Niles had called me and asked if I was going to bake anything for Lost night, and I said yes because I had nothing to do all afternoon (after I went running), and he was busy, so I would cook.

I decided to make Spinach Pinwheels and Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies.  I found both of these recipes using the Allrecipes.com app for my iPhone.  It seems very neat, and it only gives out recipes that are rated 4 starts or higher!  The chances of getting a good recipe are pretty high.

Wednesday night I went for a run, and ran to the grocery store.  I walked back to City Hall and my dad gave me a ride home.  I was planning on running home from City Hall (which is why I went - to drop the groceries off), but Trevor and my dad both agreed that I had run enough already.  It was a good thing, too, because I would soon find out that I was very stressed for time  (It’s about 5:30 at this point).

I get home and immediately start cooking.  I had already made the dough with the bread machine, so I got the dough out (it had been preparing while I was running), and set that up.  I separated the dough in half and two equal sized balls that I rolled out into a circle.  Then, I cut them up like they were pizza.

This was a mistake.  I was following two recipes.  One was to make the Spinach Pinwheels out of Pillsbury Cresent Rolls (bought at the store), and the other was how to make my own Cresent Rolls with a bread machine.  I cut up the dough thinking I was just making regular rolls, but then the recipe told me to roll them up, and let them rise like that.  I had to put stuff in my rolls….. how was this going to work?  So I cut them up, and let them rise like that, just flat and cut.

Then, after they rose, I filled them, and rolled them up.

This was when I found out that they were suppose to be mini.  So I combined two of the triangles together to make a large rectangle, and rolled them up like that, then I had to cut the dough and cook them so they were very little.  Cutting the dough sucked.

Then, they baked for about 12 minutes.  I burned one tray of them, but luckily it was the last tray that only had about 6 pinwheels on it.  I actually ended up cutting away the non-burnt part and eating it.

When I got to Niles’ house with this, I was angry at them.  They were a pain in the ass to make, I didn’t think they were that delicious, and they sure didn’t look that great.  My dad had one and said they were very good, but I was still bitter.

At Niles’ house, everyone LOVED them, and every single one was eaten.  Yay!!  Next time, however, I’m going to use the store bought dough.  It will make them MUCH simpler.  For something that isn’t 5 Stars, hours of work just isn’t worth it.

Spinach Pinwheels

Use either Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, or make your own dough.  Here is the recipe for a bread machine.

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten (I used egg whites only.  2/3 cup)
• 4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar  (I used a bit less than this.  The original recipe called for 1/2 cup!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place wet ingredients in machine first, followed by flour.  Yeast goes in last, on top of flour.

This is where the recipe gets tricky.  I think next time I would let the dough rise before doing anything with it.  Then, I would separate it into two balls, roll them out, and cut rectangular shapes.  Then, inside the dough, you use:

• 1 (7 ounce) package garlic herb cheese spread
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

and distribute evenly.  I think I would use less dough so there is more cheese on each biscuit.

This recipe is all very confusing, and I don’t have the time right now to write it all out.  Basically, buy the store bought ones and it will be a LOT easier.  Plus, it probably makes less anyway, so there is more cheese per roll.

On to the cookies!

These were very fun to make.  Actually, no they weren’t, but they are just so delicious I’m pretending that they were fun (because I have nothing but good thoughts towards these cookies).

Follow all directions according to recipe.  I added more cranberries because I love them.  I used about 1.25 cups instead of just one.  I think it could use even more next time!

I also used a food processor because I was too lazy to chop up individual cranberries.  I tried a couple of them, and I just made a mess (and squirted cranberry juice all over!)

Drop cookies onto a cookie sheet using a spoon.  They should be about the size of a golf ball.

I was freaking out cause it was super late, and I was stressed I wasn’t going to get done in time (I was doing both of these recipes, and eating dinner all at the same time.  My dad helped take the cookies out of the oven while I was busy rolling up stupid pinwheels.  He wanted me to take his picture to show him being helpful!

These cookies were absolutely delicious.  I like pumpkin bread, and I like cranberries, and this was a mix of the two.  They are very cake-like cookies, and are extremely soft.  They would be called something better than cookies, but I don’t know what.  Someone said they are like soft scones.  The dough was clearly the consistency of cookies, but the cookie themselves are very soft.  I think next time I might make them in mini muffin tins.

I give this recipe 5 stars. My mom said she liked these ones a lot better than the cake-like Apple Cookies Megan made us in December (HA!).

I just ate three of them…….. and I ate one earlier today, too.

They’re just so delicious!!!

Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and  1/4  cup fresh cranberries
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon orange zest  (I used 1 tablespoon frozen OJ concentrate)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg and pumpkin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into mixture until well blended. Cut the cranberries in half and stir into mixture along with the orange zest and walnuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until bottom of cookie is lightly brown.

Niles had made food too.  There was confusion there.  I thought he was telling me he was too busy to cook, so I would cook.  Then I got there, and he was cooking boatloads of food.  Luckily, it was the biggest Lost night yet with 10 people, and all of the food was eaten.  It worked out perfectly.

Sorry for the late post.  Right now I’m in a hurry to go to Rob’s house in Dartmouth.  I’m staying over, and we’re cooking dinner, and then tomorrow we’re going to see Watchmen.  I bought the graphic novel yesterday and I want to finish it before the movie.   I’m about 60% done.  After my family reads it, I’m donating it to the library.  It was a good purchase.  But now I’m off for a 2 hour drive (I got an audio book for the trip - Bill Bryson!).  I’m also bringing my computer and camera so I can blog about our adventures.  I also asked Rob if he’d devise a 3 mile run for us tomorrow morning!!!

I really enjoyed the pizza, but my dad thought it tasted too much like bread, and not enough like pizza dough.  He liked his homemade pizza better, but he bought his dough.   So really… his wasn’t fully homemade, and mine was.  So there!

I put everything in the bread machine under dough cycle again, and it was a lot different than the Italian bread dough.  This was a LOT stickier and I had a hard time getting it out of the container.

Then, I had to scrape out all the stuff that was still left in the container.

Then I started to cover it with flour and knead it a bit, when I felt something hard.  “Uh Oh, What’s that?”  I thought.  Oh, it was the little spinny thing that is suppose to be in the bottom of the container!  (I got my camera covered in lots of flour taking these pictures!)

After the dough sat for a bit, I rolled it out and placed it on the pizza peel (the wooden spatula thing).

Then I decorated it with sauce, cheese, peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and some deli ham we had in the fridge (for my dad).

I mixed some cooked TVP with tomato sauce and added that to a portion for me.  My mom wouldn’t try any until we looked up exactly what TVP was.  It is soy.  Now she is “not afraid of it”  and will eat it more willingly.

Here is the pizza cooked!  The second pizza was in the oven at 500°, the first one was only in at 400°.  The higher temperature was much better.  I also brushed the second pizza’s crust with olive oil.  So which of these made the crust better?  My mom thinks it was the higher temp.  So 500° it is!  I really enjoyed the pizza even though my dad said it was too “bread like.”  I like bread, so I was ok with it.

I did make a HUGE mess in the kitchen, and got flour everywhere.  This was a very messy and time consuming dinner.  That was the only down fall.  Oh, and getting the pizza off the peel and into the oven was also tricky.

Homemade Pizza

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

1. Put all ingredients in bread machine following the instructions of the bread machine.  Flour is the second to last ingredient, and then the yeast is last.
2. After dough is done, separate into how many pizza you want.  I did two small ones, which was good cause a large one wouldn’t have fit on my pizza stone.
3. Once separated, leave the dough alone, covered for 10 minutes to let it settle.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface, and form on the pizza peel (or a wooden cutting board, or a clean piece of thick cardboard.
5. Decorate pizza with toppings
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
7. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

I ran errands today.  Literally.  I RAN.  It was awesome.  First stop the post office box to mail a letter to the place where I applied to be a substitute teacher (they needed me to sign a sheet for a criminal background check).  Then I ran to the bank, CVS, and Walgreens (I bought a total of 4 boxes of cereal!), then I walked home (because I was carrying a lot of stuff).  It was about a two mile run, but then another one mile or so walk back (because I got hungry and wanted to get home the quickest way possible).  I needed to exercise and do errands, and be back home and showered by 2pm, so I decided to do them at the same time!  I thought it was a great idea until I checked the weather.  25 degrees.  Oooh that’s cold!

I have heard that when going for a run, you should dress like it is 20 degrees warmer.  Ok, so 45 degrees.  But should I dress to run in 45 degrees? Or walk in 45 degrees?  I have no idea.  I wore a sweatshirt and my winter jacket, and a hat, and both hoods.  The hat came off quickly because I got too hot, and then by the time I got to CVS I was way too sweaty and hot and it was awful.  But then I got outside and was freezing again, and I put on my coat that I had just taken off!  Stupid weather.

Dad isn’t going to be home for dinner tonight, so my mom wanted to do something simple.  Spaghetti!  My mom loves spaghetti.  But I didn’t want to do something too simple, so I am making my own Italian bread (using the dough setting on the bread machine).  I also want to make my own tomato sauce, but I think that it is too complicated.  I want to try to take some canned spaghetti sauce and add some stuff to it to make it taste better.  I also want to add some textured vegetable protein (TVP) to it, to make it like a “meat” sauce.  I read that I just add equal parts TVP to equal parts boiling water, and the TVP absorbs the water, and then I will just use it like meat.

And so, on to the process.  Lots of pictures!!!

Italian Bread using a bread machine

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 1/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (1.5 teaspoons)

Take all the wet ingredients, and put them in the canister first. Then, added the flour.

After the flour is added, hollow out a little hole, and add the yeast.

Put it in the bread machine and choose the “dough” setting.  An hour and twenty minutes for dough ??  That’s bull crap!

I used up four cups of flour so I looked through the cupboards to see if we had more.  While sifting through, I found a small Crystal Light packet, and I thought “Oohhh… I’ll be making that.”  Then, I found TWO boxes of generic Jell-O!  And I said “Ooohhh… I’ll be making that, too!!”   (and I had some peach jasmine tea, too)

The Crystal light is still on the counter, but I mixed the two flavors of Jello (Strawberry Banana and Raspberry), and made them right away!  I made the “quick” version with ice cubes because I wanted Jell-O right now!  (I even added some bananas to part of it).

After the machine dinged to tell me it was done, I took it out and placed it on a cutting board with flour.  It was a lot more dough that I expected!

Then I separated it into two loaves, let them rise for 40 minutes under a damp towel, and then put them on a cookie sheet.  I brushed them with egg, and put them in the oven for 35 minutes.

The final product!!!

Look at how beautiful and golden it is. (Oh, but I’ve just realized that I forgot to add the slices to the top to give it that characteristically Italian bread look. D’oh!)

1. Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves. Place the loaves seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise, until doubled in volume about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto a baking sheet with one quick but careful motion.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Spaghetti was made as usual, but I did make some TVP to add.  I did 1/2 cup TVP and 1/2 cup water.  Then, I microwaved it until all the water had been absorbed.

I fluffed it with a fork to make sure the water was all gone.

Then, I just mixed it in with tomato sauce before adding it to my spaghetti.

It tasted pretty good, it wasn’t bad at all, but I agree with my mom that she said it didn’t have much of a taste.  But it tasted fine with the sauce.  I made my mom try it, even though she said “It doesn’t look very appetizing.”  And I said “Come on mom, that’s where Dylan gets it.  Just try it.“  (Dylan is terrible about trying new foods.)

And here is the final product.  It looks just like ground up meat.

The TVP would make excellent Sloppy Joes!

And now I am too full to eat my Jell-O.  I’m waiting for my stomach to empty out some. 

I’ve been eating soup everyday for lunch lately, and I decided it would be best if I just made my own.  It would be healthier and more affordable.

Can of tomatos - $1.39 (the big 28 oz can)
Two cans of beans - $1.32
Pasta - $.32
One onion - $.34 (I’m guessing on this one)
Other ingredients - $.50

Total: $3.87  Makes 7 one cup servings.  $.55 per cup.  I eat two cups for lunch of the canned soup, but I’m not sure how much I will eat of the homemade.  Perhaps less soup will fill me up more.

The Market Basket cheap soup that I’ve been buying (cause it really does taste as good as Progresso) is $1.29 a can (16 oz).  $1.10 vs $1.29 sure isn’t that big of a difference.  But I was able to package up a soup for lunch tomorrow (I’m working at macy’s), I put two tupperware things in the freezer, each containing two cups, and then another cup is left over in a bowl in the fridge for someone else to enjoy.

Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 4 teaspoons dried)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup ditalini pasta

1. Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
2. Add undrained tomatoes, undrained cannellini beans, broth, parsley, basil and pepper to pan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Let boil for approximately 1 minute and then let simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
3. Add pasta to pan and simmer approximately 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve immediately.

Makes seven cups of soup.

The process in pictures:

Making homemade vegetable broth!  I used one vegetable bullion cube, some carrot slices, and some onion peel, and added it to a bit over three cups of water.

Straining the broth so I would only get the liquid.  Dylan was my photographer for this shot.

Adding the spices.

Glass of wine while the soup simmers?  Don’t mind if I do!

The finished product.

And a close up.