Homemade Pizza Please!

I know I'm a semi food snob and the reason I know this is because I'd rather eat at home or my grandparents house then most restaurants. I know pizza isn't exactly gourmet BUT this pizza surpasses gourmet and goes straight to DELICIOUS! Homemade pizza was one of our family's Friday night traditions. Now that I live in NY I don't get to eat my grandparents pizza but I've got the dough recipe & the rest is in my blood. This is a simple recipe for amazing homemade pizza, it's better than delivery and it's not DiGiorno.

I'm going to start first with the recipe & preparation for the dough & then we'll get to the good stuff.

Quick Pizza Dough

Ingredients

-1/4 oz pack of fast acting yeast
-2 1/4 cup of flour
-2/3 cup hot water (130 degrees)
-1/2 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Mix together 3/4 cups of the flour, the sugar, the yeast, & 2/3 cup hot water. Stir until there are no lumps & the mixture is thoroughly blended, about 5 minutes. While mixing add the salt & 1 1/4 cup of flour. Mix until dough forms into a ball. Add by the tablespoon flour if the mixture is too wet or water if the mixture is too dry. Spread the remaining flour on a flat surface. Knead the dough on the flour for about 10-15 minutes or until elastic and able to stretch, knead into a ball. Place dough in a deep bowl & coat both sides with Olive Oil. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and place in a warm area to let dough rise. (With this recipe the dough is ready to use as soon as you are done kneading but I like to let it rise for better results). I only let it rise for about 30 minutes or so. You can let it sit shorter or longer according to your plans.

Perfectly Homemade Pizza

Ingredients

-1 can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
-pizza dough (recipe above OR you can also buy frozen dough from your grocery store)
-Shredded Mozarella or a block of cheese that you shred yourself (I also like to throw in havarti w/ jalapeno & some cheddar, if you want)
-salt & pepper
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-parsely
-basil
-crushed red pepper (optional)

Preparation

(If you let the dough rise) Punch the dough down to reduce in size. I like to split the dough in 2 because I like thin pizza, I recommend this, if not you can use the dough as a whole. Get a long cookie sheet or round pizza pan, grease the bottom of the pan with either olive oil or crisco (I like to use vegetable crisco). Get the dough and spread across the pan, using the tips of your fingers to push towards the corners. Preheat the oven to about 450F.

Once the dough is stretched across the pan entirely pour the tomato sauce directly on the dough. I like to use a spoon to spread it evenly across the pizza. Leave around a quarter inch of dough along the outside for the crust. Here I like to sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the sauce (reduces acidity). Season generously with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsely, onion powder, basil & any topping you would like to add (I LOVE using sliced onion, which I sometimes saute to make a little softer). Cover the sauce with the shredded mozarella or other shredded cheese of choice. Pour a little olive oil along the crust & a little over the cheese.

Place the pizza on the middle shelf & let cook for 15 minutes or until cheese begins to melt & brown a little. If you are making two pizzas from the dough like I do, make the same exact way but when cooking put one pizza on the bottom shelf for half the time & then switch to the top where the second pizza has been cooking & vice versa. If you don't switch, the bottom of the pizza on the lower shelf will be more burnt where the bottom of the pizza on the top shelf will be more soft.

Take the pizza from the oven & let cool before slicing. I like to add a little crushed red pepper on top because I like some spice but this isn't required or recommended if it's not your thing. Slice the pizza to your liking & serve. Please enjoy because I swear by this recipe & I haven't had one complaint. Mangia!

The Truth about Beef Stew & a Great Recipe too!

The truth is, you can make beef stew from a bunch of left overs in the fridge that normally would get thrown away! Another truth is you can put just about anything in beef stew as long as you have some of the main ingredients: Beef and Beef Broth. Now I don't mean ground beef, I mean some sort of steak. Often I use left over steak from previous meals of the week. Today I used the sliced steak used for stir fry or fajitas. Of course there are vegetable essentials such as carrots, potatoes...and actually any other vegetable can be substitued for another. Heck, maybe even the carrots and potatoes can be substituted if you aren't a fan. But one thing to remember is, it's so simple! Honestly, I don't even measure half the time, I find sometimes when I'm adding ingredients I add to my liking, I stop when I think that's enough of that ingredient. Depending on what flavors you like more you add more or less of certain ones. I promise you, if you follow simple directions you can have a great stew brewing on your stove in minutes.

Lacy's Beef Stew

Ingredients

- Beef - about 1 to 2 lbs. cut into cubes
- Olive Oil - I prefer Extra Virgin
- 8 oz. sliced & cubed mushrooms
- 3 or 4 carrots sliced
- 1/2-1 chopped onion
-3 or 4 stalks celery sliced
- 6-8 cups of beef broth
- a couple fresh basil leaves
- 2-3 cloves of garlic- sliced
- 2-4 half baked potatoes cubed (amount depends on your potato liking, I LOVE potatoes)(to half bake put in microwave covered by wet paper towel for about 8 minutes & let stand - too hot to cube right out of the microwave)
- 1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
- salt, pepper, oregano
- 1 cup of rice - cooked (optional)
- parmesan cheese (optional)
- about 5 tablespoons of gravy or sauce thickener (I used Gold Medal Wondra, but you can also use flour)(amount may vary on how thick you want your stew)


Preparation
First start browning the cubed beef in a large stockpot, or one of the big spaghetti pots if you talk like me. Throw in about 2 tablespoons of the gravy thickener or flour, toss the 2 together. Then add some salt and some pepper I'd say about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Let cook for a couple minutes, but not too long about 3 minutes.

Add sliced & cubed mushrooms, sliced celery, and chopped onion. Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently until onion is tender & beef is browned. Add the Beef Broth, depending on how much stew you want your beef and vegetables to have you can use 6 cups for a thicker sauce that surrounds your beef and vegetables OR you could use 8 cups and have a slightly thick stew that covers your beef & vegetables, it's all up to your taste buds. Cover and let simmer for 25 minutes.

Add carrots, basil leaves, and cubed half baked potatoes. Reduce the heat a little, cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes stirring ocassionally. Or until vegetables and meat are tender. Add the peas and rice cook for 10 more minutes. To thicken the sauce add 3 more tablespoons of the sauce thickener or flour as well as some grated parmesan cheese. Flavor with salt, pepper & oregano.

Pour into bowls and garnish the top with a bit more of the parmesan cheese. I like to serve my beef stew with 1 or 2 pieces of buttered toast - such as an italian loaf or sourdough bread. Enjoy!!

If there are any questions regarding this recipe feel free to email me at lacyorama@gmail.com