i've been making my own pizza for many years now - the crust, the toppings, the whole enchillada, er... pizza. here's how i do it:

• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 1/3 cup grated parmensan cheese
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2.33 teaspoons of dry yeast
• 1.33 cups of warm water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 8 - 10 large white mushrooms or their sliced equivalent
• 200 ml can of sliced ripe black olives
• 200g proscuito ham
• 200g sliced
• pepperoni
• 200g salami
• 250g mild cheddar
• 250g mozerella
• 5.5oz can of tomato paste
• oregano, thyme, onion salt to taste

add yeast to warm water and sugar to activate the yeast. allow it to froth for at least 10 - 15 minutes. in a large bowl, mix the 2.5 cups of flour, parmesan, salt and garlic powder. add the olive oil and half of the yeast water. mix. add the remaining yeast water and mix thoroughly. your dough will probably be wet at this point - take some flour and add until the dough reaches a doughy, kneadable consistency.add some extra flour to the bowl and allow to set for half an hour. after half an hour, stretch and knead the dough and allow to set another half hour, after which time, it will be good to go. use this time to prepare your toppings. cut the peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and any other toppings that you have into usable pieces. grate the cheese. when the dough is ready, divide it into half. you should have enough dough for two 14" - 16" pizzas. grease pizza pan with some extra olive oil. stretch the dough until it will cover the pan. make edges against the sides of the pizza pan. add half of the tomato paste and season to taste. add the meat. add the vegetables. top with cheese. bake in oven at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes. cool. slice and serve.

i prefer to use the tomato paste to prepared pizza sauces because i can control the amount of salt in the mix much better this way. also, it's a huge relief to know what is going into your pizza, as opposed to ordering it take out and not knowing how it's been prepared. i typically make two big pizzas and freeze them (thanks melanie!!) so that i can have a healthy available lunch on demand.

oh, and i would recommend screening your ingredients for cat hair, just in case your furry friends have been sniffing around your kitchen while you were off doing other chores.

- g

song of the day for makin' pizzas: "everything", tiësto featuring jes.

so this recipe turned out pretty badly and i'm not sure why.  i'm recording the recipe here so... that... you will know how NOT to make a vegetarian lasagna.  unfortunately, i went to a lot of trouble to make the associated video, and it's cute with the cats knocking over the camera and eating squishy food... so... what the heck - here goes.

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 - 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• 1 800ml can crushed tomatoes
• 300g veggie round
• 2 packs frozen spinach
• 1 egg
• 1 500g container of 0.4%MF cottage cheese
• 1 454g container of 6%MF ricotta cheese
• 1 package boil-less (?) lasagna noodles
• 1/3 cup parmesan
• 1 cup mozerella (optional)

heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. brown onions, and add garlic.  when onions turn clear, add veggie round.  break up veggie round.  allow to brown slightly. add crushed tomatoes.  reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.  season with garlic powder, oregano,  onion salt and pepper.  thaw frozen spinach in a microwave (loosely cover and add about a cup of water to the bowl if you are defrosting it in the microwave).  in a separate bowl, mix the egg, cottage cheese and ricotta. drain and squeeze the excess water from the spinach.  (i do it this way, but you don't have to) add the spinach to the tomato sauce.  cover the bottom of a lasagna dish with sauce.  layer the noodles, cheese mixture, sauce (and spinach ) layers until ingredients are used up. cover the top layer with remainder of sauce mixture and parmesan (and other cheese like mozerella, if desired).  cover with tin foil.  bake at 375 degrees F.  make yourself a dry vodka martini.  after about 30-40 minutes, check lasagna and remove foil.  return to oven to brown for 10 - 15 minutes.  remove and allow to cool before serving.  serves 8.  freeze and take to work for vegetarian carb-heavy lunches!

- g

song of the day for making lasagna that's healthy... but... not quite right: beautiful things(gabriel + dresden mix) ,andain

so, it turns out that once you have the "filmmaker's itch", it's hard not to scratch!  i had so much fun with the first timelapse video of my boring-ass life, i had to make another one - just to see if i could make something equally banal look like it was fun and cool.

last year, my mom sent me a recipe for a tasty soup that she had created (or stolen from martha stewart - i'm not actually sure which is the case).  here's the official (not funny) recipe:

• 2 regular sized zucchini
• 1 leek (thoroughly washed)
• 1 tbs chopped ginger
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp soup stock (vegetable and/or chicken)
• 1 cup water

wash and chop the leeks and zucchini.  peel/skin and finely chop ginger and garlic.  heat a skillet with the olive oil.  warm the garlic and ginger.  throw in the zucchini.  cover and brown for two minutes.  throw in the leeks. cover and brown for two minutes.  dissolve soup stock in the water.  when the vegetables have softened and browned slightly, add the stock.  allow to come to a boil.  transfer to a simmering pot.  add water to just cover the vegetables.  bring to a slow boil over low heat.  allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.  take half of the mixture and blend in a blender on medium speed.  add the remaining vegetables and blend.

this soup is delicious and can be vegan-friendly.  also note that it is about as bright a green as you can possibly achieve without adding artificial colouring or kryptonite.

this morning, as i was getting ready for work, i was contemplating what other kinds of timelapse videos i could take of my everyday life that would get more cat-involvement in them.  going to sleep and taking a shower were on the top of the list, but i need to think of a way that i can do this without seeming to want to get into amateur porn.  you'll probably see the outcome within a couple of weeks if you just stay tuned to this station.

thanks to everyone who has been supportive of my efforts to make my cats youtube stars!!!!

- g

song of the day for making the most boring stuff look like fun: shapes, maor levi (oliver smith remix)

ps.  these nutty techno songs are ripped from my running mixes - i don't listen to them because they're brilliant music or anything, but they keep me moving fast when i might rather sit at home and watch video on my PC.