Summer - the season for salsa

It’s summer.  The weather is hot.  And nothing beats fresh tomato salsa, guacamole and a cold beer on days like this.  In my neck of the woods, local tomatoes are only just starting to trickle into the markets.  The following recipe uses a mixture of fresh and canned tomatoes, which not only tastes great, but extends the fresh salsa season and shows how to make a more affordable salsa without sacrificing taste if fresh tomatoes aren’t very affordable where you live.  I’ve actually compared salsa made only with fresh tomatoes and this salsa and the winner was this version.  It seems that the canned tomatoes give a somewhat concentrated tomato flavor which, when combined with the fresh tomatoes, lends a more complex flavor profile. The key for this recipe is that the fresh tomatoes you do use must have TASTE!

Tomato Salsa - the finished product

Tomato Salsa

2-3 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped

2 Jalapeños, seeded and coarsely chopped*

¼ - ½ bunch cilantro, remove any large stems, tear up into approximately 2” long pieces

2 limes, juiced

¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt, optional

1 medium yellow onion, chopped roughly into 1-2” pieces

2 medium tomatoes (the on-the-vine type work well) or 1 large beefsteak tomato, chopped roughly into 1-2” pieces

1-28 oz can Peeled Plum Tomatoes in Juice, drained of juice

Directions:

1. Place the garlic, jalapeños, cilantro, salt and lime juice in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  For mild salsa, don't include any seeds or pith from the jalapeños.  For medium salsa, include seeds and pith from ½ a jalapeño. For hot salsa, include more of the pith and seeds.

2. Add the onion, fresh and canned tomatoes and pulse until chopped to desired consistency.

Makes: 1 quart

Serving: can be served right away, though the flavor is a bit better if allowed to sit for an hour before.

Store: in a covered container in the refrigerator.  Keeps 5 days.

*The accompanying video shows the easiest way to remove the seeds from jalapeños and regulate the heat of the salsa.

Video: how to remove seeds and pith from jalapeños and regulate the heat of the salsa.

Napa Valley: Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives, the Dessert Flip & Toasting Quinoa

Did you think I’d forgotten to post about the remaining days at Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives (HKHL)? Definitely not.  I’m a bit of an in-the-moment person and the intervening posts were just that.  With the piece published in the New York Times recently, thoughts of HKHL were brought back to the fore.  However, separate posts devoted to each of the four days after the fact seem too lengthy, so I’ll give you just enough detail about the remainder of the conference to whet your appetite.  Maybe you’ll be in the group of attendees in one of the years to come?  (Not so well kept secret: each year, there is talk of expanding to different locations, so if you’re not near Napa, attending may not be as far-fetched as you might now imagine.)

As mentioned in the previous HKHL post, the conference is geared toward a variety of professionals including physicians, nurses, dieticians, other healthcare professionals, chefs, insurance and healthcare executives, school foodservice directors, teachers, journalists, lawyers, business people, etc.  For this reason, there were full group events (aka. plenary sessions) that touched on interests of most and then breakout sessions to either discuss topics of more specialized interest (or just discuss them in a more intimate way) and, of course, to get our hands dirty in the kitchen!  It’s no surprise that the hands-on kitchen sessions were the highlight for most.  A close second - the winemakers in attendance who happily lubricated the conversation at tasting events throughout the weekend.   In my opinion, this was key.  While the group was technically international, the majority of folks were from two camps – laid back West Coast vs. suit and tie (and lots of Harvard professor types) East Coasters.  As someone that has now been part of both worlds for nearly 6 years each, I appreciated the age-old ability of wine and good food to erase (or at least blur) the line between the two camps.

A few well-received plenaries and workshops included: “What We Know About Opportunities to Optimize Our Diets” with Dr. Walter Willett, “The Latest Online Tools for Weight Management” with Dr. Mark Berman and “Food, Health, and Sustainability: A Range of Emerging Perspectives” with Dr. Christopher Gardner and a variety of other presenters.

The kitchen sessions covered everything from “Vegetables: Inspiration from World Cuisines” to “Healthy Cooking with Nuts & Legumes.”

Click here to see an example of the most recent schedule.

Pastry Chef Steven Durfee’s demonstations on the “dessert flip” have been a perennial favorite since the first HKHL conference in 2007.  What is a dessert flip?  It is the welcome invitation to do away with low-fat, fat-free, sugar-free, tasteless chemical-ridden substances that masquerade as desserts in supermarkets across the country and embrace the delicious, rich versions that the aforementioned are poor imitations of. 

How is this healthy?  Well, for starters, there are no 2,000 Calorie portions of cheesecake a la Cheesecake Factory.  The point is to have small portions of a decadent dessert you actually crave and serve it alongside a larger portion of something healthier, like berries, instead of the traditional large dessert with a mint leaf and single berry added for garnish.  For example, a bite-sized piece of cheesecake and a bowl of mixed berries, a couple chocolate-covered strawberries or dried fruit dipped in chocolate and nuts.  Another option is to reclaim a French standard – the fruit and cheese plate. 

Fruit and Cheese Plate
Photo courtesy of Salad Style

Does this really work? Sure it does.  Think of the last really amazing dish you ordered at a restaurant.  Which bites tasted the best?  The first ones.  I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have those first two amazing bites of the real thing than a whole plate of an unattractive cardboard-like dessert.  The bonus – absolutely no guilt, because you didn’t gorge yourself.  Definitely a win-win.

Here are a couple pictures: (insert dessert flip pictures here – one with berries, one just showcasing small desserts)

Fresh Fig Tart with Blackberry Sauce and Cinnamon Cream

Photo courtesy of Diary of a Sweet Tooth

Mini Vanilla Cheesecake with Raspberry Couli and Fresh Raspberries
Photo courtesy of desertculinary

On to a more savory topic - Whole Grain Additions to Every Meal with Chef Tucker Bunch.  More specifically, quinoa.  I remember teaching cooking classes and looking out on blank faces when I said, “quinoa.”  No more.  It seems this grain has permeated menus across North America.  Quinoa originated in the Andes.  It was held to be sacred by the Incas.  Quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein and cooks quickly.  Unlike other wheat and rice, it contains all of the essential amino acids and thus is an especially good choice for vegetarians and vegans.  When I chatted with attendees of Chef Bunch’s class, the thing that most intrigued them was that grain could be toasted.  As someone who loves quinoa and lives with a skeptic who disliked the slightly vegetal flavor of plain quinoa, I’ve found that toasting the grain in oil to a medium brown before cooking in water or broth completely eliminates the vegetal quality and brings a savory earthiness to the grain that gives it wider appeal.  Below is a picture of quinoa toasting in a pan. 

Quinoa toasting in a saute pan

To toast, preheat the pan over medium heat, add a small amount of bland flavored oil that can stand up to some heat (like canola oil) and coat the pan with it while allowing the oil to heat, then add the quinoa to the pan in a single layer and stir occasionally until toasted.  You only need enough oil to barely coat the grains.  Below is a picture showing the difference in color between toasted and untoasted quinoa.

Left: Toasted quinoa, Right: Untoasted quinoa

The bonus: if you toast quinoa, there’s no need to rinse it ahead of cooking.  For those of you not accustomed to preparing quinoa, the raw grain has a bitter, naturally occurring, compound called saponin which makes it unpalatable to birds and insects and limits the need for pesticides.  It is easily removed by rinsing thoroughly prior to cooking in liquid or inactivated by toasting.  After toasting, add the appropriate amount of water for the amount of grain you’re making (to find grain to liquid ratios of most of the grains you’re likely to encounter, see the post on Cooking Whole Grains.  Quinoa, unlike most other whole grains, cooks quickly – generally in about 10-12 minutes.  Yep, that’s faster than white rice!  It’s no wonder that this grain - originally the fare of poor farm workers in South America - has now become so valuable that those that grow it can rarely afford it. However, it has also brought more money to those same workers.  Here's an article that gives more information on the nutritional benefits and political controversy surrounding the grain.  Since I started cooking with it in 2001, the price has increased by ten times.  Come to think of it, my frequent teaching about quinoa is not helping me hold down the price of my dinner!

Speaking of dinner, the picture below shows finished quinoa that I made for dinner the other night.

Quinoa Pilaf (made from half toasted and half untoasted grain) 

It is half toasted and half untoasted quinoa cooked in seasoned vegetable broth.  Quinoa is done just as the center of the grain is turning from opaque to brownish-clear and the curl around the edge is just beginning to unfurl on a few grains in the pan.  If most of the curls are unfurled, it’s a good bet that the quinoa will be on the mushy, overcooked side.  My approach is usually to bring the liquid to a boil, stir in the quinoa, cover the pan and immediately turn heat to the lowest setting, cook for 10 minutes and then pull the pan off the heat and let it rest at least 10 minutes while I’m finishing the other parts of the meal (or whatever else you feel like doing).  I then fluff the quinoa with a fork to break up any clumps of grains before serving.  This method usually produces perfectly cooked quinoa.

The final day was bittersweet, filled with thankfulness to have met new and caught up with old friends, made new business contacts, reconnected with the part of medicine I’m most passionate about, wined and dined, and, for me, returned to the part of the country that I consider home. It was hard to believe that the time had passed so quickly and it was time to return to the day-to-day responsibilities of being a medical resident in Boston.  For all of these reasons, Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives is a bit of a magical experience for those interested in changing lives for the healthier. 

Cheers!

Make your own Gatorade, stay hydrated, get running!

Wow – what a rush to stand at the finish line and watch the most elite marathoners in the world break the ribbon at the Boston Marathon!  Congrats to Kenya for a clean sweep of first through third places for men and women.  Congrats also to American, Jason Hartmann, who finished fourth for men.

The view: one of many reasons I chose to run the Big Sur Marathon - breathtaking!

As I train for my own marathon in two weeks - the Big Sur International Marathon – I am definitely inspired.  After standing in the heat today at Boston’s finish line (75F in the shade, but hot enough that I was drenched in sweat after just standing for a few minutes in the sun), I am also inspired to share a recipe for homemade Oral Rehydration Salt AKA Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS).  The mixture is used as the basis of everything from sports drinks and gels to the World Health Organization's treatment for cholera and worldwide diarrheal illnesses.  Essentially, it is the safe treatment and prevention of dehydration – something that is a very real risk for today’s marathoners or anyone doing a lot of physical activity out in the sun.

Why not just drink water?  Whether you’re sweating or ill with diarrhea, you’re not just losing water.  You’re also losing electrolytes necessary for all the functions of the body.  The most important of these are sodium and potassium.  If you lose a lot of electrolytes and drink a lot of plain water to rehydrate, dangerous things can happen.  In athletes, severe hyponatremia (low blood sodium) can lead to death. 

The New England Journal of Medicine published the article, “Hyponatremia among Runners in the Boston Marathon,” after a woman died of hyponatremia during the 2002 Boston Marathon.  Those most likely to suffer from hyponatremia are non-elite athletes, those at the extremes of body mass index, those with weight gain during the race and with slow race times.

The body won’t absorb water alone very well since the intestines (the place where most of the water we drink is absorbed) have a co-transporter that requires sodium and glucose (aka. sugar) to absorb water - think of this as a guarded doorway with the password for entry of water being “sodium and glucose.”  (For all those well-versed in the science, I realize that I've left a few details out for simplicities sake.) Give the body sodium, glucose and water and hydration occurs without causing a dangerous decrease in the sodium in the blood.  The glucose also gives you the extra calories (aka. energy) you need, in the form easiest for your body to use.  This will also help you prevent feeling like you’ve “hit the wall” during exercise.  As an experiment, I tried running 16 miles with nothing but water and running 16 miles with ORS.  The results were dramatic.  With the ORS, I felt like a functional human being for the rest of the day and found that the run was really enjoyable.  Without the ORS, the last 4 miles were torture and my brain refused to work for the remainder of the day.

The other important player – potassium.  Potassium is essential for heart, nerve and kidney function, acid-base balance in the body, glycogen (energy) storage in the muscles and liver…I could go on.  It is also depleted by fluid losses from the body.  On average, one loses about 150mg potassium in a liter of sweat.

Sports gels and drinks are not cheap considering that their ingredients cost pennies.  The average retail cost of sports gels in is $1.25 to $2.50 a packet or serving. They are essentially glorified ORS containing sodium, potassium and sugar (the only necessary components) and a variety of other flavorings and additives for palatability and marketing edge.  They must all be consumed with water. 

In front of me are 3 types of sports gels and chews:

Clif Shot Strawberry + caffeine energy gel $1.25 per packet.

Each packet contains 100 calories, 90mg sodium, 55mg potassium, 24g carbohydrate (sugar).

Ingredients (dissected): organic maltodextrin (sugar), dried cane syrup (sugar) , water, organic strawberry concentrate (flavor), sea salt (sodium), potassium citrate (potassium), citric acid (flavoring and stabilizing agent), green tea extract (marketing ploy – caffeine).

Other marketing ploys: “organic,” a loop to hook to your belt while running, aimed at health nuts with “sea salt” and “green tea.”

GU Roctane ultra-endurance energy gel $2.50 per packet.

Each packet contains 100 calories, 125mg sodium, 55mg potassium, 25g carbohydrate (sugar).

Ingredients (dissected): maltodextrin (sugar), water, fructose (sugar), Roctane Amino Blend (marketing ploy), ornithine alpha ketoglutarate (marketing ploy), sodium citrate (sodium), natural pineapple flavor (flavoring), malic acid (flavoring), potassium citrate (potassium), citric acid (flavoring and stabilizing agent), calcium carbonate (marketing ploy), sea salt (sodium), preservative, vitamin E (preservative). 

Other marketing ploys: male geared with phrases like “race with the Roc,” gluten-free, amino acids and calcium listed above.  The latter items are in tiny doses and insufficient to aid in recovery of muscles and are not necessary for hydration, aimed at health nuts with “sea salt” and “amino blend.”

Clif Shot Blocks $2.50 per package of 6 chews, contains two servings of 3 chews each.

Each serving contains 100 calories, 70mg sodium, 20mg potassium, 24g carbohydrate (sugar).

Ingredients (dissected): organic brown rice syrup (sugar), organic dried cane syrup (sugar), organic brown rice syrup solids (sugar), pectin (gives the chew it’s chewy texture), citric acid (flavor and stabilizing agent), natural flavor, organic sunflower oil (prevents chews from sticking together), carnuba wax (makes chews shiny and prevents them from sticking together.

Other marketing ploys: organic, “clean and natural performance,” different medium (chews).

**Yes, they managed to leave the sodium and potassium containing ingredients off the label…hmm.

To summarize: important components of ORS include glucose (or simple sugar), sodium, potassium and water.  That’s it!  For pennies, you can make your own batch of ORS by using the recipes below.  Of course, sometimes convenience wins out – save the sports gels for those times when it’s inconvenient to make your own.  They really are no better at hydrating you. 

HINT: The recipes are based on the ORS proven by the World Health Organization to be best for rehydration.  Brand name Gatorade is actually not made according to what science says is best for rehydration.  To make something more like Gatorade (more tasty but less good for rehydration), double the sugar in the recipes below and cut the sodium and potassium salts in half.  ORS is saltier and less sweet than Gatorade.

Standard Recipe:

Ingredients	16 oz bottle	1 liter/quart	1 gallon
granulated sugar (aka. Standard table sugar)	1 Tablespoon	2 Tablespoons	1/2 cup
Sodium chloride (table salt)	1/4 teaspoon	1/2   teaspoon	2 teaspoons
Potassium chloride (salt substitute)	1/4 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon	2 teaspoons
Total:	1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon	2Tablespoons+ 1 teaspoon

Directions: add ingredients separately or mix a large batch together (i.e. the gallon size) and then just measure out the "total" amount listed under 16oz or 1 liter into a water bottle and fill the remainder of the 16 oz. or 1 liter bottle with water.

Modified Recipe #1:

Ingredients	16 oz bottle	1 liter/quart	1 gallon
Fruit juice or fruit juice cocktail	1/2 cup	1 cup	1 quart/liter
Sodium chloride (table salt)	1/4 teaspoon	1/2   teaspoon	2 teaspoons
Potassium chloride (salt substitute)	1/4 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon	2 teaspoons

Directions: Add all ingredients together in a container and fill remainder of container with water.

Modified Recipe #2:

Directions: Use the standard recipe above, but add a powdered drink mix of your choice for flavor.  Use manufacturer's instructions to add appropriate amount for the volume of liquid you're using.  I find that using half the amount specified for a volume of liquid is usually enough for my taste.  For example, I would add a container of Crystal Light meant to make 2 quarts to the gallon-sized recipe and then just measure out the amount listed for "total" (plus a small amount to account for the volume of the added drink mix) into a water bottle and then fill with water and shake.

Where to find the ingredients

Sodium chloride: table salt.  I prefer non-iodized salt for flavor purposes.  You can use any granulated salt or sea salt that you wish.  If you use flaked or kosher salt, it’s more difficult to get the measurements right, but on average, you can multiple the amount of salt in the recipes below by 1.33 to get the equivalent measurement of sodium.

Potassium chloride: commonly marketed as “salt substitute” for those with diabetes or high blood pressure.  A popular brand names are Nu-salt or Lite Salt.  Now Foods also sells an 8 oz. jar of powdered potassium chloride for $6.92 on Amazon.

Glucose: table sugar aka. granulated sugar.  These are actually made up of sucrose which is made up of glucose and fructose.  Since most people have table sugar, but not glucose at home, I have modified the recipes to use table sugar.

Now get running (or whatever active thing you do)!

Quick Tips: Asparagus

It's springtime: the birds are chirping...and my dog is chasing them.

Oh, and asparagus is EVERYWHERE!  I have been asked a couple of times this week about the best way to store asparagus and how to pick out the best spears.

Myth: skinny spears are the most tender.

Tenderness has to do with the growing conditions and maturity of the asparagus plant.  Fat stems are fat when they poke out of the ground and thin ones, thin.  Instead of using size to dictate tenderness, look for firm, straight stems with tight crowns.  In terms of diameter, choose what you like or what would look best with your dish.  You can estimate how much yield you’ll get from the bunch of asparagus by grabbing the stem end and midway up the spear and bending it just before the point of snapping.  The closer to the stem the snap looks like it will be, the more yield you’ll get from your asparagus and (likely) the more tender the stem, however this depends a bit on how the asparagus was harvested as well.  Finally, asparagus grown in cooler weather tend to be tougher since they grow more slowly and have more time to develop fiber/woodiness than those grown in warm weather.

Nerd factor: Grading of asparagus.  Asparagus are graded based on diameter as measured 9-inches down from the tip. 

Small: 30-40 spears per pound, not less than 3/16” in diameter

Standard: 20-30 spears per pound, not less than 5/16” in diameter

Large: 10-20 spears per pound, not less than 7/16” in diameter

Jumbo: 5-10 spears per pound, not less than 13/16” in diameter

Colossal: 6 or fewer spears per pound, roughly 1” or greater in diameter

Storing Asparagus

Like any vegetable purchase, it is best to use them ASAP, preferably within a day or two.  However, life happens and few of us have the luxury of going to a gorgeous farmer's market to buy freshly picked produce on a daily basis.  If this describes you, don't fear.  Cut an inch or so off the end of the stems and place them immediately into an open glass or container with an inch or two of cool water in it.  Put the container in the refrigerator.  As an experiment, I tried this over a week ago.  The remaining asparagus are in the picture below.  

Storing Asparagus (on the counter for photo - put them in the fridge!)

They are still perfectly crisp and delicious.  They're also tender despite not being skinny (just to prove the point above).  Last night, a few victims were part of the filling for potstickers. So good!

Potstickers with Asparagus Tofu Filling

Dukka

Day #1 @ Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives

Gets started late in the afternoon and is essentially and introduction and teaser for the days to come.  At 5pm PST, 400 people gathered for an inspiring introduction and several cooking demos from a Master Chef and other acclaimed chefs.  One dish prepared was dukka, a delicious condiment from Egypt.  My recipe is below.  Afterward, there was a tasting reception in the CIA’s Barrel Room with all of the cooking demo dishes and wine from 9 local wineries.

A variety of seeds - a healthy source of fat, fiber and protein

Dukka

Pronounced “Da’a” or phonetically Dha-ah, is an Egyptian condiment made of a mixture of pounded herbs, nuts and spices.  Versions vary a bit and generally contain salt, pepper and then one or more of the following: hazelnut or pistachio, mint, salt, pepper, cumin, caraway, sesame seed, cashew.  I’ve even seen some with coconut (I’ve never tried this, though, because it sounds terrible to me!).  It is REALLY addictive!  Traditionally, it’s eaten with flat bread (about the thickness of a pita) dipped in olive oil and then dipped in dukka.  It's also delicious to use as a crunchy coating for baked or roasted cauliflower or brussel sprouts and pork or poultry.

Ingredients

2/3 to 1 cup hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds or macadamia nuts, raw, unsalted*

1/2 cup sesame seeds, untoasted*

1/4 cup coriander seeds*

2 tablespoons cumin seeds*

1 teaspoon white sugar

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon flaked sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste

Directions :                 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place nuts on baking sheet.  Grab a handful after 5 minutes to check for doneness.  To do this, look for a slight darkening in the color, smell for a toasty aroma and make a fist around a couple of nuts.  The should quickly heat up your palm if they are done.  If not quite there, they will cool off within a few seconds in your closed fist.  Continue to check every 2-3 minutes until done.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

2. For nuts with skins that are flaking off a bit. Once cool, lie a kitchen towel out on the counter, pour the nuts onto it.  Fold the towel over the nuts and roll around under your palms with gentle pressure to remove some of the excess skin.  No need to try to get it all off.

3. In a medium sized dry sauté pan heated over medium heat, add the sesame seeds, shaking the pan occasionally until the seeds are popping and starting to turn golden.  Keep a lid handy to prevent the seeds from popping out all over!

4. In the same pan, dry toast the coriander seeds and then the cumin seeds each until fragrant and starting to turn a slightly darker hue.

5.  Allow all toasted seeds to cool.

6. In a food processor or mortar and pestle, pulse or grind all ingredients until finely ground.  Beware, don’t grind too long or you will end up with nut and seed butter.

Yield: Approximately 1 cup, 16-1 tablespoons servings.  Varies with exact Kosher salt, but each serving has approximately 100mg sodium and 65 calories per serving.

Store: in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

*Time saver: buy nuts already dry roasted (unsalted), sesame seeds toasted, and roasted ground cumin and coriander.  This is much less tasty, but much faster and still delicious.

Four Days in Napa Valley @ the Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives conference

As I write this, I am at 32,000 feet and headed to my fourth Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives (HKHL) conference, but first time as an attendee.  This will be a brief post because the turbulence is awful, but I am too excited not to share! 

Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Greystone Campus, St. Helena, CA (Napa Valley, CA)

Site of the HKHL conference

HKHL is a joint venture between Harvard Medical School and the Culinary Institute of America. This leadership conference broadly bridges nutrition science, health care and culinary arts. Each year, around 300 participants from around the world, including physicians, nurses, dieticians, other healthcare professionals, chefs, insurance and healthcare executives, school foodservice directors, teachers, journalists, lawyers and others, attend to break bread and toast with delicious Napa Valley wines and collaborate, cook, learn and become energized around healthy living.  With delicious food, good energy and the beautiful landscape, it’s no wonder why people leave feeling confident that healthy living is not only possible, but also delicious.

HKHL is the brainchild of David Eisenberg, MD and I fondly remember the planning we did together for the very first conference back in April 2007.  It was a hit!  If memory serves me well, this is the eighth iteration.  To learn more, check out http://www.healthykitchens.org .

After the 4-day conference, I will be blogging to share some recipes and updates.  Stay tuned!

Teaser:

While looking through the conference documents, I came across one that I created early on that guides you through how to create your own “essential kitchen.”  With this guide, you’ll be confident that you have all necessary equipment at your fingertips to tackle any recipe without wasting money on items you’ll never use.

Create your Essential Kitchen!

Not quite homemade gourmet pizza

I may be a chef, but I'm a busy one that has to cut corners many days of the week if I want to eat healthy.  I'm sure everyone can relate!

This is a great quick meal that I make a variety of versions of.  For today’s pizza, I used pre-made whole grain pizza dough from Trader Joe’s (they make a great garlic herb version as well).  While the oven is preheating to 500F (with the pizza stone inside if you have one), I get the dough out of the refrigerator and let it rest, still in its plastic bag, on the counter for 20 minutes to let the proteins relax.  This makes stretching the dough MUCH easier.  Meanwhile, I chopped my “Italian sausage” up into small pieces and briefly browned it in a small skillet on the stovetop.  Then chopped the green and red peppers and sliced the mushrooms and onions.

Time to stretch the dough – I LOVE stretching pizza dough (OK, I love tossing it in the air like back in the day when I used to work a third job at a well-known pizza chain making and delivering pizzas).  Sprinkle a handful of flour (whatever kind you have handy) on the counter and roll the dough into a ball.  Then, press your fingers slightly into the middle and begin stretching the edges, working your way around the dough.  Once you have a 6-8” circle, you can use your balled fists underneath the dough to stretch by pulling your fists gently in opposite directions.  Work your way around the dough doing this until you have a 12-14” diameter circle.  So, I realize this doesn’t involve tossing, but it’s the best way to do it at home unless you really like cleaning flour off the floors, nearest wall and all the items nearby.  Now, sprinkle a pizza peel or round pizza pan with cornmeal and place the dough on top.  I really like how the crunch of the dough touching a pizza stone contrasts with the chewiness of the inner part of the dough and the toppings, so I almost always opt for the peel and then slide the pizza once it’s sauced and topped directly into the oven onto a pizza stone.  

Almost there!  Spread a thin layer of sauce one the dough leaving ¾ to 1-inch clearance on the edges for crust.  If you don’t have dedicated pizza sauce and/or don’t want to make it, you can improvise as I did, taking an already-opened, half-used jar of roasted red pepper (or any flavor you like) pasta sauce out of the fridge, spread it on the dough, then sprinkle the pizza liberally with dried oregano.  I also like to sprinkle the sauce with minced garlic and dried basil.  Then, I top with the “sausage” and peppers.  

Stretched dough, on the peel, topped with sauce, peppers and "Italian sausage"

Sprinkle this with whatever shredded cheese you like.  I cannot eat cheese, so I use Daiya. (It's the most cheese-like of all the cheese alternatives I've tried.)  

Dairy-free cheese alternative

If you do the same, you’ll save yourself 22mg of cholesterol and 18% of your daily saturated fat per serving when swapping Daiya for mozzarella - not to mention the other unpleasant issues that many have after eating cheese.  (The calories are equivalent between the two, if you’re wondering.)  Finally, arrange the very finely sliced onions and mushrooms on top of, or mixed in with, the cheese.  This allows the onion to brown and crisp a bit and prevents the mushrooms from becoming a soggy, watery mess underneath the cheese (or “cheese”).

When your oven is at 500F (or has been for at least 15 minutes if using a pizza stone to allow time for it to warm through), put the pizza into the oven (or slide it from the peel to the pizza stone with a good thrust of the arm forward and a jerk back of the hand holding the peel to get it to slide onto the stone…alternatively, you can take the stone out of the oven, set it on top of the stove, and then slide the pizza onto it with the aid of a spatula if you don’t trust your skills as above and/or don’t want to risk a mess in the oven and smoke-filled kitchen).  Set the timer for 10 minutes.  At this point, it will be done for those that don’t like the crust and cheese very brown.  I prefer it after about 15 minutes of cooking.

Remove pan from over or slide peel back under pizza on the stone and remove from oven (this is MUCH easier after cooking than before cooking).

The creativity is not over!  You can eat as is, top with chunky olive tapenade (as I have here) or sliced pickled jalapenos.  I also love to make a salad of arugula dressed very lightly with balsamic vinaigrette and place a small pile of it on top of each slice or over the entire pizza (if you want a dramatic presentation).  This turns the pizza into a very well balanced meal and the tanginess of the vinaigrette contrasts nicely with the heavier flavors of the pizza.  Today, I had no arugula, so I used the last of the leftover pasta sauce, added dried oregano, basil and minced garlic to it and heated while the pizza cooked to make dipping sauce for the slices. 

Slice of the finished pizza topped with mixed olive tapenade & served with warm pizza sauce for dipping

TAKEAWAY POINTS:

- Description of stretching and working with pizza dough

- Making a quick pizza sauce from leftovers and dried herbs

- Be creative with your ingredients!  There is no need to use any or all of the ingredients I did.  If you like cheese and actual meat or poultry topping, fine, use those.  Use whatever ingredients you have around and like on pizza.

- Salad can be served ON TOP OF pizza.

- Great reheated the next day

- Don’t pile too many ingredients on your pizza – especially if you’re using a pizza pan – because you will have a soggy mess.  Avoid this by putting watery ingredients (like the mushrooms used here) on top of the cheese.

- Make sure to preheat your oven!  The hotter, the better!

- Get rid of the cheese altogether, substitute white bean spread or hummus for the pizza sauce, top with salad as mentioned above or cut into small pieces and use for an hor d’oeurve at a party.

- Yes, you can use premade crust, but it's usually not as good as sticking with premade dough and stretching it yourself.

Ingredients:

1 pound premade ball of pizza dough (I used whole wheat)

6-8 ounces sauce for topping pizza, more if you want extra for dipping (use premade pizza
    sauce, homemade or concoct something equivalent from leftovers as I did)

Dried oregano (enough to liberally sprinkle on pizza, more if making extra dipping sauce)

Dried basil, optional (enough to sprinkle on pizza, more if making extra dipping sauce)

Minced garlic, 1-2 teaspoons or to taste (I used already minced garlic from a jar)

1-1/2 Tofurkey Italian “Sausages” or 4-5 ounces of your favorite pizza-topping protein

1/8 – ¼ each green and red bell pepper, sliced or chopped into small pieces

4 or 5 cremini, white or other mushrooms, sliced 1/8-inch thick

Small amount (just a few slices) of white or yellow onion, sliced as thinly as possible

1-2 cups shredded cheese or cheese substitute (I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar flavored Daiya, dairy-free cheese substitute)

Directions: As above

Makes 8 slices, serves approximately 4 people with 2 slices each

Approximate calories per slice (if prepared as I did): 250 calories

Calorie-saving note: cut down on the cheese, cut out the meat or meat substitute.  Calories per slice with 1/3 less cheese and no “meat” = 185 calories per slice