Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

After church one Sunday William and I went to Whole Foods market with his parents Lisa and James Crouch. We picked up a lot of yummy stuff there and I (Samantha) was absolutely mesmerized the entire time. I felt like a kid in a candy store, except this one was healthy and would not amount to cavities. William's dad got a slice of spinach pizza, which we sampled, and really liked. I had not had pizza in such a long time and and it reminded me of the times when I would go to CiCi's and eat all the spinach pizza I could. I guess that sample of the pizza from Whole Foods sparked a craving for pizza in us and we decided to make our own. However, I wanted to make a whole wheat crust and since it was during Christmas break, we had plenty of time to make the dough for the crust from scratch. The first time we made it at my house, we were so surprised at how amazing it tasted! I mean, we knew it was going to be good, but we never expected it to be that good. So we made it the very next day at Will's house for his family and they raved over it as well! It truly is one of our favorite things to do, not only because it tastes so amazing, but because the process of making it is a lot of fun.


Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose (unbleached) flour

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water. (only takes a few seconds)
2. Once sugar is dissolved, sprinkle yeast over the warm water and wait ten minutes. (The yeast will look foamy at the end of the ten minutes)
3. Stir in the olive oil and salt.
4. Mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all purpose flour (saving the 1/2 cup of all purpose for later) until it comes together.
   
5. Spread the 1/2 cup of all purpose flour on a hard, clean surface and knead it into the whole wheat dough (about ten minutes).
6. Once all of the all purpose flour has been incorporated into the whole wheat and yeast dough mixture, place the dough in an oiled bowl and rotate the dough to oil on all sides.
7. Cover bowl loosely with a towel for 1 hour in a warm place.
8. Once the dough has doubled in size, form dough into a tight ball and let it rise for another 45 minutes without being covered.
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
10. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it cannot be rolled out anymore.
    
11. Place rolled out dough onto an oiled pizza pan.
12. Fold excess dough that hangs over the side of the pan to create a desired crust.

Once you have done this the dough is ready to be cooked and you can assemble the pizza. We took some olive oil and a bread dipping blend made of garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper, rosemary, basil, oregano, and parsely and brushed the entire crust before adding the rest of the ingredients. This gave the crust a crunchy texture and flavorful taste.

Next we added a marinara sauce (not homemade, although we will probably do that one day too).
Then a layer of low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese and topped it with roma tomato slices, spinach, and sliced mushrooms (you can add any vegetables you like). Of course we had to top that with some more mozzarella cheese (and why not when it is part skim....it's practically no calories, right?) Sprinkle a little parmesan and herbs on top and pop that baby in the oven. You got yourself a delicious and nutritious pizza. I do not hope, but KNOW, you will enjoy :)

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

In our search to have a reason for eating Will's grandmas' sensationally sweet fig preserves, we found a recipe for buttermilk biscuits. However, these biscuits are on a higher level than regular biscuits since they are made with whole wheat flour which makes me (Samantha) feel a little less guilty about eating them. The benefits of eating whole grains are numerous, especially for someone on a vegetarian diet and who knew it would taste better than regular old flour? It's funny because my diet should pretty much consist mostly of grains such as wheat, rice, barley, oats, millet, etc, foods made of grains like pasta, bread, and cereals made from wholegrain, and of course vegetables and fruit. In the attempt to stay slim, I figured that eating too many carbs would be bad so I tried to exclude them completely from my diet. In the end I came to realize that choosing good carbs, rather than no carbs is what I should be doing for myself. When you eat whole grains you get more fiber and micronutrients than you would by eating refined flour, rices, pastas, etc. So, in short, I pretty much make and eat everything whole wheat and it started with these amazing biscuits!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
  
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix.
2. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and stir in the milk until all the dry ingredients are moist.
3. Plop spoonfuls of the mixture down in a baking sheet.
   
4. Bake 10-12 minutes in a 450 degree oven.
5. Enjoy your warm biscuits with some yummy preserve or as a delicious side to any meal!

Will and I thoroughly enjoy eating these for breakfast, but they're also a great addition to soup. A lot of times we freeze the extra dough if we just want to make a few for one time and save the rest for later. When we make some after it has been frozen, I just take it out of the freezer and let the dough thaw ahead of time and bake them like normal. They're great!

Caution: "Buttermilk by itself tastes horrible," says Will.

The Adventure Begins

Two college kids, well not really kids...young adults, met and fell in love. And you wanna know something? It all started with Fettuccine Alfredo. Yep, that's right. An Italian classic began it all and we've been cooking together ever since. Something awesome happens when you get a vegetarian and a meat-eater, who both have a sweet tooth and want to eat delicious, healthy meals on a budget, in the kitchen. One without the other usually messes things up, but together they are a cooking machine! For instance, one day William was in class and I ran home to fix a lunch (as soon as I get this recipe down I will add it). In a frenzy I tried whipping up the stir-fry myself, however I definitely pulled a Mrs. Doubtfire and ruined everything in a matter of a few seconds. I let the pan get too hot, which resulted in burnt garlic and chili sauce, then I thought "it couldn't possibly be that bad" so I added a few more ingredients, turned my back for a second, and that got burnt as well. In the end, even mixing it in with some couscous could not salvage it. I have never tasted something more revolting...*thinks for a second*...yep, never. I realized my fault wasn't in the fact that I can't read a few simple directions and cook a basic stir-fry, but that without Will, it just doesn't turn out very good at all. We help each other when we cook, like one of those teams you see on Food Network Challenge. We're a dynamic duo and that's pretty awesome. We thought, after one successful meal after the next, we would make a blog to share all of our yummy findings with friends and family and anyone else who cares to know. My room mates always say that we should open up a restaurant, but since we have to graduate college first before that could ever even be a possibility, we decided a blog spot would suffice. So, here we go. Leave comments, let us know what you think, and join our adventure!