kale pesto

Hello again!

I hope you've all had a chance to enjoy balsamic green beans since that's 

the last thing I posted FOREVER ago! 

Sorry, really I am!!

I go through such spurts of feeling committed to this little blog...shady, I know. haha, get it? :)

ok anyways. I'm back and am going to try my hardest to be more consistent....because I have lots of things I want you to try. 

First up...kale pesto.

 Let me just say that I am sooo thankful for the produce co-op we're in. 

It's fun, affordable, and a great way for us (resident and teacher/nanny) to be 

able to eat more local and organic produce.

In our box last week, we got lots of kale, snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, clementines, 

spring mix lettuce, etcccc.... so much yumminess for just about $27. 

I made kale pesto and:

1. added it to whole wheat angel hair pasta with snap peas and broccoli

2. used it as a condiment to make delicious turkey sandwiches

3. dipped fresh vegetables in it instead of hummus

4. used it as a base for pizza

oh so good. 5 ingredients (plus s&p). easy shmeezy. healthy.

Ingredients: 

1 bunch kale

1/2 cup walnuts (OR pinenuts, almonds, or cashews)

about 1/2 cup olive oil (or a little less)

3-6 cloves garlic, depending on how garlicky you like things

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: 

Remove kale from stem and peel garlic. 

Chop nuts in food processor. 

Add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, garlic, cheese, and lemon juice to food processor. 

Blanch kale in salt water (bring water to a boil, add kale, 

return to boil, remove kale and rinse in cold water, squeeze water from kale)

Add blanched kale to food processor and pulse until pesto-like consistency. 

Add more olive oil if necessary. 

Enjoy! :) 

whole wheat pizza dough

I don't know what happened. All of a sudden I totally and accidentally neglected my sweet little Shady Basil. I'm back (side note: you may notice that I like to blog like I have a massive group of readers... it's just more fun for me!! Don't worry, I know that just a couple friends and family check out my little site and I like that too. Maybe someday shady basil will be super cool like Fresh365 and Joy the Baker and Sprouted Kitchen, some of my blogging idols!) and I have lots of things to share. My new goal is to share at least 3 recipes a week.

First up.....homemade pizza dough!! Making my own pizza dough has been on my list of things I've really wanted to do in the kitchen for a while. I don't know why I waited so long. This stuff is soo easy..and delicious. A friend, who will remain nameless because he may have changed his mind by now,  even said, "oh my gosh, this dough is better than Mellow Mushroom!" That's a big deal. Trust me.

This recipe makes 6 individual pizza doughs. Last time I made it, I made double the dough. We had friends over and each made a little pizza. Then I put the remaining six doughs in individual ziplock bags and popped 'em in the freezer. It's been wonderful to have them on hand...just take them out of the freezer, leave in its bag, and set on the counter about 4-5 hours before you're going to make a pizza. Easy!

Now to the good stuff...

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (adapted from Fresh365)

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
a few Tbs chopped herbs (optional) I used rosemary and thyme
whole wheat flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions:

Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in large bowl. Using your hands stir in the oil and cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add chopped herbs. By hand mix and knead all ingredients together (for a few minutes). Add a dash of water or flour to reach desired consistency. Dough should not stick to sides of bowl, but will stick a little bit to bottom of bowl. Dough should be springy, elastic, and a little sticky.

Transfer dough to a floured countertop. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from refrigerator at least 1 hour before making pizza. Keep covered so they don't dry out.

Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you don't have a stone, use the back of a cookie sheet, but do not preheat it.

Dust countertop or small piece of parchment paper with cornmeal or flour and get ready to shape your pizza dough. Uncover dough and sprinkle with flour. Gently press a dough round into about a 12" disk. If dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest another 15-20 minutes.

Add your toppings and slide onto the baking stone. Bake until crust is crisp and nicely colored (about 12-16 minutes depending on your oven). Remove from oven and finish with more freshly grated parmesan!

Last night we made one vegetable pizza: olive oil and garlic base, lots of mushrooms, basil, bell pepper, and cheese and one hawaiian one: tomato sauce, red pepper flakes, ham, pineapple, and cheese.

Let me know how this goes for you...enjoy!!