![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp29Sn8ldu_vYvpcJlR0S7mfW1SMeW62bCyUnzKBQVje5TRn4Zjn8YjTFGzaB0868S4S_d1NU2uemQUTqOVBkexy8hYr7jQg1L5hV8jmQgZ3e6bTaDtG9l9txIhmeTbSJF_k4moOnGm4c/s400/Smoked+sausage+pizza.JPG) |
Smoked sausage pizza |
Today's Food Diary
Breakfast: Rolled oats with kiwifruit and linseed
Lunch: Smoked sausage pizza
Dinner: Chickpea, carrot and polenta stew
Baking/sweets: beer bread, oat sweets, baked pita crisps, experiments with oat, syrup and jam bars
The pizza may look normal but an important part, perhaps the most important part, was not normal. Notice anything usual? With the dough? If you did notice, congratulations, you have supernatural powers.
The dough was made with baking powder instead of yeast. Bet you didn’t notice that! I used baking powder because I was short on time, and there is no harm experimenting. After all famous dishes like tarte tatin were created because of time constraints and experimentation. I suspect that my baking powder pizza base will not reach such heights.
The pizza base lacked chewiness and fluffiness, but it was quite nice. I will definitely have it again, though it won’t replace the regular pizza dough recipe.
The dinner stew had a myriad of flavours – tomato puree, curry powder, hoisin sauce, thai sweet chili sauce and apple cider vinegar. Sometimes I am in the mood of throwing in different flavours. I used much restraint, and it worked quite well. I did make adjustments as the stew was stewing.
Today's Favourite Blog
I liked Russian Season’s blog for two reasons, both equally important:
1. Priorities: due to budget blowout, Russian Season said “No more expensive foods until the end of the month”. But there was a budget and time for cookies. Perhaps cookies are not the most expensive item, nevertheless it got the attention it deserved! Polenta cookies are awesome, which take me to the second reason.
2. I have been baking a lot with polenta recently. Russian Season tested a Lemon Polenta Apricot Cookie, which sounds delicious. I made lemon cookies sometime back and loved it. Lemon and polenta should be a good couple. I will definitely try but I would substitute apricot for either figs, raisins or bananas, or leave it out altogether
Today's Random Rambling
An apple a day will keep the doctor, but not if you eat many seeds. Apple and cherry seeds contain cyanide. However a lot needs to be consumed for it to be fatal. If someone enjoys eating large quantities of apple or cherry seeds, that person probably has other bigger problems!
Tomatoes: avoid eating large quantities of stem and leaves. Focus on tomatoes instead, they are tastier
Rhubarb: avoid eating large quantities of leaves, they are probably not tasty
Potatoes: avoid potatoes with a greenish tinge
Nutmeg: don’t avoid large quantities. Nutmeg is a hallucinogenic. Just 0.2oz could lead to convulsions, 0.3 oz to seizures and a whole one will lead to "nutmeg psychosis", which includes a sense of impending doom. Avoid them or not, that’s your choice
Almonds and cassava: avoid eating the bitter variety. The sweet variety is tastier and easier to find.
Unpasteurised honey: even one tablespoon can cause problems
Tuna: has mercury
Cashews: avoid raw cashews. The ‘raw’ cashews readily available are actually steamed so they are fine
Elderberries: Avoid eating unripe, as well as leaves, twigs and seeds
From the practical perspective most of the items would be naturally avoided due to unavailability and poor taste. However it is definitely good to know.
Today's Favourite Photo