Focaccia

Every day in December is Goodie Day at work. Everyone is assigned a day to bring something in. I have been making cupcakes for the last couple of parties that we have had so I decided to try something different. I figured that someone would be bring in something sweet already so bread seemed like a good choice.

I ultimately decided on Focaccia with Italian seasoning on top. I brought in some olive oil and seasoning for dipping. Judging by an almost empty container before noon, I think it was a hit. I forgot to take a picture last night after it came out of the oven, but fear not! I know I will be making it again soon. I think next time I going to try some sliced black olives on it.  (more…)

Pizza Sauce w/ Bonus Pizza

My favorite pizza is from Aurelios from the old oven. The sauce and crust really makes the pizza. When I moved out of my parent’s house I started my quest to replicate the sweet but slightly bitter red gold that haunted my dreams. I tried different stages of tomatoes (crushed, whole, sauce, puree) and lots of sugar. After trying every spice I could think of, I was ready to give up until I stumbled upon a forum thread talking about the famous sauce. The secret ingredient (debatable) is malt extract or beer. I really didn’t believe it, but I’m always willing to try new things. After some trial and error on how much beer to add. I am proud to report that I came up with a very close clone.

I ended up making a run to Trader Joe’s last night with a friend (who is awesome!) and stumbled upon dough balls. I was intrigued by the concept and I bought a ball to try it. It seemed really sticky in the bag so more flour will be needed when it is time to prepare the crust.

I followed the instructions for the pizza dough and used the sauce I made. I was going to add black olives, but in the interest of fairness, I decided to hold off on them… this time Pizza Sauce recipe to follow.

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Stuffed Peppers

One thing that I have learned is that in order to become a better cook, you have to expand what you can make. It may seem like a challenging task, but once you learn how to make a dish, it can be expanded. Ingredients can be swapped out and something new can be created.

This is a pretty simple dish to make. The ingredients are easy to obtain, but they can be swapped out. I ended up using Italian sausage instead of ground beef and a vodka sauce instead of just plain tomato sauce. The filling was enough for 4 peppers, but after giving 2 to my parents to try, i was told i may need to double it when i make it again. The recipe is after the jump (more…)