Half Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

After making a "no yeast" dough (blech), I finally was able to find yeast!!!  So a pizza was in store.  I like whole wheat crust, it's a texture thingy.  My son will eat it but it is not his fave, so I used half whole wheat flour to compromise.  I used my stand mixer with dough hook for the ease of it, but you don't need one to make this dough.

Chocolate Banana Pumpkin Swirl Bread

The weirdest cooking outcome for me in this pandemic is that I want to bake treats all the time.  I don't always make them when the urge starts though.  I start the recipe in this blog and then never follow through (drafts), I've done about 5 like that in the last couple of weeks.  I don't even eat sweets other than candy (black licorice especially) and dark chocolate fits once in a blue moon.  Anyway, I did make this one with a couple of edits.  I didn't have white whole wheat flour.  I had ripe bananas, so I threw them in.

Loco Moco

This happens to be my favorite Hawaiian meal when on the Islands.  Yes, I love me some Spam musubi, garlic shrimp, lau lau, malasadas, mahi mahi, poke, shave ice, etc. too, but this is a comfort food I adore.  I'm not serving the sides that often accompany it in a plate-lunch, like mac salad, coleslaw, etc.  I like this for brunch as well as dinner.

Avocado Toast with Cloud Eggs

I read about and watch food t.v. daily but never heard of a "cloud egg" before.  When I saw it on my news feed, I decided to give it a try for my son.  He's a big avocado toast fan and I make it for him all the time.  I use premium bakery bread in a nice thick slice, toasted.  I put some cream cheese on, 2 slices of black forest ham, followed by diced avocado, a sprinkle of "everything bagel" seasoning and then usually over easy eggs.  Today would be cloud eggs instead.

Instant Pot: Red Beans and Rice

"Southern" food is my favorite over all others if I had to choose.  I recommend when in New Orleans to try red beans and rice if you haven't already.  While it is not a pretty dish, it is a carby comfort food and soooo delicious.  I decided to give this a go today in my instant pot.  I was going to make a dish using beautiful Swiss chard I obtained, but I will make that tomorrow as a side for this.  I had to use what I had in the house, so this is not "southern authentic" by any means.  It's just my spin on the classic recipe.  One thing I've been trying do during this pandemic is buy local food and support our own purveyors.  I think it's something I will try to continue, though it is pricier...

Maple, Pecan, Chocolate Chip Jumbo Muffins

Happy 🐰 Easter!  We're ordering in dinner tonight, supporting a local restaurant in this pandemic time, so no cooking today.  A nice splurge and treat for both of us.  I decided to make my son muffins for breakfast.  What I used:

Pork, Peppers & Black Beans

In my online grocery order, I requested bone-in center cut pork chops but received some boneless rib end chops.  That didn't make me happy as I wouldn't buy these normally.  I thought about pounding them out and making schnitzel, but I was too lazy today.  I didn't know what to do with them, but decided I'd whip up some kind of stir-fry with what was in my house right now.

Homemade "No Yeast" Pizza

I've tried to order yeast in my online grocery shops but have failed.  I couldn't get flour either and was lucky a friend picked me up a big bag.  Then I started to see on social media that everyone is home baking bread through this pandemic... A local bakery sells pizza dough right by my house here, but it's $8 and it makes one pizza.  While it's great dough with local ingredients, it's pricey!  Below is a vegetarian pizza I made with theirs a while ago.

Coconut Brown Basmati Rice Pudding

I made bread pudding a few days ago and talked about being resourceful like my dad was.  Well, this was another one of his dishes, though his recipe was not with basmati rice or coconut.  But I spun this off his, as that's what kind of rice I had.

Jjapaguri (Ram-don)

Day umpteenthillion in self-isolation.  Can't help feeling like a sitting duck...I have totally abandoned the news and research now except for what sneaks in whether I like it or not.  Just anxiety, panic, fear and sadness, all day, every day.  Anyhooo... I'm trying to start yoga, but apparently need help with my "tight hip flexibility".  Glad I'm by myself doing these exercises so no one can see me.  20 minutes of hip exercises makes me limp around the rest of the day.  😅  Well, exercise is like cooking isn't it?  Practice, practice, practice...

Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

Bread pudding reminds me of my dad.  He always seemed to make something out of nothing in the kitchen and was very resourceful in that way.  I am like that now, thanks to him.  He made this a lot when I was young.  I had a loaf of stale bread, and hate wasting food, so I thought I'd make this for my son for dessert tonight.  I made savory bread pudding at Christmas that was fantastic and more my thing.