PIZZA! Allergen-free style

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I love pizza. Unfortunately, it’s almost one of the worst foods I could possibly eat. Well, a corn, tomato and cheese salad would be worse, and if you could incorporate chocolate into that it would be even more horrible. But a chocolate, corn, tomato and cheese dish sounds … odd. And unappetizing. But if you have any such recipes or meal suggestions, let me know!

But I love pizza. There’s nothing quite like pizza straight out of the oven with crispy pepperoni and gooey cheese … except for this recipe!

A couple weeks ago, I was craving pizza. I found dairy-free mozzarella cheese at my local Whole Foods. And while I can make pizza dough, I didn’t have a lot of time to do so (or really, equipment or ingredients to make it easily possible), so I stopped by my Trader Joe’s and bought some of their pre-made pizza dough. They sell three different versions of their dough – original, whole wheat, and garlic and herb. Obviously, I got the garlic and herb. While at Trader Joe’s, I also picked up some pepperoni.

I had my tomato-free spaghetti sauce tucked away in the freezer, portioned into half-cup servings, so I pulled some out and defrosted it.

Without further ado, the recipe!

Dairy-free, tomato-free pizza

1 bag Trader Joe’s pre-made pizza dough (I bought their garlic and herb dough)

1 cup tomato-free spaghetti sauce

Mozzarella Teese* (I probably used about 3 ounces)

Romano cheese

1 t garlic

Flour

Oil

Toppings

*Note: Teese is very soft and sticks to itself well. DO NOT grate the cheese until you’re ready to put it on the pizza. The best way to do it to just grate the cheese over the pizza itself.

As directions on the bag of pizza dough instruct, put dough on counter for it to sit for 20 minutes. While your dough is warming up, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your toppings. I used pepperoni, chicken and asparagus, but use whatever you want! Saute asparagus in a small frying pan until it’s crisp-tender. It will finish cooking in the oven. Remove asparagus from the pan and add pepperoni. This cooks off some of the grease, so your pizza isn’t swimming in the grease. After your pepperoni is slightly rendered, just so the edges are beginning to curl, remove it to a paper towel-lined plate.

Use paper towels to sop up the majority of the grease from the pan until one tablespoon remains. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, then add your sauce. Heat sauce until bubbling, then remove from heat.

Prepare your pan. I didn’t have a pizza pan, so I used a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Lightly oil the pan, or else you’ll have your pizza crust absolutely glued to it and need to invest in a chisel to get your dinner out.

By this time, your dough should be warmed up enough. Cut the bag open and dust both sides with flour. Shape the dough (either by working on the counter or in the air) to the size of your pan. In my case, I shaped it into a huge rectangle to fit my baking dish.

Schlep your dough into the pan, top with the sauce and then the cheese. Grate your cheese directly over the pizza. Yes, Teese is very soft, and it can be difficult to grate. No, don’t try to grate it beforehand. It will just re-stick together and be impossible to sprinkle evenly over your pie.

Add your toppings and put the pizza into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then sprinkle Romano cheese over the top. Continue baking until the Teese is melty, pepperoni crisp and crust golden-brown.

Let your pizza cool for a couple minutes before cutting it.

If you have leftover pizza (as I did), the best way to reheat it is to slide a piece into a toaster oven. The cheese re-melts and the crust crisps right back up!

I loved this pizza recipe so much that I ate it for five meals in a row. The first pizza didn’t last that long, so I made another one the next day.

'The Fault In Our Stars'

Photo: Flickr/littleprincessdiaries

I just finished reading “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green. 

Obviously, I’m a little late to the start for this one. I mean, c’mon, it’s already been made into a movie! It’s been on my “to read” list for a long time, but I finally did read it. And I read it entirely in one day.

Now that’s not hard for me. I read lots of books in one day. I just tend to not do anything else. This book accompanied me on my metro ride across D.C. tonight, then my entire evening when I got back. 

This is the first John Green book that I’ve read. I was planning on reading several last summer, but my library inconveniently never had them. But I just finished TFIOS, and I’m still quite emotional. 

John Green (as far as I can tell from this one book) is a brilliant writer. It’s real. It’s compelling. It’s life. Now, I have never had cancer, and I hope I never will, but it was still so easy to relate to Hazel in this book. 

TFIOS follows Hazel’s story. And it’s not just a book that shows her good days. It shows her good days, bad days, mediocre days and all the days in between. Hazel meets a boy at Support Group. Augustus Waters and Hazel get along well, share a book and it’s obvious that they will fall for each other. 

What’s not quite so obvious is that John Green will rip your heart out and crush it. And then make you laugh. Seriously, the emotions this book elicits are powerful. 

While toying with your emotions, John Green explores life through the stories of these kids with cancer. These kids look at their lives and see how short time is. And they understand better than most others (and definitely healthy people) that life is short. I won’t even pretend to understand the struggles they’re going through since I haven’t been through anything even close to what Hazel and Augustus go through.

But there were times throughout the book where Hazel and Augustus were talking about life in such a profound way that it made me just stop and think. These two terminally ill kids had such a different way at looking at life. It was normal to them. But it’s not normal to me. I don’t have to live with the weakness and oxygen deficiency problems that Hazel does. But she lives with those day in and day out. Yes, she has people who are supporting her. But she’s the one actually living with the cancer. The hope shown throughout this book is powerful. If someone like Hazel, who is very sick with cancer, can have that kind of hope, why not the rest of us? 

And through all of this, there are the quotes that have made their way around Tumblr and all other social mediums. The classic quotes like “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” I knew this quote for months before I read this book. And guess what? It’s even more powerful and profound in context. 

I know this is disjointed, but I still haven’t wrapped my mind completely around this book. I also don’t want to spoil any of this moving story for you. But seriously, I highly recommend reading “The Fault In Our Stars.” You won’t regret it. 

Okay? 

Okay.

Apartment Cooking? Basically 'Chopped'

After living in my apartment for a month and cooking for myself, I’ve realized something. Apartment cooking is basically like the Food Network show “Chopped.”

In “Chopped,” contestants get a basket full of the most random foods possible then have to create a hopefully delicious meal in only 30 minutes. Unfortunately, I don’t have the chance to win $10,000 after making dinner…

And that’s what it feels like when I’m making dinner after work. One day, I’ll buy food for a particular recipe and make it. But then, later that week, I have all those leftover ingredients I have to use up, but there’s not enough to make that dish again (and I rarely want to eat the exact same meal for an entire week. There was that weekend where I ate pizza for five meals straight, but that’s a different story).

But unlike “Chopped,” I don’t have the benefit of having a fully stocked kitchen in addition to my four or five really odd ingredients. So, apartment cooking might just be harder than “Chopped.”

So, one week I got home from work to an odd assortment of food in my fridge and cupboard. I had bread, eggs, butter, shredded pork, almond jalapeño jack cheese and asparagus (Note: I had some other food as well, such as pasta and oatmeal, but these are the ingredients I used that night). Naturally, that night, I made an omelet stuffed with shredded pork, sautéed asparagus and jalapeño jack cheese.

Another day, I had some veggie soup (the base to my spaghetti sauce), shredded pork, romano cheese and a fridge full of other random food. That night, I had veggie soup mixed with the shredded pork and romano cheese, and it was surprisingly good.

And last night, I had pasta, sautéed chicken, lemon juice, chicken bouillon, garlic, romano cheese, asparagus, butter and flour. I turned that into a quick pasta and blanched asparagus dish with chicken and a lemon-butter-garlic-chicken broth sauce, sprinkled with the cheese. Now that was good.

I’m sure that I’ll have many more cooking adventures a la “Chopped” as this summer continues … and then I’ll get back to college and have the same fun but with less cooking tools!

Fredericksburg Accommodations Vs. Historical Sites As Related To Tourism

Fredericksburg, Virginia, is full of history. Virginia was one of the original 13 colonies, and it's particularly known for the two battles that were fought there during the Civil War. Because of that, people come to Fredericksburg to walk the battlefield and visit the historic downtown area.

Over the years, the number of tourists coming has changed, as has the number of museums or historical sites (or similar institutions) in the city. In 1998, according to the United States Census Bureau, Fredericksburg had four such sites, with three museums and one historical site. That number was the same in 2012, but it changed in that 14-year period.

In 2003, Fredericksburg gained three museums/historical sites to bring the total up to seven with one museum and two historical sites. It immediately began to drop again, with three of both museums and historical sites for the next three years, then dropping another museum/historical site. After that, it dropped down to the 2012 statistics.

However, accommodation in Fredericksburg doesn't seem to have followed the same trend. In 1998, Fredericksburg had 18 services for traveler accommodation, with 15 hotels and motels and 3 bed-and-breakfast inns or other traveler accommodations.

As the number of museums/historical sites grew, the number of accommodation actually dropped slightly, getting to 15 services, with 13 hotels and motels and 2 bed-and-breakfast inns or other traveler accommodations in 2004.

Accommodations started growing in 2005, reaching their peak in 2006, which was the last year of the higher numbers for historical sites/museums. There were 21 traveler accommodations, with 18 hotels and motels and 3 bed-and-breakfast inns or other traveler accommodations.

Since then, accommodations for Fredericksburg has dropped lower than it was in 1998, even though the number of historical sites and museums equals that in 1998. By 2012, Fredericksburg lost three hotels and motels from the number they started with in 1998. However, they still have their three bed and breakfasts, though that number had minor fluctuations over the years.

Profile Interview (NJC)

I'm interning through the National Journalism Center this summer. For my internship, I will be posting several assignments to my blog, including this interview I did with one of my fellow interns.

Name: Jack Howard

Most awkward moment: On a youth mission trip to Cincinnati in junior high, he and the other boys left their cabin to throw rocks at the girls’ windows while wearing togas. But they didn’t throw the rocks at the right window - they threw them at their pastor’s window. She chased them, and Jack was clotheslined by a power line. He fell down and his toga fell off, and when he stood up, his pastor was right there.

Church: United Church of Christ in Elmhurst, Illinois

What was his church like: It was a lot of fun and gave him lots of opportunities to speak in public through “reflections” (like sermons) in church. One reflection he gave was on when he was working at a food pantry in St. Louis, he was thinking about where Jesus would be. Jack decided that Jesus would be served and be serving there. That was controversial within the church, but the pastor defended his reflection the next week.

Favorite way to relax: Run. Listen to radio (he’s subscribed to about 66 podcasts). He likes the storytelling side, not really the political. He gets lost in stories in radio and also music.

Favorite movies: “Toy Story 3,” “50/50,” “Super 8.”

"Toy Story 3": Made him cry from sadness and laughter in the same scene. He said the movie also has good characters and music.

"50/50": Made him laugh and cry. It’s about a radio producer (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who gets cancer at a young age.

"Super 8": He said it has deep metaphors, was shot well and beautiful, and he empathizes with the protagonist. It has an “unbelievable ending” and a “cutesy love story.” 

Scary movies? Jack hates them. “I get really into movies. I can’t just laugh at it.” He closes his eyes during scary movie trailers because he likes listening to the music and doesn’t like things popping out.

Tomato-Free Spaghetti Sauce

So in my last post which was practically eons ago (technically, a month) I said I was going to be doing more allergen-free cooking this summer because I'll have a real kitchen.

And that's true. I do have a real kitchen. Along with the kitchen, I have some tools a little on the special side. But that's ok – improvisation is fun!

And though I’ve been harping on chocolate- and dairy-free cheesecake, I’ve had another recipe up my sleeve I’ve been wanting to try for a while: tomato-free spaghetti sauce.

You might wonder if that’s even possible, and I guarantee you, it is. This turned out so close to spaghetti sauce that I don’t even miss the traditional tomato-topped noodles. I searched the Internet for a while looking for recipe ideas, and I found some promising sites. Particularly, this is based off of Gluten Free/Dairy Free NJ's recipe with changes to the seasonings and steps.

And, yes, I know that this recipe has *gasp* beets in it! But, seriously, you can’t even really taste them because the flavors all come together, making this greater than its parts.

And the best thing about this recipe? It’s versatile. I portioned some of it out partway through the recipe and ate it as soup for dinner tonight!

Pasta Sauce with Italian Sausage

Sauce Base

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 4 cups cubed)

1 cup carrots (cut into ½ inch slices)

2 teaspoons crushed garlic (about 4 cloves)

1 onion, chopped (I used half of a large sweet Vidalia)

⅓ cup oil, plus a little for sauteing aromatics (I used vegetable oil)

1 T balsamic vinegar

3 T lemon juice

1-8oz can beets

1 T flour

salt

pepper

Seasonings

2 links mild italian pork sausage (I had about half a pound)

½ t salt

½ t onion powder

½ t garlic powder

2 t oregano

2 tiny shakes red pepper

1. Prep all of your vegetables.

2. Remove casings from sausage and crumble it into a large pot. Brown the sausage over medium-high until it is fully cooked. Remove it with a slotted spoon onto a paper-towel lined plate. Keep the sausage grease in the pan. If it’s like mine, there won’t be a lot, but there’ll be enough.

Look! Cooked sausage!

3. Add chopped onion to the pan, cooking it until it’s just starting to brown. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

4. Add the sliced carrots, diced sweet potatoes, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar to the onions and garlic. Add some salt and pepper (I put in a couple shakes of pepper and probably about a half teaspoon of salt. Remember: you can always add more spices later). Add water until the veggies are just covered. Bring it up to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft. (Theoretically, this will take 20-30 minutes. I jury-rigged a cover out of some aluminium foil and I think I cut my veggies too big, so mine took forever to soften).

This is from right when I started cooking my veggies. As you
can see, I needed more water in with them. Also, just as a note,
when they're cooked, there will be a lot less liquid in the pot. 

5. In batches, blend the vegetable mixture with the oil. I fought with the blender here at the apartment and managed to bruise my palm. I just used my trusty Magic Bullet … and I managed to leave the bigger cup at home. So I blended my sauce about half a cup at a time. If you don’t have a lot of liquid with your veggies, add some water when blending to get the right consistency. (I also forgot the oil, so I just whisked it into the puree after I returned the mixture to the pot.)

Doesn't this look appetizing? But seriously, it tastes really good. 

6. Return puree to the pot. At this point, you have root vegetable soup! (If you want to eat is as soup, add salt and pepper and serve. It’s also really good with some shredded pork and romano cheese mixed into the soup.)

7. Blend the can of beets (not the can itself, just the beets and their liquid) with the flour. Add the pureed beets to the pot and whisk. Add the crumbled, cooked sausage back to the pot and bring it back up to a simmer.

8. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt and red pepper to the sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then taste and adjust the spices accordingly. Remember: you can always add more of a spice, but you can’t take it away! Make sure you wait several minutes after adding your spices and stirring them in before you taste it so they have enough time to reach their full flavor. They are dried spices after all.

9. Enjoy it! I ate mine over pennette with some sheep’s milk romano cheese. (I can't eat normal cheese, but the sheep's milk cheese seems to be ok for me.)

Apparently, other people use the sauce base to substitute for tomatoes in other things, such as salsa and chili. I have yet to try those, but they sound good! (I am a little skeptical on making it into salsa, though…)

Note: Because of the beet juice, it can dye your pasta pink. This is what mine looked like at work the next day after dishing up my lunch the night before and refrigerating it overnight. Definitely pink noodles and pink cheese. But no worries – it still tasted great!

Keep reading this blog for more about how to cook delicious, allergen-free food! I'm planning on conquering cheesecake soon, as well as pizza, alfredo sauce and mac-n-cheese. I'll also be posting some of my favorite smoothie recipes and other cooking adventures.

Blogging, College and Cooking

Well, my initial goal of keeping up with this blog has fallen by the wayside.

Basically, college happened. And House M.D.. But mostly college.

I finished my ten blog posts for class (yes!) but then … got distracted. Since it wasn't part of homework anymore, blogging fell off the radar.

But I want to continue this. I like blogging. It’s fun. It won’t be twice a week, at least at the moment. Maybe sometime I’ll work back up to twice a week. But not now. There’s exams to study for, papers to write and articles to write.

I don’t know how much I’ll post for the rest of the semester. Hopefully, I should have a little more time over the summer, but I’ll be interning in Washington, D.C., so we’ll see about that. That should at least provide some exciting content for this little blog, though!

With the summer also comes a real kitchen (more than a microwave, hot pot and magic bullet; better than a dorm kitchen and dorm utensils), so I can try out some more experimental recipes. “Chocolate” “cheese”cake, here I come! And that’s one of the things I’m really excited about for the summer – a real kitchen with real kitchen utensils. 

No more using the same 3 inch blade pocketknife for opening boxes, washing it, using it to prep raw chicken for making Sunday lunch, washing it, then boiling it to make sure it’s sanitary so I can cut fruit and not get salmonella or something. No more accidentally freezing apples because I was trying to keep my little pint of rice milk ice cream frozen in my sorry excuse for a freezer. (Note: frozen apples are actually pretty good. Make sure you eat them either while frozen or only partially thawed. Totally thawed frozen apples have quite an interesting texture. You have been warned.)

Until the summer, my frozens might be frozen, but my refrigerated food might be frozen too. And it’s ok. I’m glad I have my little fridge/freezer in my room. I’m glad I live in a dorm that has a kitchen (and I will miss that same kitchen when I move dorms next year). I’m glad my little knife is so versatile. And I’m glad that I know how to cook so I don’t always have to rely on good ole Chucks for food.

Anyways, I digress. I will be blogging more in upcoming weeks than I have been the past couple weeks, so keep an eye out for new posts! I still have to find a good allergen-free cheesecake recipe…