An American Housewife

7/8/19

The best pizza dough recipe! I've been using this one for 20 years and make all sorts of pizza items with it

Pizza Dough

1 pkg. (2 1/4 t) dry active yeast
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 c dry powdered milk
1 1/3 c warm water

Put into the bowl of a mixer or mix by hand, blend briefly. Wait 2 minutes for the yeast to start to foam.

Add:

2 T oil of choice (olive, canola, etc)
4 c flour

Knead in a Kitchen Aid style (heavy duty) mixer 5 minutes or knead 10 minutes by hand. Let rest 10 minutes. (Add a little more flour if your dough is really wet and sticky or add a bit more oil if it's too dry.)

Depending on the thickness of the pizza you like - but this generally will make 3 pizzas. Roll out either on parchment, press in a pizza pan, make stuffed crust, pizza bites, garlic breadsticks... whatever you wish. I've baked them immediately and I've also let them raise up to 1 1/2 hours before baking. You can top them with whatever you wish - and top either before or after letting it raise. It's just a very easy, versatile dough. Bake at 420 approximately 16-25 minutes depending the size of your pan and how many toppings you have on it. Bake until golden brown.

--------------------------------

I've posted my pizza recipes on An American Housewife before - numerous times, which you can search for using the labels in the right sidebar or the search engine. But quickly, here is an idea for the chicken, bacon and ranch version you see on this post.

Amounts are relative, and use or don't use ingredients as you like. Don't like tomatoes? Don't use them.

1 c ranch dressing
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c chicken, cooked and diced
1/2 medium onion, chopped or sliced
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (or use store bought REAL bacon pieces, like hormel)
1 tomato, sliced or diced
2 c cheese, a mixture of provolone and mozzarella is nice

*Notes
I use homemade ranch dressing but obviously store bought is fine. I like to make this when I have a little bit of leftover chicken but not enough to do anything with really. I used green onions and no tomatoes on the pizza you see in the top photo of this post.

You can dice your bacon up before cooking, or cook and crumble it. You can also use the store bought "real" bacon pieces. We always keep a container of bacon grease handy to cook with so if I don't want to take the time to cook bacon strips, I just heat a little bacon grease in a pan, add some Real Hormel bacon pieces and briefly heat/fry them in the pan to use on the pizza.

7/1/19

Quick and Easy Low Carb - Spiralized Zucchini with White Clam Sauce

This is hardly a 'recipe' but yet, it is a great brainstorm/hack for a quick and easy dinner.

White Clam Sauce over Spiralized Zucchini 'Pasta'

1 can Progresso Clam Sauce (or similar - look for 4 carb, 0 or less than 1 g sugar)
1/2 jar Bertolli Alfredo Sauce (or similar - this one has 2 carb, 0 sugar)
3 medium zucchini

Mix the clam sauce with the half jar (or use the whole jar for a creamier sauce or more sauce if you need to feed another person or two). Spiralize your zucchini. Warm the sauces either in the microwave or a pan on the stove. Boil a pan of water, add the zucchini and cook just 2 minutes or so until the zucchini loses the 'crunch' but isn't soft and mushy. Drain well, press a little bit as it holds a lot of water. I sometimes use paper towels to absorb a bit. Place in a serving bowl, top with the sauce.

* I serve it with the low carb, keto almond flour biscuits - my 'go to' for any biscuit need right now, recipe here: BISCUITS

This photo was from my personal SnapChat story to my friends/family

6/29/19

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake - Almond Flour Based (Solar Oven Option) - Low Carb and Sugar Free

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with a lemon glaze and a sprinkle of dried lemon peel on top

I've been craving something 'lemon' but I didn't want to make muffins again so instead, yesterday I used the same muffin idea but made a cake with a lemon glaze.

In addition to wanting to bake something 'lemony' I wanted to use our sun oven since it was pretty hot yesterday and I didn't feel like heating up the oven. It's not that makes the kitchen hot but moreso I'm aware of the pull on the power grid when everyone has their electricity running full power to cool their houses, use fans, tv's, etc. It's so simple and easy for me to bake in the solar oven and there isn't any reason not to. But I know MOST people do not have a solar oven or sun oven so obviously you are welcome to bake yours in a regular old oven, ha ha.

These can be made into great muffins, a cake or even a loaf bread.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, Muffins or Loaf Bread

1 stick (half cup) real butter, soft
2/3 - 3/4 c So Nourished monk fruit/erythritol or other sweetener of choice using equivalent (link at bottom of post) Try to use a mixture of at least 2 if not 3 sweeteners to get the best flavor
3 eggs
2 t dry lemon peel/zest
1 t lemon extract
1 t lemon juice
1/2 t vanilla

3 c almond flour
3-4 heaping tablespoons unflavored or vanilla IsoPure whey protein powder (or any 0 sugar/carb brand)
2 T poppy seeds
2 t baking powder
1/2 t sea salt
2/3 c water

Grease your pan(s) or line your muffin tins. Preheat your oven to 325 or put your solar oven outside in the sun to preheat.
Beat the butter, then add the sweetener, eggs, lemon peel and flavors. Beat until smooth.
In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix them together then add half this almond flour mixture to the wet, beat in the water then add and beat in the last of the dry.
Spread in your pan of choice.
Bake about 45 minutes until done.
Cool completely and then top with a simple glaze;

Mix powdered sweetener of choice (like So Nourished, etc.) with enough lemon juice to make a thick glaze consistency. Pour over your cake, bread or cupcakes and let it run down the sides if you wish. I added a tablespoon of butter to about 2/3 cup powdered sweetener and then added lemon juice until it was the consistency I wanted.

I sprinkled the top of this cake with a dried lemon peel (those aren't crumbs in the photo at the top, but dried lemon peel bits).

The dry ingredients

The batter is yummy!

Baking mine in a sun oven... obviously most normal people use the oven in their home... ha ha.

Baking away.... I'll put a link to sun ovens at the bottom of this post for those interested. Mine is about oh, 7 or 8 years old now?

All cool and ready for it's glaze....

Just a simple glaze: I used a bit of butter, sweetener and lemon juice

Added some dried lemon peel bits on top as I love love love lemon

So moist. So, so moist. And it stays moist! Doesn't dry out quickly like wheat flour based cakes do. Also, because I use whey protein powder instead of coconut flour to offset the almond flour, that makes a difference. Coconut flour is very drying as well.

The BRANDS of ingredients you use makes a huge difference in carb counts. Mine is about 4 carbs per slice but depending on the whey protein powder you use, yours could have high carbs and even sugar if you aren't reading labels. Use FitDay, FitBit, etc. to enter your own ingredients to get your nutritional counts.

6/23/19

Drying Basil and Mint - FAST AND EASY - Oh so simple

I always do my basil this way but this week I also did mint

I've posted on An American Housewife (housewifebarbie.com) previously about how quick and easy it is to dry herbs but since I just did a couple more this week it's a good reminder so I thought I'd snap a couple photos and post it.

It's just soooo easy and quick; and homegrown basil just has so much more flavor than the store bought stuff!!! Seriously, if you have 1 minute, you have enough time to dry some basil.

Save old spice jars so you can refill them with either your own homegrown or if you buy in bulk to save money you can put them in smaller jars for using/serving etc. I'll also link to some options available on Amazon at the bottom of this post!

OK now back to basil (and mint this time as well).

Pick it.
Rinse it.
Place it on a paper towel.
Put another paper towel over.
Put in the microwave and turn it on for about 1 minute.
Check it by lifting the paper towel (which is there to absorb moisture).
You can now leave the paper towel off - and move the basil around a little bit, checking which might already be dry and which might need a few more seconds.
Turn it back on for another 15 seconds or so... check again.
Let the basil sit out on the counter for a minute for it to cool so you can really see how dry it is. If it's dry, and cool then it's time to either just put it all into a bottle or jar as it is or you can crumble it or chop it if you wish. It crumbles easily, it stores perfectly and it's ready for use in food dishes immediately.

I actually own a micro-herb mill that was a gift from my oldest daughter about 8 years ago. I love it.

The basil was picked the morning before so it was a bit wilty by the time I got to it. No worries.

This time I did some mint as well since I didn't need to use it right away.

After the drying process (described above) I like to put mine through the microplane herb mill. This is a great option but you do NOT have to use one. You can use it as it is from drying OR just break it apart gently in your fingers or your palms. It smells heavenly and it's amazing how crisp and dry it is in just a minute.

My fresh, dried mint. Ready for use!

6/19/19

The Best Raspberry Crumble Bars - Healthy, made with almond flour - no wheat - and sugar free!

If you've made my sugar free caramel bars already, then you might recognize this basic almond flour crust mix. Just a few simple ingredients, and a store bought filling and you've got this whipped up and ready to go into the oven in just minutes.

When I made my caramel bars I knew I wanted to use the same idea to make cranberry bars and raspberry bars next! To make the cranberry version I wanted to use my fresh (frozen) bag of cranberries and cook them on the stove to make a sugar free filling; but honestly? I wasn't in the mood to take that long to make that step. I wanted something fast and easy.

I had sugar free raspberry preserves in the refrigerator so these bars were oh-so-easy to make using about 2/3 cup of the fruit filling instead of taking the time to make my own filling. Some days I WILL make the filling from scratch, but if you have ways to make life easier.... use them.

These bars are great with cranberry, blackberry, raspberry fillings but don't forget my original post used Smucker's sugar free caramel which was incredible as well if you aren't in the mood for a fruit filled bar.

Red Raspberry Crumble Bars

2 c almond flour
2 T coconut flour
2/3 c Erythritol with Monk Fruit (Use a sweetener of your choice)
1/4 t sea salt
6 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
2/3 c sugar free red raspberry preserves or jam of your choice

Whisk together the dry ingredients; almond flour, coconut flour, sweeteners and salt. Melt the butter in cup in the microwave and add the vanilla to it. Pour this into the dry mixture and mix with a spatula until it starts to come together. Press just over half the dough into a greased 8X8 inch pan. Bake this bottom crust for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Place the preserves in a bowl and microwave for a minute or so to soften the preserves for spreading. Spread the raspberry filling over the crust, getting up into the corners and sides as well. Now crumble the rest of the topping over it all and press down lightly just to adhere to the raspberry preserves, but don't flatten it. Return to the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes until turning golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely to cut.

I keep various jams and preserves on hand for my husband's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I had Smucker's brand in the refrigerator. You can use whichever brands you like.