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March 10, 2013

Dublin Coddle

Posted by ladybug under baked, cauliflower, garlic, onion, parsley, pork, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen, vegetables, wheat free
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dublin coddleI adore the name of this dish. And oh my flippin’ floopie, it is rich and delish! It reminds me of a chilly, rainy day I spent in Dublin many years ago, popping into a pub to warm up a bit with some food and drink. I did not have a coddle, but the feeling was the same. It totally has a comfort food vibe, and is considered such in Ireland. I thought of it with St. Patrick’s Day coming up and my Irish-ness starting to raise it’s head here in my blog. It is called a coddle because of the slow simmering manner of cooking the dish. Dublin, of course, comes from the popularity of the dish in the Dublin area. I read one place once that the convenience of slow cooking the one-dish meal and the ease of keeping it warm in the oven has a logical basis – it allowed for a warm meal to be ready for the man of the house when he came home late from the pub, after the rest of the family was already in bed. Heh. From my experience there are almost as many variations of this dish as there are mothers and grandmothers. Just like in the US there are delicious recipe variations for meatloaf, chicken soup and apple pie, each cook makes it their own way. I probably committed some form of blasphemy by excluding potatoes from my version of this dish, but we are stubborn about our use of cauliflower as a potato substitute in our diet, so I happily blasphemed. The results were like a beef stew. I know, I know, there is no beef in the recipe. It is just a bunch of pig. That is what I thought! I think the beer mixes with all the other juices and just makes a darned rich broth that is reminiscent of beef broth. Sooooo good! A layer of thinly sliced potatoes as the top layer is the more traditional route, so I included it as an option in the recipe. I thought the quantities would serve four, but we did not have any sides, just a big bowl of coddle. Since there were so many veggies and protein in the coddle it ended up being healthy servings for two very hungry people. If you are not serving sides with the coddle I would recommend doubling the recipe for a party of more than three.

Dublin Coddle

8 slices thick bacon
6 thick pork sausages (mild Italian or ideally some Irish bangers)
1 Tbsp butter
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup water
1 head cauliflower or 3 medium potatoes
1 large carrot
1 12-ounce beer or hard cider
1 Tbsp dried parsley leaves
2 tsp dried thyme leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut bacon into 1-inch pieces. In a large frying pan cook the bacon over medium heat until browned. Transfer cooked bacon to Dutch oven. In bacon grease over medium high heat add sausages and cook until browned, but stop before they are completely cooked through. Cut the sausages into one-inch pieces and transfer them to the Dutch oven. In what is left of the bacon grease add the butter. When the butter is melted add the onion and garlic. Saute until onions are softened but not browned. Transfer onion and garlic to Dutch oven. You are now done with the frying pan. Salt and pepper the stuff in the Dutch oven to your liking, then pour in the water. Slice the carrot into coins, no more than ¼ inch thick. Chop cauliflower into bite-sized floret pieces, or peel and slice potatoes, no more than ¼ inch thick. Add to the Dutch oven a layer of carrot, followed by a layer of cauliflower. You may not need the whole head of cauliflower, but there should be an even layer of it over the top of everything else. If using potatoes make an even layer of slices on top, overlapping them so the other ingredients are substantially covered. Sprinkle the parsley and thyme on top of the cauliflower/potatoes, followed by salt and pepper to your liking. Add the beer or cider. The liquid in the Dutch oven should come up to about the middle of the pot and not totally submerge all the ingredients. Cover the Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid or two layers of foil. Place in 400 degree preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes, then turn heat down to 325 degrees and cook for another 1 to 1 ½ hours, until the cauliflower/potato layer is soft and ready to eat. Turn off the oven and leave the coddle inside it until time to serve. It will stay hot for quite a while.

 
 

October 7, 2012

White Pizza on a Wheatless Crust

Posted by ladybug under baked, cheese, flaxseed, garlic, parsley, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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Things are pretty exciting around here right now. Not only is Grandma Jo in town for a visit, but Big D’s newly published book is selling like crazy! Every time I read it I have to make sure I allow enough time to sit and keep reading. It is hard to find a place in the story to stop, set the book down and not wonder what is going to happen next, even when I am trying to concentrate on something else. The book is called Shiver on the Sky, and is available as an e-book on Amazon. We are enjoying the good reviews and watching the sales numbers rise. Take a few minutes to check it out – there is a short, discount promotional period right now, so check it out and let us know what you think! To celebrate the successful launch of the book we had a pizza feast the other night. We don’t do delivery – nobody I know of delivers wheat free pizza – we do our own thing. Even before we started avoiding wheat we did not do delivery much, but you can read about one of those adventures here and yet another, gluten free adventure here. The pizza we make is always loaded with a lot of garlic and a whole pile of toppings. The important part is the awesome crust, which I originally found here, from This Chick Cooks, but have since tweaked. It holds the toppings without getting soggy, and there is no doughy crust getting in the way of the garlic. Did I mention we use a lot of garlic? Oh, and we use a bunch of garlic, which is not mandatory, but we like a lot of garlic on our pizza. Garlic in the crust, garlic cooked with the mushrooms and garlic sprinkled between the layers of topping. And a last sprinkle of garlic on the top layer of cheese. Any topping combination you like will work on top of the crust, especially garlic.

White Pizza on a Wheatless Crust

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp coconut flour
2 Tbsp flaxseed meal
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp sea salt
2 eggs, beaten

Toppings:
½ cup ranch dressing
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ pound ground Italian sausage
1 cup thin sliced pepperoni
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, sliced
½ cup chopped black olives
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saute pan over medium heat add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the garlic and cook until it softens. Add the sausage, breaking it up into bite sized pieces. When the sausage is half cooked add the mushrooms and toss the whole mess around until the sausage is done and the mushrooms are at least heated through. Preheat oven to 425F, then prepare the crust. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients with the cheese. Add the eggs and stir until combined. It will be a bit sticky and not look at all like pizza dough. That is okay. Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread the dough on the paper, making a very thin layer. The best way to spread it is to press down on it with your fingers – it helps to have a little bit of oil on your fingers to reduce the stickiness. It won’t spread out to all the edges, but it will cover most of the pan. The layer should be no more than 1/8 inch thick. Place pan in oven and cook just until it puffs up and the edges and top begin to brown, about seven minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400F. Remove the crust from the oven and begin piling on the toppings. We usually start with a thin layer of ranch dressing, followed by some cheddar cheese, sausage/mushroom/garlic, mozzarella cheese, then pepperoni and olives, followed by a mix of cheddar, mozzarella and last but not least Parmesan. If you like your pizza herby, then do what we do and sprinkle some parsley, basil and garlic between the layers of toppings. Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starting to turn brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least five minutes before cutting.
 

August 31, 2012

Zucchini Lasagna

Posted by ladybug under baked, casserole, cheese, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen, squash, tomato, vegetables, wheat free
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Here is another low carb dish! We are really enjoying the increased level of energy we are experiencing with our current diet, which includes avoiding grains, sugars and processed foods. I am not a die hard fan of most pasta dishes, but I am a lasagna lover. When we traveled in Italy eight years ago I was all about the meat, fish and vegetables – the pasta was, surprisingly to me, not my go to dish while there. Probably because I was corrupted by American knock offs, or because I did not go to Northern Italy, where there is supposedly ‘better’ pasta. I do not really feel like I missed out. Especially in Rome there were almost as many places to get a skewer of roasted meat as there were pizza slices. Go figure. The time we spent renting a villa in Tuscany was sprinkled with visits to the local co-op for freshly butchered meat and freshly picked produce. The cheeses and cured meats were quite an experience, too. Of course, the evil alcoholic concoction we came up with while relaxing the nights away made the eating at the villa a pleasant blur. We would take Coca Cola light (the Italian version of diet Coke) and mix it with some quite horrible tasting Grappa. We did find what I consider very good Grappa before we left, but that first bottle was nasty. Not to waste alcohol, we combined it with the soda and boom! We dubbed our creation Crappa. We got schnockered and did some skinny dipping in the pool. To make a long story short, and totally disconnected to our libation, this recipe takes care of my lasagna craving while keeping me away from the processed carbs found in pasta

Zucchini Lasagna

2 large, narrow zucchini
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
2 tsp dried parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Splenda or ¼ tsp sugar
12-15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 ½ pounds ground Italian sausage, broken up and cooked thoroughly
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 cups mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. In small sauce pan combine the diced tomatoes, paste, oregano, parsley, onion powder, salt and Splenda or sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, turn down flame and simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove from flame and let sit. While it is cooking prepare the rest of the dish. In a medium bowl mix the ricotta cheese, spinach and nutmeg and set aside – trust me – it sounds odd, but the nutmeg enhances the ricotta flavor. Slice ends off of zucchini. With a vegetable peeler peel off long strips of zucchini. If you don’t have a peeler, instead make zucchini coins as thin as you can with a knife. To build the lasagna begin with a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Add a layer of zucchini strips/coins overlapping generously to make a solid layer, followed by the ricotta mixture, sauce, mushrooms, sausage and 1 cup of mozzarella. Repeat the layers again. Top with a third layer of zucchini and the last of the mozzarella. Bake lasagna until heated through and cheese on top begins to brown, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about ten minutes, allowing the lasagna to set.
 

July 29, 2012

Scotch Eggs

Posted by ladybug under baked, breakfast, eggs, flaxseed, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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The nostalgia is dripping from my entries lately. Never fear, it continues here. Starting in high school my friends and I would go to the Texas Renaissance Festival every autumn. It ran October through November on weekends. The trip was a big deal for us because it did not include parents. Since we could not get permission (or collect the funds) for an overnight trip, our adventure was a freakishly long marathon. A one way trip from San Antonio to the festival north of Houston was at least four hours. The round trip, plus time at the festival (and staying up late the night before leaving) equaled a twenty hour day. It was a lot of fun and a lot of gas station stops. We returned home tired and smelly and happy, with bags smelling of incense and full of Christmas presents. Our first stop in the festival grounds was always along the right edge of the outer ring, to eat our first of many treats – Scotch eggs. They were great sources of protein after the doughnuts we grabbed in Flatonia and the empty calories of candy and chips. Here is a low carb version that reminds me of the festival snack. We will be going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in August, and I am curious to see if they have them. On this fine Sunday morning while the summer sun shone brightly through the kitchen window I made a batch that tasted so very good, and introduced Little B to the dish – she inhaled her egg and ate some of Big D’s and mine. After the feast was over we lamented the fact we did not include some theme music. Consumption of the next batch will definitely include the tunes of Tartanic! I took guidance for this recipe from here. Have a happy day, and always return to happy thoughts and places whenever you can.

Scotch Eggs

1 pound hot breakfast sausage (we used Jimmy Dean)
8 medium boiled eggs, peeled
1 cup golden flaxseed meal
Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Combine the meal and salt together on a plate. Using your hands, press the sausage around a hard-boiled egg until it is completely and evenly covered. Roll it in the flaxseed meal to coat it. Repeat with the remaining eggs, then roll them all once more in the meal, because the first layer may get soaked up into the sausage. Place on the foil-lined baking sheet, at least two inches apart. Bake the eggs until the outside is browned and the sausage is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice in half and serve with mustard, ideally with horseradish mustard.
 

June 23, 2012

Sausage Sauerkraut Parmesan

Posted by ladybug under cabbage, cheese, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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I don’t mean to deceive you with this post. I did not make the sausage, although we have sausage making gear, and I did not make the sauerkraut, although I have made it in the past. I also did not make the cheese, which really brought the dish together. I am really posting about how I combined stuff I never thought of combining and was really surprised about how well it worked together. I have always loved the combination of sausage and sauerkraut, but I just never did much about adding cheese to it. We had some nice fresh Parmesan in the fridge, so after sauteing the sausage and adding the kraut I sprinkled some Parmesan into the mix. Maybe it was the lovely Portabello Mushroom sausages, or the spicy Habanero and Green Chile sausages, but the cheese just seemed to make the whole dish sing. I cannot guarantee that if you use the powdery Parmesan from a plastic shake jar it will have the same zing, but next time you find some Parmesan waiting to be used, toss it in with some sausage and sauerkraut. You may be as surprised as I was with the result.

Sausage and Sauerkraut Parmesan

1 pound sausage links (I used Aidells – yum!)
2 cups sauerkraut (sour, not sweet)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Make a 2” slit in one side of each sausage. Saute over medium high heat until browned on most sides. Add sauerkraut and toss until brown stuff on the bottom of the pan is blended with it and the sauerkraut is hot. Sprinkle cheese over it all and toss until melted. Serve immediately.
 

June 16, 2012

Spaghetti Squash with Meaty Sauce

Posted by ladybug under cheese, sauces, sausage, tomato, vegetables, wheat free
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This is a down and dirty delicious weekday dinner. It uses some basic kitchen pantry ingredients I have on hand pretty much all the time. The first time I had spaghetti squash I did not like it. I think I was about ten and very much looking forward to pasta. It was crunchier and the flavor is very much squashy – of course I was comparing it with soft cooked pasta, so of course it would be different. As I got older I began to appreciate it more, and now love it! We used to try and boil it, which took forever, but then we discovered the microwave method, introduced to us by my mother in law. Of course the sauce would benefit from simmering for five hours, but it was delicious with just 20 or so minutes. I will be doing more quick dishes in the future, and am inspired by my friend Stacie’s blog. Besides her awesome food ideas she also makes wonderful lotion.

Spaghetti Squash with Meaty Sauce

1 medium spaghetti squash
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp butter
2 14 ½ ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 pound ground sausage

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat combine tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt and sugar. Cover and cook until bubbly. While tomatoes are bubbling away add sausage to a frying pan, break up the meat and cook until browned and well done. Drain sausage and add it to the tomato sauce. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the flavors have time to mix. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and stringy membrane. In shallow baking or pie dish add about ¼ inch of water. Add half of the squash, cut side down. Cover with cling wrap and place in microwave. Cook on high for about eight minutes, until squash is soft. With a fork scrape out inside of squash, pulling stringy ‘spaghetti’ out of the shell. Place squash in bowl with butter and cheese*. Stir together and let cheese and butter melt. Serve sauce on a bed of squash.

*Sometimes the squash soaks up some water. If you want to avoid the possibility of having a watery plate when serving, you can add a step before mixing the squash with butter and cheese – lay out a couple of paper towels and spread squash out to dry a bit. After doing this you may need to reheat the squash to make sure the butter and cheese melts.

 
 

June 14, 2012

Biscuits and Gravy

Posted by ladybug under baked, bread, breakfast, sauces, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen
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Our foster son, Tall P, is a good old southern boy. He loves his sweet tea, meat, mac n cheese and of course biscuits and gravy. We went to a diner for breakfast last week and he really wanted some. The plate came out and he dove in, but was sorely disappointed. The gravy was tasteless and the biscuits were mediocre. For anyone it would be a let down, but for someone who really likes good biscuits and gravy it was even worse. He looked so sad. I am not exactly sure where to find good biscuits and gravy in Maryland, so I decided to just make him some. Now, I know how to make biscuits and I know how to make gravy, but I had to grill him about what exactly he likes about a good plate of biscuits and gravy to make sure I did them right for him. Growing up I was never very interested in the dish, because my dad always made SOS (um, stuff on a shingle), which reminded him of Army mess halls. I never cared for the stuff, and frankly, biscuits with white sausage gravy always reminded me of the SOS. No thank you. I must say, my combination of biscuits and gravy came out pretty darned good, and was nothing like the SOS my dad made. Sorry dad, you lose this one.

Biscuits and Gravy

For the Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup milk

For the Gravy
¼ pound ground sausage, with drippings
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk

In medium pan cook sausage over medium high heat until browned, about five minutes. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375. In mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pepper. Add oil and milk. Using a fork stir together ingredients until well combined and dough forms. On a floured surface roll out dough to about an inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a round glass or dough cutters – makes about nine 2” round biscuits. Place biscuits in buttered baking dish or cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly brown on top.

When biscuits are about half done turn the heat back on under the sausage with drippings. When it starts to sizzle add butter to melt. Add flour and whisk together thoroughly with butter, sausage and drippings to make a smooth roux. Let flour darken a bit. Add milk and continue whisking until gravy thickens. When biscuits are ready spoon gravy over them and serve, eating them immediately.
 

March 11, 2012

Traditional Irish Breakfast

Posted by ladybug under breakfast, eggs, pork, sausage, Seals' Kitchen, tomato
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I almost did not post this recipe. Not because it is broken, but because my picture does not quite tell the whole story. I thought this to be a good reason not to post when I took it, then the next day I thought the reason silly. I love cooking and photography. One reason I began this blog was to combine these two loves. Other reasons include telling stories and sharing discoveries about food. Combine all this and it led me to an executive blogging decision. A picture is worth a thousand words, so who cares if I need to add a few more to complete the story? If I expected perfection every time I shared recipes and pictures with you I would never post anything. So here is my post about the traditional Irish Breakfast, Americanized and wheat free. I will explain.

Big D and I agree that we have found two places in the US where we can get a traditional Irish Breakfast like we had in Ireland. One is in Alexandria, Virginia, and the other is in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yep. Vegas baby! I am sure there are other places, but these are the two we have found in our travels. A bunch of places say they serve a traditional breakfast, but just don’t cut it. Like anyone else, the Irish break their fast after a night of sleep by eating a meal. For the hard working majority and tourists (like me) who relied on B&B vouchers during my trip, a hearty breakfast quickly prepared in one pan is ideal for getting on with the day and not having a growling stomach an hour later. In fact, the breakfast often held us until dinner without a problem. We did indulge in soft serve frozen cream soft serve wherever we encountered it (omigosh I can still taste it. Yum!), but that doesn’t really count, does it? If you are in pursuit of a completely traditional meal as I describe below you can get quality versions of all the hard to find ingredients from Tommy Maloney’s, but as you’ll see it will cost you.

Traditional Irish Breakfast for Two

3 Tbsp butter
2 rashers bacon
4 bangers
2 slices each black and white pudding
1 tomato, quartered
4 eggs
1 small potatoes, cut in bite-sized pieces or thin slices
1 cup baked beans, heated
2 slices Irish brown bread
2 bags Irish Breakfast Tea
2-3 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350F, then turn off the heat. Place two serving plates in the oven – as parts of the breakfast are cooked you will split them between the two plates. Heat beans in a small pot on low while the rest of the breakfast is prepared. Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter in large skillet and cook puddings, rashers and bangers until browned but not crisp. Remove from skillet and place on the plates in oven. Fry up potatoes in bacon/banger/butter grease. When potatoes are half done add tomatoes, cut side down, to the middle of the pan. Remove potatoes, when tender but not browned, to warm in the oven. Remove tomatoes to warm plates when done, which means they are soft and the skin begins to wrinkle. Begin bread toasting and tea brewing. Add the last Tbsp of butter into the pan and melt. Add eggs and fry to desired doneness, ideally sunny side up. I usually lower the heat after breaking the eggs into the pan and cover it, which encourages the eggs to cook evenly without needing to flip. Add bread and beans to plates and eat hot!

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Can you have a traditional Irish Breakfast without the black and white puddings? Yes, because that is what we had yesterday, but it was not quite the same without it. Like breakfast anywhere, individual preferences and what is locally available forms what goes on a plate. What the heck are rashers and bangers and pudding? Well, two are more easily explained than the third. Rashers are basically ham/bacon pieces cut from the back of the pig instead of the belly like American bacon, which makes for a hearty piece of meat. Bangers are thicker pork sausages – larger than the typical American sausage link, but smaller than, say smoked sausage. Now the pudding does not really have an American parallel. Irish pudding is a mixture of oatmeal, spices and sometimes meat set up in casings like sausage. The white pudding is primarily the oatmeal and spices, while black pudding has the addition of blood, usually pig’s blood, and prepared like other sausage. The black and white puddings have a particular taste and texture which sometimes turn people off. I appreciate them in small quantities. Big D on the other hand could eat plate fulls with a big grin on his face (along with haggis, but that is another story).

In our small Texas town we could not find the pudding, and Big D could not even find anyone who would sell him pig or cow blood to make his own pudding with his sausage making contraption. It is completely missing from our meal. Also, no rashers were available so we substituted thick cut bacon. Bangers were unavailable so we substituted beef breakfast sausages. The canned baked beans available around here are sweetened overwhelmingly, unlike Irish baked beans, so we just left them out. On top of all these changes, we also had gluten-free bread instead of Irish brown bread to address Big D’s wheat sensitivities.

As with traditional American breakfasts, some things on a traditional Irish breakfast plate vary depending on preference – some cannot bear to be without their baked beans, while others want their eggs scrambled or drink coffee instead of tea. As I mentioned earlier, the picture represents an incomplete Irish breakfast, but the recipe takes you through the traditional version to which I was introduced while traveling Éire. Regardless of my qualms about this post, the breakfast was delicious. After eating it we leaned back, smiling, full and happy.

 
 

February 10, 2012

Pizza Amore!

Posted by ladybug under baked, pizza, sausage, Seals' Kitchen, wheat free
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Big D and I have promised each other a pizza night for quite a while now, but things kept getting in the way. Then what do I do? I have a pizza party when out of town and he is stuck at home! Evil me! So last night we had our pizza night at home. Since Big D is sensitive to wheat and I am still working on improving my gluten free baking skills, we relied on a Bob’s Red Mill mix for the pizza crust. Here at home we are not equipped with a barrage of pizza making tools (my old pizza stone finally cracked after about ten years of good service and we use an ulu instead of a pizza cutter), so we relied on a cookie sheet for the baking. Little B jumped right in, stood on her learning tower (by the way, these things are awesome for safe learning in an adult sized world!), and helped top the pizza. The result was a successful experiment with plans to tweak our next attempt, because boy to we like pizza! The miniscule imperfections were mostly our fault, but we are okay with that, because there will definitely be a next time…

Gluten Free Pizza

1 package Gluten Free Pizza Crust, prepared

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

3 links hot Italian sausage, casing removed, broken up and cooked

10 baby portabello mushrooms, sliced and sauteed in 1 Tbsp butter

3 ounces pepperoni slices

5 cloves garlic, finely diced

2 Tbsp dried thyme

4 Tbsp dried oregano

5 ounces mozzarella cheese

3 ounces Parmesan cheese

4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

1/3 cup coarse corn meal

Salt to taste

This is what we did:

Heat oven to 425F. Sprinkle corn meal on large cookie sheet (17.25”x11.5”). With wet hands (and keep a bowl of water close by to re-wet hands) press pizza crust dough out to edges of sheet. Bake for 7 minutes without toppings. It will puff up and start browning on the edges. Remove from oven and add desired toppings. We did tomato paste, garlic, herbs, some cheese, salt, pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, more cheese, more herbs, maybe more salt. Return to oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until cheese in the middle is melted and bubbly. Slice in squares and eat!

This is what we are going to do next time:

The crust in middle of the large rectangular pizza we made was cooked, but thick. Next time we will make two smaller, thinner pizzas (freakishly similar to the instructions on the mix packaging – go figure), knowing that the middle may rise higher than the edges. Also, the dough was substantial and held its shape when we ate it, which excited us, but we thought it needed more flavor. We plan on adding salt and herbs to the dough before we leave it to rise. We cooked the pizza for 14 minutes, but think with thinner crust it could cook longer and brown safely without burning. Yes, we were afraid it was burning and took it out early, but low and behold, it could have cooked longer.