Ash & Lew Plus 2 Rotating Images

February 3rd, 2011:

Our Favorite Pizza

Feb 3rd, 2011
by Ashlee.
8 comments

A couple years ago Lew and I discovered Tempeh. Actually the first time we tried tempeh was approximately 2 years ago when we went on a weekend trip snowboarding in North Carolina. (Which we just so happen to be doing tomorrow!) Since first trying tempeh we have tried a few ways to prepare it at home but have found one way to be our favorite and that is on pizza!

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My local grocery stores do not sale tempeh so when I visit Earth Fare I stock up and freeze the tempeh until I am ready to use it. So, last night I put a package in the fridge to thaw. Once thawed I start the marinade. This afternoon I cut the tempeh into one inch pieces and placed in a 9 in. casserole dish. Here are the ingredients you will need for my marinade:

Tempeh Marinade:

  • Pure Maple Syrup
  • Teriyaki sauce
  • Reduced sodium soy sauce
  • Balsamic Vinegar

This is the perfect marinade! The only problem is that I do not measure the amounts at all! Sad smile I just eyeball it. But basically I just cover the tempeh with each ingredient and then let set for hours. I like to let is marinate at least 4 hours. For the syrup I simply drizzle a little over all of the tempeh. Then I cover the rest with each ingredient using more teriyaki than anything.

When the tempeh is ready I saute the tempeh and the marinade in a skillet until all liquid is evaporated and tempeh is beginning to form a glaze on the outside.

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Crust

For the pizza dough I used this recipe for Spelt Pizza Dough and it was wonderful! Definitely the best dough I have every made. I just placed all the ingredients in my bread machine on the dough setting and let it do its thing.

Toppings

When the dough was ready I brushed the edges with olive oil and then used pesto as my pizza base instead of traditional pizza sauce.

I simply used the tempeh and olives (for Lew’s half) and covered with mozzarella and feta cheese.

I baked the pizza for 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

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Today has been FULL of carbs but they have all been so good! Tomorrow I will be ready for some veggies!

Do you know what the best thing to do with homemade pizza? Watch Grey’s Anatomy Smile

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Grilled Banana Goodness

Feb 3rd, 2011
by Ashlee.
6 comments

It is not even 2:00 and I already feel like I am ready for bed! It feels like we have had a full day already. My first wakeup call was from LB at 5:30! He was so tired last night he wouldn’t take his bottle so of course at 5:30 he was ready for a bottle. He drank those 8 oz. and thankfully went right back to bed. Then my next wakeup call was at 7:45 which I find a much more acceptable time to wake up. We quickly made breakfast for us and the babies, ate, packed diaper bag and swim bag and headed to the gym. After our workout we had LB and Daisy’s 2nd swim class, left the gym, made a hospital visit, came home, made lunch, ate lunch, put babies down for nap and now I am sitting here typing this post! I am exhausted just writing that! What makes me even more exhausted is knowing I have a house to clean and snowboard gear to pack for our trip to North Carolina we are taking tomorrow night to snowboard Saturday! (yay!)

Breakfast

This morning I made a quick version of Caitlin’s Grilled Banana Sandwich. I definitely think adding the french toast component to the sandwich would have been awesome but I didn’t make the time for that this morning. I started by placing four slices of whole wheat bread in the oven to make toast. While the toast cooked I sliced two bananas in half and grilled in a skillet with a little Earth Balance spread.

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When the toast was finished I spread a little peanut butter on each piece of bread and then topped the peanut butter with the cooked bananas. I made two sandwiches and then placed them in the skillet for a couple minutes on each side to melt everything together.

I served the sandwiches with sliced strawberries.

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This was really good but it needed a sweet component. Like brown sugar, honey, syrup or something. Lew, not being of fan of added sweetness said it was “excellent!”. So, breakfast was a success.

Workout

Today was upper body day. The workout we do has a cardio component added in between each set of weights. I also did a ten minute treadmill workout; 2 min. walk, 1 min. sprint at 9.0 for three sets. When I first started working out post pregnancy my sprint was like a 6.5. The great thing was that I think I can push myself even faster next time! I love that feeling!

The babies had a blast at “water acclamation” class today. They both did the skill for the day which was spitting water! LB was not very interested but he tried. Daisy however caught on right away and seemed to have a much better time today than Tuesday. By the end of the class LB was exhausted and about fell asleep on my chest. It was so sweet! Smile

Lunch

Lew had at 1:00 meeting and since we didn’t get home until 12:20 and had to feed LB and Daisy I put the panini press to work again! This week I did my grocery shopping at Ingles and they have the best bacon! All Natural, Organic, No-Antibiotic, Uncured peppered bacon! Oh my goodness! This bacon was so good! When I opened the package it smelled like a grilled steak! So, I made bacon, egg and cheese pressed sandwiches! Lew said “I love this bacon, it tastes like steak!”. So, if you have an Ingles near you, go straight to the store and buy this bacon. You will thank me later. I normally buy the uncured organic turkey bacon but they were out and I am glad they were.

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Now, the rest of the day will include cleaning, packing, buying baby formula, and MAKING PIZZA! We are having pizza for dinner and I am very excited. Lew and I made pizza a lot before LB and Daisy came along but it seems like I never plan ahead enough lately to make the dough. Today is the day!

Tomorrow night Mimi, Poppy, and Aunt Kirby (AKA my mom, stepdad, and sister) are coming up to spend the night with LB and Daisy. Lew and I and some friends of ours from our small group are going to North Carolina to snowboard! (And eat Japanese food Smile) I am very excited about a grown up trip, even if it is a short one. Now, if I could just transfer that excitement to cleaning and packing I would be good!

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