HeyLo-Food From the Heart

MMMMM…Summer. I have been enjoying the sun and reading and most of all cooking. Most people in San Diego do not have AC, which usually isn’t too much of a problem until your apartment is 83+ degrees inside. That makes turning on the oven a huge turn off, which brings me to summer salads. Cool, flavorful, refreshing and filling are all found in this summer salad. Normal caprese salad consists of basil, garlic, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I added some beautiful mini sweet peppers and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

6-8 Mini Sweet Peppers

1/3-1/2 c Mozzarella Pearls (little balls of mozzarella)

3-4 Large Leaves of Basil

5-6 Cherry Tomatoes

2-3 Cloves of Garlic

Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions: Thinly slice the sweet peppers and basil. Cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters and mince the garlic. Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix, adding the oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

And enjoy!

I enjoyed this poolside with a new book in hand :)

I love love love LOVE pizza. You can ask anyone. I eat it just about every week, Ryan loves to point it out. I just can’t help it. It is probably my favorite food and I don’t really like to pick favorites. I don’t have a favorite color or book or movie, but I do have a favorite food my dearly beloved pizzzzza! I would eat it everyday if I could, but I try to practice some restraint. One of my favorite ways to cook in the summertime is via the grill. Yes I’ll admit I don’t even know how to turn it on, but once on I can become a grilling machine. 

Ingredients:

Dough of your choice (you can even buy precooked crusts but, I recommend using dough for the ultimate experience.

Cheese (vegan or regular, I used gouda and cheddar)

Veggies ( I used shallots, zucchini, mushrooms, and tomatoes)

Fresh Herbs ( I used basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary)

Pasta sauce ( I used a bottle of eggplant pasta sauce, but you can let your imagination run wild or even keep it simple with olive oil as the base)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Step One: Roll out dough to the thickness you desire. I try to get mine pretty thin because it will raise while cooking, and the thinner it is the easier and faster it will cook. Use plenty of flour to keep dough from sticking.

Step Two: Thinly slice zucchini, shallots, mushrooms, and herbs for the pizza toppings. 

Step Three: Saute garlic, shallots, and mushrooms in a non stick pan on medium low heat for 1-2 minutes until tender.

Step Four: Grate cheese and grill the zucchini. Before grilling the zucchini spray (or lightly coat) with olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill (medium heat) for approximately 2 minutes on each side.

Step Five: Spray the pizza dough with olive oil and place on the grill. Be careful this can be tricky. If you are worried about this step make smaller sized pizzas for easier handling. Close the grill lid and cook until the crust is browned on the bottom. Depends on the grill, but approximately 5-10 minutes.

Step Six: Coat the top side of the crust with oil now. Be especially careful if using spray, it is flammable. Now FLIP!! This is tough use some tongs or spatulas to help out with this step.

Step Seven: Apply sauce directly on the pizza crust! Work quickly you dont want the crust to cook all the way and start burning before you have the toppings on and cheese melted.

Step 8: Apply all the toppings!

Step Nine: Close the lid immediately after getting the toppings on and cook for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy.

Step Ten: Reveal! And Enjoy!

This pizza really did turn out to be one of the best grilled pizzas I have ever made. The rosemary and basil really made it extra special. Fresh herbs are beautiful and can really add so much to a simple dish. Happy Grilling!

Ahh… Can you feel it? Summer is in the air! It has been beautiful and sunny since friday here and I am loving every minute of it. My fair skin though isn’t happy, SPF 50 just doesn’t cut it on days like these. Minus the recent sunburns, June has been treating me well. Summer is definitely my favorite season of the year. Not only because of the beautiful weather, but most definitely because of the food!

Ryan and I went to two farmers markets this weekend and picked up some lovely items. Wonderfully sweet organic strawberries :) was my favorite purchase this weekend followed by pluots, various squash, avocados, cherries, garlic dip, almond dip, pickles and brussel sprouts. 

Our weekend kicked off with a friday night trip to the farmers market and continued strong in the healthy direction with yoga (more on that later) saturday morning. The evening shenanigans kind of disrupted the healthy eating, but at least jenga and baseball was involved. 

And the Padres won! Go Team?! Plus gnomes are cool right?

Sunday involved more yoga and the hillcrest farmers market which all San Diegans should really check out! Followed by some reading by the pool.

Which by the way has not been done in years..It is sad but school really burned me out on reading, but I think I am ready to get back into it. Starting with The Golden Compass

Anyone else reading any books lately?