the food was great (especially the pimento cheese with bacon marmalade!). I would love to go back and try it for dinner sometime. Most importantly though we had a great time catching up with Fran and Jay!

We headed back to Birmingham this afternoon and now back to the working world tomorrow. It was a great little weekend break from reality though!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday today to my wonderful sister-in-law, Karen. Hope you have a great day!

And yesterday was Andy's birthday so we celebrated with a low key (but fun!) steak dinner at home.

Of course he had a few presents to open first....

On to dinner...first course was a tomato salad and yes we do eat a lot of these, but how can you resist them? Summer is drawing to an end now so won't be too many more of them to enjoy! I do try to make each one a little different by what I add - this one had thinly sliced cucumber on the bottom and some avocado. 

And we enjoyed some of the wine we brought back from Napa last summer.

A mini key lime pie for dessert since it's Andy's favorite!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Andy! I had fun celebrating with you!

A Little Relief from the Heat...

We had a great weekend in the mountains relaxing with Andy's family and certainly enjoyed the cooler temperatures. When we got in the car to head home yesterday it was 70, and by the time we got out in Birmingham it was 94!

We did a little hiking, a lot of eating, some relaxing, and a little fishing...(that is until shortly after Andy left me on my own I spotted a snake coiled up and hissing at me coming out from under the rock I had just been standing on!)

Back to reality today though, but I did try out a new recipe that was hit around here so thought I would share.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta
Serves 4

2 tbl EVOO
4 scallions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1 and 1/2 lbs large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed (I just used frozen wild shrimp and it turned out great)
2 tbl chopped basil
4 oz feta

1. Preheat oven to 475. Heat oil in large skilled over medium heat. Add scallions, garlic, and oregano and cook, stirring, for a minute.

2. Add tomatoes and cook until no liquid remains (10-15 minutes) stirring frequently. Salt and Pepper to taste.

3. Add shrimp and basil to skillet and stir to combine. Transfer to an 8 inch square baking dish (I halved the recipe and used individual baking dishes.) Crumble feta over top.

4. Bake until liquid is bubbling and feta is beginning to brown and shrimp are opaque (15 to 20 minutes).

To go with it, I cooked some orzo which I tossed with some leftover pesto and diced sundried tomatoes.

Of course the garlic bread to sop up the sauce may have been the best part!