Shrimp Pizza

Welcome back to the Tiny Ass Kitchen, I hope you've been having as much fun cooking in this Christmas Season as I have.



If you have been following the blog or have been reading any of my past posts you'll know I made some pizza dough in November and I have finally had time to take some of that dough and do something with it!

To begin this whole thing you'll want to defrost your pizza dough, normally I take it out the night before so it's ready the next night for dinner time. Since it should be defrosted, I'll move past that.



Take a can of chopped tomatoes and drain them out.



You can then add the drained tomatoes to a mini chopper or a large food processers if you don't have a mini one, otherwise I don't have a large one, I don't need it and I don't need all that to do the small things I do with mine. Anyway. In this add not only the tomatoes but about 2 cloves of garlic along with some spices like oregano, basil, salt, pepper and whatever else you feel. Pulse it a few times until you get this nice tomato sauce that ::gasp:: isn't from a jar!



Since that is done clean off your counter top and put down some flour because you're going to press out your dough.



Then you're going to put some flour on both sides of the dough and on your hands. Then you can begin to press it out by using the heel of your hand. Don't do it to rough because then you'll rip the dough. You can use a rolling pin, but my mom has it and I was to lazy to go over there and get it, I also make my dough to thin when I use the pin, and when I need a thicker crust I just use my hands.

Oh and don't kill yourself trying to make a circular pizza, leave that to the professionals (but not to Papa Johns or crap like that)



When you get it to the right thickness, then you need to put it in a greased cookie sheet. (doesn't it look a little like Australia?)



Then you can start spooning on your sauce to the dough and spread it around so it's nice and even in all places.



Gracie and Danny were there to supervise this...



Then you can take some shredded mozzarella cheese and spread it all around the pizza. We like a lot of cheese, so yeah. Also note I have some shrimp defrosting on the stove, you can put whatever you want on this pizza, I like shrimp, but you can do tomatoes, broccoli, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, whatever. Just make it your own and enjoy it.



Then go ahead and add whatever topping you want (notice my husband placing his shrimp - he decided to help that night)



Then you can place the pizza in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

You can make a side salad in this time too so you can have something additional to your pizza.



When it's done, I have to say, not only does it look good, but it tastes even better. The whole wheat dough is so tasty, it's not gritty and really makes you enjoy the pizza without feeling horribly guilty. The smell in the house is wonderful too, but what's even better is you save lots of money doing it at home so you can enjoy your pizza a little more often.

Happy cooking!

Vegetarian Cassoulet

Cassoulet is a French dish that normally contains beans, veggies, and a French pepperoni called seitan. It's really a peasant dish, but has found it's way into mainstream French cuisine and the ever popular French bistro. This version is a vegetarian version. Cassoulet is a hearty dish, warming and nice with a sprinkle of romano cheese.

To start your cassoulet, preheat your oven to 350. You're going to need it.

In a large pot, start by softening a finely chopped onion, and 6 cloves of garlic - if you're not big into garlic you can do a little less. Then throw in some thymne, fresh rosemary, margorum (I can't figure how to spell it and my computer won't fix it, so you'll have to deal), and a few bay leaves. stir is around until a few onions start to brown and the rest have softened. It'll take about two minutes.



While that happens go get a nice dry red wine. I chose one of my favorite wines from the Bartlett winery in Gouldsboro, Maine. You can't find it in any local market except if you go to Maine, but it's worth it, and you can order it over the internet. It's actually a blue berry wine and I thought it would go well with this dish.



Uncork your wine and then you can deglaze your pan with a 1/2 cup of it, and then you can enjoy a glass. Then let the onions continue to soften in the wine, make sure you also turn down the heat on your mixture in the pot so it doesn't dissolve all the wine.



The deglazing will put a great smell in the air, so the adoring public of the Tiny Ass Kitchen will join you in the kitchen.

So while the onion, garlic and spices along with the wine does its thing, go ahead and peel enough potatoes to give you about a cup worth of potatoes and the same thing goes for carrots.



Be careful not to go to fast with your peeler, it can result in casualties and the need for a Hello Kitty band aid.



When the onions have softened for another 5 minutes you can add them in. The stir it in to the rest and let it cook for a few more minutes so the potatoes and carrots can start to soften.



Also add in a can of drained chopped tomatoes, you can use the real thing, but since it's winter the tomatoes aren't that great in the markets, and using canned is pretty cheap (45 cents at Aldi) and easy when you're in a rush.



Open up and drain one can of kidney beans and one can of canellini beans (you know I lurve them)



You can then add them to the veggies in the pot.



Then add a tablespoon of both dijion mustard (don't worry it doesn't overpower a thing, just trust me) and a tablespoon of molasses. (again, don't worry)



Mix up the whole thing.



Add in some salt and pepper and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Once everything has had time to simmer and the beans have a chance to get a bit softer, grease a casserole dish and then add the mixture in the pot to the baking dish.



Make sure you spread everything out and also make sure that the ingredients are well combined (so you don't get areas of all potatoes, or all beans)

Then shove it into your 350 degree oven and bake it for 50 minutes.

This isn't a quick fix dinner, but it's worth the wait.



When it's done it's nice and hot, with the potatoes and carrots cooked through.



You can load it into a bowl and enjoy!!

Cannellini Bean Soup

Here is the story of Cannellini Bean Soup, brought to you by the Tiny Ass Kitchen:



One day I had some cannellini beans that I didn't know what to do with. And I thought I would use them to make a soup, but I would puree the beans.

Interesting huh?



So I put two cans in a pot and added about 5 cups of water.



The I broke out the immersion blender my Mommy got for me that I don't use as much as I should (and I really should because it's AWESOME - thanks Mom)...



And I took my aggression out on the beans and went to town. I messed up and brought it to high up and got some all over the stove, but it's ok, Danny will clean it, it's what he does best...



But I blended until all of the beans DISSAPPEARED! Woooooooooooooooo. Scary huh? (I'm in a mood, leave alone ;-) )



I turned on the stove under the bean mixture and added in two bullion cubes (veggie ones) and let it simmer.



While that did it's thing I started to chop up two carrots, a red bell pepper and an onion - which I did in my mini chop (just the onion) because they really hurt my eyes.



I threw them in a pot and let them soften and added in some garlic. I added in some cumin as well, it made the tiny ass kitchen smell lovely.




And then I added it to the bean mixture and let it cook down even more. While it cooked down I added in some pepper, and dried chives and oregano.



I wanted to do something a little special with the soup so I went into my fridge and pulled out two tortillas (99 cents at Aldi!) and cut them into little wedges on a baking sheet.



I coated them with just a touch of oil and a little bit of salt and baked them at 350 for 10 minutes, when they were ready to come out of the oven, the soup was ready as well.



Dinner was done and ready to be eaten by all in the Tiny Ass Apartment in West End.



And everyone in the Tiny Ass Apartment was wonderfully full with a warm feeling in their bellies.

The End.

(and don't worry, I didn't feed it to the cats.)

Roasted Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

It's time for dinner to be made in the tiny ass kitchen which is inside the tiny ass apartment. The kitties luckily are busy playing so I can get this little quick fix dinner done pretty fast.

I want to put a few more vegetarian things up on the site because I do try to eat 3-4 vegetarian meals a week, otherwise I do supplement seafood in, and I know it doesn't make me a vegetarian, but I simply can't give that up. Now what I'll show you today can be used as a side dish or probably as a main meal as I've made this along with steamed broccoli and other roasted veggies.



Start with some nice sized sweet potatoes, I tend to make quite a bit of these, so I'm using 4 large ones.



Then peel all of the sweet potatoes (or yams) and get rid of the skin, I'm sure you can leave the skin on, I just only do that with white potatoes, if someone tries it with these and it's good, please shoot me an email and let me know.



And do that with all of your sweet potatoes and then get your sharpest knife.



Then cut your sweet potato lengthwise and then cube them up into smaller pieces, this will let them cook quicker.



Put them all in a good sized baking dish.



Get some olive oil and then drizzle that over the top of the sweet potaotes, not to much, just enough to help coat the potatoes, then you need to get your hands dirty. Toss the potatoes in the oil.

Then go wash your hands.



After you wash your hands put some cinnamon, pepper and salt on the potatoes, and get your hands dirty again by tossing the spices around on the potatoes.



If they are covered well they will look like this.

Now preheat your oven to 400 and throw the whole thing inside for about 40 minutes depending on how hot your oven is.



This is the finished product. They will have some nice crunch to the outside and will be nice and soft on the inside. Just in case you want to add some more veggies to this, carrots and parsnips will also go very well in the mixture, although I'm not to put on parsnips I know some people really enjoy them and this is one of the few ways I will eat them

Another word about this little dish - it is the only way my husband will eat sweet potatoes because I'm not making them overly sweet. He's only known sweet potatoes with the marshmallow topping to it, the kind that makes your teeth hurt because it's so sweet. This way of cooking them allows the natural sweetness of the vegetable to come out without artificial means. So if you are not the biggest fan of the yam or sweet potato, give this a try, you may just like it.