less and more

With summer there seems to be less and less cooking, therefore less and less blogging and less and less blog readers. But I really want to try and update this at least once a week with something... so as it gets more and more hot and humid, I will be posting more... even if it means quick posts like this one consisting of iPhone photos and non-recipes.



Like I said summer has hit hard here in St. Louis. A wet wool blanket of hot wet air that causes you to break into a drippy sweat as soon as you leave the comfort of the air-conditioned indoors. Blech. So lighter meals it is! Tonight's dinner is simply rice, with firm tofu and kimchee. The kimchee provides all the flavor, so there is not recipe, cooking or prepping needed, except for the cooking of the rice. It's light, filling, flavorful and cheap. Summer on a plate.

While I was picking up tofu and kimchee at the Asian grocery store, I happened upon these...


When did my beloved Wasabi Peas get a little sister?!?! Why didn't they send me a birth announcement?!?! Seriously... I love crunchy pea snacks, and I love Sriracha sauce. Brilliant. My new favorite snack to have with beer. Spicy, garlicky, slightly sweet. Man do I love the Asian grocery store. It's a wonderland.

blogging ladies of the lou

So, you know how I don't update this blog quite like I used to? Well, if I leave you unstatisfied (never!), I met a whole bunch of other awesome lady bloggers from St. Louis I would like you to check out. because they are awesome.

So Kelli, who's blog is called South City Confidential, organized a BlogHer meetup. We met up at a coffee house in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Sat on the patio, got to know each other a bit before the coffee shop closed way earlier than we expected. So we HAD to go to a bar down the street :) It was fun to meet all these people who enjoy blogging and social networking as much as I do. So I would like to introduce you to them...

• Jaelithe: The State of Discontent

• Celeste: Average Jane (who's article on BlogHer for beginners I need to read STAT!)

• Melody: Girls Guide to the Galaxy

• Bea: Betizuka

• Kelly: Mocha Momma

• Angela: Fluid Pudding

• Ava: Shouldn't Life Be More Than This?

• Kara: Star Monkeybrass

• Kelli, the organizer: South City Confidential

• Kelly: Sounding My Barbaric Gulp, who've I've mentioned several times on Iron Stef, a fellow food blogger and good pal.

It was great to meet all you lovely ladies! We should have meet-ups more often!!

I only got one photo, with my iPhone, the whole evening. It's not the whole group, but some of us made it to The Stable for Drinks and food. Yum!


From left to right: Barbaric Gulp Kelly, Average Jane Celeste, Girl's Guide Melody, Betizuka Bea and Southside Kelli.

potato pizza

Apparently I was in a carbolicious mood last night, because when I saw pizza dough at the store, I thought, "I wanna put some potatoes on that mofo!" So I grabbed a few more cheap, simple ingredients and headed home to experiment. Success!

Potato Pizza with caramelized onions

Ingredients

-Store-bought or homemade pizza dough for 1 pizza
-2 yukon gold potatoes, sliced really thin with a mandoline
-1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
-3 Tablespoons butter
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 medium shallot, sliced thin
-2 Tablespoons AP flour
-about 1.5 cups half and half
-salt and pepper
-Manchego cheese, about 1.5 cups shredded, plus more for topping
-pine nuts


Method

1. follow directions on pizza dough to preheat oven and let dough sit at room temp.

2. Salt the sliced potatoes liberally, and toss to distribute the salt. Set aside in a bowl while you do other prep work, about 15-20 minutes.

3. heat 1 Tablespoon of the butter in a non-stick skillet, and add the onions. let them cook over med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they are well browned.

4. In a medium saucepan, heat the rest of the butter, garlic, and shallots over medium heat. Cook until the garlic and shallots are translucent and starting to brown. Sprinkle in flour, and stir until it is all combined. Stir in a cup of half and half and continue to cook until everything comes together and thickens to your preference, adding more half and half if needed. Turn off heat, add the Manchego cheese, and season with salt and pepper. set sauce aside.

5. Drain the bowl of potatoes and squeeze the potatoes in your hands to get rid of excess moisture.

6. Roll/Press out pizza dough to a 12 in. circle.

7. Toss the potatoes with the sauce and spread all over the pizza dough. I used my hands for this...messy but effective.

8. Top with caramelized onions and extra Manchego cheese

9. Bake in preheated oven until crust and cheese starts to brown, adding the pine nuts about halfway through so they don't burn. Mine took about 25-30 minutes.

10. remove from oven, let cool a bit, cut, and carbo-load!