The raw food class was great. I’m so thankful to the team that helped make it a success.

The dairy free cooking class was amazing. I’m so grateful for all who helped to make it so.

I was so pleased to be asked to coordinate a couple of cooking schools in the Walla Walla Valley. I have already began!

Here is the vegetarian cooking class schedule.

May 15 – Dairy free cooking
Speakers: Heather Leno and Dr. Gily Ionescu-Tajti.

July 10 – Raw cooking
Speakers: Lorelei Montgomery and Dr. Gily Ionescu-Tajti

So far, they have been wonderful.

Thin-crust Pesto Pizza ready to eat

I love thin crust pizza. When my dad recommended a pesto pizza, I couldn’t resist. Pizza dough has intimidated me in the past. It turned out too bread-like, too thick or too dry. Usually, I like to buy plain Tony’s Pizza and top it with beautiful veggies. But after making this recipe, inspired by “Cook’s Illustrated,” for thin-crust pizza dough, I don’t think I can ever go back. It is crisp and easy to make.

This is even easier if you use a store bought flat bread like lavash or other thin pizza crust. In this case, simply pile on about 2 inches high of baby spinach. Then drizzle with pesto and top with grated mozzarella and shredded parmesan or Romano cheese. Bake at 425 degrees until the cheese bubbles and begins to brown.

Thin-crust Pesto Pizza recipe

Yield: Two 14-inch pizzas

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons water
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Toppings:

• 10 cups Fresh Spinach
• 2 cups grated cheese (mozzarella and shredded Parmesan or Romano)

Pesto:

• 2–3 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3–4 cloves fresh, crushed garlic
• salt to taste
• Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pine nuts, almonds or walnuts

Blend until smooth

Directions:

On Day 1 — the day before you plan to bake and eat the pizza

1. Combine flour, yeast, honey, and salt in work bowl of food processor (or by hand in mixing bowl) fitted with steel blade. With machine running, add all but 2 tablespoons water through feed tube. With machine still running, add olive oil through feed tube and process until dough forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto work surface.
2. Place dough in plastic bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.

On Day 2

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat baking stone 1 hour before proceeding. If you don’t have a baking stone, use a cooking sheet, but don’t preheat it.
2. Remove dough from plastic bag and divide in half. Set each half in center of a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Cover each with plastic wrap. Let dough rounds rest 10 minutes.
3. Setting one dough round aside, and keeping plastic wrap on top roll the other into a 14-inch shape with even thinness of 1/32-inch, using tackiness of dough against parchment to help roll.
4. Peel off plastic wrap. With scissors, trim excess parchment so that it is just larger than dough.
5. Slip dough with parchment onto pizza peel, inverted rimmed baking sheet, or rimless cookie sheet, then slide onto hot baking stone. Bake for 4 minutes. Remove from oven with pizza peel or pull parchment with pizza onto baking sheet and place on the counter.
6. Pile on about 2″ high of baby spinach. Drizzle with pesto, top with one cup grated cheese.
7. Bake until cheese bubbles and crust is a deep golden brown, about 7 minutes. Remove from oven with pizza peel or pull parchment with pizza onto baking sheet. Transfer pizza to cutting board, slide parchment out from under pizza; cut pizza into wedges and slide onto wire rack. Let cool 2 minutes until crisp; serve.
8. While first pizza is baking, repeat steps 3 through 7 to prepare second pizza. Allow baking stone to reheat 15 minutes after baking first pizza.

Enjoy!

The end of summer brings an abundance of green tomatoes to my kitchen. I can’t let them go to waste. I found a recipe for Green Salsa that looked great! Here is my adaptation of it. It looks fabulous in my canning jars.

Green Tomato Salsa

Yield: 5 pints

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

*Optional

A Cuban meal wouldn’t be complete with out these black beans. They are easy to make in a slow-cooker and freeze wonderfully!

Sort and wash beans. Soak beans overnight. Discard soaking water. Put beans in slow-cooker. Add water and half a bell pepper. Cook on high for four hours or just until beans are tender.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add remaining bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly for five minutes or until tender.

Add onion mixture, dried pepper, dried oregano, bay leaf, sugar and salt to the slow-cooker. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for 15 minutes or to desired thickness. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Serve over rice. Garnish with chopped onion if desired.

¡Buen Provecho!

One of my favorite meals at my in-laws is their homemade veggie burgers. I finally had the nerve one day to ask them for the recipe and was able to test it out on my own, exchanging a few ingredients and such. After a few requests from friends for this recipe, I figured I would share it here on my blog. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 can of vegetarian Burger (Worthington, Loma Linda, or Cedar Lake)
• 1 Large Onion (finely chopped)
• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup Oats
• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions

Combine eggs, chopped onion and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add oats, flour, and veggie burger to the bowl. Stir and mash ingredients together really well with a large spoon. Let sit for 30 minutes. Roll into approximately one inch round balls. Using a griddle or frying pan, add oil of choice. Place burger balls into pan and use spatula to flatten into about 1/3 inch thick patties (roughly 4 inches in diameter). Fry until its golden brown on the bottom and the top becomes shiny. Flip and cook second side. Yields approx. 15, 4 inch burgers.

Another great use for this recipe is veggie meatballs on top of spaghetti. I’ll try to add a photo of the burgers in the near future.

Have a suggestion, question or testimonial on how you used this recipe? Please feel free to leave comments below. Bon appetite!