Tales of Homemade Pizza

We were recently invited to an extraordinary evening of pizza-making. Hosted by Cooking for Geeks, we were in pursuit of ways to achieve the crispiest pizza crust at home.

Here at Peas, we often make pizza from scratch at home. Making your own pizza is a great way to get kids into the kitchen where they can experiment and create a combination all their own. It makes for a darn fun dinner party as well. Making pizza together is a joyous experience, and its incredibly economical to boot.

Mmmmmm... heirloom tomato.


Producing a crackly crust can be tough to achieve at home, even when using a pizza stone in an oven at the highest temperature setting.

On this particular evening, our insanely curious friend hacked the lock on his home oven so he could effectively bake with the oven in cleaning mode. Yikes!!! At a temperatures nearing 900 degrees at times, one pizza cooked in a mere 45 seconds! Do not try this at home!!!


That gadget in hand is an infrared thermometer. Yes, it says 845 degrees F!



Now that's crrrrispy!


Here's a safer way to imitate this crazy hack.

The "Cast Iron Skillet + Broiler" Method:

Crank your oven to its hottest (approved) setting with a rack in the central position. Heat a cast iron skillet on the stove top, giving it time to get super hot.

2 minutes before you bake, switch the oven to the broiler setting.

When you're pizza is topped and ready to bake, invert the cast iron skillet and slide your raw pizza onto the scorching hot base of the skillet. Carefully (!) transfer the skillet to the oven (now on broil). Keep an eye on that pizza because it will cook faster than imaginable!


What's your spin on homemade pizza? Tips to share?

Thanks for hosting, Jeff!!!

The Story Behind the Black Bean Polenta Puffet

Being that her dad was raised in Alabama, its not surprising that the owner of Peas of Mind grew up eating grits.

Inspired by this childhood favorite, the Black Bean Polenta Puffet was originally called the Black Bean & Grits Puffet. When nobody in California knew what grits were, polenta was the perfect substitution. But wait, what's the difference between polenta and grits?

Two main differences:
1. The corn ground to make polenta is finer than that of grits, a difference that affects the final texture.
2. The corn used to make white grits is soaked in lye to remove the bran. The resulting corn is called hominy, which is also used to make masa harina (used to make tortillas.)

* Image from: http://www.food411.com
* http://www.grits.com

The Best Treat on the Street

Tricks, treats, costumes, and homemade popsicles! Our Toasted Coconut Yogurt Pops are the perfect Halloween treat to serve the neighborhood kids! They are a healthy, fun alternative to handing out candy, and they are low in sugar and high in protein!

Toasted Coconut Yogurt Pops:
Serves about 5 depending on size of mold

• 6oz of plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1 Tbl soy milk (or regular milk)
• 2 Tbl toasted coconut + extra to sprinkle on frozen pops
• 1/2 tsp agave syrup or honey
• 5-8 mini Dixie cups
• wooden popsicle sticks*

In a bowl mix together all of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into the mini Dixie cups and place into the freezer. (Feel free to use other types of molds to hold the yogurt mixture, for example: small glass shot glasses or an ice cube tray)

Set a timer for 40 minutes. When the timer goes off, the mixture will be hard enough to push a popsicle stick into place. Continue to freeze for 8 hours. When ready to serve, let the Pops sit at room temperature for about 3 minutes, at which point they can be easily removed from the mold. Sprinkle with extra coconut and serve.

This recipe can easily be doubled if you are feeding more kids!

*You can use many items as a popsicle stick. For example: cut chopsticks in half, use toothpicks, plastic spoons (cut the top off). Just be sure there are no sharp edges!

Choose your Salt

Have you ever wondered why the grocery store sells so many kinds of salt when all you ever use while cooking is Morton's? It's our mission at Peas of Mind to offer healthy foods for your kids. Foods that are low in sodium, fats, sugars, and all the bad stuff. Here is a guide to help you decide the right salt for you.

When comparing the sodium content of different salts, it is crucial to compare them on the basis of weight and not volume. Sea salt and Kosher salt are composed of large, irregularly shaped flakes which makes them... fluffy. Table salt crystals are small and uniform and therefore you can pack more of them into the same container (much like filling a pail with sand versus marbles). This is why different types of salt should not be used interchangeably in a recipe that measures by volume.

Salt is about 40% sodium by weight.

Sea salt contains small amounts of other minerals like Magnesium, Calcium and Potassium that dilute the sodium but not by much.

Typically, neither Sea nor Kosher salt have added iodine the way table salt does.

Here is a sodium comparison of 1g of Table Salt, Sea Salt, and Kosher Salt



As you can see, there is little difference among them (the sea salt being lowest due to its trace mineral content.)

Impact of Shape on Taste:

The most significant advantage that Sea and Kosher salt possess over table salt is the way their shape affects the delivery of salt onto the tongue. (This advantage is only applicable when the salt is in crystal form; once dissolved, it is nearly impossible to distinguish between different types of salt.)

Table Salt: Sand

When a crystal of table salt hits your tongue, it dissolves quickly, all at once, stinging the tongue with a sudden shock of SALT! This can often detract from the other flavours in a meal, making it unpleasantly salty.

Sea Salt: Rocks

Sea salt's larger crystals dissolve more slowly, delivering a subtle saltiness over a longer period of time in the mouth.

Kosher Salt: Feathers

Kosher salt's long curved flakes have a larger surface area than sea salt rocks do. Kosher salt flakes land on the tongue like a feather. A thin flake of Kosher salt delivers an immediate zing (similar to that of table salt) when part of the flake hits the tongue. As the remainder of the curved flake rolls onto the tongue, that zing is drawn out, making for an exhilarating eating experience.

To sum it all up, use sea salt when you're adding salt to food right before serving it. If you don't want to blow your budget on sea salt, Kosher salt is a decent fallback.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Nutrition Data blog
The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition by Sheldon Margen, M.D., University of California, Berkeley, Random House Inc., 1992.

How to Choose Perfectly Ripe Produce

When facing baskets of fresh figs or a bin full of onions, how do you make your selection? What are the marks of quality produce?

'Compact' and 'heavy for its size' are universal qualities to look for when selecting produce.

Below are more specific traits

Vegetables:

• artichoke: compact, with firm, fleshy, tightly closed leaves.
• asparagus: tight, dark green or deep purple tips with firm slender stalks, preferably less than 1/2" in diameter.
• eggplant: tight, smooth skin. small or medium-sized ones have fewer seeds (examining the scar on the blossom end to select 'male eggplants' is bunk! They possess both male and female parts and can self-reproduce.)
• garlic: plump and compact with tight skin
• onion: tightly-closed neck, firm and dry all over with crackly skin. all varieties should have a mild smell; a strong scent indicates rotting.
• peppers: firm, tight glossy skin. heavy ones have thicker walls and therefore more juicy flesh.

Fruits:

• passion fruit: large and heavy. ripe when deeply wrinkled.
• persimmon: deep color; more red than yellow.
• fig: deep color. white cracks and a slight leathering effect indicate extreme sweetness!
• lychee: redder the fresher/better. with stems attached.
• citrus: firm and round with smooth skin.

1. pomelo: heavy, fragrant.
2. grapefruit: flattened ends, skin that is not puffy.
3. lemon: bright yellow, not greenish.
4. lime: dark green ones taste freshest; yellowing indicates the degradation of tartness and overall flavor.

• melon: slight softness and fruity aroma. look for a 'ground-spot' (slightly flattened, side where the skin is lighter in color where the melon once rested on the ground.) The more distinct the ground-spot is, the more time the melon spent ripening on the vine.

1. cantalope: golden under the netting, not dull green.
2. honeydew: freckles on the skin indicate sweetness.
3. watermelon: ground-spot should be yellow, not white.
   

* The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition by Sheldon Margen, M.D., University of California, Berkeley, Random House Inc., 1992.