Homemade Pizza and Freezing Vegetables

I am the worst blogger ever!! Almost two weeks since my last post. Time has been flying by lately! So what brought me back today? Well, I fell asleep on my futon last night. My old, metal frame, squished mattress, taken-to-four-different-apartments futon. It is not very comfortable, and my back is killing me. It's the perfect excuse to not clean my house, so here I am!

Last night I made homemade pizza. I almost ordered in, but I spent my "fun money" budget from my last paycheck already, and I'm desperately trying to stick to that plan. So I threw together the dough, and watched an episode of Mad Men while it rose.

I highly recommend investing in a pizza stone. It's really difficult to get a crispy bottom crust without it. You could preheat the sheet pan you're going to bake it on, that should help. But really, I got my pizza stone at a kitchen outlet store for 12 bucks. You can't even get a large pizza for $12 at most places. Do yourself a favor and get one.

Let's talk dough. It's not as scary as some people think. If you have a stand mixer, it basically makes itself. My latest favorite dough recipe is from somewhere on the internet. It's nice and bread-y, with a little bit of chew, and bakes up with a nice crispy outside on the edges.

Homemade Pizza
makes 1 large pizza, or 2 thin crusted pizzas

2 c bread flour
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 c very warm water

- Gently stir together the yeast, water, and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy - usually I mix this first then let it hang out while I get everything else in the bowl of the mixer. If it does not get foamy after 5 min or so, either your water was too hot and you killed the yeast, or it has been in your pantry/fridge for a long time and it's dead. Start over. If it's bubbly, proceed.

- Pour the yeast mixture into everything else. Fit your mixer with the dough hook. Start on low speed, until a mostly cohesive dough forms. Then you can turn it up to medium, then medium high. Knead for about 5 min.

- Remove the dough hook, and pick up your dough. Form it into a smooth ball, and drizzle a little olive oil into the mixing bowl. Roll the dough around in it so it's covered. Cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap, and go do something else for an hour. Don't mess with the dough, just let it rise.

- Now would be a good time to get your toppings ready. If you're using frozen veggies, pull them out of the freezer and spread them out onto a plate lined with a double thickness of paper towels to drain as they thaw. I also took this time to caramelize some onions, because they're way better than raw onions. I also thawed some crushed tomatoes. (I buy a can and portion it into small plastic containers, like the kind you use for jello shots... not that I know anything about those...)

- About 30 min into the rising, put your pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven, and preheat to 425.

- Once your dough is ready, carefully remove the hot stone from the oven (or baking sheet.) Stretch the dough out (I stretched out in the air most of the way, then put it onto the stone and finished pressing it into shape. You could roll it out on a floured surface if you prefer.) The dough will immediately start to cook on the hot stone.

- Spread your sauce on, sprinkle with cheese, then your toppings. (Or toppings then cheese if you like to do things that way.) Pop back in the oven (do NOT forget that your pizza stone is still hot - use an oven mitt or you will be sorry!) and bake until the crust is evenly browned and the cheese is bubbly. I'm not exactly sure how long this takes, but I think it was half an episode of Mad Men - 20 min or so.

- Let cool for 10 min so you can cut it without the cheese going everywhere!

- Leftovers can be reheated in a 350 oven for 5-10 min.


As far as toppings go, obviously pizza is great because you can put whatever the heck you want on it, and it's a great way to use up stuff in the fridge and/or freezer. I love lots of veggies on my pizza, but I rarely have fresh ones since I don't eat as many vegetables as I should. When I do buy fresh, I eat what I can then freeze the rest. Some instructions for my most common frozen vegetables:

Peppers - I usually buy bell peppers in all colors and poblanos (they're spicy but not as hot as jalapenos.) Slice off the tops and bottoms (those can be diced and frozen as well) then cut a slit down the side of the pepper so you have one big strip. Trim off the ribs and remove any seeds that don't want to let go. Slice into strips. Lay out on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap. Make sure no pieces are touching. Freeze until firm, then pop into a plastic freezer bag. Label with the date and the type of pepper.

Onions - For some reason, I always decide that I need two onions when they're on my grocery list. I don't know why I do this. I never use them all. So I peel them, and slice into rings (usually about 1/4 of an inch for me, but whatever you like.) Freeze in the same manner as the bell peppers. I like rings because I can trim them into strips if I want (just cut the rings in half!) or dice or mince or whatever. You can't un-dice or un-mince an onion, so this gives you more options.

Broccoli and Carrots - A little more labor intensive, but it's really about as difficult as boiling water. Seriously. Just boil a pot of water, trim the broccoli into florets. I usually cut my carrots into rounds but it's up to you. (Peel first please!!) Pop them in the boiling water with a pinch of salt for a minute or two, shock them in ice water to stop the cooking and keep the color, then drain well and freeze as described above.

Zucchini - Shred and pack into plastic freezer bags. Squeeze the air out and press the zucchini flat. When ready to use, drain in a paper towel lined colander - use for potato and zucchini pancakes, or zucchini bread, etc. (And no, I don't put carrots or zucchini on my pizza!)


I just had some reheated pizza for lunch - just as good as it was last night!

Freezer Scones

My mom recently had a birthday. In place of a cake, I made her a big batch of scones and froze them individually, so that she can pop one in the toaster oven whenever she wants one. What you need to know is that a) you will make a floury buttery mess making these, b) they are pretty much all fat and flour, but c) they're delicious.

The recipe below makes 5 dozen scones. If you want to make a smaller batch, it's easiest to divide it by 6, with one single batch making 10 scones. For my mom, I divided everything up and added different flavorings to each one so she had a lot of different kinds. To freeze, just lay them out on parchment paper or freezer paper, in a single layer. Once they're frozen solid, transfer to labeled bags or containers.

Pictured: Chocolate Chip and Rosemary Parmesan. (Pic courtesy of Mom.)

Cream Scones
adapted from the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

12  c all-purpose flour
1 1/4  c sugar
6  T baking powder
1 1/2  t salt
15  oz butter, cold
5-6  c heavy cream
Flavorings/add-ins see note

Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut butter into cubes, work into the flour mixture with your hands until the pieces are barely visible. It should have a texture similar to coarse cornmeal, with any large pieces of butter pea-sized at most.

Slowly pour in cream, a little at a time. You may not need it all. The dough should barely clump together, with some dry patches of flour. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 5-6 times until a very stiff cohesive blob of dough forms. Divide this into 6 pieces.

Shape each piece into a flat rectangle. I usually aim for about 10 inches long by 2 inches wide, so that my scones will be approximately 2 inches. Divide this rectangle into 5 squares, then cut the squares on the diagonal to make a total of 10 triangles. Repeat with the other 5 pieces of dough.

If you're going to bake them immediately, chill for at least 30 min before baking at 450. Frozen scones are best baked at 425, especially if you have dried fruit in them. 400 is usually a good temperature for the toaster oven because they brown faster.

Note: I typically only use dried fruits and/or nuts for flavoring, as fresh fruits will make the dough too wet. I usually soak the dried fruit in the cream that I'm going to use in the scones for a few hours or overnight (in the refrigerator.)Favorite flavors of mine follow.

• Vanilla Bean - Infuse the cream with the scrapings and pods of 2 vanilla beans. When ready to make, add 1 T vanilla extract to cream. Remove pods, squeezing out liquid.
• Cinnamon Raisin - Soak 1 1/2 c raisins (or more if desired) in the cream. Add 1 T cinnamon to the dry ingredients.
• Cranberry Orange - Soak 1 1/2 c dried cranberries (or more if desired) in the cream. Add the zest of 4 oranges to the dry ingredients. (I usually juice 2 of the oranges and use that as some of the liquid.)
• Lemon Poppyseed - Add 1-2 T poppyseeds to dry ingredients, along with the zest of 6 lemons. (I usually juice 4 of the lemons and use that as some of the liquid.)
• Toasted Almond - Add 1 c toasted slivered almonds to the dry ingredients. Add 1 T almond extract to the cream.
• Chocolate Chip - Add 1 1/2 c mini chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. Add 1 T vanilla extract to the cream.
• Rosemary Parmesan - Add 2 T finely chopped rosemary and 1 c grated Parmesan cheese to the dry ingredients.