Zucchini Pizza

I love this one. Perfectly fast and easy week night meal. Something different from the norm. I made my own pizza dough. Which does take preparation ahead of time. Or make a few batches and freeze them. You can always buy store bought dough or if you are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's by you - buy there dough! Its AMAZING! (I miss that place!)

I did a few tweaks to Racheal Ray's recipe to make it slightly better for you. So here is the healthier version:

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough:

1 teaspoon white sugar

1½ cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups white whole wheat flour

½ cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

2. Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.

(to freeze, throw in freezer safe bags after step 2. When you take it out, let it thaw (take it out in the morning) and then roll it out and let it rise.)

Pizza:

2 Cups of low fat Ricotta Cheese

8 Garlic Cloves, minced

3 Cups of Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese

2-3 Medium Zucchini (I say the more veggies the better)

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough on a thin sprinkle of cornmeal or flour. Poke a few times with a fork and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven for about 5-6 minutes.

In a small bowl mix ricotta with garlic. When you remove the dough from oven spread evenly across the top. Bake another 12-13 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Slice the zucchini into thin strip lengthwise (do the best you can do). Fill dry skillet with thin layer of strips and cook for 5 minutes. Turning once. Remove to cutting board and repeat with all zucchini. Cut the stacked zucchini strips into small matchsticks shapes. Scatter the strips over the pizza the last 2-3 minutes of cooking time. And sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve right away! Serve with a simple fruit to make this a meal!

Banana Bread

I LOVE to bake, but changing it up to make it better for me is even more of a passion. So when I found this recipe with some interesting suggestions (ie. cream cheese for butter! - such an amazing idea!) I was pretty excited to try it out!

I have to say it was slightly dry. I may add some applesauce or more bananas next time. And I think some chopped walnuts would be divine. mmmmm....

Hubbys score: 3.5 stars

My score: 3.5 stars

Three year old: "YUM"

Vegetable Oil ( I used canola oil)

4 large ripe bananas

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 C all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat)

1/2 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tbl. canola oil

2 oz. fat-free cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces and chilled

1 - heat oven to 325. Lightly coat 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with oil.

2- Bake the bananas on a rimmed cookie sheet. until skins are completely black. (about 20 min) let cool. Then peel and mash.

3- Whisk eggs and vanilla together in small bowl, set aside. In large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add the oil and cream cheese, 1 piece at a time. Mix until only pea-size pieces of the cream cheese remain, about 1 minute. Slowly beat in egg mixture, and only 1 1/2 cups of the mashed bananas (I might add more next time) and beat until just incorporated, (about 30 seconds).

4- scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. (50 - 60 minutes). Rotate the pan halfway through!

5- Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 min. and then turn onto rack and let cool 1 hour before serving. (VERY DIFFICULT!) The bread can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and stored at room temp. for 3 days.