Cabin Fever Recipes

January is the month to stay indoors. Between monster snow storms and negative temps, it doesn't pay to go outside - which means time indoors. Instead of bingeing on TV or playing games, think kitchen. There's a lot of fun foods to cook and bake.

A snow day in can bring forth the urge to bake. Have plenty  of flour and sugar.available as well as baking staples such as eggs,milk, and sugar. Kids love cutting out and decorating cookies. Sugar and butter cookies are easy to make and cut out. They can have fun creating edible snowflakes or snowmen.If you did this for the holidays just past, then think about sandwich cookies. Vanilla cookies can have a dark fudge buttercream filling or vice versa. You could also make Lindser tortes if you have any raspberry jam.Brownies are another cold weather fave. Always have one or two boxes of mix around . They're wonderful with hot tea or coffee after a morning of shoveling snow. A day in can also mean honing your decorating skills.Spend time either on a cake or cupcakes, creating leaves and rosettes or trying new techniques such as striping or creating frosting ribbons. If you want something a tad healthier, think galettes. These are free form pies  usually filled with apples. You can also sub in pears too along with changing the crust to chocolate. They can even be miniaturized for a fun dessert.Kids can also make candy during these frosty days too. Homemade fudge is always welcome as are homemade sea salt caramels and chocolate covered pretzels.

Savory foods can also be cooked up when it's better to stay indoors. Most home chefs usually make pizza when everybody is indoors. It's what everyone loves and it can be customized with pepperoni slices or olives. Try calzones for a different spin. Their name means big sock in Italian and that's what they kind of are They are little sacks of pizza dough filled with creamy ricotta and ham.it's baked like a pizza until the dough is crispy and puffy  and then served with marinara sauce. A Mexican lunch or dinner is always welcomed, Stock up on taco kits . These are fun for kids and they can easily assemble a taco dinner. Another fun snack is guacamole . This is a great treat when watching TV or playing games.For a more sophisticated turn try mole. You can use the cocoa powder that went into holiday baking for this.It's combined with tomato sauce, cumin,  garlic and chilis. for a creamy, mouth watering sauce.It's best over chicken but can also be used to jazz up leftover pork or roast beef. Days indoors also are great to make grilled cheese. Jazz it up with tomato slices and bacon. Give it a French flair with frying up  Croque Monsiuers, This is Gruyere cheese and sliced ham on white bread and fried in butter. Give it ore of a Gallic boost with  homemade pomme frites. It's even better if you have it with  French cider or Stella Artois.

The cold weather means staying indoors. Don't get cabin fever. Bake - or cook something interesting t get rid of the doldrums. You'll be glad you did.

The Oven It's Not Just For Cakes And Cookies

Most home chefs just use the oven for making sweet treats such as chocolate chip cookies or red velvet cake.. Yet the oven can produce  such savory masterpieces as crown roasts  and baked sandwiches. Using this way is a nice departure from stove top cooking.

Of course one of the best savory oven meals is the pizza. It's a nice departure from the pizzeria and frozen kinds. Some purists get a pizza stone, a round disc made out of soapstone or marble. These help to create a crispier crust, however, a round baking sheet or even an oblong one . The crust won't be as crispy as one baked on a stone but it will still be delicious. A homemade pie can be customized to fit everyone's needs, wit extra sauce or more cheese. Then there's the toppings which can feature the traditional pepperoni and olives or the unusual like buffalo chicken and pineapple chunks. Another Southern  Italian treat that's oven baked is the calzone. It's a pizza turned inside out. Calzone translates into big sock and it is just that. It's filled with everything from ricotta and mozzarella to spinach, ham and, chopped pork sausage. Baking time is a quick fifteen to seventeen minutes. Sandwiches such as grilled cheese actually taste better oven baked than they do fried, They're also a very quick bake too. It's only five minutes in a 450 degree F. oven.. Another plus is that you can make six to eight sandwiches at a time. This is great if you have a hungry crowd to feed and there's no time to wait.

Baked sandwiches are wonderful lunches or Sunday suppers. Grilled cheese in the oven has so many variations. Try sharp Vermont cheddar on white bread. Jazz it up with some bacon slices and sliced tomatoes for a diner special  The Happy Waitress. One of my favorites is a Piedmontese dish from my Nonna's side. Leeks on toast is a tasty and filling combo of cooked leeks on buttered toast. More butter is added on top of the leeks along with a heavy sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, The average sandwich can also be baked. Think baked club sandwiches for a hot Saturday lunch or a baked ham and cheese for a Sunday supper. One of the biggest oven trends right now is sheet  pan meals This is an easy way to cook the main dish and sides all together. There are so many variations from vegan to hearty meat lovers, Many home chefs combine chicken with different vegetables.Small red potatoes are the veggie of choice along with broccoli and peppers to create a tasty and filling meals.Cut sausage makes a wonderful main ingredient in a sheet pan meal, Try it with peppers and potatoes cut into cubes..Pork chops are also wonderful in a sheet pan dinner. Pair with string beans and sweet potatoes for a real rib sticking meal.

Ovens are not just for baking sweet treats such as cakes and cookies You can create delicious, savory meals that are baked to perfection. Try them and get hooked on this ingenious way of cooking lunches and dinners.

One Dough Many Recipes

Name one dough that can have as many recipes as pizza has toppings. The answer - pizza dough. It's so versatile that it can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's great too in creating snacks and fun desserts too. Make a batch of pizza dough and you'll have a wide swath of delicious dishes.

Pizza dough is one of the easiest to make.It's a bread dough recipe without butter and eggs. You can use white or whole wheat flour or a mix of the two. Olive oil, along with salt and surprisingly sugar,  is also needed for body and flavor. Yeast is to give it a defined crust.Some home chefs add Italian seasonings such as oregano and rosemary to give it more flavor. There is even the option of subbing in brown sugar for white for a healthier dough.Of course the dough can be used for pizza and if more flour is added - it creates a great, chewy crust for Sicilian or Nonna style pies..The dough can also be divided to create individual pizzas, perfect for fun dinner with the kids where they make their own. A byproduct of pizza dough is calzone - or big sock in Italian.Calzones are fun to whip up because the variety of stuffings rivals that of pizza toppings. The original recipe calls for ricotta and mozzarella along with smoked ham. It has a nice creamy texture and taste, heightened by the meat's saltiness. Italian salame or even paper thin sliced prosciutto can be subbed in for the ham. Fresh goat cheese can also be used instead of the traditional ones which gives a lighter in calorie calzone. Veggies and calzones go hand in hand. Add chopped red peppers, broccoli, onions and spinach  for a colorful,t asty one..

Pizza dough can be made into other Italian treats. It can easily be cut and hand rolled into grissini, those Torinese .extra thin, extra crispy breadsticks. They're then rubbed with olive oil and baked for only fifteen to twenty minutes until they're golden brown. These would be perfect with minestrone soup on a crisp fall day. Another crunchy idea are crackers!The dough can easily be rolled to a wafer thinness and then cut into squares. They're then docked or poked with a fork before being given a wash of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt.Again these would be great with soup but also with soft cheeses like Brie.Pizza dough also makes for nice dinner rolls and Italian bread, perfect for a Sunday dinner. What many don't know is that the dough can take on a Middle Eastern cast. It's perfect for making pita bread.The only difference is that's it's made on an ultra hot cast iron skillet instead of in the oven.Pizza dough can also be turned into yummy cinnamon rolls and donuts.It's rolling out the dough , brushing it with melted butter and then adding a mix of cinnamon and sugar.Raisins, nuts and even chocolate chips can be added to the filling.The dough. can also be cut into doughnuts and fried in vegetable oil. These can be dipped in cinnamon or powdered sugar for an extra boost of sweetness.

Pizza dough can be used to create a luscious pie but it can be used for so many other recipes as well. Try it as pita bread or doughnuts. Bake yummy grissin or cinnamon rolls for a weekend dinner. It's versatile and fun, perfect for so many recipes.

Easy Homemade Pizza

Home made pizza is the best in the world.Nothng beats a hot chewy crust with your choice of favorite toppings.However many find making it a chore, thanks to the labor intensive prep. that doesn't have to be.There are shortcuts to make a pleasant home made meal more pleasant.

Suzanne Lenzer, new to writing to today's Wednesday New York Times Food section, explored this in her article on home baked pies.This is slightly different than the thousands of other recipes.For one it's Ms. Lenzer's recipe and she has been tweaking for almost twenty years so that it has become a fuss free , almost work free dough She is a pizza connoisseur, having authored the book Truly,Madly Pizza (Rodale Books Publisher) which is not only a good read for pizza lovers but also for home chefs wanting a variety of different pie recipes. Unlike traditional recipes , Ms. Lenzer uses a food processor.This cuts out the kneading and punching, with the machine expertly blending and pounding the dough. Afterwards she recommends giving it a few quick folds, then dimple it like focaccia, letting it rise for only twenty minutes.That's it. No waiting overnight for the dough to rise, no table to mess up. Just a neat way of creating a versatile dough.

Another excellent facet about this dough is that you can freeze it. Usually most home bakers
stick pizza dough  in the fridge if there's left over. It only lasts  really a day or two and then it has to be thrown out. The better way, as Ms. Lenzer suggests is freezing it for future use. When it's ready to be used, it just has to be thawed out . This reactivates the yeast which allows for a double rise. This also helps to develop the flavor as well, resulting in a tangy base and crustier crust. several batches can be made so pizza can be eaten two or even three times a week much to the delight of family pizza lovers. The dough itself is the basic one , made with bread flour , water and olive oil along with medium milled corn meal. This last is  used when the dough is being kneaded a second time  to get it into the pie shape. The dough can also be used for calzone too., those socklike treats, filled with ricotta and ham,Home bakers will enjoy having this quick dough for experimenting with different topping and styles of pizza They can try a pizza Bianca or a margherita one week , while trying a variety of focaccia and little  pizzas the next.

Homemade pizza is always a treat. Imagine baking it two or three times a week.It can be done thanks to an easy recipe that takes away that dreaded an messy prep time