Pizza

Friday night...what's for dinner? What's quick and easy and something that my family would like to eat? PIZZA! I think here in LI, people seem to go for pizza on Fridays, not sure if that's the case but based on my observation, it sure seemed like it.

Half Meatballs, Half Regular

Bro and I were out at the Outlets for a few hours and by the time we got home, it was quite late to make the pizza dough and wait for it to proof. I remember seeing this recipe for a dough on Allrecipes.com that didn't require any proofing, so, since I am short of time, I decided to try it out. 

Basically, it's flour, salt, sugar, yeast, oil and water. I have decided to make it a little healthier and substituted half the flour with whole wheat flour, added some dried basil, dried oregano, parmesan cheese, garlic powder to the dough to make it more flavorful. 

After I am done with the dough, I brushed it with some olive oil, top with some spaghetti sauce (that's what I have in the house), put some meat balls and top it with some Mexican blend of cheeses (made do with what I have) and put it in the oven. EASY!

The pizza turned out good, according to the testers. :) 

Dinner accomplished!

Cream Cheese Loaf

My parents have been here with us for more than a month now and I have been baking and cooking quite a bit but haven't been able to post any of them. 

Today, I would like to introduce you to my fav loaf of bread, the Cream Cheese Loaf. I have made this bread 4 times since my parents got here and love the smell and texture of it. It's soft and the crust isn't too thick since I baked it in the oven instead of the bread machine. 

The Perfect Loaf

Got this recipe from Blessed Homemaker and she uses the bread machine to make the loaf. I used the bread machine to knead it, then, let it rise in the machine (power off) and then, took it out, roll it and let it proof the second time and bake it in the oven. The bread smells so nice and texture is just nice for us, who are used to light and soft textured bread. 

Soft and White

I love to have my slice of bread with some pork/chicken floss. Growing up, before the famous Floss Buns were introduced by Bread Talk, we spread our slice of bread with some butter and top it with pork floss, it's so yummy. And I have been doing it with this loaf of bread in the mornings for breakfast. Even ate it with some sambal ikan bilis, just yummy. In fact, you can eat this loaf with anything that you like and it will be good. 

This loaf can keep for a few days...which is perfect for us. 

Pandan Bread with Nutella

I don't really like to eat loaf bread, to me, the feel is different. I rather eat a bun than a slice of bread. And by making buns, it meant I don't have to slice, which I don't really do good at, always uneven.

Pandan buns with Nutella inside. 

Pandan (screwpine leaves) is commonly used in Malaysia and Singapore, but here, I have to depend on pandan paste. I finally bought a bottle some time ago and have been thinking of things to make with it. Again, it's a challenge since nobody in my household really eat the Asian food that I make. K eats some but not much, hence, I have to make something that I think they will eat or help me finish.

A while ago, I made some pandan buns with nutella inside hoping that my little girl would eat it and to my surprise, she liked it even though they were green in color. We figured out that my girl won't eat anything green as she won't eat vegetables and won't even eat Gold Fish that's green.

This is how it looks in a pie pan. 

Decided to make another batch of pandan buns since I have not made any bread for a couple of weeks now. I have adapted the recipe from Happy Home Baking and made them into tiny tiny loaves, added some nutella/choc chips inside (this is to entice my girl to eat them) and instead of putting them in the normal baking pan, I had them in the pie pan, turned out pretty nice actually.

As for the texture, it's light and soft...love it! I grew up eating soft bread and I prefer them to the heavier bread that we get here in the States.

The pandan taste was pretty subtle but it's good enough. Definitely gave this bread a nice green. 

You can even see the nutella/chocolate oozing out in the pic....yummy yum yum. I think the nutella/ chocolate compliments the pandan pretty well.

And if you are wondering, the middle ones have no chocolate in them, I sprinkled some almonds flakes and sugar on them, they tasted good too.

Enjoy.

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Another quick and easy recipe using basic ingredients...well, not that basic since the local supermarkets here do not carry Tapioca flour. I saw this recipe a while ago here and have been wanting to make them but  didn't have Tapioca flour in the house. I tried ordering it online but of all the things that I ordered, they ran out of stock for the flour. Just my luck! Finally, the past weekend, I made a trip to Flushing and came home with some supply...so, here they are, the little cheese puffs. Don't they look cute?

 

This is so easy to put together and bake, no way you can mess it up. I used sharp cheddar for a cheesier taste and they are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. They are light, sugar free and since we are using Tapioca flour, they are gluten free. 

What can you eat these with? Well, they are good eaten on its own when warm and I think dunking them in a bowl of cream soup would be yummy too. 

Enjoy.