My pizza keeps sticking

January 17, 2025 11:20 AM

I really want to get better at making pizza. I love pizza. I extra love leftover pizza. But I'm not very good at making it, and by making it, I mean I'm still buying pizza dough from the store.

So what I've started trying recently is to let the pizza dough sit out on the counter for a bit, until it's about room temperature. After I've done that, then I start pulling it into pizza shape. It seems to be working out well! I'm getting lots of nice bubbles in my pizza, and I love the bubbles.

A pizza topped with tomatoes and onion that was just pulled out of the oven — *Looks pretty good, right?*

Unfortunately, it looks like my pizza pan is becoming less and less non-stick. I could not get this pizza off the pan. I was trying to use my spatula to scrape it, but that pizza dough just would not budge, and I ended up with this mess at the end:

A large portion of the pizza is stuck to the pizza pan — *This looks less good*

Okay, I probably need a new pan. So I ate whatever I could scrape up from two slices of pizza, and then I just let the rest of the pizza sit there on the counter while I started playing video games with my sister. About an hour later, I started hearing noises. It had a crackling quality to it, and it sounded like pieces of the wall were coming apart and falling down. It honestly kind of freaked me out a little bit.

I walked over to where the noise was coming from, and it turns out that it was from my pizza! The stuck bits of pizza crust were popping right off the pan! After a few more minutes, almost all of the pizza crust was loose! I don't really understand the science behind any of this, but it made me think, "maybe I can still use this pizza pan."

So, against my better judgment, I tried to make another pizza a few weeks later. Maybe I just needed to use way more flour. So I dumped a huge pile of flour on the pan and the dough and my hands. I did the same thing where I let my dough sit out for a bit, and this time, a huge bubble formed before it even started cooking.

A side view of an uncooked pizza topped with tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms, with a dough bubble — *It's a little hard to see the bubble from this photo, but it was very noticeable when I was making it*

I poked at the bubble a little bit, but I didn't want to pop it, so I just worked around it and added the toppings right on top of it. I threw it in the oven and once it started cooking, that bubble just got bigger and it was crazy looking. I wish I could have gotten a photo while it was still in the oven, but you're just going to have to settle for this:

A pizza with a giant bubble, right after it was taken out of the oven — 😨

It deflated pretty fast once I pulled it out of the oven. And even though it was kind of weird looking, I actually thought the giant bubble was pretty tasty. But I know what you're thinking, did it stick???

The cooked pizza, with some stuck bits of crust next to it, and the spatula that I used to try to pry the pizza off the pan — *This does not adequately show you how much flour was everywhere*

Yeah, it did. Not as badly as the first time, but enough for me to conclude that I need a new pizza pan. (Okay, I know I determined this a few weeks ago) The pieces that didn't stick were completely covered in flour, and I was standing over a trash can trying to remove as much excess flour as I could before I ate it.

That pizza pan has now been thrown out, and I think I'm going to take a little break from making more pizzas. (There was another pizza attempt in the past month that is not represented in this post) But I do still have a lot of pizza sauce left 🤔

Filed under: pizza failing in my kitchen

Udon noodles with mushroom and egg

January 14, 2025 1:10 PM

Ever since I got back to Pittsburgh after the holidays, I've been wanting to make udon noodle soup, because noodle soup is really good when you're sick. But because I was feeling sick and because it's been so cold outside, I haven't been able to actually make it out to the Asian store. I have four grocery stores that are a 10 minute walk or less from my apartment, but none of them are Asian stores.

Well this past Sunday, it finally went up to a balmy 33°F, and I seemed to be feeling a little better. Plus I ran out of rice, so I really needed to restock that too.

When I've made this soup in the past, I've always included chicken, but the chicken is always my least favorite part of this, so I decided to replace the chicken with a soft boiled egg and also double the mushrooms. I wanted to marinate the eggs so I needed to start that the night before. And since I was boiling eggs, I kept some of them boiling for a couple minutes longer so I could put them in a salad!

A plate-bowl of salad with strawberries, tomatoes, mushrooms, and hard boiled eggs — *Salads look good even when under the terrible indoor lighting*

I mostly followed this recipe for poppyseed salad dressing, but I cut the sugar a little, and I used white vinegar because that's what I had. It was delicious. I was able to use up leftover mushrooms from a meal that a friend made, and that fit perfectly in the salad. The egg yolks also added some nice extra creaminess.

So the next morning, I had some marinated eggs, and I just needed to prepare the veggies and the broth. I actually ended up buying ginger and shiitake mushrooms from Giant Eagle because the Asian store sells them in much larger quantities than I ever need. In fact, I grabbed such a small piece of ginger that it registered as .01 lb on the scale and I wasn't able to actually check it out! The machine kept saying "We are unable to process your item. Please keep scanning. Help is on the way". Except help was NOT on the way. I stood there at the self check-out wondering what to do, but the store was way too busy. I tried to scan the ginger again, but it just gave me the same error. I really didn't want to steal it, but I didn't know what to do!

Well, after I stood there for a minute, I just decided to pay for my mushrooms and I walked away with the tiny piece of ginger in my bag. At least now I know what's considered too small.

Some julienned scallions, smashed garlic, and sliced mushrooms on a cutting board — *Those little produce bags very much come in handy as trash bags on the counter when you're prepping food*

Some shiitake mushrooms after they've been stir fried in a pan — *These mushrooms shrink so much after they're cooked*

Preparing this dish was way easier without having to make the chicken, so I think I'm going to keep making it like this from now on. I didn't adjust the amount of soy sauce or mirin, but I think the mushrooms could have used a tad more. It was still very tasty like this though!

A bowl of the udon noodle soup, with scallions and half a soft boiled egg on top — *This is the amount that I originally put in my bowl*

Me holding some chopsticks, trying to pick up some noodles in a bowl of udon noodle soup with a whole soft boiled egg — *And then I thought, it needs more stuff in it*

Most ramen places will only give you half an egg in your single bowl of soup, which is ridiculous. Eggs should always be given in whole quantities. Of course when I put both egg halves in my bowl, it starts to get way too filled up, so I should really get larger soup bowls. But it's okay, I just filled it up with more soup after I ate half of it.

Filed under: noodle soup

Mostly veggie filled fajitas

January 13, 2025 11:25 AM

I keep running into this pattern of wanting to use up some random thing I have in the fridge, and in the process of doing that, I accumulate some other random thing I have to use up. Remember that lime crema that I made? Well, I did have a plan for the rest of the sour cream, and I made salsa chicken for that (sorry, no picture). But I didn't plan for the fact that I still have extra lime crema and a partial lime!

So, my first thought was that I would make some fajita veggies to go alongside my salsa chicken. I happened to have two bell peppers because I bought a three-pack when I made the kimchi spring rolls. But when I cut open one of those peppers, I found that it was moldy 😱 So I only had one good bell pepper, and I decided against fajita veggies completely.

Until yesterday, when I still had extra lime and one cut up bell pepper. Now it's fajita time for real. I knew I wanted three bell peppers for this recipe, and instead of buying yet another three-pack, I actually bought two individual bell peppers, so I would finally stop having a left over bell pepper (even though I'm pretty sure the two peppers cost more than three of them together).

A spread of all the things that went into the fajitas: tortillas, pickled onions, lettuce, cilantro, queso freso, lime crema, and the chicken and veggie mix — *I love a good meal with lots of components*

It was really nice to be able to use other ingredients that I already had, like the pickled onions, queso fresco, lime crema, and lettuce. And even though these are chicken fajitas, there's really only one pound of chicken in this whole recipe. It's mostly veggies, and it felt like a healthy balanced meal.

A close-up of one assembled fajita, with the fajita mixture in the background — *I finally have cilantro again!*

A close-up of me holding up the fajita I just assembled, like it's a taco

Me placing a plate of tortillas down on the table with the rest of the fajita components — *Kent mangoes are in stock at Aldi, so I make sure to always have one or two in my kitchen*

And yes, this was a very tasty meal! Nothing mind-blowing, but very satisfying. I am always down for eating something wrapped in a tortilla.

Filed under: fajitas

Comfort food

January 10, 2025 9:10 PM

Well, I still haven't gotten over this sickness that started over the holidays. I haven't felt terrible, but my throat has been sore and there's some extra nasal congestion. I'm pretty okay during the day most days, but night time is the worst. I'm going to have a lot more free time now, so I'm hoping I can sleep in a little more and finally get better.

Anyway, since I've been sick, I've been wanting to eat more comfort food, and in my mind, comfort food is not only comforting to eat, but it's also comforting to make. It might not be a quick meal, but it's an easy one where I can relax and you know, not flail in my kitchen.

Vinegar, chicken powder, various sauces and bowl with a little bit of everything

One of my go-to easy and satisfying breakfasts is to make some dumpling soup. And while I do like wrapping my own dumplings, I always go with some store bought mini dumplings for my dumpling soup. I like mini dumplings because I can't eat a regular sized dumpling in one bite. And it's awkward to have to cut your dumplings even smaller when you're eating them in a soup. (Okay, I'll admit, I still cut up the mini dumplings in my soup)

All I do is boil 10 or so dumplings, and then I throw in some sauces to give it some flavor. I usually end up adding:

Black vinegar
Light and dark soy sauces
"Granulated Chicken Flavor Soup Base Mix" (It's basically chicken flavored MSG. This gigantic container is enough to last a life time)
and a dash of something spicy (right now that's this "Sichuan Gold" sauce that I got from a Hot Ones box)

I taste it and maybe add a little more of something. Then I top it with some scallions and/or cilantro.

Dumpling soup in a bowl with a book in the background — *My sister made me that bookmark!*

It's so good, and such a nice way to start my day.

So in the past when I've made Japanese style curry, I've always included chicken and I made it with curry powder (not Japanese curry powder so who knows how Japanese this really was). But I had seen other people just buy those curry blocks and I figured I would give it a try because it sounds so much easier! And at a local meetup last year, someone had brought some curry and they used tofu, and ever since then I had been wanting to try tofu in this instead.

I'm sure I could have just tried to make a similar recipe as the chicken one, but I'm really bad at throwing things together, so I googled "golden curry with tofu" and the first thing that comes up is a reddit post which linked to this Vegan Japanese Tofu Curry recipe, and it sounded so good and I had to try it. (Also I seriously appreciate that this recipe webpage is simple and has no ads and doesn't totally drain my phone battery while I'm viewing it)

A plate bowl of tofu curry with rice and some cut up scallions in the corner

I actually first tried it a few months ago, but I keep going back to it because it really is so good. I mostly follow the recipe as-is, but I actually halve the amount of curry blocks, and I think it's plenty flavorful. I also use chicken bouillon instead of veggie just because that's what I have. But I'm definitely going to keep this in mind as a potential vegan dish to make if I need one.

It required a little extra attention to fry up the tofu because I'm flipping every single one of these tofu cubes one by one just to make sure I brown as many sides as possible, but there's something nice and relaxing about standing at the stove and seeing the tofu slowly get nice and golden.

A side view of the tofu curry and scallions, with some steam rising up — *Look at that steam!*

I always pop one of the tofu cubes in my mouth before I throw the rest into the curry. The final result is so comforting and so delicious.

Finally, I wanted to share some mac n cheese that I made. I love making mac n cheese. One of my go-to mac n cheese recipes is from Budget Bytes. The recipe actually has pretty mixed reviews, but I think it's great every time I make it. And I like that I can use up a little bit of hot sauce in it.

Me holding the casserole dish of mac n cheese — *We were struggling to take a good photo of this one. I blame the night time artificial lighting*

Making mac n cheese definitely takes patience. You have to make a roux in the beginning and you need to keep stirring the milk+flour+butter mixture until it thickens. When you start stirring it, it seems like it's going nowhere, but slowly and surely it thickens up and then you can start mixing in the cheese. I don't know, maybe I just like to keep mixing things.

Taking a scoop of the mac n cheese out — *We ate a lot of it at once!*

I decided to actually throw this one in the oven after I was done putting it all together on the stove. Sometimes baked mac n cheese can get a little too dry, but this one had so much cheesy sauce. Adding the extra shredded cheese and letting it broil (and watching it broil the whole time so it doesn't burn!) was definitely a nice touch. But next time I'll try to remember breadcrumbs!

Filed under: soup curry mac n cheese

Using up what I have

January 7, 2025 10:42 PM

So I had most of a lemon sitting in my fridge for the past week because it was left over from my hummus and my green beans. I really could have gotten by with a single lemon that day, but I ended up buying two, and here I was with 4/5 of a lemon. I was struggling to find a creative use for this lemon, so I decided to make more hummus.

Hummus and some sliced veggies — *I did not bother making this hummus look pretty*

I just stuck with regular hummus today, but man, homemade hummus is so good even without any fun add ins. The only thing it was missing was some pita bread. I ate it with cucumbers instead, and even though I don't really love cucumber, I had half a cucumber in my fridge so I figured I should try to get through it.

I actually was originally going to make some Mediterranean hummus bowls, but I ended up pivoting to something else entirely after I bought some queso fresco and one of those pre-marinated pork butts from Aldi.

I had a lot of random ingredients in my fridge, so I decided to try to use those up rather than buy even more stuff. Pulled pork and queso fresco is kind of Mexican leaning I guess? Maybe I could make a burrito bowl! I had some lettuce, a tomato, some onions. This could work.

Pickled onions, lime crema, potatoes, queso fresco, lettuce, tomato, and a little bit of pulled pork all sitting on the table

I did end up buying a container of sour cream and a lime from the store today because I thought that this needed some sort of sauce. I thought about making a salsa, but a lime crema seemed easier so I ran with that.

I also ended up pickling the onions because I had some red wine vinegar and I figured this could give my bowl some extra flavor.

What I didn't include was rice. For once in my life, I actually don't have any cilantro and I didn't feel like buying any more. I did have some potatoes though. So uh, I guess that's the starch in this dish. I've been wanting to roast potatoes with mayonnaise for a while, and even though that doesn't really make any sense with the rest of the ingredients I just rolled with it.

A closeup of the potatoes

Okay, these potatoes were actually so good. I didn't follow a recipe or measure anything, but I threw in some mayo, some garlic, some thyme, some paprika, some salt, some pepper, and the rest of a container of dried rosemary that I've had for who knows how many years. And then I roasted it. Maybe one day I'll post a proper recipe of this.

The completed bowl of all the random stuff — *The lighting was so bad that I actually edited this*

As far as the dish as a whole? Eh, it was kind of weird. Honestly, the worst part was the pulled pork. I felt like it was way too salty and kind of overcooked, but maybe the overcooked part is my fault. But I did still eat everything that I put in my plate-bowl, and then I munched on more potatoes when I was done.

Filed under: bowl meal potatoes

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