There was a slight bit of kneading required in spite of the name but the dough was awesome, but it needs to be planned for and made well in advance.

Ingredients
3 c + extra flour
1 1/2 c warm water
1/4 c + extra olive oil
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp yeast

Instructions
Mix together dry ingredients thoroughly, then mix in water and olive oil until it is mixed evenly, it will be very wet, like sticky and not dough like wet.  Drizzle olive oil over the surface of the dough, cover bowl with plastic wrap and let set for 12-24 hours.  Once dough has raised.  Turn oven on the highest temperature possible (500°F in my case) and put cast iron skillet in the oven until it is heated well.  Punch down dough flip out onto a floured surface and divide into small balls and make individual rounds of dough, for pizza.  I made three.  Roll or stretch out the dough into thin crusts.

Have your toppings, sauce and cheese ready.  Lightly oil the skillet and then place the crust in the skillet.  Quickly put sauce, toppings and cheese on the crust.  Bake in skillet in oven until pizza is done.  Mine took about 5 minutes.

Even though you have a little more planning to do than with normal this crust is well worth the effort and advanced preparation.  I am glad I have two crusts left, I can’t wait to make it again.  This time it was just pepperoni, next time it will be much more elaborate.

I started out by cutting my steaks up into about quarter inch this pieces of meat at a 30° angle across the grain of the meat.  This was fairly easy to do and using a larger than necessary knife made it even simpler.

Once the meat was cut I mixed together a rub as follows.

Ingredients
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground ginger

Instructions
Blend together all ingredients in a small bowl being sure to get any clumps out of the brown sugar.

Once the rub was mixed together I then rubbed the rub into the meat, this amount of rub is good for about 1 1/2 pounds of meat.

I then placed it on the smoker with NO water in the water pan at 155°F for 5 hours over a blend of hickory and mesquite using my PID controlled electric smoker.  Using the propane would have probably been too moist to get good jerky and the charcoal might have been a little tricky to maintain that temperature for such a long period of time.  The electric with the PID controller is just easy.   At this point it was still a little moist in the middle but chewy and very jerky like, it was really good.

Even as mystery meat the reviews have been good, people have liked it, most importantly I liked it so I will be making more jerky and posting about it as I learn new things.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 can of pineapple slices
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar
1-2 tbsp corn starch

Instructions
Start by draining pineapple and reserving juice.  Combine juice, mustard, ginger, curry powder, cayenne, honey and brown sugar in a small pot and heat over medium to a boil, stirring constantly.  Slowly add in cornstarch until it thickens to a maple syrup consistency.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Get the grill ready, when it is at a medium/medium high temperature lube the grate with vegetable oil and start grilling the chicken.  When the chicken is about 5 minutes from done (use your own judgment), add pineapple to grill and brush with glaze.  Then brush chicken with a generous amount of glaze on both sides.  Flip pineapple and brush the other side with glaze.  Use the remaining glaze on the chicken remove both chicken and pineapple when done.  Eat chicken piled high with pineapple.

I ate mine with a healthy portion of spinach salad with mandarin oranges, grilled pineapple, bacon and raspberry vinaigrette.

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 slices of bacon fried
1 tbsp pesto
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 small onion chopped
1 clove garlic pressed
1 tbsp olive oil
mayo
2 slices toasted bread
12 spinach leaves
6 fresh basil leaves

Instructions
Pour olive oil in skilled and heat over medium heat, add onions, mustard, pesto and garlic, saute until onions are translucent.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Crack eggs and place in skillet, spread mayo on bread.  Once eggs are half done add chopped spinach and chopped basil leaves.  Finish cooking eggs.  Transfer eggs to bread, top with onion ‘relish’ and bacon.  Eat immediately.

A tasty, easy to make and boldly flavored sandwich I am going to be sure again.

Now that is some good looking chicken.  Even the simplest of recipes can yield a complex result on occasion.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp melted margarine
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Grease a glass baking dish.  Wash chicken under cool water and pat dry with paper towels.  Set aside.  In a bowl combine all ingredients besides chicken and mix until uniform.  Spread mixture over entire surface of chicken, rubbing into the meat.  Bake for about 35-40 minutes until done.

While not my favorite chicken recipe of late, I mean its no Curried Chicken, this wasn’t half bad and we may make it again at a later date?

With that aside, we had another workout and cook at the same time meal tonight.  It was called Jerk not because of the process or its temperament but because of the seasoning we applied and despite its ease and lack of process and a rich marinade it was far more than edible it resembled jerk chicken and it was easy.  Besides that it tempted us with smells of the Caribbean, while we did our plyometrics.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
jerk seasoning (I got mine at Penzeys)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.  Combine lime juice and olive oil in a glass baking dish until uniform.  Roll chicken several times in the mixture and sprinkle both sides, covering evenly with jerk seasoning.  Bake for about 50 minutes or until done, turning once.

While not nearly as delicious as the real thing, our poor man’s jerk chicken was a tasty treat with a bit of a kick in the middle of winter.

This could be love at first taste, it became apparent tonight as I ate my dinner that I have not eaten enough curry in the past and will have to include this in my diet in an increasing fashion in the future.  My curry love affair has been born.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/3 c honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp curry powder

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 375°F.  Place butter in a glass baking dish and heat until melted.  Add honey, mustard and curry powder to melted butter and mix thoroughly.   Add chicken and roll in curry mixture several times.  Cook for 50 minute basting frequently.  Serve over hot rice and smother with curry mixture left over in the baking dish.

I used a cheap curry I had purchased at the grocery store and will be looking next time I am at the spice shop at the variety of curries they have available.  Also of note I made the rice as usual in my rice cooker and allowed it to warm once it was complete.

This might not be as low fat as other chicken dishes but at about 350 calories a serving (did a little math) I’ll take it, its good enough for me, besides what is the point of working out if you can’t eat more?

Ingredients
2 3/4 c flour
1 1/3 c buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
pinch of baking soda
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
2/3 c margarine or butter cut into 1 inch pieces

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375ºF

In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl whisk together buttermilk and egg.  Cut butter or margarine into dry ingredients until butter or margarine is pea sized.  Stir in buttermilk mixture, until just mixed, do not over mix.

Remove dough to a lightly floured surface, pat to desired thickness (mine was 3/4″).  Use a large glass to cut into rounds.  Place biscuit rounds on a large ungreased baking sheet.

Bake the biscuits until light, fluffy and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Now if I was feeling ambitious I would make up some sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy in the morning, something tells me it will just be yogurt.

Tonight we had Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry over white rice.  The first time we made this dish we did not have any soy sauce and so we had substituted Dale’s Marinade for soy sauce, Dale’s imparts quite a different flavor to the dish than does straight soy sauce, you should try it both ways.

The recipe we used to create our chicken and broccoli stir fry was derived from several recipes online for chicken and pork stir fry and is as follows:

Ingredients
1 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 c beef broth
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp cornstarch
6 c broccoli florets
1 c water
1 tbsp canola oil, divided
3 large cloves garlic, pressed

Instructions
In a medium bowl toss chicken with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and red wine vinegar until evenly coated.  Set aside.  In another bowl combine remaining soy sauce, beef broth, sugar, ginger and cornstarch.

Place broccoli in a large skillet over high heat with water.  Cover and steam until tender.  Drain and transfer to a plate, set aside.

Heat oil in same skillet over high heat until it sends up wisps of smoke.  Add chicken, stir-fry until cooked through.

Return broccoli to skillet and add garlic.  Stir-fry until garlic is fragrant (about 2 minutes).  Pour in broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Serve immediately over white rice.

In order to the consistently great rice I use a Cuisinart 4 Cup rice cooker with a touch of canola oil in the bottom of the pan and use a 1 to 2 ratio of rice to water and a pinch of salt.  Great stir fry should be accompanied by great rice, every time.

Ingredients
For the dough
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 egg beaten
1/2 c milk

For the filling
1 lbs pork sausage
1/2 lbs ground beef
1/4 c bread crumbs, made from bread dried in the oven and crumbled
2 tbsp cream
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Sift together dry ingredients, cut in shortening.  Mix in beaten egg and milk.  Turn out onto a floured surface, knead dough about 10 times until uniform.  Divide into two sections, roll each to 1/4 inch thick and cut out 15 2″x3″ rectangles from each, set aside.

For filling, blend all ingredients together by hand, until uniform.  Roll into 30 rolls of meat, think sausage links.  Wrap dough around each “link”.

Place on brown paper bag on cookie sheets with sides, bake 40 minutes at 350°F

If you are afraid it is going to be too bland, spice it up with some hot and spicy whole grain mustard.  This will become a Christmas, and most likely year around favorite for me.  What are you favorite Christmas time dishes?