Pizza.

History of Pizza : A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time.

Now it's a kitchen recipe and the rich and the broke enjoy it equally.

There's a place in down town El Cajon called the "New York Bakery."

Way back in the day when gluten was digested with ease, the New York Bakery had pizza.

Not just any pizza. This bad boy was on an inch of fluffy, yeast risen crust.

In one bite, a rich, buttery, light crust filled your mouth.  Absolutely amazing.

It ain't back in the day no more, but its all good.  I gots yo' back.

A gluten free fluffy pizza crust.

Yeast is scary.  It's commonly know as a leavening agent for breads,pretzels, buns, crusts, you name it.  Anything that is light airy and needs to rise. 

Yeast uses the fermented sugars in the dough and turns it into carbon dioxide and ethanol.

There are many other leavening agents such as eggs, baking powder and baking soda, but those aren't going to create the air pockets needed.

Yeast is scary because it's a live micro-organism that multiplies with the right temperature while feeding off of the right amount of sugar.

Too hot, you kill your yeast.  Too cold, it doesn't do its job.

Just follow the recipe.  You'll be safe, but just follow the recipe.

Please read the page thoroughly: Pizza Crust

Something New.

What you enjoy doing becomes pointless when it isn't a challenge.  It becomes boring.

It's like solving a puzzle you've already solved.

It's still going to take time and effort to solve the puzzle, but it become far less gratifying when you know what to expect.  But you may learn a new way of solving it.

It doesn't matter if you graduated from school twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years ago, you're always learning.

Being out of school doesn't mean you shouldn't do homework.

People gain much more appreciation for the things they've learned or inform themselves about.  Understanding the steps, the time, and the effort that has been put into what you enjoy.

Saying you want to do something you've never done before, researching it, studying it, and finally doing it, makes life all the more satisfying.

Lemons.

All of a sudden there are lemons everywhere.

The yellow studded trees gives life a fresh spark.

Seeing all the lemons is a reminder of the season we're in and the season to come.

Its fresh.

Hot summers and nice afternoons at the beach are all just around the corner.

Not to mention homemade lemon curd and scones for breakfast

and  pitcher of lemonade after a cool evening dinner.

All of it is coming fast maybe too fast for some, but enjoy those small things in life just the same.

Such as Lemon Bars.

I adapted this recipe from Ina Garten. 

*Its VERY important all of your ingredients are room temperature.  Especially the eggs, butter, and lemon juice.

Galletas.

Simplicity is constantly stressed.  It may be tiresome to hear but it all really comes down to this:

"You don't know what you got till it's gone."

Its the 100% truth.

Don't believe me?

Fine.  So be it.

Just do me a favor and answer this question for me.

When was the last time you had crackers?  Galletas?

Glutinos doesn't count.

When was the last time you  had herb crackers?

Gluten free.

What was that? Speak up I couldn't hear you.  I'm sorry I missed that, could you repeat that?

Ha!  That's right!

You haven't, have you?

And you haven't had any that taste like this.

Do you know what this means?  I'm going to answer that question for you, no, no you don't know what this means.

This means you can go on a picnic and have crackers to snack on.

If you have guests, you have an excellent cracker to with that excellent cheese.

You can have liverwurst and crackers again.

You can munch on ham, cheese, and crackers again!

This....is truly epic.

It really is.

And that is simply why you, must make these: Rosemary Crackers.

Take it from Dawn.  My baking buddy.  We just stood there looking at the crackers nibbling off of pieces.  We couldn't believe the fact that we were eating gluten free crackers.  You'll react us when you realize how long its been since you've had a cracker, and that it simply tastes that good.

*And liverwurst is properly enjoyed with Dijon or just plain mustard. Just fyi.

Clockwork.

The Little Theatre at Grossmont High School held the production of Clockwork.  A family of hicks with a murder mystery to solve.  Every time someone bit the dust, (you didn't feel bad because they were so dang annoying) the old and broken Grandfather Clock would ring.  In the end, ringing a total of twelve times, each for every character.  Even down to the angry maid, to the phone obsessed teenagers.  It was a hilarious comedy and a job well done.  I come into the picture with a cake.

It was suggested to paint the numbers.  When doing research, I came across  Simple Chocolate Painting and saw how truly simple it was.  So I thought, heck, let's just do the entire thing in chocolate.  So that's what I did.

Lesson learned?  Try your recipe before using the recipe.  Usually Martha treats me good.  I don't like the woman necessarily, but hey, she knows how to write a good recipe.

I chose a yellow cake with raspberry filling.  When trying the trimmings of the cake it tasted more like a sweet biscuit or sweet cornbread than cake.

This cake was not gluten free or dairy free, because I didn't make this cake myself.  So yes, I ate gluten when testing the cake. 

It was good.  But it didn't suit the occasion.  The flavors said, "Champagne Brunch" or "High-End Tea Party,"  not a High School Cast Party.  I'm thoroughly disappointed, but it is what it is.  And I have good friends who were supportive regardless of its taste.  Along with a little sister who insisted it was amazing.

I will say this, I am proud of myself.  I've never done anything so artistic with a cake...or food for that matter.  I had fun with it.  It's fun to watch chocolate chips turn into a clock. Haha.

Pasta Dish.

There are so many things that are classified as a "Pasta Dish."

Mac n' Cheese...Lasagna...

Basically anything incorporating noodles baked into a sauce.

Basically, hate to say it but, its a casserole.  The term of a casserole is so vague.

But that's okay when it tastes good.

Tah-dah! 

Garlic Red Wine Meat Pasta...Dish.

Muffins.

It's important to reward oneself.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes are a tremendous reward.

But so are muffins.

Banana Chocolate Chip Ginger Muffins, that is.

This is a simple quick bread recipe, but along with any other quick bread recipe, can be turned into muffins.  For the golden/slightly crisp feature leave it in the oven for 30 minutes.