Give Me a “P”!... Oh GREEAAT, Another Pizza Review

Two nights ago, the boys and I (and Chrissy, too) were desperately craving pizza.  There’s something about that texture that just... mmm, I’m drooling.  Well, pizza of any sort is just about out, but we hadn’t given up hope of trying to make our own, after our experience at zpizza.

I’m SO glad we took our own advice and made pizza at home.  It was so much better with just a few simple adjustments to how it’s cooked.  Here’s the recipe:

Better Than Bought Pizza
Ingredients:

1 package, Betty Crocker Pizza Mix
1 small container tomato/pizza sauce of your choice
1 package (2 cups) Daiya Shreds, mozzarella flavor
Toppings of your choice

You’ll Need:
Something to bake the pizza on
a mixing bowl
hands (helpful, but not required)

Directions:  Make the Betty Crocker Pizza Mix as directed, adding spices to the dough, if desired.  Use about 3/4 cup of Daiya on the uncooked crust, and place into an oven (as directed on the crust package) for 6 minutes, or until the shreds just start to take on a dry look.  Remove your pizza from the oven and add your toppings.  You will want to precook your toppings, as needed.  Over your toppings, as 1/2 cup of Daiya shreds and bake for an additional 12-14 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Slice and enjoy.

If I could, I’d totally talk to zpizza and suggest to them that they do this at their restaurant, too.  It makes all the different in the world to cook it this way.  The flavor is better, the texture is normal (before the shreds coated your mouth really strangely) and it’s just a more enjoyable experience.


My Moo Rating: 5/5

Tomorrow... tuna salad.  I know, it doesn’t traditionally have milk in it, but we created a good recipe, so I’m sharing.

Mimi tries a recipe... and fails. And then has gumdrop buttons?

I am the grandmother.  I am... the Mimi.

I am not the great exploring cook that my son (it's really my wife, Chrissy, that's cooking Mom--BUT I'M HELPING!.  -Michael) has turned out to be.  I’m also not the great writer he is.  But I still would like to share what we have learned, or not learned in this case.  I had my grandsons for dinner last night and decided to try to make one of the recipes from the Daiya website, Creamy Macaroni and Cheese.

I went by Kroger’s on my way home and got the needed ingredients, along with a baked chicken and some frozen broccoli for dinner.  I prepared the elbow noodles and added the said ingredients directly to the noodles while they were steaming hot.  Probably my first mistake.  Michael said I needed to make the sauce separately for the Daiya to get to the correct consistency.  Adding it to the noodles and stirring worked, and it tasted good after adding some salt and pepper.  But as my husband put it… "I think you could use this as cement filler and it would work just fine."  It was thick, not smooth, and had an off taste that was... not pleasant.  Don’t know that the taste could have changed much.  The grandboys wouldn’t eat it.  Gabriel would dip his broccoli in it and eat the broccoli, but not the noodles by themselves.  Benton wouldn’t eat it at all after the first nibble… and he is usually the one that will at least try a couple of bites.  Not happening!  Epic fail.  Michael and Chrissy are going to try to do something else with it.

Mimi's Moo-rating: ½ of 1, of 5

NOT MY GUMDROP BUTTONS!

Gingerbread, made from scratch: a hit.  Gabriel had three pieces, Benton, two!  This is a family recipe that goes back to the 1970’s.  A friend of Allen's (Michael's Dad) sister gave out the recipe with the gingerbread at Christmas one year.  That recipe is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted and best of all….NO MILK REQUIRED! 

RECIPE: FAMILY SECRET.  I promise I'll pry it from her before she gets cold, dead hands. -Michael

Mimi's Moo-rating: 5 of 5

Mimi's FInal Thought

Chicken $5.97…Broccoli $1.89…Daiya Recipe Mac 'n' Cheese $8.97….Gingerbread $2.30….time with my grandboys; priceless!

I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF COMFORT FOODS

You know, when I sit back and think about it, I’m really a comfort food junkie.  I basically want to be a good southern gentleman with good southern food values.  It’s much like they say on that most manly of shows “Hot in Cleveland,” (It’s got Betty White, for cryin’ out loud!) “We want our men to be ungroomed and our vegetables to be meat.”

It’s really a simple equation.  Not much to me.  I used to be made of cheese... but now... I’m just a poor substitute made of tapioca starch and other “flavor bits.”  C'est la vie.

This weekend was all about comfort.  We were very excited to share Mother’s Day time with both my lovely bride and my mother for mother’s day and comfort just seemed to go right along with what many moms give to their kids.  We ended up having Daiya nachos (again) with a little different recipe and then made our own homemade cinnamon rolls, which are TO DIE FOR.  I think several small children were actually harmed in the making of these recipes.  So, let’s get to it.

Daiya Nachos Redux

Our previous Daiya nachos, while tasty, were a little more complicated to make due to the number of ingredients, and at the end of the day, don’t have a lot of that kick that we Texans are used to in our nacho cheese.  So, we decided to make it again with every man’s favorite vegetable... Rotel.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C Daiya Cheddar Shreds
1 C chicken or veggie broth
1/4 C Tofutti Sour Cream
2 Tbps. Tofutti Cream Cheese
1 can of Rotels (in the spice of your choice)

You’ll need:
a medium sauce pan

Directions:
Combine your tofutti products and chicken broth together over medium head until you have a creamy sauce.  Add your Daiya shreds and stir to melt.  Add your Rotels to the mix and heat through and through.  Enjoy in good health.

Optional: Put the Rotels into a blender to make fairly smooth before adding to the recipe.

My Moo Rating:  4/5






Yup, it’s as good as I remember, and funny enough, when cooled, it acts EXACTLY like Velveeta.  You know, “LIQUID GOOOOOLD!”  But enough about me...

We used that and made nachos with other leftovers from the night before.  What?  There were vegetables... ROTELS... remember?  WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME!??  j/k

Moving on

Opinionated Cinnamon Rolls
About a year ago, my wife came upon this recipe for cinnamon rolls that will make your slap your momma (can I have a less violent menu).  So, naturally, it’s become popular in our home.  Benton’s been on a jag lately about food (shocker, I know), asking for specific items.  Who gave this kid an opinion?  That’s what I want to know.  The other things he’s asking for is my wife’s AWESOME kolaches, I’ll share that recipe coming up.  So, here you go.


Dough:
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F (43 degrees C))
1/2 cup instant potato flakes
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup margarine, softened

Filling:
1/3 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups unsifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons warm water, or as needed

You’ll need:
A LOT OF STUFF
a small sauce pan
several measuring cups/spoons
two mixing bowls

Directions:
  Proof your yeast as directed on the package.  Stir the potato flakes, milk, 1/2 cup water, white sugar, and salt together in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 110 degrees F (63 degrees C). Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl until smooth, then whisk in the warm milk mixture and yeast. Stir in the flour and margarine until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured work surface, and knead until smooth and satiny, 10 to 20 minutes.
  Place the dough into a greased bowl, and turn over to grease both sides of the dough. Cover, and set in a warm spot to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down, and knead again briefly to push out the air. Cover, and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir 1/3 cup softened butter with the brown sugar and ground cinnamon until blended. Feel free to make extra if you like more filling in your cinnamon rolls.
  Once the dough has rested, turn onto a floured surface and divide in two. Stretch and roll one half into a 10x14-inch rectangle. Spread half of the cinnamon filling onto the dough, and sprinkle with half of the raisins. Roll up the dough from the narrow end, and pinch the edges together to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Grease two baking sheets, and cut each roll into 12 pieces. Arrange the cinnamon rolls onto the prepared baking sheets. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  Bake the cinnamon rolls in the preheated oven until light golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool. Prepare the glaze by stirring the confectioners' sugar with 1 Tbsp butter, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons warm water until smooth. Use additional water if needed to make a pourable glaze. Pour the glaze over the cinnamon rolls while still warm.

Whew... I’m exhausted just writing down that recipe!  What you’ll end up with is really amazing to eat and to share.  And it makes a ton of rolls.  You have probably enough to make two dozen of them.  You can also take the leftovers and turn them into a cinnamon raison loaf, which would be FANTASTIC.

I PROMISE they are not that green when you make them.  Stinking fluorescent lights at the church...

My Moo Rating: 5/5

Home Cooking and a Dog

So, this weekend, we got a dog.  Well got a... foster dog.  She’s a beautiful Flatcoat Retreiver.  We were expecting her on Friday, but instead didn’t get her until Sunday, so for much of the weekend, we had time to cook.  

All-Natural Hommus

Before we get to stuff I’ve made, I  wanted to tell you about one of our family’s new favorite snacks, hommus.  Specifically, Cedar’s Foods Hommus.  This stuff is like crack for your tastebuds.  Don’t get it unless you want to have a spoon in one hand, and a dose of guilt somewhere handy.  You will finish it, and you will probably feel guilty about it.  It’s totally worth the guilty feeling, though, as it’s probably one of the best, if not THE best, hommus, I’ve ever had.  And I’m picky about what hommus I give good ratings to.  

Go out NOW and get some, you won’t regret it.  We bought ours at Whole Foods for $2 per package.

My Moo Rating: 4/5

“Cheese Sticks”

Daiya, in case you can’t tell, has become a go-to food in our house.  So it was with great anticipation that we made “cheese sticks” over the weekend.  It’s super easy, so I don’t even need to go through the normal recipe bit.  What’s that, Chrissy?  They need it if they want to write it down?  Oh.

Fine.

Ingredients:

2/3 package Italian-seasoned Panko bread crumbs

1 package of mozzarella-style Daiya

Spray-on Pam

You’ll need:
9”x9” glass/nonstick deep pan

Directions:
Spray the bottom of your pan with Pam (unless using nonstick).  Sprinkle 1/2 of your Panko into the bottom of the pan.  Take your Daiya and completely cover the bottom layer of panko.  Be careful with this step.  Too much Daiya is not a great thing.  Sprinkle the other 1/2 of your Panko on top of the Daiya.  Spray generously with Pam on top and bake at 325° until fully melted and golden brown on top or about 18 minutes.  Cut into strips and serve.

My Moo Rating: 4/5

Corn Doggin’ It
So the other day, while throwing myself the tiniest pity party you’ve ever seen, I said that I was really craving Corn Dog 7.  So what does my wife do?  She goes and makes me homemade corn dogs that totally took care of my craving for Corn Dog 7.  They were very good, but I think that the batter bakes up a little to flake-y for me.  We’ll need to work on that, though the flavor is awesome.  Once we get this perfected, I’ll give an updated version of the recipe.  Then, I’m going to figure out how to make Corn Dog 7’s cheese on a stick.

Ingredients
2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix
6” skewers (disposable chopsticks are great to use here)
kosher no-dairy all-beef hot dogs
Oil of your choice
flour

Directions:
Prepare the 2 boxes of jiffy as stated but only include 1/2 of the liquid it calls for.  Your coating should be like a very thick pancake batter.  Skewer your hot dogs and coat them lightly in the flour (you can also use corn starch) so that the batter will stick.  Heat your oil over medium-high heat, so that when you drop a small amount of batter on it, it cooks almost instantly.   Take your dipped dog and put it in the frying oil, turning almost constantly to make sure it cooks evenly on all sides.  Cook until golden brown and crispy on the outside.

My Moo Rating: 3/5

Homemade Vegan K-so
I also made the discovery that Daiya’s website has recipes on it.  My youngest son, Benton, had said that he really missed queso, so we made some from a recipe that we found on that site and, to my amazement, it was totally believable.  Benton took to it like a fat kid to Girl Scout Cookies and we had a hit.  I won’t be posting the recipe here, as I don’t want to simply steal from someone else, but we will be taking this recipe and improving upon it to get something with a bolder flavor that what is currently in this one.


My Moo Rating: 3.5/5

Helping Hamburger

Both the boys had water day today at school, so we decided something easy was in order for dinner.  That seems to be a recurring theme.  It’s also the theme that is missing from most dairy-free cook books, but we’ll return to that when we have a book deal.  We decided that it would be great if we could have helper for our hamburger, even if we can’t have the brand name one since it’s chock full of milk products.  

It’s not super healthy out of a box, but in this recipe, it’s not nearly as bad for you. Maybe not the healthiest, but it's quick, easy and the boys like how it tastes.  

Here’s what we did.

It looks better in person.  Hi, Gabriel!

Help!  My Hamburger is Tasteless and it Can’t Get Up!

Ingredients:

1 box Road’s End Organics Organic Dairy-Free Mac & Chreese (Cheddar Flavor)

1 lb lean ground turkey

2 Tbps margarine

1/4C non-dairy milk

1/2C Daiya “cheese”

Items to taste: onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

Cook Mac & Chreese (yes, that’s really the name) as directed.  While the noodles are boiling, cook your turkey in a skillet and add onion, salt, pepper and garlic to taste.  We went heavy on the spices, knowing that without these, it wouldn’t be very good, as the M&C on its own doesn’t have a lot of flavor.  After draining your noodles and but before adding your cheese sauce, add your margarine and Daiya to the drained noodles.  Add your sauce and mix until incorporated.  

There you have it, a helper for hamburger that passes the kid test.  We served it with wilted spinach.  Here’s that recipe:

Easy-Peasy Wilted Spinach

Ingredients:

1 package of pre-washed spinach

2Tbps olive oil

2 intact slices from a large, sweet onion (1015, yellow or white)

To taste: minced garlic, pepper, salt

Directions:  Add the olive oil, garlic and onion to your skillet and cook over medium heat until the onions begin to look translucent.  Add your spinach and cook uncovered until they “wilt,” or about 5-10 minutes.  Their color will be very deep and rich.  Serve. 

How easy is that?  Overall, this entire meal took about 15 minutes to prepare, and gave us all some comfort food at the end of the day that nobody turned their nose up at.  

Sorbet Calories and “Houston, We Have a Hot Dog"

So, we have thoroughly enjoyed the sorbet that we made out of our few ingredients from my last post.  The great thing about the sorbets that we made is that you can even have them for breakfast.  My oldest son, Gabriel, is taking the STAAR test at school today (Go Gabriel!), and they told the children to make sure they ate a good breakfast.  So I made him eggs with just a touch of non-dairy margarine and then gave him a small bowl of our “ice cream” so that he could have some fruit with his breakfast.  He was in hog heaven.  I made sure to ask him, “How many of your friends do you think get to have ice cream for breakfast?”  His reply was, of course, none.  But that’s one of the awesome things about making your own foods, is that you know what goes into them and can judge for yourself whether or not to let your kids have a “super treat” at an odd time of day.

I did a rough calorie estimation for the banana ice cream this morning.  Assuming that each banana was 75 calories and a 1/2 cup of honey was 515 and there are eight servings total in the mix, it comes out to right at 130 calories PER CUP of our homemade sorbet.  Dieters, start your engines, this is a food for you.  OMG, I think I just did math.  In fact, it’s even worse, it’s one of those stupid word math questions like, “if person A you don’t give a crap about left Baltimore on a train going X miles per hour...” AAAHHHH!

Okay, let’s be done with math.  (shudders)


Hot Doggit

Last night, we decided that we wanted to have hot dogs, you know, the food of champions?  Well, the great news is, we can still have them.  So we bought some kosher hot dog links, which means there can be no milk ingredients in them, some non-dairy wheat buns and turkey chili.  Then, we put our favorite new “cheese” product on top, Daiya.  They were FANTASTIC.  Putting that cheese on there is SO much like going to a James Coney Island and having one of their dogs with the American cheese on top.  MMM, missed it so much until yesterday.  Sorry, James, your day in the sun is over, now we’re on to Hebrew National.  Not the healthiest dinner ever, but at least we had vegetables and fruit with dinner.

We continue to have good luck with almond, soy and coconut milks for dinner with the children, which is a positive, so they continue to get their vitamins that way.

Last, But Not Least...
We’re slowly, but surely, making our way up to having most of the kinds of foods that we had before we were thrown into non-dairy-land, level 1-1.  We do seem to see a gaping hole in the non-dairy recipe market for normal, everyday recipes that kids will actually want to eat.  Maybe there’s a cookbook in our future?

(UPDATED) I'm Feeling Cheesy: A Review

So, we've been at this no-dairy thing for just over a week and, it's "special."  Some days, it's really easy, other days, not so much.  But through it all, we've been searching for alternatives to foods that our family LOVES.  Out and out loves.  And one of the foods that we have had a long standing love affair with is cheese.

Needless to say, when we found out there was to be no more cheese in the Ervin household, the breakup was hard.  We sat on the couch with all of our cheese friends, laughed about the memories, cried--I think someone even broke a glass at some point.  There was some yelling, and then we just screamed at the cheese, "get out!  Just get OUT!"  Very sad.  Tragic really.  There's a Lifetime special coming out about it, I think.

Moving on

We've bought several kinds of "cheese" this week, one made of rice, one made of soy and a new-to-market brand, Daiya.  So... on with the show.

Rice Cheese
First, we'll cover the rice cheese.  Shaped like American cheese, tastes like American cheese gone bad.  Is that an accurate enough description?  To say that this is my least favorite cheese of all of the new kinds is an understatement.  It doesn't feel right in your mouth.  It's got this... I don't know, grainy consistency that doesn't show up until halfway through eating the bite.  The initial flavor is okay, but then you get that rice-y flavor toward that same spot... halfway through, and you just KNOW that something isn't right.  Your brain tells you it looks like cheese, it sort of tastes a little like cheese right at the beginning, but then it's all downhill from there.

My Moo Rating: 1/5





Daiya
We knew that rice-based wasn't a good fit, so we tried another cheese, this time by a new company called Daiya.  This one is a cheese style shred, with ingredients that you can actually, mostly, pronounce.  Here's the list:

Filtered water, tapioca and /or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and /or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegan natural flavors, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor), annatto, titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral).

GMO=Genetically Modified Organism

Looking at it, it is shaped mostly like a normal shredded cheese you would find in any supermarket, but it's edges are wrong.  Instead of being smooth, they almost have this torn look to them, but it's not a turn-off, and the color is almost exactly right.  Let's give it a taste... 

Mmmm, it's really good.  Give me another bite, honey.  What do you think?  Oh, Chrissy agrees, this is a very good cheese substitute.  

That was two days ago.  Today, I actually melted some on some bread, as I was dying for a cheese fix.  And it totally does the job.  It's soft, like American cheese, and the flavor is subtly different than what you would get in a standard milk-based cheese, but this, this I could get used to.  I understand that a company called ZPizza actually offers a gluten and dairy-free pizza that is made with Daiya.  After trying it, I understand why.  This, of the three cheeses, actually made me really excited to eat it again.

My Moo Rating: 4/5

Soy-Based Veggie Slices

The third cheese (conspicuously absent from the picture above) is by the same company as the rice-based cheese, but has a soy base instead.  It, too, is an American-style individually wrapped slice, but this one doesn't test my gag reflex.  When you eat it, it's a little too soft for your brain to say that it's American cheese, but it's so close that after the first few bites you don't notice the difference anymore.  The flavor is good, though, so we will probably buy it again.

UPDATE: While the flavor may have been nice, I found out that soy-based slices have casein, a milk protein in them, which removes any possibility of us eating them again.  I’ve amended my moo rating below to reflect that.

My Moo Rating: 1/5

Coconut Milk Chocolate Mousse

I told you I was going to do a review of the chocolate mousse today, but that's going to have to wait, as I don't think it came out the way it should have and I'd hate to do a review of a recipe that just didn't work.  I will say this, though... the flavor is FANTASTIC.  The subtlety of the coconut behind the cocoa in the recipe is ridiculous.  As the initial creator of the recipe said, I want to dive into this head first.  I'll keep plugging away and hopefully we'll get it right here, shortly.

Happy eating.