Posted in November 2011

Sweet Onion Pizza

I’ve been food blogging for a month as of today! How happy am I?

I have a confession to make: when I joined WW in 2003, I used to weigh in on Sunday afternoons. After the meeting, no matter what my results on the scare were, I would walk three doors down.

And, I would devour one of these bad boys:

The pizzeria  calls it a “Grandpa” slice. It is a MONSTER. Thick, hearty, garlicky sauce,  seasonings, and onions galore. All three corners of its gloriousness hang off the edge of the plate. I eat it with a fork a knife (typically a faux pas around these parts.)

There is no cheese to be found.

I recently revisited this pizza place before seeing Reel Big Fish in concert. It had been years since I devoured this slice. I decided I MUST try to replicate it. Sadly, no description can be found on their menu.

For a fleeting moment, I thought I could be a vegan.

Then, I remembered my Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese.

Somebody out there has GOT to like onions at least as much as I do.

I used some of my favorite base recipes to create this pizza. I visited Food Network for my pizza dough and Skinnytaste for my sauce. It’s a hodge podge of deliciousness.

My version is slightly different, but hopefully one you will enjoy. It’s saucy, crusty, and a GREAT base recipe if you’re looking to load a cheeseless pizza down with veggies.

Pre-baking

Sweet Onion Pizza

Ingredients:

For the dough: (Adapted from FoodNetwork.com)

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1 cup warm water (100 – 110 degrees F)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the topping:

  • 2 c of your favorite Marinara Sauce (I used Skinnytaste’s Quick Marinara Sauce)
  • 3 medium sweet onions, sliced into rings

Directions:

For the dough: (I used my KitchenAid mixer, consult foodnetwork.com for directions if you don’t have one)

  1. In a large bowl, pulse flour and salt a few times until mixed.
  2. In a small bowl, mix warm water, sugar, and yeast. Set aside about 10 minutes until foamy. (Emilybites.com does a GREAT job explaining the proper use of yeast. It’s how I learned. Check it out.)
  3. Once yeast is foamy, pour into flour mixture. Put your mixer on the lowest speed until flour well mixed. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, and pulse to combine.
  4. Mix on medium speed until a dough ball begins to form. Watch the mixer carefully, and scrape the ball off the mixer when it begins to get stuck. Mix about 5 minutes.** If your dough ball is sticky, add 1 tbsp flour at a time until no longer sticky. If it is crumbly, add 1 tbsp water at a time until no longer crumbly. You want your dough ball to be smooth, and you should be able to handle it without getting dough stuck to your fingers.**
  5. Form your dough into a ball, and lightly mist a bowl with cooking spray. Place your dough ball into the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size. (I waited 1 1/2 hours).
  6. Lightly flour a baking sheet. When dough is risen, use a floured rolling pin to stretch it until slightly bigger than your cooking sheet. This will give you crusty edges and corners on your pizza.
For the topping: (I completed this step in the last 1/2 hour of my dough rising)
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. In a medium saucepan, mix sauce and onion rings until rings are lightly coated.
  3. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes , stirring occasionally as onion rings begin to soften. If your sauce begins to cook off/burn, add 1/2 – 1 c water to the mixture and continue cooking
  4. When rings are soft (should be stringy, not crunchy) remove from heat.
  5. Spread onions on top of prepared pizza dough. Bake 15 – 18 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (6P+, makes 8 servings):
Calories: 238
Carbs: 51
Fat: 2
Protein: 6
Fiber: 4
Sodium: 341
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com

Cider-Spiced Banana Oatmeal with Almonds

The title of this particular recipe is a mouthful. It was a happy accident Sunday morning. I was trying to get in a good, hearty, hot breakfast, while giving myself the little “treat” of splurging on Trader Joe’s Spiced Cider. I bought the cider before Thanksgiving, after sampling a warm little “shot” of it.

The cider is decadent and cinnamony (take THAT, spell check!) I planned on heating it in the teapot at the end of a cool fall evening. But it hasn’t really been “cool” here in New York. Let the record show that I am extremely happy about the unseasonably warm weather.

I don’t have a picture of the finished product because I ate it up before I decided to share it with you – so you will have to settle for this one:

It's a "thesis-writing" kind of day.

Cider-Spiced Banana Oatmeal with Almonds

A Kelly’s Stellar Kitchen Original!

Ingredients:

  • ¾ c Trader Joe’s Spiced Cider*
  • ½  c quick oats
  • 1 tbsp slivered almonds
  • ½ banana, mashed

Directions:

1. Pour spiced cider into tea kettle and heat until it reaches desired warmth. (I took it to a full boil, as my banana was frozen). Mix oats in a cereal bowl.

2. Pour cider over oat and almond mixture. Mix in mashed banana until well combined.

*If you like your oatmeal dryer/wetter, you can add water, milk, or cider to your liking.

You can top this with cinnamon if you wish, but the cider has such rich flavor that it doesn’t really need anything. (On Monday, I made this with 1/2 cup canned pumpkin instead of banana, and topped with 1 tbsp brown sugar.)

Nutritional Information Per Serving (8P+, makes 1 serving):**
**I put this into the recipe builder without the banana, and counted it as 8P+ with my 0 P+ banana. However, if you add the banana, as I did with myfitnesspal nutrition facts, it will come out to 10P+ per serving.**
Calories: 344
Carbs: 67
Fat: 8
Protein: 8
Fiber: 7
Sodium: 23
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com

Things I have already learned this Thanksgiving….

1. If you wake up, have an allergy attack, and take Benadryl, you will not be going to the gym.

2. If you wake up, have an allergy attack, and take Benadryl, you will miss the parade.

3. Benadryl makes you sleep for approximately 2.5 hours before you are functional.

4. Two bags of fresh cranberries is one bag too many for a recreational food blogger.

5. Fresh cranberries are incredibly difficult to “coarsely chop.”

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baked Chicken and Cranberry Sauce

I’ve noticed over the last few days that many of my favorite food bloggers (read: heroes) have been making Thanksgiving foods in an effort to prepare their readers for the holiday. Me? I’ve been sitting here for half of the week wondering what in the WORLD to do with the fresh cranberries I bought on sale.

On Thanksgiving, I’ll be visiting the homes of my nearest and dearest, where there will be enough food to feed an army or two. My father fries the turkeys for my aunt who hosts; and on my mother’s side of the family, I am sure I will find some of my aunt’s signature pumpkin pie.

I will travel with White Mint Chocolate Cookies & Cream Fudge. (I’ll post pictures. The recipe belongs to a friend who has a cake/truffles/deliciousness business, so I can’t give away her secrets.)

What I’m getting at, here, is that I don’t plan to do any heavy-duty cooking this week.

But those cranberries! The only other thing I had on hand was chicken. So I Googled it. You know how I feel about Google.

This recipe was inspired by the first “hit” I got from Google. I served it alongside some Teeny Tiny Potatoes and cooked carrots.

And yes, it turned out to be an early taste of Thanksgiving.

Making a cranberry sauce turned out to be VERY low-maintenance!

Baked Chicken and Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

  • cooking spray
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half (forms 6 thin breast servings)
  • paprika and fresh ground pepper
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 1/2 c water
  • 3/4 c packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 cinnamon stick, whole

Directions:

Chicken:

  1. Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Place chicken breasts on cookie sheet, season each with paprika and ground pepper (just a dash of each!)
  3. Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Watch chicken carefully so you don’t dry it out!

Cranberry Sauce:

  1. Combine cranberries, water, packed brown sugar, and red wine vinegar in a deep skillet. Add cinnamon stick.
  2. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. Remove cover, raise heat to medium, and simmer approximately 25-30 minutes. You want your sauce to be slightly thick, but not dry. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.
Cranberry sauce should be slightly tart, slightly sweet. Add more cinnamon or cracked pepper to taste.
Spoon approximately 1/6th of Cranberry Sauce over each chicken breast. I would guess about 1/4 – 1/3 c. I was bad and forgot to measure!

Oh, I'm ready for Thanksgiving.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (6P+, makes 6 servings):
Calories: 220
Carbs: 31
Fat: 1
Protein: 23
Fiber: 1
Sodium: 46
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Post-Marathon, January 2008

Let’s talk about this girl for a sec, shall we?

She lost 68 pounds between May of 2003 and August of 2007. Then, she started training for a marathon.

Well, she started training for a half marathon, but someone dared her to do the full. She decided she would, on the spot. After all, this girl was both a runner and a Weight Watcher….surely, it was the way to goal.

But, this same girl had no idea how to eat as a long-distance runner. Sure, she knew how to eat, but somehow, she turned to 100 calorie packs as a treat on long run days. PACKS. Plural. She poorly balanced her carbs, fruit, and veggies. Oh, but she ran. And she got fast.

And then, in a completely unrelated twist-of-fate, she got injured. By the time she ran the marathon, she packed 10 pounds back on. But, she finished the marathon and raised a lot of money for a good cause.

She’s er, I’m telling you this story because the lovely girl in the picture sacrificed a lot of things for artificially sweetened products. These products made her reach for more….and more….and more….and- well, you get the picture.

So this time around I’m (ok, it’s me, I’m sure you figured that out) not sacrificing real sugar for artificial. I really enjoy baking, and I think it’s more important that I learn portion control than just eat something because it’s P+ friendly friendlier.

I like my sweets, so I renovated something I had a deliciously festive sample of the other day. I halved the recipe and removed some of the garnish to keep the P+ down. Eats like a small-ish decadent cookie. Little brother says they’re delicious. (So do I, but I’m biased.)

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Recipe adapted from Food.com

  • 1 cup flour
  • ¾  teaspoons baking powder
  • ½  teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½  cup butter (1 stick, very soft)
  • ½  cup brown sugar
  • 1/8 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, 1 egg white
  • 1/4 tsp lemon extract
  • 1/3 cup (dried cranberries)
  • 1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Frosting

  • 1  ounces neufchatel cheese, softened
  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/4 tsp lemon extract
  • 1/8 – 1/4 c nonfat milk

Directions:

Bars:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8×8 inch pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, and ginger together in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and well blended. Mix in egg, egg white, and lemon extract.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix until the texture reminds you of chocolate chip cookie dough. Add cranberries and chips, and stir until just incorporated.

5. Spread the thick batter in the prepared 8×8 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-24 minutes, or until light brown at edges and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Frosting:

1. Beat together neufchatel, confectioner’s sugar, and lemon extract.

2. Add milk gradually until the texture of the frosting is spreadable, but NOT a liquid. I used about 1/8 cup.

3. Frost when completely cooled. Slice into 16 servings.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (5P+ for a 1 cookie bar, makes 16 servings):
Calories:
Carbs:
Fat:
Protein:
Fiber:
Sodium:
**NI will be added after posting. Thanks for your patience!**