Asparagus pesto

One of our most recent food experiments was making pesto out of asparagus. We spread it on our pizza with tomatoes and cheese on top. Can I just say delicious! It turned out great.
 

Bread tools

When Chris and I went to the baking classes, the teacher talked about having the right tools. The dough whisk looked pretty handy and the reviews about it were great, so we decided to give it a try. In it's maiden baking voyage, it handled very well. The bread pan is new too and very heavy duty. It worked marvelously. The recipe was from King Arthur Flour and it is all mixed by hand. No more frustration with my mixer. The recipe can be found here. I must say, it is a winner.
  

Mmmmm....pizza

A while back I got the hankering to figure out how to make a great pizza. Everyone has a different definition of great pizza, but for me, I was most interested in making pizza like it is made in Naples. A thin, yummy crust with just a few extrodinary toppings. Simple, but delicious. I played around here and there but never really satisfied with what I was getting. This summer, though, while we were visiting Portland, OR, I got a copy of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers's Apprentice from the semi-famous Powell's Bookstore. Among many other great recipes, he had one for Pizza Napoletana that sounded like what I was going for. My first few attempts were OK but had me wondering if I was ever going to be able to bake at home the kind of pizza I really wanted.

Recently, though, I can finally say that I'm starting to get the results I am looking for. I'm not positive what has made the improvements, but my best guess is it is due to the sifter and scale that Katie bought me for Christmas this year. All the recipes in Peter's book are given by weight as that will be most accurate, especially for dry ingredients like flour and that has helped me keep from over or under shooting the right amount. I'm too cheap to splurge on more expensive flours (I just get big 'ol bags from Sam's that are all clumpy) and the sifter helps me smooth it out.

Now that I feel like I have a good handle on the crust, I'm having fun playing around with different toppings. Here's a few shots of my most recent one (before, during, and after).  For toppings I have just cheese (mozzeralla, and a little asiago), fresh basil, red onion, and a few dabs of ranch.

Mmmmm....

Would you eat this?

Thanks to my friend Sierra I was reminded that I have a book to help me get veggies into little bodies. I bought this book about a year ago and didn't do anything with it because we were in an apartment at the time and I didn't have my food processor and a lot of other kitchen tools. So, I broke it out and did some pureeing yesterday. Here is what I started with:
 
I had to steam most of the veggies and then puree them in the food processor. This was really, really easy.
  
Derek sat like a little angel the whole time, eating "healthy" things like this:
 
Here is the end result.
 
What am I going to do with this you ask? Well, last night for dinner I made Mac & Cheese with white beans in it. Mason actually ate it. Today, I made brownies with spinach and carrots in them. They are still in the oven, so I'll have to leave you in suspense until later. I am eager to see how Mason likes the brownies after school today. Yeah for veggies!