In Italy Again...

This past weekend we had two Italian baked goods: calzone and pizza. Calzone in Italian is "trouser" or "stocking", according to Wikipedia, and it's originally pronounced "kal-tso-nay". Ours was filled with loads of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, spiced with roasted garlic and herbs, and topped with our homemade tomato sauce.


The calzone featured in this picture is the one we didn't eat yet - I was so ready to eat that I forgot to take a picture of the one with the sauce... We'll have this one sometime this week!

Last night we had Sicilian pizza again - and it was just as yummy as it was before!



But there were some differences - this time it was topped with onion and basil!
Mmm... we have some more of that as well!

Sandwiches

Mark's last creation was a week ago, more or less. He wanted to make loaves of sandwich bread.
He likes to make sandwich bread that he can freeze and have for lunch later on, but ever since I joined him he has much less leftovers...
This one was made such that the skin would be thin enough to get it into your mouth easily, yet crisp enough to make a crunchy sound when you bite it.


My sandwich included cheddar cheese (only the best - Hoffman's extra sharp!), provolone, sliced tomato and lettuce, and spiced with onion and garlic powders, salt and oregano. Mark's included, in addition, some veggie salami and crushed red pepper.

Pigs in Blankets

It seems so appropriate that I make pigs in blanket, while reading the book Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, that I just couldn't pass it. I made them last night, and, of course, something went wrong with the dough, and Mark had to fix it. But in the end, it turned out real nice. The recipe is taken from here, and I think it's really good - the dough is kinda sweet like a dinner roll, and it's really very simple to make. Don't be intimidated by my lack of success this time - it worked for me very nicely the first 3 times I made it!


Need I mention that this is a veggie hot dog?

Missing Memories from India

I ate many different lentil dishes in India and in Indian restaurants, but I don't remember ever eating anything like what we had last night. At the same time, it seems familiar. It's probably because most Indian lentil dishes are pretty much the same - with the spices taking over the whole scene. We found this recipe here, but I'm not sure we used the same black lentils. The ones we used are Urud lentils, which are very similar to mung beans. We soaked them for more than 24 hours, and then cooked them for another 3 hours, and they were still not mushy. All in all, it wasn't bad. And the naan we had with it was delicious!


From what I remember, naan should not be so puffy, but it tasted really good, so who cares?

Pretzels, Stollen, and Rolls

Another rather busy weekend... Mark started on Friday, with his world-famous pretzels. Last time he made them we realized - too late - that our oven is broken. So we had to bake them in the toaster oven. In addition to being extremely exhausting, the ones that went in late rose too much and got way too fat. They were still good, though.
This time we could bake them in the oven, which is much better suited for baking 16 to 24 of the beasts.

This is what they look like after they're brushed with butter and sprinkled with garlic powder.

The next day he made buttermilk rolls. These are our favorite rolls - we use them for Sloppy Joes, with burgers, hot dogs (all vegetarian, of course!), and eggs. Seems like every time they get even better!


Sunday we finally made Stollen, a traditional German bread made during the Christmas season. And I say "we" because I made the little baby Jesus that lies inside the colorful folded covers - out of almonds.

Jesus is barely visible in this picture - he seems to blend in pretty well with the blankets - but it's still very yummy. The dough is flavored with cinnamon and cardamom and rum-soaked raisins and dried fruit. The pineapple and cherries are my favorites!

Guh-No-Chee

This is the way you're NOT suppose to pronounce it. We made them last weekend out of sweet potatoes and drowned them with creamy tomato sauce (as always, careful about fat and calories, we used fat free half-n-half!)


It was yammy! Just the way they should be - soft and melting in your mouth. Mark Made the dough, but this time I helped by shaping them.