Ole! (snap, snap!)

Many of you might be familiar with the Christian tradition of Lent. Every year, for as long as I can remember, I've given up some form of food, ranging from chocolate and chips to cucumbers(I love, love, love cucumbers, in case anyone thought that was weird). Lent lasts the 40 days from Ash Wednesday, which fell on February 25 this year, until Holy Saturday, which falls on April 11, 2009. And every year, for as long as I can remember, I have not once completed the 40 days with out eating said food. Well, this year I decided it was going to be different, and for once, I would follow up on my word. I decided to give up meat- I am not a big meat person but, not being able to eat something that is the primary food group in your house, I'm thinking is going to be hard. Technically, I haven't given up all meat since I still eat fish (mostly tuna and salmon), but I have stopped eating chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc. This being said, just be prepared for a meatless theme in my future recipes!

7 Layer Meatless Tortilla Pie

Ingredients

2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans, drained
1 cup Pace Picante Sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 small tomato, chopped
7 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
(these are the directions I thought I read... follow the linked recipe for actual directions!)

Step 1: Mash drained pinto beansStep 2: Stir in 3/4 cup picante sauce and garlic powder

Step 3: Mix in black beans, tomatoes, and remaining picante sauce
Step 4: Preheat oven to 400F

Step 5: Place on torilla shell on baking sheet. Top with 3/4 cup bean mixture and 1/4 shredder cheddar cheese. Repeat until all 8 shells are used.Step 6: Cover with foil and bake at 400F for 40 minutes
Step 7: Cut into wedges and serve.

Alright, so who wants to hear another story about how Alex thought she read the directions correctly, but in reality, missed a few key steps? As per usual, I read over the directions and assumed that I knew exactly how to make the bean mixture. First of all, I poured in the black beans with the pinto beans, a step not in the directions, which resulted in me having to pick out the pinto beans one by one. I then proceed to question the directions as to why I would first pour in 3/4 of the picante sauce if I was just going to mix in the remaining 1/4 cup with the other ingredients. Well, turns out there was supposed to be a pinto bean layer with cheddar cheese and a black bean layer with cheddar cheese. My 7 layer pie had one type of layer- black bean and pinto bean mixed! It's all going to the same play anyways, right? Now, I did not include the cilantro, because I don't like it, and I only used mild taco sauce instead of the picante sauce. If I have learned anything from cooking, it is that when you remove or change ingredients, you also remove or change the taste of the dish. Suffice it to say that the 7 Layer Meatless Pie was a not very tasty. I plopped on some sour cream, which added some taste, but then I added some medium salsa which just took it to a new level. As with all cooking, it's the personal touch I gave to this dish that made it all the more delicious!

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

Well, if I didn't know exactly how hard cooking was, I certainly do now. I had my genius idea to bake up a nice Greek Vegetarian Pizza as a nice surprise for my family. But before I begin my step by step directions, I would like to caution my fellow beginner cooks not to make your own dough. The recipe seemed simple enough- 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of hot water. This simple dough recipe ended up in an impromptu-mid preparation-oven on trip to the local grocery store!

Greek Vegetarian Pizza

Ingredients

1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust,
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
1/2 cup sliced black olives
3 cups torn spinach leaves
1/2 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 450F/ 230C

Step 2:
Place dough on baking sheet and spread into 12" pizza crust

Step 3:

Spread pesto onto pizza crust. Top pizza in the following order: tomatoes, spinach, red onion, black olives, feta, and oregano

Step 4:
Bake until spinach starts to wilt and cheese starts to brown. About 15 minutes

Step 5:
Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle with olive oil and Parmesan cheese

Step 6:
Slice and Enjoy!

I must have sorted through at least 10 different recipes in order to find one that I thought I could manage. The directions, as you can see, are not too hard to follow and the ingredients preparation was a snap. However, making a pizza with no help, well my little brother was here laughing through my endeavour, I was not exactly sure when I was to take the pizza out. The directions instructed me to leave it in for about 15 minutes, but after about 45 minutes, I still didn't know if it was cooked thoroughly. I baked the pizza for a total of 50 minutes before I took it out. But to my surprise, my pizza was a hit! Besides the fact that I don't like sun dried tomatoes, the pizza was very tasty. Of the five people who live in my house, including myself, my pizza got a rating of 3.5 out of a possible 5 stars. That's amore!

Oh, I almost forgot to show you MY pizza dough...

Yeah, that whole spinning the pizza in the air idea just didn't work out!