Moomy Takes A Breather From World Cup!

12:25pm, clouds looming overhead. 

Ladies & Gentlemen. All ye faithful, hard-core footy-fans!

The stage is set for Round of 16.

And despite their 0-1 loss against the mighty Germany, Team USA has made it through to the next stage. Klinsmann's 11 survived the Group of Death to meet Belgium in the knock-out round on Tuesday!

This is where it gets very interesting. This is where each team needs to win in order to move to the next round.

No draws, no we-will-do-better-in-the-next-match, no second chances.

It's All In or Nothing.

OMG, I sound just like the adidas commercials I see during half-time!

Ooo remember the Luis Suarez biting incident on Tuesday? Well, FIFA announced yesterday that based on their investigation, Suarez will be suspended from any football-related activity for 4 months. 

He is also suspended for 9 international matches, effective immediately - which means he is completely out of the World Cup. And even if he cannot play for his country or club, Suarez is banned from entering any stadium during this ban period.

He is also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 Swiss Francs (US$112,000). *whistles* If that's not a hefty fine for biting, I don't know what is ...

Of course, the Uruguayan Football Association will make an appeal. I personally think Luis Suarez got off lightly. Since this was his 3rd biting incident, I would have thought FIFA would impose a longer suspension period. In 2013, Suarez was given a 10-match ban by the English Premier League for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic. Prior to that, when he played for Ajax, Suarez had accepted a 7-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal in 2010. 

FIFA should also order him to go for a serious counseling session because obviously, Suarez needed professional help. If it's biting now, what could it be next … y'know what I mean? 

Anyhoo!! All these talk of biting makes me hungry. So before I do a Suarez on my little boys, let me share with you one last recipe/meal that I was able to whip out of Our Big Roast of 1 huge Leg-o-Lamb.

I learnt that blitzing the leftover lamb chunks turned it into something akin to ground meat. And I remembered how much I had enjoyed falafels in Abu Dhabi when we were living there so … *rubbed hands in glee*

Falafels are deep-fried balls/patties made from ground chickpeas and seasoned with aromatic spices like cumin and coriander! You can eat them on their own or stuffed in a hollow pita bread, with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, a drizzle of thin tahini (paste made of sesame seeds), a squeeze of lemon and eaten like a sandwich.

Oy! I'm almost drooling now. Anyway, here's my version of non-veg (duh!) Lamb Falafels:

In my trusty Bullet, I blitzed these up: 6 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1 onion, 1 1/2 generous tablespoon of coriander, 2 generous teaspoons of cumin, 1/2 tablespoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 5 inches of fresh ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and a handful of fresh parsley. This should give you enough of an aromatic wet paste that will help you bind the meat together … you'll see :-)

Then I mixed this lovely, fragrant mixture into my leftover blitzed-up lamb (about 1lb). Using my hands, I scooped up a palmful of meat and shaped them into mini American footballs. Hehehehe OK, not quite footballs but a short, chubby hotdog-like patty. 

This mixture gave me 10 patties. I placed them into a baking sheet, covered them with cling film and let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Or till you're ready to cook them. 

And when you're ready to eat them, simply pop the tray into a preheated oven, 375 degF, for about 20-30 minutes. Because my meat is technically already cooked, I eye-balled the time and checked the oven often. 

While the lamb falafels are baking, I prepared a Minty-Yoghurty Dipping Sauce for my darling hubby (I don't fancy yoghurt, remember?):

I chopped up enough fresh mint leaves (about 2/3 cup) and mixed them into 1 cup of Greek yoghurt. Next, I added 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of honey and seasoned it with salt and black pepper. Mix it together. Then, I covered the bowl with cling film and let it sit in the fridge until the falafels are ready.

And for me, I decided to try out this Mango Salsa recipe: http://ohmyveggies.com/cucumber-mango-salsa/

I omitted the jalapeño peppers because I didn't have any on hand and the mango salsa tasted just fine. It was very refreshing, and very yummy. I find that the citrusy flavors worked pretty well with the lamb falafels.

And for a starchy component, I decided to try this Rice Pilaf recipe. I was going for a Mediterranean, Middle Eastern kinda flavor for dinner that night so … here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/rice-pilaf-recipe2.html

I must apologize for the lack of pictures this time round; it was one of those days where the clock was really ticking too fast, you just didn't have enough hands on you …

But I still remembered to snap pictures of our dinner plates that night:

 My darling hubby's plate: he had the Minty-Yoghurty

Sauce over his Lamb Falafels :D

And this was my plate: I do not eat yoghurt so I made

the Mango Salsa to accompany my Falafels :D 

My darling hubby loved that the dipping sauce was very minty; perfect, he said, for the falafels. Each bite of the falafel was flavorful - cumin, coriander, parsley! Yummy!!

I loved that the pilaf had chunks of veggies in it - it was great pairing it with the lamb falafels and good enough to eat it on its own (which I did the next day for lunch!).

And the mango salsa was such a beautiful, refreshing side to the lamb! Very very nice :D:D:D

I was pretty pleased with myself that I had managed to whip out the following meals from 1 huge Leg-o-Lamb:

~ 1 Leg-o-Lamb meal with Roasted Herbed Potatoes and Caesar Salad with home-made dressing & croutons;

~ 1 Subway-style sandwich meal: chunks of lamb meat in hoagie roll with leftover Romaine lettuce, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. Side of Caesar Salad again but this time round, I added a couple of hard boiled eggs on my salad;

~ A huge Shepherd's Pie = 2 dinners!
~ 10 Lamb Falafels with Rice Pilaf, Minty-Yoghurty Dipping Sauce & Mango Salsa = 2 dinners, y'all!*

And with that, I think I had enough lamb this week to last me … till the end of the year! Hehehehehe. OK, maybe the end of next month.

But what I do know is this: my darling hubby was a very satisfied bunny bear. And you know what they said about men …

And when he's happy, I am happy too :D

Hehehehe till my next post! Baaaaaaa for now! 

*Update:

Upon reading my post, my darling hubby just reminded me that I had set aside a portion of meat filling, enough to make another meal of Shepherd's pie in the near future. 

And I have another cup of blitzed up lamb chunks in the freezer that I plan to add to a tomato-ey dish one day.

So there you go … add 2 more dinner meals to the above count! :D That lamb sure went a long way for us … meal-wise, that is. *winks*

Moomy The Shepherd & Her Pie

Day 14 of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

2 weeks of surprising upsets, undeserving exits and exciting matches in the Group Stage will finally wrap up tomorrow. I'd say The Big Game of the Day will most likely be that of USA v Germany. 

My new fave team meets my all-time fave team AND 3-times World Cup Champion ('54, '74 & '90).

The Yanks v Die Mannschaft.

Team USA head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, himself was a member of the German national team that won football's highest accolades in 1990. So he defo knows a thing or two about how to win the game.

I know tomorrow's game will be a nail-biting one. And because I support both teams, it will be doubly-crazy for me! My darling hubby had asked me earlier "Who will you support? What are you going to do?"

Honestly, I don't know. I just want both teams to make it to the top of the table for their group and move on to the next round.

It all began with 32 national teams in 8 different groups.

Group G is known as the Group of Death.

A few more spots left in the Round of 16 ...

Football/soccer fans have coined the term "Group of Death" for any competitive group which contained their favorite teams.

In that case, I'd say tomorrow's match will be The Death Match in my Group G! *grimaces* But honestly, I really hope Team USA will advance through to the next stage. If they do well this World Cup, it will give soccer a wonderful boost that's much needed in this country which is otherwise known for their Football (men with helmets and shoulder pads, The Blind Side movie), Baseball (LA Dodgers) and Basketball (who doesn't know Michael Jordan?).

#IBelieveThatWeWillWin

And who knows … one of my boys might just play soccer for Team USA one day! :D #IBelieve

Anyhoo!! Remember that huge leg-o-lamb my darling hubby had roasted over the weekend? Now there was just too much lamb for just the 2 of us - I knew there would be plenty of leftovers. So on Monday, I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner :D

Shepherd's Pie is basically a pie with meat filling and topped with mashed potato crust. Sounds yummy, right? And since I already had meat chunked up from the previous night's Subway-style sandwich dinner, I figured the lamb chunks would work in a pie …

I decided to turn those little chunks

into a texture that is similar to ground meat ...

Only to realize that the filling will work even better if the lamb chunks were not chunky. So I blitzed the leftover chunks of meat quickly in my trusty Magic Bullet. Don't worry, the filling won't be gloopy and mushy like baby food because I will add other textured ingredients into it. 

Here's what I did for my Shepherd's Pie:

I chopped these up into little diced pieces: 1 yellow onion, 3 carrots, 4 sticks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic and the leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary. Try to keep the diced pieces similar (in size) so you don't choke on some big, some chunky, some tiny veggies while eating, OK?

In a large pot over medium heat, I added enough olive oil and let that warm up. Once it's nice and warm, I poured the above chopped ingredients into the pot. Stir and season the mixture lightly with salt and pepper.

Chopped onion, carrots and celery went into the pot first ...

Once the veggies have softened (say about 8-10 minutes), I turned the heat up and added these: the blitzed leftover meat (about 1.1lbs/500gm), a handful of chopped white mushrooms, 1 cup of frozen peas, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 250ml of chicken stock, 3 generous tablespoons of tomato paste, half a cup of tomato ketchup and half a tablespoon of smoked paprika. Stir it all together and bring the mixture to a boil.

The tomato paste and ketchup

added color to the lamb filling ...

Then I let the mixture simmer on very low heat for about 25-30 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 390degF and then you can get started on the pie's topping: Mashed Potatoes!!

Now in our house, my darling hubby always make the best mashed potatoes. I don't know why; maybe it's the way he whipped it (he used a metal potato masher and his manly arms to work the spuds into a nice whipped consistency) or what he sprinkled into the potatoes (this is the tricky bit - he always make his mashed spuds differently each time but it always taste good!). But what I do know about basic mashed potatoes is this:

Peel about 8-10 good-sized potatoes and cut them into chunks. Whether you cut them into big chunks or smaller quarters, just be sure that your potatoes are similar in size so that it will cook at the same time. 

Cut your spuds into equal chunks

so they will cook evenly.

Rinse the chunks again and plonk them into a pot of cold, salted water. Let the potatoes boil for about 10-15 minutes until they are tender. You'll know they are ready when you poke at them with a knife tip and the chunk fall off nicely. Now don't over-boil the potatoes because your mashed potatoes will turn out watery.

Once the spuds are ready, drain them in a colander. Let them sit in the colander for a second; into the same pot, quickly spoon in 3 tablespoons of butter. Swirl it around with your spoon so the heat from the warm pot will melt the butter for a bit and then you toss the rest of the potatoes into the pot.

Now's the best part: *cue music* Do (i.e. start mashing) the mashed potatoes …

Everytime I hear the words 'mashed potatoes', 

I will always think of this song ...

I had roasted some garlic cloves in the oven 

and added them into the potatoes for a 

wonderful garlicky flavor! Delish!!

Once you have mashed the chunks away, add a splash or two of milk; that will help to bring the mixture together. Season it with black pepper and if you're adventurous, a sprinkle of smoked paprika and herbs for the added color and flavor. Whip a bit more and then you can assemble the pie.

In a large & deep ovenproof baking dish, spoon the lamb mixture in first; level the mixture out so the meat layer is nice and even. 

The meat goes into the baking dish first ...

Then you spoon the mashed potatoes evenly above the lamb layer. Drizzle the top with some olive oil and poke some short sprigs of fresh rosemary into the topping.

Pop it into the oven and let it work its magic for about 35-40 minutes until the top is crusty and golden :D:D:D

Hot from the oven!

O yum!! :D:D:D

The pie turned out beautifully - the blitzed lamb together with the diced veggies and peas made a beautiful filling with a rich tomato-ey flavor. The topping was very creamy and scented with garlic and rosemary. Very very yummy. I think I will make this with fresh ground beef next time …

Anyway, we made enough pie to have leftovers for the next day so … that's not bad, isn't it? 

So far, Our Big Roast of 1 huge Leg-o-Lamb made these meals:

~ 1 Leg-o-Lamb meal with Roasted Herbed Potatoes and Caesar Salad with home-made dressing & croutons;

~ 1 Subway-style sandwich meal: chunks of lamb meat in hoagie roll with leftover Romaine lettuce, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. Side of Caesar Salad again but this time round, I added a couple of hard boiled eggs on my salad;

~ A huge Shepherd's Pie = 2 dinners!

And that's not all. I have another meal (or two!) that I was able to whip out of the leftover leg-o-lamb so wait for my next post, OK? 

Until then … baaaaaaa for now! *winks* 

Moomy Had A Leg-o-Lamb, Leg-o-Lamb, Leg-o-Lamb!

12:42pm.

My Italian team has just been eliminated by Uruguay in a match that saw the Gli Azzurri playing with 10 men and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez biting another opponent on the field for the 3rd time!!

Suarez's 3rd Victim, Italy's Giorgio Chiellini,

showing off his bitten shoulder.

Grrrr!! Football/soccer is a no-hand (unless you're the goal key, of course, or throwing in from the corner), no head-butting (who can ever forget Zinedine "Zizou" Zidane's charge on Materazzi's chest in World Cup 2006! Zidane was red-carded immediately by the referee) game.

That headbutt made for a

thrilling final during World Cup 2006.

And defo no biting, Suarez!!

I hope FIFA will review the incident and mete out the appropriate sanction. Things could have turned out differently if the referee had seen the biting incident take place …

O well. Maybe Suarez was hungry starving for some kind of Italian meat. LOL!

OOO which brings me to Our Big Roast this past Saturday afternoon!

If you have met him, you would know that my darling hubby looooooooves meat. He's a meat-y kinda guy. And cooking-wise, I don't really like to handle red meat because if you cook beef wrongly, the meat could turn out tough. It happened to me before.

I told you my darling hubby loves meat!

But I'm getting better though. And I prefer to cook beef. Steak, burgers, steak, more steak. I'm the beef-y kinda girl. Hehehe.

Anyhoo!! We had recently watched an old episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown prepped a leg of lamb to be roasted on the grill. Since that day, my darling hubby could not stop talking about it ("Ahhhh, that looked good, honey!", "Oooo I can do this, honey!") ...

So we did! :D:D:D Here's the recipe we used, courtesy of Mr. Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/silence-of-the-leg-o-lamb-recipe.html

We couldn't believe how simple it was really. We made the paste the night before because we wanted the lamb to be marinated overnight so the meat could suck up all that nice flavor from the paste. And we made a wee bit more because hehehe, we had quite a chunk of leg to work with.

Our thick paste of rosemary + Dijon mustard

The combination of fresh rosemary and Dijon mustard was so fragrant that we really had to try hard not to lick the Bullet clean hehehe anyway, once the paste was ready, we divided the marinade into 2 separate Ziploc bags - we didn't have a bag big enough to fit the entire chunk of leg-o-lamb so we had no choice but to cut the leg into 2.

Each portion of leg went into a Ziploc bag and then we squeezed as much air as we could out of the bags and sealed it. The next step was a lot of fun - very carefully, I massaged the paste into every nook and corner of the boneless lamb leg. It took me quite a while because the bag could split and marinate and lamb could go everywhere on the counter-top. Plus, I truly believe you have to treat the meat with respect. That way, it will cook beautifully for you.

Our marinated packets of leg-o-lamb!

*rolls eyes* This might sound silly to you, my dear reader but hey, it worked, y'know! :D:D:D Anyway, we let the beautifully rubbed leg-o-lamb sit in the fridge to marinate overnight!

Fast forward to the next day: Saturday afternoon.

So our leg-o-lamb had been sitting in the fridge overnight to marinate. By mid-afternoon, we took the cold meat out and let it sit on the counter top. We wanted the meat to rest for a bit before it goes on the hot grill. We picked up this tip from the chefs of Food Network. They say that by letting your meat rest at room temperature, your meat will cook evenly. 

Anyhoo, my darling hubby fired up his grill while I fixed the sides for our dinner: we decided on Caesar Salad with home-made dressing and Roasted Herbed Spuds a la The Naked Chef. These are the links to the recipes I had used:
http://www.stonegableblog.com/2011/01/stonegable-ceasar-salad.html
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/perfect-roast-potatoes

My darling hubby's man-toy.

Remember, good food takes time to cook so even though the meat might be ready once you took them off the grill, you need to let them rest before you slice the meat up. 

By doing so, you will let the meat juices go right back in, instead of all over your cutting board. In other words, resting your meat will not make your meat dry.

See? Resting the meat made the

leg-o-lamb really juicy and moist! :D:D:D

Besides, you can't quite enjoy any piping hot food without burning yourself! So have patience, and while waiting, watch some futbol! *winks*

And here's the reward for the patient man:

Our Saturday night dinner: 

Leg-o-Lamb Alton Brown's style,

Roasted Herbed Potatoes and

Caesar Salad with home-made dressing & croutons! :D

The marinade was perfect for lamb. Mint, rosemary, Dijon mustard - it was a beautiful combination. The lamb was cooked perfectly and I enjoyed the roasted ends best - so yummy!!

I have made roasted potatoes using the recipe before and it never failed me. I used rosemary in my spuds so it echoed the flavor from the lamb. The Naked Chef's technique was very smart - par-boiling the chunks before roasting them helped the potatoes to be soft on the inside, yet roasted and crispy on the outside. *thumbs up*

I found out on Saturday that I enjoyed the dressing for the Caesar Salad (minus the parmesan cheese, of course). I had always thought it had a yogurt base but I was wrong. The tart- and tangy-ness came from lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. This dressing was simple to make and pretty pleasant. Our salad has Romaine lettuce, quarters of cherry tomatoes and home-made croutons for the nice crunch.

All in all, it was a very hearty dinner. :D:D:D My darling hubby was very very satisfied :D:D:D

Of course, the huge chunk of leg-o-lamb meant that we have a lot of lamb leftover. Fret not, waste not. Just hang in there for my next post and I'll show you how to turn the leftover meat into another hearty meal.

Till then, baaaaaaa!! Oooppsy. That must have been the lamb talking. Toodles, everyone! :D

Moomy Had A Crepe-y Day!

Day 13 of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

As of right now, 7:42am on Day 13, 8 teams have already made it to the Road of 16 - Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Argentina & Belgium.

6 have been eliminated - Croatia, Cameroon, Spain (defending champions), Australia, England (o the poor lads!) & Bosnia-Herzegovina.

8 more spots are up for grabs so … anything goes. Anything and everything can happen in 90 minutes in the world of football/soccer.

I know I haven't written anything for a bit but truth be told, I needed a break to get over the thrilling match between USA & Portugal this past Sunday. 

Klinsmann's 11 ALMOST made history. 

Klinsmann's 11 ALMOST made it through to the Road of 16 but their almost-victory slipped out of their hands just seconds before that final whistle was blown.

The headline said it all.

I know I wasn't alone when I say that I felt utter disappointment and pure heartbreak that day. O how I dragged my feet around the house after the match. Even a hug from my darling hubby didn't quite console me (usually his bear hugs worked like a cure!).

I felt crappy.

I can defo go on and on about Sunday's match but I don't want to. It was bad enough watching snippets of it yesterday - o the pain! 

I had to do something to cheer me up. To take away that crappy feeling …

So yesterday, I made CREPES! :D 

Hehehehe get it? Get it? LOL!

Anyhoo, I had watched videos of Jacques Pépin making crepes. He made it look so easy!

Plus, my BFF - she's in Melbourne, Australia at the moment for a holiday - had sent me a picture of her holding a huge, freshly made crepe - hers was cinnamon and sugar! And her crepe looked so damn goooooooodddd!! 

So here's how I made mine, using Pépin's technique:

I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan. While waiting, into a bowl went 1 and a half cups of flour, 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 3 eggs. 

The beginnings of my crepe batter …

I then measured out 1 and a half cups of milk but only poured half of it into the bowl. I whisked the mixture until it was smooth and thick.

Now the crepe mixture had to be thin so add the rest of the milk and the butter that was melting away in the pan. Whisk again.

Using the same pan that had melted the butter earlier, I poured about a 1/4 cup of the thin batter. Swirl the pan around so the batter will coat the surface of the pan evenly.

Let the batter cook for about 1 minute; check the underside of the crepe to see if it's nice and golden. Once that happened, flip the crepe over to cook the other side.

The almost-ready crepe! :D

And ta daaaaa!! Well, not quite! *chuckles* Unless of course, you prefer your crepes plain.

Not me!

Now you can go to town on the toppings for your crepes - the sky's the limit, really. You can opt for sweet toppings like chocolate, jam, fresh fruit or savory ones like sautéed mushrooms, cheese, etc.

I had my first crepe - a sugar & lemon one - in 1999, if I'm not wrong, on a short break to Paris, France with one of my uni besties, Juo-Lan. There were crepes and baguettes everywhere so I just had to try some. It was very good!! :D

When the crepe was ready, I spread some margarine on it, sprinkled some sugar and squeezed a wee bit of fresh lemon. Not too much, mind you. The crepe shouldn't be soggy, in my opinion. Then fold the crepe into half, and then half again. 

Ta daaaaa!! 

My simple sugar + lemon juice crepe!

:D:D:D

I loved it. I had thought making crepes might be tricky because the French had used a special tool to spread the batter thinly on their flat griddle. 

You don't really need that

to make a crepe at home!

But Pépin showed me that it was easy to make crepes at home. And his batter was good. The crepes were soft and versatile enough to let you dress it into a sweet crepe or a savory one. 

Like I said before, you can dress your crepes any way you like it. The following was how my darling hubby had his - he used Cool Whip as filling, rolled his crepe instead of folding it and then topped it off with a generous helping of Nutella. O yum!! 

Whipped cream, yum. Nutella, yum yum!! :D

Now that was the perfect way to end a crepe-y day! Hehehehehe have a good one, y'all!! :D:D:D

Moomy & The Art of Turning Around Leftovers

Day 7 of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

OMG. Chile has just knocked defending champs, Spain, out of the tournament with a fiery performance that netted 2 goals past Spanish goalkey, Iker Casillas.

A new champion will be crowned this year; it could be the amazing Dutch boys who humiliated the champs with a 5-1 victory or Germany, who out-classed another tournament fave Portugal 4-0 in their opening match. It is anybody's game really, when you look at the number of upsets and surprises this year.

Just for the record: I am all for Holland too this year *winks* Like I had explained it in my text to my darling hubby "I love Dutch Bros coffee. I love the Dutch team on the greens. Hehehe"

O yeah. I have a soft spot for 

Dutch Bros' Double Choc Mocha!

Balls aside, we had pizza last night! No, not the one from Pizza Hut or Papa John's. This one's home-made, baby! *thumbs up*

Food is always a part of any big games, be it the American football, or the round black-and-white one. And then you have a specific type of food associated with the big holidays too - like turkey & Thanksgiving, yule log & Christmas, eggs & Easter.

In my books, pizza & football. O yum.

And here's another thing: it's not that NOT difficult making your own pizza dough. And you don't need those fancy machines either. As long as you can punch and fold a soft material, you are fine. Here's what I did for my Dough last night:

For starters, take 1/4 cup of warm water (I got mine from the tap, easy peasy). To that, I added 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. I give it a quick stir and let it stand for about 10 minutes. The mixture should double in volume (this means the yeast is active).

While waiting for the yeast to work its magic, I put fresh rosemary leaves (about 4 stalks), 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and half a cup of flour into my Magic Bullet. A quick blitz to make sure the rosemary leaves are all chopped up into tiny pieces. Pour this fragrant mixture into a big bowl.

To that, I added 3 more cups of AP flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of honey (or sugar), 1 1/4 cups of warm water and the proofed yeast mixture.

Using my hands, I mixed the flour and wet stuff to get them incorporated. Like I said earlier, you don't really need fancy tools to work on this pizza dough. All you have to do is scrape the sides of the bowl with an open hand and bring it all into the middle of the bowl. Repeat this several times until you work the mixture into a ball.

Then the fun part :D This is what I liked most about making my own dough - kneading it. What I did was punch the dough and push the mixture forward. Then I folded the mixture into half and punched it again. After a couple of punches, I turned the dough over so you're like punching both "sides" equally.

I kneaded the dough till it became shiny and smooth - this is the part where you let the dough rest. I squirted some olive oil into a clean, big bowl. Grease the bowl nicely and put the dough in the middle. Turn the dough over so it is nicely oiled. I placed this bowl into my unheated oven so the dough can rest and rise for about an hour.

This was what the dough looked like after an hour:

Now my dough is ready to be rolled out. So I tipped the nice fluffy dough carefully onto a floured surface. Punch the air out - you'll feel that its very, very soft!! - and roll it carefully to fit your pizza pans (I squirted some olive oil and greased the pan so the dough won't stick to it. Plus, it makes it easier later when you're trying to get your slices off the pan). I used the rectangular cookie sheets so with this recipe, I had 2 rectangular pans of dough and a small 8-inch round for my lil boys' cheese pizza.

Dough's ready for them toppings now!

This time round, I added rosemary to my dough. 

You can see bits of it here. The rosemary leaves 

added a beautiful fragrant to your pizza - extra yum!!

You can leave it plain too if you wish - your choice.

And you top this dough with any toppings you like! I baked my pizzas in a heated 420deg F oven for about 20 minutes, or till the cheese has melted away nicely and the bottom crust is nicely browned.

As I had said in a previous post, my current rule in the kitchen is "Waste Not, Want Not". I diligently write on my calendar what I make/cook every day so that I can keep track of the leftovers in my fridge and freezer. 

The ones in pink are the family meals we have for dinner.

My darling hubby thinks I'm silly for doing so but it worked for me :D

I also like to turn my leftovers into a fresh meal the next day so you don't get bored eating the same meal 2 days in a row. For instance, you can turn last night's fried chicken into a beautiful filling for today's lunch! This rule spurred me to be innovative and experimental with my meals - watching all those episodes of Food Network's Chopped defo paid off hehehe.

Anyhoo … since I had leftover meatballs in my fridge, it's not that hard to guess what the toppings were for our pizzas last night! :D

Our toppings this time round were: 

Meatballs, sliced Mushrooms, Mozzarella cheese 

on simple home-made Tomato Sauce.

My heavenly slices of Meatball Pizza! :D

The meatballs were juicy and the crust … 

adding those rosemary leaves simply elevated an otherwise

simple crust to gobsmacking greatness!! Trust me ;-)

Turning leftovers into pizzas is my fave trick currently. You can go pretty wild with your toppings. The following are what we have tried out before and they are absolutely wicked!!

On the left is my darling hubby's creation: his home-made BBQ sauce, 

pulled beef, tomatoes, green peppers, onions & mozza cheese.

On the right is mine: bottled pasta sauce (tomato), 

BBQ chicken, pineapple chunks, tomatoes, green peppers, 

onions & mozza cheese.

The pulled beef was the leftover. 

My chicken topping was oven-baked in leftover 

BBQ sauce. Delish!!

This pizza was topped with leftover roast chicken chunks, onions, green peppers, 

mushrooms on bottled pasta sauce (tomato, mushroom & olives).

So there you go :D How's that for topping ideas, eh? Until my next post … :D:D:D

Moomy Celebrates Gli Azzurri's World Cup Opening Match!

It's been 5 days of World Cup craziness and this is only the Group Stage matches. So far, there has been a wicked fiesta of goals and unbelievable upsets (namely that of defending champion Spain). 

Its really nice that the match schedules work in my favor - the time difference between Brazil and Portland, OR is only 4 hours. I remember watching past World Cups in Singapore and those live matches in the European host countries were late at night and wayyyy past my bedtime. 

Of course it was a treat because we usually ordered McDonald's and they delivered! *grins*

Anyway, 2 of my fave teams are doing pretty well. England lost though to Italy. I think the English lads defo could do with another Beckham who could bend the ball when the team needed it the most.

But hey, the Azzurri men won and so, in honor of their 2-1 win over England, I whipped up a Spaghetti and Meatballs dinner last night :D

I know anyone can claim that their meatball recipe is the best - use a mixture of 2 different ground meat or soak your bread in some milk or fry the meatballs, yada yada yada - but the following was just something that I tried last night and it turned out pretty good. So even if you've got a recipe that tickles your fancy, sometimes trying something different might just be the breath of fresh air that you need *winks*

So here's what I did last night with my Meatballs:

I had about 4 slices of garlic bread from the previous night. Since my current rule in the kitchen is "Waste Not, Want Not", them slices of garlic bread went into the oven at 260degF, for about half an hour. I wanted them crispy before I blitz them in my Magic Bullet.

Once they're done, let them rest for a bit so they won't steam up the Bullet later. In the meantime, I stripped the leaves of 5 fresh rosemary stalks. Put these leaves and the bread into the Bullet and blitz them into fine breadcrumbs.

I forgot to take pictures, silly me. But boy, they smell so wicked! I used about 3/4 cups of these breadcrumbs - plonk them into a big bowl. 

To that, I added about 1.5 lbs of ground beef (beef was all I had), 2 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard, 1 heaped tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce, 1 large beaten egg, salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Using my hands - I'm a wee bit squeamish so I don't usually do this part myself. But since my sous chef (more fondly known as my darling hubby LOL) is at work, I had no other choice! - I shaped them into golf balls onto a greased baking sheet. 

I've never fancied huge tennis-sized meatballs anyway. You run the risk of not cooking the meat completely in that short a time. Anyhoo, the meatballs then went into a pre-heated oven, 400degF, for about 15 minutes.

Them cute lil meatballs, minus one 

- you couldn't just not try and pop one into your mouth! 

It was very moist and as my darling hubby said, tasted like sausage!

And for my simple Tomato Sauce:

Into a pot went a generous glug of olive oil. Let that warm up for a bit and to that, I added a chopped medium onion, about 4 cloves garlic (finely minced) and half a cup of chopped green bell pepper. I stirred these mixture for a bit until they've softened and you can smell that nice fragrant coming out of your pot.

Then I added a teaspoon of of dried chilli flakes - you don't have to if you don't like the heat but I like a little zing in my sauce. I continued to stir the mixture and then added about 10 large fresh basil leaves. Stir it again.

The next item I added to my pot were 2 cans of diced tomatoes. Since I prefer my sauce non-chunky, I gave the tomatoes a quick blitz in the Bullet. So 2 whole cans of tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, a heaped tablespoon of tomato paste, half a teaspoon of fennel seeds, salt and black pepper went into the pot. Stir it again.

And then I added about half a cup of store-bought pasta sauce (I used a tomato, basil and garlic one) and a generous squirt of ketchup. 

Don't ask me why I did that because I used to think I was kinda cheating here. Then I read other cooks' blogs and they do it too. So I think it's fine! Muahahahaha :D

Either way, it completed the sauce. At least, that's the way I see it.

Now I had made the sauce first before starting on the meatballs so the sauce will have some time to simmer into a magical tomato-ey potion … yum yum!!

Of course, you prepped your pasta accordingly … and once the meatballs are ready, I plonked all of the round goodness into the sauce …

At this point, I just could not wait to dig in ...

Give it all a good stir and …

Ta daaaa!! 

Our dinner last night: Meatballs in Tomato Sauce :D

My darling hubby commented that the meatballs tasted like a good sausage - he was surprised I had used only ground beef. 

So it worked!! :D:D:D The thick tomato-ey sauce defo complimented the meaty balls. I enjoyed that the meatballs weren't too big too. This way, you can always have more meatballs on your pasta and not feel too guilty about it hehehe

Even lil darling enjoyed his dinner!

This dinner's for you, Gli Azzurri! All the best for the next match against Costa Rica! :D:D:D