Quick and easy olive basil focaccia bread

Hi, everybody! Mary Jane here and I have a delicious recipe for quick and easy focaccia bread!

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2.5 tsp yeast

1 cup warm water

2 TBS oil ( we used our basil infused olive oil)

3TBS parmesan

1 tsp garlic powder

olive oil for brushing on the edges

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the warm water and oil. Knead on a flat surface until elastic, then cover in a warm place for about 20 minutes, or until risen. Preheat oven to 450F. 

Roll out the bread dough and poke holes in it with your fingers. Kids love this part!

 We have a few people who don't love olives so we only added the olives on one side. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with parmesan and garlic powder.

 You can add different herbs at this time but make sure they're mixed with the olive oil or they'll burn. Place in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

 Mmmmmm. Fresh out of the oven, cut into squares and serve with dipping sauce.

 Our sauce was actually left over pizza sauce. :)

 The bottom was delightfully crisp and the top was just crisped enough to hold the olives in place.

 There! A quick and easy appetizer for these cold February nights when nobody wants a whole meal.
                                      Hoping that everybody is keeping warm. Spring is on the way! Or so I've heard... We had a week of rain and then it turned cold again, but I know the sun will be out soon! Until then, I'll be baking and cooking and writing over here.
Be sure to stop by my author pages at Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael where I have all of my book news!

Versatile Italian veggie and sausage topper!

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a fun dinner that is truly versatile. My friend Mindy shared this with me and I (FINALLY) tried it out. So delicious! We're big fans of this now. I'm not sure what to call it because it can be changed and tweaked in many ways, so I'll just say it's a versatile Italian veggie and sausage dish!

 It's a super easy dish but involves a lot of chopping. Get out that food processor, or if you're like me, ask those teenagers to help!
You'll need:
3 red bell peppers
6 celery stalks
3 lbs mushrooms
2 lbs Italian flavored sausage

 So bright and fresh looking!

 So, once the sausage has cooked and the veggies are starting to soften, you can add several options:
2 large cans tomato sauce
OR
2 large cans chopped tomatoes
OR
1 large container V8 (spicy version or regular)

Start adding spices. We've cooked this with spicy V8 and added Italian seasoning, with regular tomato sauce and added cumin and oregano, and with canned tomatoes and Italian seasoning.
It makes a difference because...

Here's the really versatile part:
you can serve this over noodles, in a bread bowl, or over rice pilaf. I even had some leftover over steamed cauliflower. SO GOOD! I really think this might be one of those recipes you can't ruin.

So, there you have it! A dish I waited way too long to try, and now is a family favorite. It sounds simple and ordinary, but the flavor is a crowd-pleaser. Thank you, Mindy!

 Here's my oldest so kindly giving her sweatshirt to my youngest at a baseball game. I'm so happy it's warmed up a little because those first games were COLD.

Happy, happy Spring! (Today it was 86F but the night is still chilly, so I'm sticking with "Spring".)

Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to stop by my author page at Mary Jane Hathaway, or at my blog The Things That Last!

Baked Rotini Sicilian

Missy Tippens

I've discovered a new dish that I LOVE at my favorite Italian restaurant, BiBa's. It's called Baked Ziti Sicilian. It's a baked pasta dish with eggplant, mushrooms and a meat sauce. And topped with a beautiful marinara. With lots of cheese!

Well, I looked for recipes and couldn't find anything that was like the dish I've been ordering. So I decided to try to make it.

BAKED ROTINI SICILIAN

I forgot to buy mushrooms and ziti noodles. So I made it with whole wheat rotini that was in the pantry and added some spinach/kale in place of the mushrooms. :)

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 packet of McCormick Thick and Zesty seasoning

1 pound ground beef

1 small eggplant

mushrooms (or any veggies you'd like)

Mozzarella cheese, grated

Parmesan cheese if desired

1 box pasta, cooked al dente

Brown the ground beef. I used 93% lean so there's nothing to drain. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender.

Add tomatoes. Stir in seasoning packet and let simmer.

I stirred in greens until wilted (as a replacement for mushrooms).

While sauce is simmering, slice the eggplant as thinly as possible. I ended up wishing I had either pre-cooked the eggplant or had baked the dish longer. I think next time, I'll just cube the eggplant and sauté it until nearly tender. Or I might just cook it with the sauce.

Grease a baking dish. Layer in the ingredients. I started with sauce, then added eggplant, then noodles, then cheese.

Keep layering until the pan is full. Just be sure to end with sauce followed by cheese.

My baking dish was too shallow so I put it on a cookie sheet to prevent disaster. :)  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

This turned out so tasty. And I even made dessert!! (A rarity.) While the pasta was baking, I chopped some strawberries.

I did a rough chop and added some sugar to help pull the juices out.

Then I crushed and chopped with my pastry cutter. Let sit at room temp for a while to make the yummy juice that will soak into the shortcake or pound cake or angel food cake. This time, I served the berries over pound cake I bought at the grocery store.

It was a fabulous dinner!

Wait! Something is missing! And I happened to have some Cool Whip in the freezer. :)

:) Enjoy!

Missy

www.missytippens.com

Mangia, Mangia! Italian biscotti from the Walla Walla Italian Heritage Association- repost

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I bring delicious Italian goodness!! If you've been visiting for 2013 or so, you;ll recognize this recipe. I had planned to do post about the sushi we made but there's a stomach virus going through our family and guess who is the last to get it? That's right... me. So, I promise to type up the sushi post next week. For now, I'll be lazy and cut and paste. Then crawl back into bed. :P

So, here it is!

I was at our homeschool girls' book club last week and spent a few glorious hours in a warm and beautiful kitchen, eating apple crisp with piles of real whipped cream topping! Even though I had eight BAZILLION things to do (like get my hair cut and go to Home Depot- those things are not related) I had a fabulous afternoon chatting and eating. Who cares if our refrigerator is on its last legs? Not me! Or at least, I don't care when I have a plate of warm apple crisp in front of me.

 

Now, as I was chowing down on that deliciousness, I spied a little cookbook on my friend Terri's shelf. You all know I love a good cookbook.

 But... I had an ulterior motive. See, Terri makes the most AMAZING biscotti. If I could get my hands on that recipe, I could have biscotti every day, as much as I wanted! A devious plan was hatched.

 She so sweetly let me borrow the cookbook. I got it home and started to page through it. You know how you can tell a person's favorite Bible verse by how the page looks? Well, I didn't have to look far for her favorite recipe. Past the braccioli, past the tarduci, past thecardiletti, the latte dulce and the cassata alla siciliana, there it was...

 Behold, the page of the biscotti recipe! Ooooo, I rubbed my hands together in maniacal glee! I was never going to want for biscotti again!

1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp anise flavoring
1 c chopped nuts
 (The recipe was submitted by Pam Daltoso Hamilton, but there was another underneath by Anna Perfetto, and another by Mary Locati and another Carmy Destito, under that one by Rose Zaro.
Since Terri is a Biagi, I'm assuming she knows her biscotti. And if not, I'll just have to TRY THEM ALL.)

 Small child is having a wonderful time chopping walnuts from our tree. I don't have the heart to tell him that we only need a cup.

 Ooooh, what a pretty bowl! I wonder where I got that? (From Terri, of course!) It smells like... biscotti.

 So, cream the butter, sugar, eggs. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add them, mix well. Now add the nuts and the anise flavoring. (Of course, I didn't have anise flavoring. I don't even like anise. When I lived in France they drank anise liqueur and it was DISGUSTING. So, I'm assuming that vanilla will be just as good.)

 The dough will be very sticky. Grease the sheet well. Heat the oven to 350F. Shape the dough into long rolls.

 While the biscotti cooks for 30 minutes, browse the rest of the recipes.

 Edna is murmuring to herself. "Questa sembra delizioso!" A few minutes later, she makes a noise. Apparently, the pork sausage/ cinnamon spice cake was not meeting with her approval, even though it says it's great with a caramel frosting. I peeked over her shoulder and said she should definitely try the pizza-by-the-yard recipe. "Vorrei un piatto con formaggio..." she mutters. And there's even a recipe for making your own cheese that dries in a string in the basement! This book has everything! (Of course, we have no basement, but that's no matter...)

 The oven beeped and I checked the biscotti. They were huge and fluffy. But I'd set the timer for 20 minutes, just in case my oven ran hotter than the recipe needed. I put another ten minutes on. Edna was eyeing my new Pinterest activity. It's a heart cut from a map, and the place is my honeymoon. Edna snickered and said it looked like a broken heart! She's so funny. Now all I can see is a framed broken heart.                
     Che romantico!!

 After 30 minutes, remove the biscotti and let cool for 15 minutes. Slice diagonally. Put them back in the oven for ten minutes. This is what makes them super crispy.

 I couldn't even wait for them to cool. It was BISCOTTI time.

Now, I hear these keep well in tupper ware, but they were GONE by the next morning. It wasn't me, I only had two.
Okay, maybe four.
   ALL RIGHT. I lost count! I admit it! I'm a biscotti glutton!

 But now I have the secret recipe and an unending supply, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

  Fino alla prossimo volta, i miei amici!!

(And now from 2016, I hope everyone is well and enjoy the recipe!)

Cioccolata Calda or The most AMAZING Hot Chocolate EVER!

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we're celebrating a few birthdays. 

The first is Mr. Got All Mom's Genes. My green -eyed, blonde-haired baby is growing up! We celebrate birthdays all week because WE CAN. So, here are some cupcakes with sparkler candles. It was fun just to sit and watch them.

 I don't know if I've shared this picture but probably you recognize the kitty. Poor guy. He got in a fight with some neighborhood gangster and has a scratch on his ear. So sad. But my youngest learned not to put band-aids on furry cats. They don't appreciate it. 

 We've all been reminiscing about summer. Have I mentioned it's raining? Yes? Well, it still is. And cold. Blah. We need some snow, or some sun. Preferably both.

 A throwback snapshot of our kitty. One of my kids needed a place to put his crayon so it didn't get lost. I found the cat this way. Talk about a deep sleeper.
                                                         
                                                                             

So, my friend was telling me that if I haven't had Italian Alps hot chocolate, I haven't HAD hot chocolate.

I begged to differ. I drink Mexican hot chocolate with pan Mexicano so...  don't come at me with that "you've never lived" junk. LOL

 But after seeing those pictures, I decided to try it out. Some recipes use half and half, some use arrow root.  I'm not allergic to corn starch so I used that and it worked perfectly.
You'll need:
4 cups milk
5Tbs good powdered chocolate
5TBS condensed milk
2TBS corn starch
sugar to taste
vanilla to taste

 Dissolve the corn starch a few TBS of hot milk. Heat the milk, condensed milk, chocolate and corn starch together until boiling. Stirring constantly, let it cook at a simmer or low boil for four minutes or so.

 If you'd like to add anything to it, add when removing from the heat.  I added crushed chocolate covered espresso beans. OH, YUMMY!

 Pour into cups or small ramekins. Don't drink immediately. It's VERY HOT.
                                              
 Grate chocolate over the top and let it melt a little.

 As it cooled, I could smell the coffee/chocolate all over the house.

 I was a little worried when I dipped into it that I'd made pudding. (Oh, who am I kidding? I was not worried in the SLIGHTEST. Pudding is delicious.)

 But it was still liquid, so I guess we could still call it hot chocolate.

I did have to eat it with a spoon, but my kids drank it down (they got the espresso free version, FYI, before anybody calls the cops).
Well, that's all for now! Feel free to stop by my author page at Mary Jane Hathaway, my other author page at Virginia Carmichael, my blog at The Things that Last, or visit me at Huffington Post Books. Keep warm, eat delicious food, and embrace the joy in this short life!