How To Make A Pizza:

 

Every month with each Food Network magazine you also receive a little pull-out book with

50 easy recipes on one single food. I don't recall what issue it was but my Food Network 

magazine came with a 50 pizzas little book and they made making pizza seem so simple

that I had to try it, ever since then I haven't stopped making my own pizzas! Not only is it

super simple but it is also delicious, fun and rewarding to see your creation.

I will share with you guys the basic pizza dough recipe + instructions and from there you

can make your pizza dough a blank canvas and cover with whatever combinations you

can dream of! Of course I will also share some of my favorite ;) Hope you enjoy!

First of all, How to make a pizza.

Step 1: Place a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet (which is what I use)

on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 500 degrees.

Step 2: Stretch 1 pound dough on a floured pizza peel, large wooden cutting

board or parchment paper (which is what I use).

Step 3: Top as desired, then slide the pizza (with the parchment paper, if using)

onto the stone or inverted baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Simple as 1. 2. 3.

Pizza Dough
recipe from: Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:

- 3 3/4 c. flour
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- 1 1/3 c. warm water
- 1 T. sugar
- 1 packet yeast (or 1 T.)
- 3 T. olive oil + a little extra to brush dough

1. Whisk flour and salt together. Make a well.

 

2. Add warm water, sugar and yeast. whisk a little.

 

when foamy, mix in 3 T. olive oil.

3. Once dough comes together, use your (floured) hands and knead for about 5 minutes,

until dough is smooth. If your dough is too sticky add 1-2 T. of flour but you shouldn't

add more than that, dough should be soft. Brush top with olive oil.

4.  Move dough to a clean bowl brushed with a bit of olive oil and cover,

place in a warm place and let double in size, about 1 1/2-2 hours.

                                      

5. Divide dough into two 1 pound balls. Use 1 pound per pizza.

Tips: Prep all of your pizza ingredients while dough is rising. Or you can also make the dough
ahead of time, wrap each ball individually in plastic wrap, put in a ziploc and freeze. Once you
get the craving for pizza, thaw and follow the rest of the instructions, Dinner in no time!


Now that we got that down... I would like to share some classic and some favorite pizza
combinations with you.

Classic:

New York style: Drizzle dough with olive oil, then top with 1/2 c. tomato sauce and
2 c. shredded  mozzarella. Bake, then garnish with pecorino, dried oregano and olive oil.

Pepperoni-Mushroom: Make New York style pizza; top with sauteed mushrooms and
sliced pepperoni before baking.

Favorites:

 

BBQ Chicken: Top with cooked chicken, 1/4 bbq sauce or more if you'd like,

chopped scallions, pickled jalapenos and 1 c. shredded cheddar. Bake until golden.

Hawaiian: Top with 1/2 c. each tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella and diced pineapple,

2 oz. sliced ham and red pepper flakes; bake until golden.

Hope everyone enjoy this pizza post and gets encouraged to make your own pizzas.

xoxo Lidia

Sriracha Chilaquiles

or Sriraquiles? ... Anywho, does this picture look like it was taken with an Ipod?
I hope not... I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of the final dish.

I've been obsessing over chilaquiles lately, I want to have them like every morning >.<
I got a little creative and added sriracha... for a change.
This is one of the best breakfast you'll have, with a fried egg on top,
I highly recommend!

Sriracha Chilaquiles
inspired by: The Sriracha Cookbook
- feeds 4


What you will need:

- Corn tortillas, about 12
- Oil, for frying
- 2 small cans of tomato sauce
- 1/3-1/2 c. sriracha  sauce (depending on how spicy you want them)
- 1/2 of a small onion, any kind will do
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 T. chicken bouillon

Top them with any or all of these ingredients:

- Chopped cilantro
- Sour cream
- Fried Egg
- Queso fresco
- Avocado

1. First you're going to cut all your tortillas into medium bite size squares or triangles.
Meanwhile you do that you should heat up your oil in a large frying pan.

2. Fry your tortillas in about 3 batches, to get them nice and crispy!
Lightly salt them.
I like to drain them in napkins so my breakfast feels a little more light ;)

 

3. Meanwhile the tortilla chips are frying put the tomato sauce, sriracha sauce,

chicken bouillon, onion ( i like to use a lot) and garlic cloves in the blender.

Blend into a smooth puree.

4. Pour the smooth yummy sauce that you just made into the same hot pan
you used for the tortilla chips, heat over low-med heat until nice and hot.
Add your tortilla chips, let them absorb the delicious sauce and ofcourse
heat up and become nice and soft, about 4 minutes on low heat.

5. Serve, top with the listed topping ingredients and Enjoy <3

 

Oh, just pondering about my new year resolutions.

Which I still haven't sat and written down...

hello 2012! reason why I've been absent & whole wheat shortbread cookie recipe

Hi, those of you who check out my blog and have actually noticed that I have been not posting for some time!
I hope all of you enjoyed your holidays with the people you love, best wishes for this new year!

Now, the reason why I've been gone for some time is...

 

I'm pregnant! I will be 16 weeks tomorrow and I couldn't be happier!

The first 13 weeks I was feeling really sick. Nausea, fatigue, headaches and so on.

I was so sad that I couldn't enjoy my pregnancy like I wanted to, I could

hardly get out of bed and every food or smell made me sick to my stomach but

I am so excited that I am feeling waaaay better, now I can get back to baking

and blogging and well doing the things that I enjoy. Also one of my new year goals

is to dedicate myself a bit more to my blog and make it a little more personal by

sharing pictures, thoughts and highlights of my days. I'm happy to be back.

This is just a simple recipe that I love and I wanted to share with you. These cookies are super fast

to make, all you have to do is whisk 5 ingredients together and you're pretty much done!

It's a somewhat healthier version of your regular shortbread cookie but just as delicious,

perfect for all those new year resolutions ;).

I used strawberry and kiwi preserves and they turned out great, they were gone in hours!

Hope you guys give this recipe a try and if you do feel free to tell me what you think.

Whole Wheat Shortbread Cookies

recipe from: Bon Appetit, September 2011

- 2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 10 1/2 T. salted butter, room temp.
- 1 large egg, room temp.
- 1 large egg yolk, room temp.
- 3 T. (about) raspberry jam

* you can substitute the jam with any kind you'd like,
  preserves work great as well!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Whisk flour, sugar & baking powder in a large bowl.
Add butter using your fingertips, rub in butter until coarse meal forms.

3. Whisk egg and yolk in a bowl; add to flour mixture and stir just to blend!

4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Now... the recipe says
to measure 2 T. of dough but I think my cookies came out way to big so
I would highly suggest that you only use 1 T. of dough and roll into balls.

5. Place on prepared sheets, spacing 2" apart. Make an indentation in
center of each ball; fill each with 1/2 t. jam or preserves if you are using 2 T.
of dough but if you only used 1 T. of dough then only use 1/4 t. jam.
(I know 1/4 t. sounds like a little but if you use more the jam will spill.)
Bake cookies 12-16 minutes, or until cookies are nice and golden.
Let cookies cool and enjoy!

pastel cupcakes

red velvet, cream cheese frosting.
fondant flowers, hand painted flowers.
an order i had for a 15th birthday.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Before I say anything about this cake, I want to apologize for the low quality pictures,
it was late and I was tired plus I was dying to cut me a slice of this lovely cake! Also
I haven't had time to post that often, I've had so many things to do lately but I am so
happy to be back and to share this 5 star recipe with you guys, hope you enjoy (:

That being said, I had plenty of pumpkin left from the mini pumpkin donuts that I baked
and decided a pumpkin cake was just what I needed to bake (for a rainy, gloomy day) to
fill my house with the warmth that the scent of spices brings. This cake is so delicious,
the flavors of pumpkin and spices really come through and the texture is incredibly spongy!
The pumpkin makes it really moist and I love that the recipe only calls for brown sugar.
This cake would be perfect for a thanksgiving gathering! I definitely plan to make it again.

I made a quick butter-cream frosting to frost and decorate, I usually don't like making
butter-cream frosting because I find it to be a bit too sweet and I feel a little guilty
knowing that I'm just eating butter and sugar but I find it's really good frosting to decorate.
I quickly made a few pumpkins, vines and leafs, nothing fancy since I had to cook a meal and
it was already getting really late. The cake was great with the butter-cream frosting but
I bet it would be even better with a cream cheese frosting, so feel free to be creative on
that part, I think a caramel frosting would be great with this as well, I'm trying that out next!

Pumpkin Spice Cake
slightly adapted from: joyofbaking.com


Ingredients:


- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temp.
- 1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp.
- 1 c. fresh or canned pumpkin puree
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 2 c. sifted cake flour
- 1/4 t. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 1/2 t. pumpkin spice
- 1/2 c. buttermilk, room temp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.
Butter and flour two 8-inch or one 9-inch cake pans.

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time making sure you mix well after each addition.
Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract, beat until incorporated.

2. In separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, pumpkin spice.
Whisk. Add flour and buttermilk to pumpkin batter in three additions,
starting and ending with the flour. Dive batter in half if using the two 8-inch
molds, pour into prepared pans. Bake 25-30 minutes. Until toothpick
inserted comes out clean or with a couple of crumbs. Cool completely
before frosting.

Enjoy <3