Category Archives: Uncategorized

Meatball Calzone

My husband just loves a good calzone! We had leftover meatballs the other day and I knew I had an extra dough in the freezer which the combination of the two equals a good calzone. This can be a quick dinner if you thaw out the dough a day ahead of time in the refrigerator. Take the dough out of the refrigerator about an hour before you want to throw it in the oven.

Ingredients:
One wheat dough recipe or 1 lb frozen dough
1/4 cup pizza sauce
4-5 meatballs (quartered) (use turkey meatballs or vegetarian to cut the fat)
1/2 cup part skim shredded mozzarella or fat free
1 slice of provolone (cut into strips)
1-2 tsp Pasta Sprinkle or italian seasoning
Olive Oil (optional 1-2 TB)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Roll out dough to the best of your ability in a rectangular shape on a lightly floured surface.

2. Spread the sauce down the middle of the dough in a straight line

3. Now top with precooked quartered meatballs

Spread the meatballs out evenly.

4. Now top with the shredded cheese.

5. Top with provolone cheese spread out sporadically. “Sprinkle” pasta sprinkle on top of the cheese.

6. Now fold on side of the dough over the meatballs, cheese, and sauce. Repeat with the other side.

7. Pinch the seams together and fold the ends like a present (making sure to seal all the good stuff).

8. Throw cornmeal onto a pizza piel.

9. Invert the dough onto the piel with seam side down. Cut some slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

10. Brush the dough with some olive oil for a nice crust.

11. Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! FYI I thought this would be enough for dinner plus a lunch and my husband liked it so much he ate the entire calzone for supper!

Pumpkin Biscotti with Crystallized Ginger

I love biscotti and pumpkin so this is a match made in the oven. My husband and I went to the Strip District this weekend and Enrico’s inspired me to make biscotti this afternoon. Enrico’s has the best biscotti in Pittsburgh!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour*
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp of high quality pumpkin spice (penzeys is the best and they don’t pay me to say so)
Pinch of cloves
1/2 cup of light brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 puréed pumpkin ( I used half fresh & half canned)
2 eggs (farm fresh or egglands best)
1 tsp pure vanilla
1/8 cup crystallized ginger

Special note * whole wheat pastry flour is hard to find but worth the effort. I usually find it at speciality grocery stores or near Amish towns at their bulk food stores. The pastry flour allows the baked goods rise better than the traditional whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is softer and has less protein than traditional flour.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Sift flours, sugars, baking soda, spices, and salt together into large bowl.

3. Mix with whisk and set aside.

4. In a separate medium sized bowl whisk eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla.

5. Now pour flour mixture on top of liquid mixture.

6. Use wooden spoon to start to fold in the dry ingredients into the wet.

7. About half way incorporated add crystalized ginger.

The dough will be crumbly.

8. Lightly flour a clean surface and pour dough onto the counter. Knead until all ingredients are incorporated.

9. Spray with cooking spray a parchment pan lined baking sheet. Spread dough out 12 by 6 and a 1/2 inch in height.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes.

Let cool on wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes.

Cut with serrated knife in one inch pieces.

Place cut pieces sideways back on parchment lined pan.

Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes and flip and bake for 10 more minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Yields 12 large biscotti like Enrico’s !

Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

I find sport in trying to use up leftovers. My husband loves Philly cheese steak sandwiches. He sautéed up shaved ribeye the other night for sandwiches and we ended up having leftovers instead of having the sandwiches again I decided we should make a pizza with the shavings. The pizza turned out pretty tasty so I thought I share.

Ingredients:

-One frozen pizza dough (thawed out) or fresh if you have time try my homemade recipehttp://www.apinchofluv.com/wordpress/category/pizza/

-4 TB of prepared reduced fat Alfredo sauce

-1 Cup of leftover sautéed shaved meat and onions from Philly cheese steak (salt, garlic, and pepper)

– 1 tsp of Italian seasoning (everyone knows my favorite is pasta sprinkle)

-2 large roasted red pepper in vinegar drained and blotted dry (sliced into fours)

-1.5 cups of Cheese (Colby Jack w/ Jalapeño) is what we used from Amish Country

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

2. Roll out dough to fit a deep dish pizza stone and spring with italian seasoning.

3. Pre bake crust for 5 minutes.

4. Spread the alfredo sauce evenly on the dough. Top with shaved leftover meat and onions, make sure to spread evening. Once you have the meat mixture spread add the peppers on top arrange in star like fashion. Finish pizza off with the shredded cheese.

5. Bake for 16 to 17 minutes at 500 degrees. If you can resist like the pizza rest for a few minutes and enjoy

Chicken Pot Pie

The best thing about roasting chicken is the leftovers. I am always trying to be more resourceful and my husband usually only likes leftovers one time. But I strongly dislikes wasting food, and that is why I try and come up with recipes that use leftovers but in a new way.

Honestly the only reason I made the roasted chicken recipe was because I wanted to make a pot pie. My husband and I went to see Ina Garten last week and she inspired me to make a roasted chicken dish, she had mentioned it is one of her favorites to make this time of the year.

The recipe I used was from from Bon Apetit Magazine

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/oven-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-carrots-and-yukon-gold-potatoes

But I am sure any leftover chicken roast recipe will do.

Filling Ingredients:

1 Leftover Chicken Thigh (bone removed and chicken pieces chopped uniformly

1 Cup of left over roasted potatoes and carrots

1/2 cup of sautéed onion

1 10 oz Can of reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken or celery )

1 Tsp dried Sage

Salt and Pepper to taste

Crust Ingredients:

2/3 Cup of Shortening butter flavored

4-6 TB of ice cold water

2 Cups of AP flour

1 Tsp Salt

1 egg beaten for egg wash (for on top of crust)

Directions for crust:

Preheat oven to 375

1. Mix flour and salt with whisk. Cut in shorting into flour and salt with either a pastry cutter or using your bare hands. I like to use my bare hands until particles are pea sized. Sprinkle water using a TB at a time mixing with a fork or bare hands until flour is moist and pastry cleans side of bowl. Be careful not to over mix.

2. Divide dough into two balls. Roll out one of the dough balls onto a lightly floured surface (enough to fit pie dish). Once the pie dough is fitted into dish add pie weights or dried beans on top of dough and pre bake the bottom crust for at least 5-7 minutes.

3. While baking crust, sauté chopped onions in 1 tsp of butter in a nonstick pan. Once onions are transparent add chopped leftover roasted carrots, potatoes, and soup. Season with salt, pepper, and sage.

4. Remove pie from oven and remove pie weights or beans and add in filling mixture. Set aside.

5. Roll out using rolling pin the second dough ball onto a lightly floured clean area on your counter. Roll the dough out just enough to fit over the pie crust and filling. Pinch sides to seal and make 6 to 8 slits with sharp knife on the top of the pie so the steam can seep out and prevent a soggy crust.

6. Brush egg wash on top of pastry crust.

7. Bake pie for 40-50 minutes or until crust is beautifully golden brown.

Yields 8 to 10 Servings!

Apple Streusel Whole Wheat Muffins

My husband and I went to Amish Country in Ohio this past weekend and there was an abundance of apples!

Which inspired me to make a coffee cake type of apple muffin this morning.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 TB flaxseed milled
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp Vietnamese ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 farmers egg
3 TB canola oil
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup of Apple, peeled, & shredded (about 1.5 medium apples)

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TB whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 chopped pecans
2 TB of soften butter (unsalted)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 12 muffin tins with either silicon or paper liners and spray with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and flaxseed.

Mix to incorporate all ingredients well.

3. In a separate medium bowl combine oil, egg, and milk.

Whisk to incorporate.

4. Add dry mixture to wet.

Mix until just moistened (be careful not to over mix).

5. Shred 1 to 2 apples to yield one cup of shredded apple.

6. Fold apples gently into batter.

7. Spoon half the batter evenly into 12 muffin tins.

Set aside

8. In a small bowl place streusel topping ingredients.

Use your hands to incorporate crumble topping mixture.

9. Set aside 3-4 TB of topping.

10. Place one TB of remaining topping in each muffin tin on top of the wet batter.

11. Spoon evenly the remaining batter on the top of the streusel topping in tins.

12. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of center clean.

13. Let cool in tin for 3 to 5 minutes on wire rack.

14. Remove from tin and allow to cool on wire rack.

15. Enjoy

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

My colleague gave me this recipe the other day and I couldn’t wait to try it!!! Thank you Caitlin !! Good thing since, I was running low on bread for my husband’s lunch sandwiches. I decided instead of stopping at the store on the way home from work, I would give this recipe a try. I think if you try this recipe you will love it . Really the instructions are very simple and all you need is a little time for the bread to ferment. The end result will be worth the wait!

Ingredients:

2 cup of bread flour ( use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup**** do not pack the flour*****

2 cups of warm water

1/2 tsp of salt

1 TB of sugar or honey

1 TB of dry yeast

Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl and let ferment overnight or while you are at work (8 to 12 hours). I did let mine sit for 12 hours.

Make sure to cover the liquid mixture with plastic wrap while resting.

After mixture has fermented for allotted time (see picture below)

Add:

2 Cups of whole wheat flour plus any additional you will need for kneading.

Knead for 2 to 4 minutes by hand (until dough is no longer sticky). Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Shape dough to form in a bread loaf pan. I used a 8″ pan. Make sure to spray the pan with Pam or cooking spray.

Place the dough in the pan and cover once again for about an hour to 2 hours until the dough doubles (mine only took an hour). The secret is to having the oven preheat while the dough rise!!! This will cut the time for rising in half.

Once the dough doubles remove the plastic wrap and place the bread in the oven, cover with foil for 20 minute.

After 20 minutes have elapsed remove the foil and decrease the oven to temperature to 400 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Let the bread sit in pan for 5 minutes and then cool on wire rack. Enjoy !

Salsa Verde Sausage Casserole

On Sundays I love to make my husband a hot breakfast. This one was adapted from a Taste of Home sausage casserole recipe. My husband loves mexican dishes so I decided to add some salsa to this dish for a change. If you don’t have salsa verde use your favorite standard salsa.

Prep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min.

Ingredients

2 slices whole wheat bread ( I use the heels of the bread, often place them in the freezer as we go through the bread & toast them right before cutting them up for this dish)**** if you are trying to make this dish light you can use light bread (35 kcals a slice)
4 links or patties breakfast pork sausage (Or morning star vegetarian sausage)
1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese ( I love aldi’s fit and active)
1/4 cup of Salsa Verde (we like Guy’s)

3 eggs (or 3/4 cup of egg substitute)
1 cup skim milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Badia Fajita Seasoning

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Toast bread lightly cut bread into 1-in. cubes.

Place in a cooking sprayed 8-in. square baking dish.

In a small skillet, brown the sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

Cube the sausage and sprinkle the sausage and cheese over bread cubes.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs or egg substitute, milk, salsa, fajita seasoning, salt and pepper.Pour over the sausage and cheese.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden. Yield: 4 servings.

To finish this off add a dollop of plain greek yogurt, light sour cream or crema mexicana.

Happy Baking !

Delightful Carrot Cake Cupcakes

These tasty delights are my most requested recipe for special occasions !! You will not be disappointment !! We had an office birthday today so I thought I would share the secrets to this recipe with all of you. I have been making this recipe since 2008 and it has not let me down yet ! This time the dietitian in me decided to make a few modifications. I like to try and tweak recipes every now and again (really my husband always says “can you ever just follow a recipe?”… yeah right!). I cut the fat in half in the recipe by using one of my all time favorite tricks by replacing half the oil with no sugar added applesauce ( which really makes the cupcakes super moist). Trust me you will not miss the extra fat. I also thought I would increase the fiber and increase the amount of whole grains by swapping out half the AP flour for Whole Wheat Pastry flour. Also, I always, (always) use at least 1/3 rd fat reduced cream cheese if not fat free( no one will know). Next time I plan on decreasing the amount of sugar. So give them a try and tell me what you think! Happy Baking !!

CUPCAKES:

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 mexican vanilla (my favorite is penzey’s)
• 1/2 no added sugar applesauce
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or if you only have whole wheat that is okay but they may be a little more dense)
• 1 TB ground cinnamon (penzey’s vietnamese is my favorite)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups very finely grated carrots (the key is use the finest side of the grater)

CHUNKY FROSTING:

• 1 package (8 ounces) 1/3rd fat reduced cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon of mexican vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans ( I have tried both just whatever you prefer)
• 1/2 cup chopped raisins

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and oil.
Mix with whisk both the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, allspice and salt; gradually add to egg mixture.
Stir in carrots (make sure to finely grate the carrots this really adds to the taste and texture don’t sell yourself short by using the larger side of the grater).

Spray with cooking spray 24 paper-lined muffin cups and fill with 2 ounce of batter (I love using my # 16 scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup works well too)
Bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes (my oven they go for 25 minutes but check at 20 and keep checking until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean).

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Wait until cupcakes have cooled completely before frosting.

For frosting, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese, vanilla, and butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Stir in the nuts and raisins. Frost cupcakes with frosting spatula or small spatula. Store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 2 dozen.

Enjoy!

A Pinch of Luv

from scratch baking and cooking blog

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Meatball Calzone

Pumpkin Biscotti with Crystallized Ginger

Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

Chicken Pot Pie

Apple Streusel Whole Wheat Muffins

Whole Wheat Bread

Salsa Verde Sausage Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

Delightful Carrot Cake Cupcakes