Deep Dish Pizza

So happy I signed up for delivery from Terra Organics. This week there was kale in my box. I love kale, I just don't know how to prepare it. Luckily Vegetarian Times magazine came to the rescue again with their recipe for a deep dish pizza (from their Healing Foods Cookbook magazinewhich I found at UWT bookstore. Or go to vegetariantimes.com). The pizza dough was super easy to make, and the pizza was De-Li-C-Us! Substitutions: I had a leek and grated Parmesan cheese that needed to be used so I added them to the recipe, I didn't have fennel seeds or Neufchatel cheese so I omitted them, and I substituted 1 tsp oregano for the fresh herbs. The recipe calls for a 12 inch skillet. Mine is 10 inches and it worked just fine!

Deep Dish Skillet Pizza

Dough:

1 tsp light brown sugar

1/2 0.25 oz pkg dry yeast

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbs flax meal or ground flax seed

2 tsp olive oil

3/4 tsp salt

Topping:

2 Tbs olive oil

3 garlic cloves minced (1 Tbs)

8 cups loosely packed kale

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 tsp ground fennel seeds

2 Tbs Neufachetel cheese (2 oz)

1 cup crumbled feta cheese (4 oz)

12 cherry tomatoes halved

2 Tbs chopped fresh oregano or basil

To make dough: dissolve brown sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl. Stir in yeast and let stand for five minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup all purpose flour, flax meal, oil, and salt. Knead two minutes while adding remaining 1/4 cup all purpose flour. Oil separate bowl, and turn dough in oil to coat. Cover, and let rise in warm spot until dough doubles in size (about 45 minutes).

To make topping: heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for about two minutes. Add kale, cover and cook stirring occasionally about 15 minutes (mine was a bit dry so I added a little veggie broth to keep from burning) or until kale is softened. Add mushrooms and fennel seeds (I added leeks and oregano at this point) and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in Neufchatel.

Preheat over to 475F. Oil bottom and sides of 12 inch cast iron skillet. Stretch and pat dough over bottom and halfway up sides. Let dough rest 5 minutes. Spread kale mixture, scatter feta, tomatoes and fresh oregano on top (I omitted the fresh herbs and added a handful of Parmesan cheese). Bake 15 minutes on bottom rack. Let stand five minutes before serving.

YUM!

Shitake!

So happy to have received my first delivery from Terra Organics. I was so bored with buying the same old vegetables from the store, and was hoping Terra would help broaden my veggie world. They did! First box had red dandelion greens, parsnips, brussel sprouts, apples, pears, curly parsley, and Shitake mushrooms -- AND they provide recipes!

Okay, I have to say I'm not a fan of Shitake mushrooms but I did promise myself that I would try everything in the box so tonight I cooked the mushrooms. Terra included a recipe for mushroom fettuccine but that didn't sound good. I found a recipe from vegetariantimes.com (love them!) for a mushroom ravioli using won ton wrappers. I thought if I have to buy won ton wrappers, I might as well just make veggie gyozas so that's what we had: Vegetarian Gyozas with Edamame Succotash, yum! This recipe will probably make about 24 gyozas. I cooked 12 tonight, and froze the remainder (place uncooked gyozas on a paper covered plate and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Keep on plate until frozen through, and then transfer to freezer bag).

If you're wondering if Japanese food is hard to cook it's not. It is time consuming to prepare so make sure you give yourself enough time for the prep:

Vegetarian Gyozas: (serves 2 to 4)

1/2 small Napa Cabbage (Savoy works too) cored and thinly sliced

1 large carrot shredded

4-5 fresh shitake mushrooms cored and finely diced

3 sliced green onions (white and light green part only)

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp canola oil

2 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp cayenne (or to taste)

2 sliced green onions reserved for garnish

Prepare veggies and combine with sauce, cover and marinate in fridge for 1-2 hours (you can also add finely diced Tofu, but make sure to use the extra firm). Drain vegetable mixture before filling wrappers. The leftover filling makes a great salad, and is good over rice too. Heat 1 Tbsp canola oil in frying pan, and cook gyoza till brown on bottom (about 3-4 minutes). Add 1/4 cup water, and cover pan for 3-4 minutes or until gyoza is tender. Set aside on plate.

Edamame Succotash:

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

1 cup frozen corn

1 seeded and diced red bell pepper

Wipe water from frying pan. Add 1 Tbsp canola oil, and saute veggies for about five minutes until crisp/tender. Return gyoza to pan to warm, toss with veggies and plate. Sprinkle with reserved green onions.

Brunch with the Boys

Paul and I rarely get up to Seattle, but when we do we like to get together with the boys. We started out with coffee at Top Pot in Capitol Hill, took a nice stroll around the neighborhood and ended up at Volunteer Park Cafe for lunch. The cafe was awesome, kind of a cross b

etween Antiques and Rosewood. It's just the kind of place I'd like to have if I ever owned a cafe, snuggled in a residential area where patrons walked, biked, or drove by for a bite. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and are right outside of Volunteer Park with the arboretum and Asian Art Museum which was our next stop. There was an exhibit of Japanese motifs that I was hoping to see, but unfortunately it was closed so they could set up for the next showing of Japanese woodblock prints in April. Oh, poor me -- I guess I'll have to make another trip out to Capitol Hill, and I suppose I could force myself to have another bite at the cafe.

REI Flagship Store

My feet are in sad shape. Suffice it to say that in my youth I did not heed my doctor's advice and continued to spend all day in high heeled shoes that were great to look at but not great for my feet. Fast forward 20 years and I am now trying to find shoes somewhere between stylish, affordable and orthopedic -- not an easy find let me tell you. A friend recommended Keen shoes which are available at REI but Tacoma's store has a limited supply so off we went today to their flagship store in Seattle. Have you seen that place? Forget about availability of merchandise, the surroundings are fantastic! There's a bike trail if you want to try out your bike, a hiking trail, a waterfall, stone steps -- hard to believe we were in downtown Seattle. Anyway, I found my shoes but I'm more excited to go back and look in their "garage" department for gently used returned merchandise to see if I can find any bargains. And I might pack a picnic lunch too!

Day Trip: Southeast Portland

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've written anything, but I have been busy. Let's see, Paul and I have been experimenting cooking with fish, I've learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em, hosted a party at the house, finished the tiles for a public art project that should be installed by the summer, all things I could have blogged about but I didn't so get over it.

It was a beautiful day so we decided to visit Lisa in Portland (and we got to meet her friend Hannah). Lisa is moving with Hannah this summer from N Portland (so close to the NE area which I LOVE) to SE Portland (which I plan to grow to LOVE).

I love Portland for so many reasons: The Tin Shed, Nicholas Restaurant , their Japanese Garden, and Farmers Market, great parks, public transportation, artists' markets, and bike-ability, and now I have a few more favorites to add to the list.


After we dropped off Hannah we went to Lisa's favorite resale shop Rerun on NE Freemonth where I paid a little too much for a ceramic planter and metal bell. We found another shop on SE Division and 34th, Village Merchants on SE Division & 34th . VM had a ton of cute knick-knacks, and they also sold children's linen in the same car pattern Kevin had on his kiddy-bed (awwww).
And where else but in Portland can you get a fabulous meal at a grocery store deli? I am so in love with New Seasons Market. Spendy, yes, but I would love to have one in Tacoma.




Paul discovered an art walk in SE Portland. It was a mixture of value priced street art, to over priced bad art, and artist studio tour where the fantastic art was displayed.

We topped the day off with a great cup of coffee at Random Order Coffeehouse and Bakery. They have an awesome selection of sweet and savory pies that I managed to resist. Another reason for a visit to Portland.