Almond ricotta pizza

After a not insignificant amount of experimentation this is the pizza we have loved the most (in degree and frequency). Regular crust with a quick marinara sauce, a few dollops of almond ricotta, topped with kale (or broccoli) and tempeh sausage. Out of a perverse kind of laziness (i.e., not wanting to go to the store), I've gotten in the habit of making all the various components from scratch, but everything other than the cheese and sauce could easily be subbed out for pre-made stuff.

I still like Bittman's pizza dough recipe. Kristen doesn't love the cornmeal so I have been using all flour lately (and I can verify that up to 1/3 whole wheat flour tastes good). Also if you are into leavening things, I can't recommend instant yeast enough (available on King Arthur Flour's website).

Once the dough has risen, divide it, shape it into two balls and cover with a dry cloth. Throw your pizza stone in the oven (I've also had good luck baking pizza in a 12" cast iron skillet) and preheat to 500. If your oven is anything like mine, you should have plenty of time to make the toppings while you wait:

Simple pizza sauce
Half an onion, diced
28oz can of whole tomatoes
0.5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, oregano

Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Trim the tomatoes (i.e., cut off the stems and chop coarsely), and add them with about half of their juice to the pan. Add the sugar, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, and then give it a quick pulse in the blender.

Almond ricotta
1 cup almonds
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
~0.25 cups warm water
Salt, pepper

If your almonds have skins, drop them in boiling water for a couple minutes, and then transfer to an ice bath. When they're cool, just squeeze along the edges, and the almond will pop out. Toss the skins, and let the almonds soak in warm water for a few minutes (usually how ever long it takes to make the sauce). Drain almost all of the water, and transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, lemon, and a pinch of salt. The goal now is to process until it is quite smooth (it's always slightly grainy but that seems to work itself out when it bakes), and fairly thick, adding a little bit of water at a time as necessary. I've found it to be quite forgiving w/r/t the amount of water, so don't worry if it seems too thick or too thin (anywhere from yogurt to ricotta seems to work fine). Season to taste.

Toss the dough like so (warning: embarrassing animated GIF), or just roll and stretch it like a normal person. Top with plenty of sauce. We're partial to tempeh sausage crumbles à la Isa and something green (broccoli, kale) for toppings, plus a few evenly spaced dollops of almond cheese. Bake for 9-10 minutes at 500, until the crust is starting to darken and the cheese puffs up a bit. Enjoy!

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Strawberry icebox cake for Labor Day

I wanted to share a recipe appropriate for American Labor Day, our hallowed end-of-summer celebration (as opposed to Real Labor Day, which they observe everywhere else on May 1st). It's a frozen strawberry cheesecake that you can whip up with minimal labor. Plus it's dairy-free and relatively healthy. And delicious, duh. The recipe is adapted from Green Kitchen Stories (looove this blog).

Strawberry icebox cake

Crust 
2 c. almonds
10 fresh pitted dates
2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted to liquid
a generous pinch of salt

Filling
2 c. fresh or frozen strawberries (blueberries and raspberries would work too)
juice from half a lemon
1/2 c. honey
1 c. soy cream cheese (I used Tofutti, but make sure it's free of hydrogenated oils)
1 c. plain or vanilla soy yogurt (can substitute Greek yogurt)

Grind up the ingredients for the crust in a food processor. Then flatten out the crust in the bottom of an 8-inch spring form cake pan. Stick it in the fridge while you make the filling. You can rinse out the food processor or use a blender to mix the ingredients for the filling. Pour the filling on top of the crust and freeze for 1-2 hours before serving. If you store it overnight, let it soften a little before eating (otherwise you'll get that horrible freeze-burn sensation on your teeth).

Fig and Almond Barley Pilaf

I want to say I came up with this on my own, but then I looked at How to Cook Everything to get an idea of proportions for a pilaf and he had pretty much this exact thing (with apricots instead of figs). Starting to think that "everything" isn't all that much of an exaggeration. I am a pretty big fan of barley though. It's fun to say, loaded with soluble fiber, and super versatile (equally good as a hot breakfast cereals or in place of rice in a risotto)

Fig and Almond Barley Pilaf
Serves: 4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 0.5 cups diced yellow onion
• 1 cup pearled barley
• 0.25 cups sliced blanched almonds
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 3-4 dried mission figs
• Honey
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
   
2. Cook the onion with a heavy pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until it is translucent
   
3. Add the barley and almonds, stir until the barley is coated with oil and let cook for another minute or so.
   
4. Add the vegetable broth, thyme, and pepper. I find our bouillon makes a pretty salty broth, so I didn't add any at this point, but you might want to.
   
5. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn the heat to low. Let this cook for about 30 minutes until all the water is absorbed. You can add a little liquid if the barley isn't quite cooked or turn up the heat a little and leave the cover off if there is too much.
   
6. Stir in the figs (cut into 1/8ths) and a drizzle of honey. I thought a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar on the plate were nice too
   

I learned what "blanched" almonds were only after dinner, but let's say that leaving the skins on was an artistic decision to give the photo some contrast (and to be honest, it didn't bother me a bit)