Simply Pizza Dough...

Friday night is "Family Movie Night" for the Gambles. I came up with a simple homemade pizza dough recipe that tastes great and is easy to make! For those of you with a bread machine, extremely easy!

Simply Pizza Dough

3 Cups of Unbleached Flour

2 tsp of Active Yeast

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/8 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tbsp Raw Honey

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 Cup Warm Water

Put all the ingredients in your bread machine, in order, hit your "dough" setting, and let it do "it's thing!" If you are making by hand, you will have to get your hands sticky! After mixing in a bowl, throw some flour on the counter and begin to fold over the dough. If you have never done this before, here is a good tutorial on how to knead pizza dough. Roll into your favorite shape, we do rectangle.

Now you are ready to add your favorite toppings! Here are two of our family's favorites:

Simply Hawaiian

Traditional Pizza Sauce(tomato sauce, pinch of sugar, basil, and oregano)

Mixed Cheese

Fresh Cut Pineapple

Bacon(crumbled)

Optional Green Onions

Top with Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese



Simply Fresh Margarita

Homemade Pesto Sauce

Mixed Cheese

Sliced Roma Tomato

Sliced Fresh Mozzarella

Chopped Organic Basil


Pre-Heat Oven to 425 and cook for 12 minutes! Serve with some homemade Simply Ranch!

Simply (Discovering) Homemade Root Beer....

Hey friends! One thing I want you all to know is, I call em' like I see em'(or taste em')! Friday afternoon, as we drove home from getting our delicious raw milk, I had an epiphany! More like a craving, but we will go with the first one because it sounds better. I LOVE root beer floats, and making some for our Family Movie Night sounded lovely...until I remember how much high fructose corn syrup is in soda!!! WHY? We don't buy soda except on special occasions, which seems to get fewer and far between as we really dig into eliminating processed foods. Oh, but how I love a good root beer! I thought to myself, "Jen, why can't you MAKE your own?" Great idea! I googled "homemade root beer" while driving home (while my husband drived, hello!) and found something that made my heart smile, for an hour anyways, root beer concentrate! They make root beer concentrate?!?! YES! A quick search and I came across a recipe for a homemade root beer using 4 simple ingredients; root beer concentrate, water, sugar and club soda! Well, I knew I could easily replace sugar with pure maple syrup and that made my heart smile even bigger!
We swung by the store and my sweet Cam ran in for me. There it was, just waiting for us to take it home and make the best, homemade root beer floats...EVER!!! Can you just hear the excitement in my voice! I am still working on creating a fabulous homemade vanilla ice cream recipe, but I had one that would do for this wondrous occasion.
And then... as quick as that bright smile lit up my heart, a huge thunder cloud came and stole my sunshine.  I flipped over the box as I was admiring my new found prize and the ingredients section was a little "longer" than I had anticipated. I was thinking in my crazed happiness that I had found root beer extract...nope, it was root beer concentrate. What is the difference? Well, let me just say it is the same ingredient you will find on almost EVERY processed food......corn syrup! SIGH! UGH!
So, my title is named what it is because I am simply discovering as I go. It is a journey, and sometimes part of the journey can be disappointing, frustrating and discouraging. Be encouraged, you are not alone!
I made the root beer anyways, I am positive it is more "healthy" than store bought, but I am frugal and I am certain a little more corn syrup was not going to kill me. It tasted OK, it definitely did not compare to IBC or Stewarts...but it was not horrible! I am what some of you would call a "perfectionist", so keep that in mind with my reviews. The homemade vanilla ice cream made up for anything the root beer lacked. The two combined tasted like one of those store bought root beer ice cream bars...yum!
So, I will return homemade root beer to my bucket list and revisit this blog when I have a little more time on my hands...From the looks of this recipe, a little more preparation and planning is needed. Doesn't it look amazing? I can not wait to try it out.
Although this recipe has not won it's way into my personal family cookbook(due to the concentrate and corn syrup), here it is for any of you who dare to try something new, fun, and homemade!!


Cheer!

Almost Homemade Root Beer

1 1/2 Cups Water

3/4 Pure Maple Syrup

1 1/2 tsp of Root Beer Concentrate

1 Liter Club Soda

Mix the first 3 ingredients and then carefully and slowly (save all those fizzes) add the club soda when you are ready to use. Poor over a couple scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream and ENJOY!!

Simply Pan-Seared Pork Chops...

Raising our own pigs this past year was a great experience. Even better is having the peace of mind knowing exactly what we are eating(or what or pigs ate for that matter). Homegrown pork is sooooo good! Given I have a freezer full of every type of pork cut you can think of, I am having fun coming up with new recipes to keep things new and tasty. Here is a mouth watering recipe I made this evening.

4-5 Pork Chops(mine were bone in, but it doesn't matter if they are boneless)

1/3 cup unbleached flour

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of sea salt

1/2 tsp of fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Pre-Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix flour, garlic, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Take each pork chop and lightly cover in the flour mixture.

In a larger pan, heat up oil between medium and medium-high heat. Take each chop and place in oil until  brown(pan-seared), flip and do the same on the other side. If you have thin chops, don't do this too long or they will cook all the way. Transfer all chops to a lightly greased cooking dish and cook in oven until center of meat is between 155-160 degrees! We have our butcher cut our chops medium thick and I had them in the oven for 15-20 minutes!

These are a simple, yet delicious pork chop. Want to fancy it up? Try my Simply Bruschetta served over the top...Now we are talking!

Simply Bruschetta and Beyond...

One thing that makes me extremely happy is; saving money and not wasting! That is why, when I find/create a recipe that is versatile, my heart does a happy dance! Bruschetta is one of those recipes I treasure. You can do many things with this simply, delicious little bowl of yummy! Here are a couple of things I do with bruschetta:

*Appetizer-throw it over a fresh sourdough baguette(sliced and toasted)

*Add fresh mozzarella cheese and enjoy

*Remove stem off large portabella mushroom, brush with olive oil, fresh graded Romano cheese and GRILL!

*Panini-stuff a sandwich and grill

*Throw it over some grilled chicken, fish or my Simply Pan-Seared Pork Chops

TIP: Remember, when meal planning for the week and you are looking at a recipe that calls for something like fresh basil...Choose to make another meal sometime that week(like Capellini Pomodoro) that calls for that ingredient. Save money and don't waste! Don't you love it? 

So here is my easy and fresh

Simply Bruschetta!

2-3 handfuls of organic cherry or grape tomatoes, quarted

10 or so large fresh basil leaves-rolled and chopped into thin slices

2 cloves fresh minced garlic(you lose almost ALL health benefits when buying garlic in the jar*)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Olive Oil-I drizzle this over a little at a time until I get what my taste buds like...DON'T overkill with the oil...remember a little goes a long way!

Sea Salt** or Pink Himalayan Salt***

Crushed Pepper to taste

*When you mince, or crush fresh garlic from a whole clove, the garlic releases an enzyme called allicin, which kills over 20 types of bacteria! Taking a pill, or buying pre-crushed garlic will still give you a little of the great health benefits, but stick with whole cloves to receive maximum benefit!!! I am excited to write a post on garlic soon! 


**When adding salt to any tomato dish, use very small amounts...tomatoes are naturally salty and usually only need a very small amount to bring out the great natural taste of tomatoes!


***Great info on why certain salt is GOOD FOR YOU!!! FYI-I do not buy Dr. Mercola's Himalayan Salt, I get mine from good ol' Trader Joes!!! Dr. Mercola's website is a GREAT resource for health! I am constantly going there and searching to find what are real health benefits and what is just "media/industry driven hype!" 


Now go experiment, enjoy, and be encouraged that your efforts to eat healthy will pay off!

Simply Lemons...

Lemons are amazing, truly! Did you know that it is believed that Ancient Egyptians drank lemon juice and ate lemons to protect themselves from poisons? Research has confirmed this! For centuries, lemons have been used for major health promoting benefits. Lemons are most known for strong antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-boosting powers. Most of us know that they are LOADED with Vitamin C and calcium, but here are several facts, I bet you were not aware of:

*Acne-Vitamin C helps with a healthy glow, but  its alkaline nature kills bacteria that can cause acne! Mix honey and lemon juice to form a paste and use as a mask!

*Anxiety

*Canker sores-lemon's high antiviral can help speed the process of healing!

*Fever reducer!! Mix fresh squeezed lemon juice to hot water and some raw honey. Drink this every couple of hours until fever is reduced! It works...I have tried this on my children!

*Helps Fatigue! Feel like you are dragging? Add lemon juice to your water or if you are a brave soul, drink it straight...It is like a natural ROCK STAR!

*Bugs!! Mix some lemon juice and water for a natural bug repellent...Stung by a bee? After removing stinger, mix lemon juice with some honey, apply to bite for quick relief!

*Weight Loss!!! YES! Mix warm water, honey and lemon for a yummy, relaxing drink AND help shred those extra pounds! Wahoo!!

This is just a small list of the amazing benefits of this citric fruit. For more a more comprehensive list, this webpage, can be helpful! 

I love lemons! I use fresh squeezed lemons on everything from homemade cakes, frosting, in my tea, cleaning and I always keeps a pitcher of water with sliced up lemons in the fridge(it looks elegant too). So don't hesitate and next time you are at the farmer's market or your local grocery store...load up on these little, yet HUGE, health promoting fruits!!