Snacks: Pizza on Pita

I found my inspiration for this recipe here. That particular recipe is vegan, and...I'm not. So I made non-vegan pizza on pita, and now I'm going to share [the recipe] with you.

Tomato Sauce
This is how I make almost any tomato product - spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, or tomato soup. I just season them differently, and make them thicker or thinner, depending on what I'm making.

Ingredients:

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 Tbs. sugar, to cut down on the acid
• Seasonings (garlic salt, oregano, basil, etc.)  use whatever flavors you like

Place all of your ingredients in a blender and blend to desired thickness. Done! 

Pizza

Ingredients:

• Pita* bread or sandwich thins
• Tomato sauce 
• Pizza toppings -today I used mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. You could also use feta cheese, garlic salt, pepperoni, peppers, onions, mushrooms, leftovers (barbecue chicken, anyone? - Except me. I'm vegetarian), etc.

While you wait for your oven to preheat to 400, place your pita on a piece of foil. Place a couple spoons worth of your sauce onto each pita and top with cheese and other toppings. Bake for about 10 minutes. 

If you prefer crispier crust, prebake your pita for five minutes.

Enjoy! 

Love,
Scout

* Not to be confused with Peeta.

Source

Sweet Potato Fries

I found this recipe for spicy sweet potato fries a long time ago. I've been interested in trying it for a while, but either didn't have sweet potatoes to use or was discouraged by my family, who thought the spicy part sounded weird. Well, I proved them wrong. I made them last week and they were delicous. Even the skins, which my family was also worried about, tasted fine. They weren't very spicy - I'll probably add more red peppers next time - and I left out the fennel seeds because we didn't have any.

I highly recommend you try them. Recipe here.
You can find the recipe for the feta green beans here.

Love,
Scout

Poaching an Egg

Dear First Egg I've Ever Poached,

 I thought you were going to be very difficult, especially after having watched Julie & Julia numerous times, but you were actually easier than any other egg I've made. You were also the most delicious egg I've ever eaten in my life - and I don't even like eggs that much! But you were so smooth and creamy and wonderful. I expect I'll be seeing you very frequently from now on. 

Love, Scout

Chicken Pasta

I love pasta - it's so delicious and so easy to make a meal out of. A couple weeks ago, I made white cheddar and chicken pasta for dinner. This was before I decided to try a vegetarian challenge.
This stuff is so amazing. I'm not really a fan of cheddar cheese, so I was afraid I would take the time to make the meal and then hate it, but the combination of flavors was just so good.

I used this recipe. This was a couple weeks ago, but here are the changes I remember making:

• I added red bell pepper. You definitely need to do this. 
• I left out the white wine - we didn't have any. I think I added extra butter to make up for it. 
• I didn't add hot red peppers or parmesan because I forgot about. Let me tell you, those are probably good additions, but it doesn't need them at all. 

I'm making myself hungry writing about this - and looking at the pictures here and with the recipe. Maybe I'll make it for dinner, and cook the chicken separately.

Love,
Scout

Banana Bread

I love banana bread. And it must have walnuts or pecans - some people don't know this, but that is the first rule in the unwritten banana bread rule book (the only exception is allergies). So, last week when we finally had pecans, I had to make banana bread. I spent a lot of time online searching for the perfect recipe. I ended up using this one.

Isn't it pretty? I think it's the prettiest bread I've ever made. I would have made baby loaves, but we only had large loaf pans. It was pretty good, though the middle was a little softer than I'd like.
Here are some of the other recipes I found - let me know if you try any!

• the one I used this time.
• avocado banana bread
• spiced banana loaf - I almost used this recipe, but decided I wanted plain, comforting, banana bread, without risking not liking a new recipe

Love,
Scout

A New Take On Chili

As I'm on a vegetarian challenge this month, I can't eat just any ol' chili. So, I took advantage of this and made a chili recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while: sweet potato chili. It was so easy, and so delicious. The hardest part was cooking the beans, mostly because I hate cooking beans (canned ones have too much salt).

Basically, you throw everything in a crock pot and you're done. I didn't even change that much with this recipe! I used all diced tomatoes, because I didn't have crushed, and I left out the salt. That's only two things! I think that's a new record for me.

This chili was delicious. It was very rich and had a hint of sweetness - it doesn't even require cheese or sour cream! Actually, I think cheese wouldn't match the flavor very well, but sour cream could add a nice touch of creaminess, if you roll that way.

Recipe here. Let me know what you think!

Love,
Scout

Avocado Pasta

I have only recently discovered my love for avocados. In October I had guacamole for the first time ever. Last week I made avocado pasta.

I, for one, love pasta and pasta salad. This was no exception. I used this recipe, only, as usual, I adjusted it.

• I left out the cilantro because I think cilantro is gross. 
• I added an extra 1/2 of an avocado because I made a lot of pasta. 
• I left out the salt because of my dad's next-to-no salt diet.

It was still creamy and delicious. However, I think this could easily be turned into a whole meal (at least, what I would consider a whole meal) by adding:

• black beans
• southwestern seasoning or cayenne pepper - something to add a little spice
• fresh, diced tomatoes
• chopped cucumber (a great addition to any pasta salad, in my opinion)
• corn

If you like avocado, you'll like this pasta. It's very simple and tasty. Let me know if you try it, especially if you alter the recipe any to add your own touch.

Love,
Scout