Hawaiian Pizza!

Over the last week I have been buying and eating a lot of pineapple (it's an old wives tale for the promotion of labour!) and was getting a little bored of just eating it on it's own. My boyfriend mentioned he used to love Hawaiian pizza (ham and pineapple) and as I had never had pineapple on a pizza I thought we would try it. I used my favourite pizza base recipe which never seems to go wrong and you don't have to pre-cook it before you put the toppings on. You can find the recipe here! If you love thin and crispy bases you may like to find a different recipe as this tends to be a bit thicker than that but I love it. Be prepared that you do have to let the dough rise for a couple of hours so don't make this if you are starving already!! This amount of dough serves around 4 people. We tend to make 2 pizzas and freeze one which works fantastically and is great for an easy dinner.

For the topping I put some tomato pasta sauce we had (although it would have usually been tomato puree but somehow we had run out- we tend to buy tonnes at a time!) then ripped up Redwoods ham, sliced mushrooms, chunks of fresh pineapple, sliced mushrooms (the addition of mushrooms to any pizza is always a bonus in my opinion!) and then grated Cheezly mozzarella. It's so easy to prepare once the base is done and can be a fun activity with children- you could split the dough into smaller pizzas and have each person design their own (good for picky eaters!). This was baked at around 180 degrees (celcius) for 10-15 mins (until it all goes lovely and brown!).

As you can see from the picture below my pizzas are a bit rough and ready and rectangle as we only have rectangle baking trays but I kind of like my pizzas a bit rough around the edges!

Another pizza we regularly make is: tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives (and "cheese"!) which is super delicious and there is always an absolute mountain of veg on top of the pizza which makes me feel a little less guilty in having pizza!

Artichokes are also a much loved pizza topping of mine. What is your favourite pizza topping? Inspire me!

Spicy Parsnip and Butterbean Soup

With my due date in less than a week and soooo much to do beforehand I haven't had much time to do any non-boring cooking. We have had a lot of basic meals like stir-frys, pasta dishes and jacket potatoes which are definitely not worthy of a blog post. I have also been making big batches of soup to freeze in portions for my lunches so I get lots of veg in me and also so I will have some easy lunches for once the baby is born. They haven't been very exciting as if it is for me I tend to use little oil and salt and also don't tend to make them "creamy". If I was making them for other people they would be a bit more extravagant.

I made a delicious leek and potato soup from a recipe by the fiance of the guy that did Supersize Me which you can find here. There is a suggestion in the comment section to add non-dairy milk to make it really creamy which I might try when I make it for guests but with the potatoes in this soup it feels quite creamy anyway. I have been enjoying this soup pretty much daily without getting bored.

Anyway onto today's experiment- Spicy Parsnip and Butterbean Soup, perfect for those cold winter days! For this I was using things I already had in my cupboard..including a couple of shortcuts. The amounts are estimated as this was very much a shove in what looks good kind of recipe but here are the basics (this serves about 6)

1. Soak 250g dried butterbeans overnight and then cook them as per packet instructions (mine said boil for 10 minutes and then simmer for 40 minutes)
2. Roast 750g chopped (into sticks as if you were going to eat them roasted) and tossed in a little olive oil for around 30 mins in a hot oven. (I might try more parsnips next time)
3. Make up 1 1/2 litres of stock with any veggie stock cube.
4. Put all of this in your blender along with 2 tbs curry powder, 2-3 chopped chillis (I actually used some chopped jalepenos from a jar because they have been sitting unused in the back of the cupboard for so long) and either 1 tbs of garlic powder (another random cupboard find!) or 3-4 fried minced garlic cloves. Blend until smooth and creamy. 
5. Add more stock or water to make thinner. Add some soya cream for a more decadent soup.

I didn't add any salt or pepper while cooking and think it is fine without but you might want to add some to your own taste.

I was expecting a much paler colour but with the addition of the red chillis it went a wonderful orange!