white pizza {bacon, pear, blue cheese // 3 cheese + spinach}

I don't think I've really written about it yet, but Adam and I got a pizza stone as a Christmas gift.  It has really changed our weekly cooking routine since it's easy and quick and allows for a lot of experimentation.  It's a lot of fun too, now that we have the technique down.  We started out by recreating some of our old favorites, but have recently gotten into making 2 smaller pizzas rather than one large one.  We like the crust better this way (crispy and thin) and the variety is fun!

Since this week's dinner lineup has a lot of tomatoes, we went for white pizzas last night.

Bacon, pear, and blue cheese on one and 3 cheeses and spinach on the other.  We use Trader Joe's premade dough since it's easy and inexpensive, but you could of course make your own.

Bacon, Pear, and Blue Cheese Pizza
pizza dough
5 slices bacon
1 pear, thinly sliced (you prob won't need an entire pear)
crumbled blue cheese or Gorgonzola
ricotta
balsamic vinaigrette* 
olive oil
salt + pepper

Cook bacon until crispy.  Set aside to drain on paper towels, and break into bite-sized pieces when cool.  Roll out dough.  Thinly coat with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.  Add layers of ricotta, blue cheese, bacon, and pear*.  Bake at 450-500 until crust is golden.
*We didn't do this, but next time I'd coat the pears in balsamic vinaigrette to add a bit of acid (as they say on all the cooking shows) and to get a bit of caramelization on the pears.  Yum.   

Three Cheese + Spinach Pizza
pizza dough
baby spinach
1/2 white onion, diced
1-3 garlic cloves, minced (we used 3, and it was super garlicky)
grated Parmesan cheese
ricotta
mozzarella (fresh or shredded)
olive oil
salt + pepper

In a skillet cook diced onion in olive oil until tender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add garlic and spinach, stirring until spinach is wilted.  Stir in enough Parmesan cheese to gain a slightly creamy appearance.  Set aside.  
Roll out dough.  Thinly coat with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.  Bake dough alone at 450-500 for a few minutes until crust is slightly browned.  Top with layers of ricotta, mozzarella, and spinach mixture.  Bake a few more minutes until mozzarella is melted and crust is golden brown.  

paris {photodiary}

I was so good about getting the London photodiary up, but I have completely slacked on posting the end of the trip: Paris!

It's been a while (4 months) so I honestly don't remember all the details of what we did. I know we ate tons of yummy food (mostly sandwiches, pastries, and crepes), drank lots of delicious and inexpensive wine, and walked around a whole lot.  Exactly what I wanted!

baby steps {part 2}

Boom.  New microwave installed.

Keeping an OTR microwave wasn't my #1 choice especially because of how low it hangs, but it's what made the most sense for now.  Even though I'm not a big fan of temporary solutions, I'm glad we did this.  That old guy was made in 1989 and was probably slowly poisoning us every time we turned it on.  RIP buddy.  Here's the before and after (sorry about wonky white balance):

Cara was in town this weekend.  She imparted some family wisdom: to expect projects to be more "2 stones for one bird" than "2 birds with one stone".  Killing this one took 8 stones.  

baby steps

Step 1, phase 1 of kitchen renovation complete.  The dead microwave is gone. 

I'm loving how open it feels.  Also took off the edging strip for the cabinet on the right.  I think it looks so much better.  Creamy carrot & grape soup on the stove (sounds strange, but was super good!).  New installation tomorrow!

kitchen inspiration {microwaves & hoods}

Last week I unexpectedly returned to kitchen planning and looking for inspiration when our over-the-range microwave broke.  Just completely dead.  We don't really use the microwave much, but I use the exhaust function daily when I cook.  So I immediately began looking for replacements, only to find that most standard OTR microwaves are about 17" tall, while our broken one is about 14".  Wouldn't be a big deal to swap one out quickly, except ours already hangs down below the cabinets, quite close to the cook top.  So of course I tried to research what we'd ultimately like to have there.. and am still undecided.  But here's a mix of what I'm thinking and a collection of inspiration photos. 

The original thought was to have a range hood on a blank wall or between floating shelves, and then a separate microwave.  A bunch of inspiration photos are shown here, but here's another few:

via

via

via