Special Yummy: Avocado Egg Salad

Lately I've had my head deep in the blog, Pioneer Woman.  I'm not sure you can even call it a blog because it's so full.  If I call it a blog, then it makes my little blog feel bad.  I mean, step by step recipes for hundreds of dishes, sections on homeschooling, home decor, gardening, her 4 kids and extended family, her romance with her cowboy husband (which she has written, chapter by chapter, like wholesome a harlequin romance).  Beautiful photography throughout of the food and of her family and their life on the cattle ranch she married into.  Her life sounds fascinating, like the grown up version of my childhood Anne of Green Gables fantasy, in 2011, with lots of technology and resources.  It's a really good site, and inspiring.  You go, Ree Drummond. She must post, like, three times a day. Or it just seems that way. 

So there on Pioneer Woman was a recipe for Avocado Egg Salad which looked pretty yummy, and I had made a mental note.  It just so happens I have 4 dozen eggs in the fridge, because I always buy 3 dozen at a time from the chicken farm we go to, and then my mother-in-law picked up a dozen for me from a roadside stand the day after I did that.  I figured I'd boil some up to have in the fridge, and while they were boiling I fed my kids half an avocado while we played in the playroom.  I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the eggs, but I knew I didn't have any good bread and besides, I'm trying to cut down on eating bread, for various reasons. 

Suddenly, it hit me: Avocado Egg Salad.  I managed to retrieve that mental note. Amazing!  I didn't even need to go back to the recipe, I just winged it with 2 eggs, half an avocado, some finely chopped garlic scapes I still have and some salt and pepper. A little mayo just to soften it up.  Then I put it atop a thick tomato slice, and made several little cucumber sidekicks with what was left.  When I had it all together I felt like I was eating a meal at a spa.  Minus the massage. But still. I was positively giddy.

It took all of 5 minutes to prepare, it was super yummy, and it made me feel special.  What could be better than that?  My friend C. doesn't know it yet, but she's having this for lunch tomorrow when I go visit her and her new baby girl.  I want her to feel special too.  Hopefully she doesn't read this tonight but if she does...well...you're special, C! 

I recommend it.  And I recommend anything you can do to make yourself feel special in the middle of an otherwise hum-drum day.  You deserve it.    

Playing in the Kitchen: Pizza Dough

For this first installment of "Playing in the Kitchen", I have to talk about pizza.  We love making pizza over here, especially the part where you get to play with the dough.  Boodge and I have been making pizza together for a long time now and I've learned a thing or two.  It wasn't working to try to have him work on the "main" pizza with me--he pulled holes into the crust as I was spreading it and made "big pilo's" (piles) of cheese and pepperoni no matter how I explained sprinkling ("like snow falling from the sky").  Much better to give him a small piece of dough and let him have at 'er. He sometimes tries to roll it out, sometimes lets me do it, and then I take a portion of the prepared toppings and put it over within his reach, rather than letting him take whatever he wants.  But I do let him put on ridiculous amounts of some things he likes, like olives or cheese.  And I indulge the requests for bizarre ingredients like pretzels.  The last two pizza's he'd made, he's eaten in entirety over two days. He always asks me to make "pizza dough" with him.

Here's the recipe we use. It's for a 2 lb breadmaker, but maybe it would work without one.  I'm not sure what you would do with the yeast, though. Mom? Comments?  This recipe also looks good, if you don't have a breadmaker.

Pizza Dough

3/4 cup of fairly warm water
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Put the water and oil in the breadmaker first, then the dry ingredients with the yeast on top. Use your "dough" setting. 

You can double this recipe but if you do, only use 2 teaspoons of yeast.  This dough freezes well, just wrap it in plastic and stick it in, and it defrosts on the counter in a few hours.  Of course, you can also make pizza on pita breads, english muffins, and any kind of store-brought flatbread type thing and bypass the whole dough making thing.  But I think kids do really enjoy playing with the dough.  Mine sure does. 

After that I won't tell you what toppings to use....pizza should be creative, and we all have our favorites.  I'll say that I've been eating pizza with artichoke hearts and goat cheese lately, and loving it.  But you guys do your own thing.  Here are some pictures of Boodge's and my creations to inspire you.

 Pretzel Pizza

 Pilo Cheese Pizza

Pilo Cheese Pizza, After

 Sean and Katy Half and Half Special