Monday, November 28, 2011

Cheddar Cheese Penne

I cooked again! Boy oh boy what is really going on!?  I saw another post by Kate from The Small Things Blog where she made homemade Mac 'n Cheese. And well that just looked too yummy to not try making. Its really easy how on earth can I kill it, right? 
{you should check out her page its pretty awesome! She has hair tutorials, cooking tutorial, DIYs and she has an ETSY Shop-tell her I mentioned her page!} 

Well here I was at home thinking of what to whip up for dinner when I remember Kate's receipe! Brilliant! But not so much because I didn't have elbow noodles, darn. But I did have penne, yay!

Here's what I used:

LEA Lumiere
{Friends, the piece of counter you see is my working space! Yeah, pretty sad. So, please don't complain about the massive space you have and say its not enough.}

Moving right along...
Half box of Barilla penne pasta
salt
pepper
2 cups of mild cheddar cheese
I can't believe its not butter
1 cup milk (not pictured)

{Oven: 375 degrees}

Confession time: I don't cook! Well at least not often since its only me I find cooking for one is rather boring, eh! So I don't have many cooking pots, pans or bakeware only the basics.

Ok, moving along... again LOL

I cooked the penne al dente and now I'll be adding a layer into my caldera (oven safe pot) just enough to cover the bottom. Now sprinkle a little salt and pepper {do so after each layer of penne}

LEA Lumiere


And now add as much cheddar cheese as you like. I only made two layers so the next layer looked the same.

LEA Lumiere

Now add the butter and milk then placed in oven for about 40 minutes. Leave longer if you want the top to be extra crispy.  {Seems like huge pieces of butter but it really wasn't -I don't like butter too much, ek.)}

LEA Lumiere

This is how it looked straight outta' the oven.
LEA Lumiere

And this is how it looked on my plate! Yum. Not bad for my first attempt.
LEA Lumiere


Until the next post,
LEA Lumiere






Thursday, November 10, 2011

Homemade Pizza Dough

Hi ya'll! {I just love saying "ya'll"} This is my second and hopefully final attempt at creating this post about my homemade pizza dough. My first try took forever to complete only for my netbook to freeze and of course the post didn't save. Sad day my friends -sad day.

Let's get started with the ingredients:


LEA Lumiere


3/4 C warm water
1 pkg Rapid Rise Yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbps EVOO

{Oven: 400 degrees; Cook time: 20-30 depending on how crispy you want your pizza}

1.) Add rapid rise yeast and sugar into the warm water. Stir very well ensuring the yeast is completely diluted. Let sit for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes it'll have a thick top layer this means its ready for use. {Stir it just before you add into flour.}


LEA Lumiere



LEA Lumiere


2.) Mix salt, yeast mixture and EVOO into flour. You are now working on making your dough. Keep mixing it until you get a non-flaky dough or if you have a fancy mixing gadget now is the time to use it. I don't have one so I'm going old school mixing with my hand.


LEA Lumiere



LEA Lumiere


3.) Once the dough is ready let it sit for about an hour. I'm covering my dough with a kitchen towel because that's what my mom does =) {a few minutes before the hour preheat the oven.}


LEA Lumiere


4.) Since I'll be making two small pizzas I'm cutting the dough into two pieces then I'll be rolling them out.


LEA Lumiere


5.) Drizzle a little EVOO over your pizza sheet before placing the rolled pizza dough. I don't have one so I'm using the broiler tray.

6.) For a crispy crust bake the dough for about 10 minutes before adding toppings. Then, take it out, add pizza sauce, cheese, and all other toppings. Place back into oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is as golden brown, yum.


LEA Lumiere



LEA Lumiere


And there you go my very first homemade pizza dough and pepperoni pizza! It was so delish! Hope you try this out because it is so worth it.

{Thanks to Kate from www.thesmallthingsblog.com for sharing this receipe.}



Until the next post,

LEA Lumiere