4x4 update Mid August

Here we are in the middle of August and to date my spending on food, including house hold essentials and dog food is a little less than 300$  It's higher than I was hoping for but when you have two big dogs both needing a bag of groceries and a birthday dinner, it can add up quicker than I'd like to think.  I do have plenty of provisions though and I think that if I'm careful and thoughtful about the next 19 days I can come in around $450 which isn't awful.

Someone asked me recently where I got the number 400, thinking that it was just a measure of $100 per person.  It isn't.  $400 a month is what you get in food stamps for a family of four so I'm actually trying to see how that works out in the real world before I stand in judgement of someone less fortunate than I am and how they ration out their food dollars. 

We started the month off with a huge Indian feast that was better than I could have imagined it would be.  Even my youngest who is the pickiest eater on the planet pronounced the chicken korma really good.  This past weekend I made a vat of chili which used up a goodly amount of dried cannelini, navy and great northern beans.  We had it as chili several nights and then turned it into nachos for the weekend which were tasty.  In the middle of the week, we celebrated Brian's birthday with a pizza fest which was so fun and seriously good.

Today, I'm cooking a big pork shoulder in the crock pot that will go at least until Wednesday when I'll probably turn it into an emanada pie and push it to Friday.  Rounding out the list of goodies will be a yellow split pea soup, spinach sauted with olive oil and garlic, steamed cabbage and onions and corn bread.

Here are the recipes (except the chili, I'm sure you have your own favorite and mine is just simple beans, meat, tomatoes, seasonings, cook)

Pizza 4 Ways
Superb make ahead crust
7.5 cups of flour (use a good hard flour like King Arthur all purpose)
3 cups water at 110 degrees
3 packages yeast
1 TB Salt
1 Tb sugar
3 TB Olive Oil
Corn meal
Mix the water yeast and sugar together an let sit until a fully yeasty bloom is underway.  Add the olive oil and salt and stir.  Add half the flour and stir to make a slurry.  Add the rest of the flour in 1 cup increments until a soft ball forms and it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Roll out onto a floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.  Grease a bowl.  Put the dough in, cover with saran wrap and a towel and put in the refridgerator...YES, the refridgerator.  You can leave in there up to 48 hours before you need it.  Mine rose for a good 12 hours and turned out perfectly.  When you're ready to use it, this much dough will easy cover two big cookie sheets or 4 pizza pans.  Punch the dough down.  Decide how much you're going to use (I used it all) cut it up and freeze what you aren't using.   Preheat the oven to 450.  Spray whatever pizza pan/cookie sheet you're going to use with Pam, lightly coat with corn meal, shaking to cover the whole pan, then gently stretch the dough to fit.  If the dough is resisting your efforts and keeps drawing back on itself, leave it alone for 10 minutes then pounce on it again.  Eventually it will surrender!

Toppings
I made two pizzas and each half was a different type.  The first one was just plain old pepperoni with store bought pizza sauce and mozzarella on one side and BBQ Chicken Pizza on the other.

3 Chicken Thighs or 1 big breast cut into thin strips
3 BIG onions sliced
Olive oil
4 -5 cloves of minced garlic or a generous spoonful of the preminced jarred stuff
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
8 oz smoked cheddar cheese, grated or half sharp cheddar and half smoked cheddar or any cheese you like but a smoked one puts this in a category by itself

Carmelize the onions in the olive oil.  You know the drill.  Pan, onions, olive oil.  DO NOT TOUCH.  The carmelization happens from the onions touching the hot pan not from you stirring them.  As they turn color, then stir, shake the pan to disperse them evenly and leave alone some more.  About halfway through add the garlic.  When the onions are cooked add the chicken and the bbq sauce and reduce to a simmer until the chicken is done.  Spread on the pizza dough and top with the cheese

Bake at 450 for 15 -20 minutes or until crust is nice and golden

The other pizza was a Tenderloin and Horseradish wonderment and a vegetarian one that is a knock of of my cannelini bean dip that is just right

Tenderloin & Horseradish - this is a sauceless pizza
1 small beef filet cut into 1/2 inch dice
4 -5 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 oz Mozzarella
2/3 cup of Mayo
Prepared Horseradish to taste.  I like a lot like 2 -3 Tablespoons

Use all but about 2 oz of the mozzarella and cover the pizza crust with it.  Add the chopped steak and the tomatoes and then top with the remainin cheese. This helps to keep the toppings from burning.  Bake for 15 -20 minutes or until the crust is golden.  Combine the Mayo and the horseradish and put in a zip lock back.  Seal then cut a small hole in one of the corners.  Squeeze and decorate the pizza generously with the mixture.  This is just soooo good!

Veggie Pizza
1 can of cannelini beans, drained
1/4 cup commercially prepared pesto
1 can quartered artichoke hearts drained
1/2 jar sun dried tomatoes in oil drained
8 oz mozzarella

Spread the peston on the crust.  Top with all but about 2 oz of the mozzarella.  Add toppings and cover with the remaining cheese.  Bake 450 15 -20 minutes or until the crust is golden

These pizzas would be a great meal for a pizza dinner party for 6 -8 people.  As it was it was just us 3 and we had plenty for dinner and snacks over the weekend.  YUMMMY!!!


Pork Shoulder
Make a rub of garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder and smoke paprika and spread it generously over the whole shoulder.  You can either roast it at that point in a dutch over and cook it low and slow 325 for 4 or more hours or throw it in the crock pot.  You can pay less attention if you throw it in the crock pot.  When the meat is pull apart tender, pull it apart!  Then sauce it to taste with the following.  This vinegar is also wonderful to sprinkle on beans or to macerate onions and cucumbers in.  Remember this is the South, if it ain't fried or pickled it'll go bad in the heat!

2 Cups Ciger Vinegar

1 Tb Sugar

1 Tb Cayenne

1 Tb Texas Pete

1 Tea each Salt and Black Pepper

It isn't for sissies but nothing makes piggy taste better!

Yellow Split Pea Soup

3 cups of split peas soaked in 6 cups of water for at least an hour, drained (BTW, if you soak and drain your beans and use fresh water to cook them, the properties that give them a "musical" quality go down the drain with the soaking liquids

Olive Oil

1 big onion, minced

1 large carrot, cut into small dice

1 stick of celery, minced

3 -4 cloves of garlic

1 medium baking potato, peeled and diced (this will work as a thickener)

Stock or water to cover

Simmer until peas are mushy.  If you feel like you need to drain off some liquids, do so.  Puree in batches in the blender.  Return to the pot and adjust seasoning.  Salt, Pepper and just a teeny bit of smoked paprika.

Super good.