Whole Wheat Pizza with Fresh Veggies

I love making pizza, it is perfect for a day of studying because it has different stages and punching pizza really get the blood flowing after long periods of staring at a screen. Also perfect for a ladies night in, a romantic dinner for two or for just for your parents.

Makes 1 pizza that serves 2, an easy recipe to double or triple J

Ingredients
• 2 tsp dry active yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• A couple tablespoons of some kind of pizza sauce (either canned, pasta sauce or pesto)
• Enough cheese to cover your pizza (if you are using feta you may only need half a cup but you will need a cup of mozerella)
• Sliced vegetables (red onion, tomatoes, red pepper, green pepper, mushrooms, baby spinach, pineapple, olives)

My favourite pizza toping combinations:
The Sweetie Pie- tomato based sauce, mozeralla, red onion, red and green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and pinapple
The Savery Pie- tomato based sauce, mozeralla, red onion, red and green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and olives
Pesto Pie- basil pesto and mozerella
Greek Pizza- tomato based sauce, feta cheese, red onion, tomato, red pepper and olives

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350*
2. Mix dry active yeast with sugar and add warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes
3. Use a wooden spoon to stir in 2 cups of whole wheat flour until well mixed, then add last cup of flour and salt (it will become increasingly hard to stir so you may need to take it out of the bowl and kneed it in), kneed for 6-7 minutes until smooth and elastic
4. Place dough in a pre-oiled boil (so that dough does not stick to inside of bowl as it rises) cover with a dry dishcloth and put on top of warm oven so it can rise
5. After dough has doubled in size (1- 1 1/2 hours) beat it down and roll onto greased tray (like many students I do not have a pizza pan or a rolling pin so I use a cookie sheet and a drinking glass)
6. Put back on top of oven for another 30 minutes then smooth on desired sauce, desired cheese and desired vegetables and place in oven
7. Bake for 30- 40 minutes and eat!

Fresh Pad Thai

I loved pad thai when I was in Thailand, I literally ate it three times a day so I knew I had to learn how to make it before I left. I had to modify the ingredients slightly when I came home but they should all be available at your local China Town or Asian Supermarket, loved for both their cheap prices and fresh produce.

Thai food is usually cooked quickly over high heat so the veggies need to be finely cut and all the ingredients need to be ready before hand so that you can quickly add them when needed so you don’t over cook anything.

Serves 2 or 3 if your hungry


Ingredients
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups grated carrot
• 2 cups grated cabbage
• 1 cup chopped pre-deep fried tofu (can be found at Asian grocery stores)
• 2 green onions cut into 1/2” pieces
• Rice noodles, cooked (enough for 3 people)
• 2 tbsp fish oil
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp chicken stock
• 6 tbsp pad thai sauce (see recipe below)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• Quartered lime, sliced green onion and chopped peanut to garnish

Directions
1. Heat pan and add oil. When it is warm add garlic and crack eggs on top, scramble in pan.
2. After a couple minutes add cabbage and carrot and fry until cabbage starts to soften (around 5 minutes)
3. Add tofu and green onions after a couple minutes add rice noodles. fish oil, sugar, stock, pad thai sauce and soy sauce. Fry until carrot is cooked but still firm to the bite (around 5 minutes)
4. Add bean sprouts, take off heat and serve after a couple minutes so that sprouts soften.
5. Garnish and serve

Pad Thai Sauce
You can store in the fridge for up to three weeks in a sealed container but since I tend not to make pad thai more then once a month I just freeze the rest for the next time I get the craving.

Ingredients
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 chopped shallot cloves
• 1 tbsp tamarind sauce
• 1 large red chili with seeds removed (I used 5 small ones instead because I couldn’t find a large one)
• 1 tbsp chicken stock
• Dash of Salt

Directions
1. Boil coconut milk
2. Add all of the other ingredients
3. Simmer for half and hour
4. Allow it to cool and blend.

Caramelized Carrot and Feta Linguini

This recipe comes from the green mountain that is North Vancouver, I am not sure how it made its way to my boyfriend’s family but through him it came to me. I make it when people come over to dinner because it is an easy recipie to double and I have never met anyone who didn’t love it.

Serves 3 or 2 if you’re a 20-something male

• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 carrots
• 2 tbsp. Olive oil with extra to drizzle
• 1 cup crumbled feta
• Linguini for 3 people (each serving is the amount grasped between 3ed joints of the pointer finger and thumb.

Directions
1. Chop onion, peel and crush garlic and peel and grate carrot into a bowl.
2. Heat a medium sized skillet on medium heat and when warm add 2 tbsp. Olive oil. Add onion, garlic and grated carrot.
3. Toss onion/garlic/carrot mixture for 20 minutes or until carrots have caramelized (they become slightly sweet and soft) and onions have softened.
4. While caramelizing the carrot mixture put on linguini, and boil until desired tenderness.
5. Crumble feta into a medium size bowl, when carrot mixture is caramelized add on top and when linguini is done add that on top. Drizzle olive oil over the three layers and let sit for a couple minutes. This allows the feta to melt and merge slightly with the carrot mixture.
6. Toss and serve.

Serve it up…
You can add parsley as a garnish to make it pretty, I personally like a sprinkle of pepper or just have it straight up.

Spice it up…
To give the pasta a little more kick, add a seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper to the onion, garlic and carrots and fry them all together.