I'm a Humungous Fungus, I am a real Fun guy!

That joke is so terrible but it cracks me up each time so it had to be included.

But all bad humor aside, here is our variation of a mushroom pizza I have ordered from a local pizza place and fell in love with.

I had a huge amount of  mushrooms in the fridge left over from another recipe I had made, so we were trying to think of what we could make that would use a lot of mushrooms. We decided on mushroom pizza, and boy was it good.
I didn't really measure everything for this one because lets face it pizza is one of those things that you just throw on toppings till it looks like enough and then stop, but I will give you rough amounts that I used
I cheated a little and used some frozen pizza dough shhh don't tell.

Ingredients 
(makes 2 pizza's)

• Pizza dough, store bought or home made (enough for 2 pizza's)
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup pesto (click here for recipe)
• 1 portabello mushroom
• 5 large white mushrooms
• 2 large shiitake  mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cup chopped oyster mushrooms
• 1 little bunch of enoki mushrooms 
• olive oil
• 1 large clove fresh garlic minced
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbs parmesan  

Pre-heat oven to 425F (if you are using a pizza stone make sure you have it in the oven during the preheat so it does not crack)


Roll out your pizza dough and sprinkle cornmeal on your pizza stone or pan before you put your dough on.
Slice all of your mushrooms.
In a large frying pan with a little olive oil add your sliced portabello and white mushrooms and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 min until they started to brown and let off some moisture. Turn off the heat and add the minced garlic.
Spread a thin layer of pesto on the pizza dough and drizzle a very small amount of olive oil.
Add as much or as little of each mushroom as you would like, don't forget the ones you had started to cook.

 
At this point I chose to put the pizza in the oven for 5-7 minutes or just long enough to help some of the moisture of the mushrooms to evaporate so you do not have watery/soggy pizza you do not want it to cook through at this point.
After the 7 minutes take the pizza out and sprinkle on the mozzarella and parm. Place the pizza back in the oven and cook for 8-10 min until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.

Let it sit for a few minutes and then cut and serve.

Cheese and Wine

This post is not a recipe but more a description of what we had for dinner tonight.

Cheese, wine, bread, and fruit

Dan and I decided to spend the morning down town and walk through the market and soak up some sun. It was wonderful! We browsed the market, had a beer on a patio and of course checked out some of the shops down town. One of the stores we went into was a cheese shop (one of our favorites). While we were browsing we found some brie with a truffle center.
My first experience eating anything with truffles was when Dan and I went to Las Vegas in the spring and I had some truffled potato's, and let me tell you, those were the absolute best potato's I have ever had in my life. Since then I have been on the look out for a store that sells truffles with no luck.
Anyways, so we found this cheese and decided we had to try it. Now what goes better with cheese then wine? Not a whole lot, though a fresh baguette is a close runner up.
AND VOILA dinner was planned. There seemed to be no better way to end our day then wine, cheese, and bread.

(mmm truffle brie) 

Making a cheese plate is such a good way to try new kinds of cheese, or just enjoy favorites. Pick out one or a few different kinds of cheese, grab some fresh bread, add some dried fruit and/or fresh fruit, some nuts and your favorite bottle of wine and you are set.

Tonight we used, the brie with truffle we found, some sliced up apple, dried cherry's, almonds, and a baguette. We added a bottle of red wine on the side that my aunt left us when she came to visit this week.

I sliced the baguette and rubbed each piece with fresh garlic, drizzled it with olive oil and a very small amount of freshly ground pepper. I placed them in the over on 350 F for about 5min then broiled until the bread was just crispy on the outside but still a little bit soft inside. 

Throw it all on a platter and enjoy.

 

Home Made Spinach Pasta with Pesto and Veggies

 The first time I ever had pesto... I fell in love. My mom gets credit for yet another recipe! There is nothing like fresh home made pesto it beats the jarred stuff hands down.
Every summer my mom and I used to get a giant bunch of basil from the market and make a monster batch of pesto (I'm talking a food processor full) We would divide it up into ice cube trays and freeze it then pop em out and store in a big freezer bag until we were ready to use it. This is such a good way to have fresh pesto all year long.
Okay so the second part of this recipe is pasta! Who doesn't LOVE pasta? I could eat it every day, breakfast lunch and dinner! Home made pasta is so easy and worth it. The first time Dan and I made it we didn't have a pasta roller yet (or even a rolling pin for that matter) so we rolled the dough out with a wine bottle and cut the pasta using a ruler and knife. Well I know have a roller(thanks to Dan) and I love it.

 Spinach Pasta with Pesto, Red peppers, Onions, and Mushrooms

Ingredients
Pasta Dough 

• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups flour (preferably 00 flour but all purpose will work)
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach
• Luke warm water

Pesto

• 3 large garlic cloves(or more if you like)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cups Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 cups fresh basil
• 2/3 cups olive oil

Vegetables

• 1 red pepper chopped julienne
• 1 small onion chopped julienne
• 6 or 7 white mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic
• salt and pepper
• a handful of pine nuts

 To make pesto
Makes 1 1/3 cup

If you are making a single batch a mini food processor will work perfectly. While the food processor is running drop the garlic in so it is finely chopped. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil. Turn on the food processor until everything is finely chopped. With motor running add oil and blend well.

The pesto should be able to keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.

You will probably not need all of the pesto for this pasta dish (it varies depending on how much you like on your pasta)

To make pasta.
Take your frozen spinach and once thawed squeeze out as much liquid as you can, and chop it up.
Place your flour in a bowl or on a flat surface and make a well in it. Place your eggs in the well.

(I realize this picture has 3 eggs, This picture is from another day when I made a bigger batch)

With a fork start to beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour.

 

(your dough should start to look like this)

Add your chopped spinach. if the dough is too dry add a little luke warm water. Knead the dough with your hands then make it into a ball place in a zip lock bag and stick it in the fridge for about 20 min.

Once the dough has sat pull it out and roll it with your pasta roller and make it as thin a possible. Then run it through the cutting side of the pasta roller (I don't know the technical term for this)

Set the cut pasta aside (hanging it is best) You can hang it on a fancy dancy pasta hanger or even a plastic clothing hanger will work.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, while you are waiting for the water to boil, place your vegetables in a frying pan on medium/low heat with a drizzle of olive oil garlic, salt and pepper. Leave the vegetables on the burner until just cooked through, you want them to still taste fresh and not completely wilted.

When your water boils toss your pasta in until al dente. Drain the pasta and stir in the pesto.

Place a handful of pine nuts on a small baking dish and put them in the toaster oven on 400F until they JUST start to brown (keep an eye on them as they will burn easily.

Plate your pasta, top it with vegetables and a sprinkle of pine nuts and Parmesan.

Now for the best part, DIG IN!!!

Dan's Cooking

So this week was a little nutty both at work and at home and I won't lie I was pretty stressed out. I had a job interview today as well to top it all off.
Well when I got home from work today Dan was busy busy in the kitchen and had barricaded himself in. The second I walked in the door I was told I was forbidden. :)
After a few hours of yummy smells and a few crashes and bangs in the kitchen, dinner was served, and BOY OH BOY was it good!!
Let me paint you a picture of how good I have it (okay lets call it bragging) Not only does he cook, but he is quite the looker too!

(The man of the hour! The ONE AND ONLY.... DAN)

Dinner was so good I had to post some pictures!
Now I do not have the recipes to post as he was kinda winging it, but he may write it up and post it here later on.

Okay now keep in mind (this makes everything so much more impressive) Dan is a full on carnivore, he will eat any weird meat you can find for him.

 

(OH and did I mention... there was flowers)

The appetizer were these delicious spicy baked eggplant fries, with a fantastic dill and lime yogurt dip

 

If you are not drooling by now... you are nuts!

 Okay now for dinner! This was incredible and so impressive.
He made some roasted carrots with a red wine shiitake sauce, over a little bed of chopped purple cabbage(which he said was just to look pretty but I ate it up anyways with the sauce)

He also grilled these adorible little baby peppers.

Now the pièce de résistance!

Dan made cashew crusted tofu with a delicious "cream" sauce.
The best part about the sauce (aside from the incredible taste) Is the unexpected main ingredient, which also makes this sauce healthy.
Though it tastes creamy and fattening it is made with SILKENED TOFU, some milk, herbs spices, and a tiny bit of butter, so it is not nearly as bad for you as it tastes.

 (You have to admit... He did well)

And now for dessert (that's right, he even made dessert)

Dan served up three little scoops of ice cream, each with a different home made fruit sauce.

They were, strawberry, blackberry, and pineapple

So needless to say. Tonight was a rough night full of eating, and I doubt I will ever recover. I have told Dan he has got himself into trouble setting the bar this high.

If you have any comments Dan and I would be thrilled to hear them. Oh and maybe a little praise for Dan for being such a wonderful boyfriend!

Quinoa Salad

If you have never tried quinoa, well first of all you are nuts :) and second add it to your grocery list and give it a shot. Quinoa is so delicious and its good for you too.
This salad is meant to be a very simple and fresh summer side. The tofu I made to go with it had very dominant flavors so I wanted this to be more mellow.

 Ingredients

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2/3 cup diced zucchini
• 1 onion
• 1 plum tomato
• a handful of fresh spinach chopped
• 2/3 cup chopped broccoli florets
• 1 clove garlic
• 4-5 tbs balsamic vinaigrette (Italian dressing works really well too for a different taste)
• Feta in oil and herbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley

First things your soak your quinoa in some water for about 5 minutes,

then drain with a sieve and put in a pot with 1 1/2 cup of water and 1 tsp of oregano. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the temp down to about 1 and let simmer covered for 15 minutes.
When the quinoa has finished cooking, fluff it with a fork and let cool

Chop up all your vegetables. For the onion I chose to put them in a frying pan and cook them just long enough so they start to soften and taste less strong I also added the garlic to the pan right at the end.

(The onion should look like this)

Toss all of your vegetables in a bowl and mix in the quinoa. 

Add your seasonings. Adjust the amount of vinaigrette or dressing to how you like it. I added chunks of feta in oil with herbs and also added a few spoonfuls of the oil it was marinated in. I really find the feta adds a lot, so if you like feta do not skip out on this ingredient.

 

(this stuff is delicious)

and here is my complete dinner

The recipie for the tofu is in my last post.

Enjoy!!!

and as always I would love to hear comments or anything you did differently 

Chipotle Lime Grilled Tofu

So this post goes along with my next one. Well they don't have to go together but they were all part of the same dinner. I had the chipotle lime tofu, quinoa salad and grilled asparagus for dinner, and let me tell you it was tasty :)

 Now I have not made a whole lot of marinades from scratch so this one involved a bit of experimenting but I really think it turned out well. That being said if you would change anything or have any comments, I would be happy to hear them

Ingredients 

• 1 Tbs lime juice
• 2 tsp chipotle powder
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbs maple syrupy
• 3 tbs water
• 1 brick extra firm tofu

***TIP***

(To give your tofu a firmer meatier texture store it in the freezer and thaw when ready to use)

Press as much water out of your tofu as possible, this will enable to tofu to absorb more flavor. Slice the brick down the middle to make two thin tofu steaks.

Mix the ingredients for the marinade together. Place the tofu in a shallow flat dish and poor the marinade over top. Place it in the fridge and let it soak up the flavors for at least 2 hours. 

Toss your tofu on the grill on medium to medium high heat. Flip once it is starting the brown on the bottom. Brush some of the left over marinade on top.

And of course some asparagus on the side!!

All I did for this was drizzle garlic olive oil, lemon juice and seasoned with kosher salt and pepper, then put it on the BBQ

Roasted Tomato's, Carmelized Onions and Goat Cheese on Puff Pastry

I had my sister and her boyfriend over to some hor d'oeuvres on Sunday and these are one of the things we made.
Now I will be honest right off the bat. I cheated and bought my puff pastry because this was a sort of last minute thing.

Ingredients 

• 1 package puff pastry dough
• 1 small package of goat cheese (i used a bruschetta flavored one)
• 1 cherry tomato's slightly larger ones work best
• 1 onion
• Garlic infused olive oil
• kosher salt and pepper

preheat the over to 400 degrees
 Cut all of your cherry tomato's in half and place them on a baking sheet and drizzle the garlic infused olive oil over top and season with kosher salt and pepper

***TIP***

(if you don't have any garlic olive oil simple smash a few cloves with the side of a knife and pop them in a bottle of olive oil and let sit for a few hours or preferably overnight)

Bake the tomato's in the oven for about 15 min or until they are starting to caramelize a little. Roasting the tomato's brings out so much flavor and also helps prevent soggy puff pastry.

Chop up one onion and in a bit of garlic olive oil put them in a frying pan on medium heat. You do not want to turn the heat up too high. Once the onions clear, soften and start to turn golden brown remove them from the heat.

I cut the puff pastry dough into triangles but any shape will work. Cut up some small pieced of goat cheese (about the size of the your thumb nail, and place them in the center of each puff pastry piece

OH and I forgot to mention a very important part... Watch for scavengers looking to steel your goat cheese.

 

(caught red handed) 

Place a few pieces of caramelized onions over the goat cheese and top it with a roast tomato.

Bake in the oven for about 15min or until golden and puffy

Enjoy!! By the looks of it, I think my sister did.

(my big sister Amanda and her boyfriend Kevin)