Kids love pizza. This is no secret. What kids love more than pizza is their own personal pizza. They can have something and make it all theirs. You can learn a lot about a kid by what they put on their pizza.
2-year-old fingers can’t resist poking dough.
In my experience, when kids touch and help make their food (and grow it!), they are more likely to eat it. I also think it helps them form good habits of cooking, which will hopefully stay with them when they need to feed themselves.
Our go-to toppings:
mushrooms
bacon/proscuitto
tomatoes
red onions
leeks
corn
grilled chicken
olives
sausage
avocado
roasted garlic
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a tomato sauce fan, but i think the garlic with olive oil brings this one home for the team.
Pizza Dough:
Use Alton Brown’s recipe found here. I like it because everything is in the bowl at the same time which is easy enough for everyone. I use 1/2 T salt instead of the full T. You can get away with letting it rise for a few hours or try it the full amount of time he states if you want the best results. I make it an hour before….all.the.time.
We had our first red tomatoes this week! Thank you, God, for letting the sun out to make them nice and ripe.
I always try my first tomato with a few speckles of sea salt. Next, I could think of no better way to honor the tomato than with my version of a BLAT. I baked some brioche (which didn’t really work out since I pushed the dough a day to long because I was tired…oh well) then whipped some mayo with lemon, chopped tarragon, and cracked pepper. I used pancetta (or italian bacon) instead of regular.
My favorite sandwich…ever.
B acon
L ettuce
A vocado
T omato
For my husband: the Peleo version as an egg scrambler.
This dish is a favorite of mine for a quick dinner. It is a one pot dish which is always lovely if you cook 3 meals a day like me. I enjoy making food that is simple, but enters your mouth tasting more complex than it is. This is just part of building flavor and letting a food, like this chicken, make its own sauce. One thing i don’t enjoy about traditional American food is that it’s plain and boring and not exciting to eat. It usually severely lacks salt and only contains a few ingredients. Most people who cook this way, are not aware of it. I’ve wanted to tell them that it’s a simple fix, but I just assume they mean to do it. So, I’m just gonna say it…don’t be afraid of forming a relationship with good salt and the right amount! I mostly use kosher and sea salt, but never table (iodized) salt. I have slowly seen my friends convert over. I just gave my Dad a salt grinder this year, in fact. It really does make such a difference.
French tarragon, used in this recipe, has bumped up on my” favorite herb list”, of late, because it is not overused like basil or even thyme. It has a light black licorice flavor, much like anise and another star of this dish, fennel. Don’t be concerned though, I think black licorice is disgusting and I love tarragon so you should be okay if you have similar licorice tendencies. It is perennial, so is just coming alive again after its winter nap.
 I love fennel. I’m growing it but it is not quite ready yet. Can’t wait!
Scrubbing carrots from the garden is a perfect job for kids.
Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and cook in oil, on medium-high heat, until brown on all sides. Chop the root vegetables into bite size pieces while the chicken is searing.
Miss F wanted to cut too, so she broke out a kid-friendly butter knife. Hopefully none of her hair got in there…
Preheat oven to 400. Heat olive oil in a pan. Saute garlic for 1 minute, then add onions and s & p. Sweat them and cook until slightly browned. Stir in the root vegetables (more s & p) and saute for a few minutes. To make it interesting, I did poor half of my husband’s beer in the last time I made it. It was very tasty and is a new and different type of alcohol to deglaze the pan with. It just helps remove the yummy bits of food from the pan and puts them back in your food.
Add the browned chicken on top, the butter if you want it extra yummy, as well as the tarragon. Bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked to 165. Remove the chicken from the pan and return the vegetables to the oven. Turn the oven up to broil mode for 5 minutes, stirring as needed to keep from burning. Plate the chicken on top of the vegetables and serve to hungry people.
Tarragon Chicken with Beer Roasted Root Vegetables
- 1 whole chicken, pieced or 6 chicken pieces of your choice
- 2 pieces of fennel, tops removed
- 1 T butter or canola oil for the pan
- 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
- salt and pepper (s&p used above)
- 1/2 stick of butter (optional)
- 1 cup of beer, any kind will work (optional)
- 4 sprigs of french tarragon
Remember to reach out to people and invite them over. Life is about more than just the home we live in and the things we do in it. This is a great meal for a group. In fact, my friend just made it for some girls in need who were coming over for dinner. Food can reach people in ways that words cannot! :)
One of my favorites, this salad. I first had a beet salad several years ago at the Pebble Beach, CA restaurant, Club XIX (amazing place, by the way). This kind of salad was hardly popular yet and I was hooked right then and there. This restaurant also is responsible for my husband and myself becoming a fan of the “chef’s tasting menu” where the chef picks his best eats for you. We have never been disappointed. Conversely, we have tried many things we would have never ordered and have increased our food knowledge as well.
This was my third winter for planting beets and was also the best. I opted for “Bull’s Blood”, “Chioggia”, and “Detroit Dark” this year. I couldn’t locate any golden beet seeds this year locally, but that’s next on my list. Beets are super-easy to grow. The hardest part is waiting for them to grow up, instead of eating them as baby beets. Kids can plant these very easily because the seeds don’t get lost in the grasp of a small child.
If you’ve never tasted one, beets are sweet with a bit of an earthy flavor. They pair nicely with something acidic like oranges or vinegars.
I’m anxious to try a beet dye oneday…
Precious garden cargo, planted by my little buddy.
You can saute’ the greens but I’ve never been a big fan. Here they are beheaded. Cook at 350 for at least an hour or until tender when poked with a fork.
All peeled, diced, and ready to mix with:
- goat cheese
- basil or chives
- roasted pecans
- balsamic vinegar reduction
- walnut or olive oil
- salt and pepper
Serve by a window looking out to something lovely and a good gardening book to plan for your beets!
I HIGHLY recommend Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte found here in addition to a region specific book of your finding.
 Like many families, we love to make pizza on Fridays. We’ve been making it from scratch almost every week since we first got married almost 8 years ago (wow!). Personally, I prefer white pizza (like above) because it allows for a really great garlic flavor that is not being attacked by tomato sauce. Don’t get me wrong, tomato sauce has its shining moments, but not today.
One of the reasons we make pizza on Fridays is to use up ingredients in the fridge or give leftovers new life again. One of our favorite pizzas so far has been a steak, asparagus, and corn pizza. All ingredients were from a previous meal and it was just…delicious.
On this pizza, I started with a base of 1/4 c of olive oil and 2 cloves of pressed garlic. If something is wrong with you and you don’t like a crazy amount of garlic flavor, I would suggest leaving the garlic in the oil for a day or so ahead of time or use 1 clove. I used red onions left from hamburger toppings, some delicious local breakfast sausage from Homegrown Meats (a local grass-fed meat shop here in San Diego), mushrooms, thyme, chives and mozzarella
For this pizza dough, I tried out my snazzy new ipad bread app from Michael Ruhlman.
Pizza dough ratios:
20 oz bread flour
12 oz water
2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
Measure the ingredients the bowl for your mixer.
Mix them until smooth and elastic and you can stretch a piece of the dough and almost see through it (usually 10 min).
Let it rise for a few hours until doubled.
Knead the dough for a few minutes then shape into a disc.
Cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Roll it out add add whatever you want!
Bake at 450 degrees.
I loved this crust for its soft insides but stable, crisp outsides. I will make again, fo sho.
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