Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

This may look like standard pizza dough:

But I put it in a cake pan:

And let it rise, so I could make a Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza:

The assembled toppings: homemade pizza sauce, cheeses and sliced spicy sausage:

And the finished product:

Sliced!

Ginger Apple Crumb Pie

It looks like an average apple pie, but this recipe is loaded with fresh ginger:

I usually have a lot of apples around, so this seemed like a perfect experiment:

I thinly sliced the apples:

And tossed them with the sugar and spices, and prepared the crust:

The crumb topping...well. It was a bit sweet for me, but a nice change. Here it is pre-baking:

Life, Not Baking: The San Diego Marathon

This is me:

I'm a runner.

Recently, I decided to take on a bigger challenge for my next race, the San Diego Marathon. On June 6, 2010, I won't just be running 26.2 miles for me. I'll be running for a cure, a race with no finish line.

I'm doing this race with Team in Training, a group that started racing for charity in 1988 that has since raised more than $1 Billion dollars for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This money directly benefits research as well as patients and the community.

I'm asking you, dear reader, to take a moment to look at my fundraising page - my goal is high, and I need your help.

And if I don't know you, or, say, haven't seen you since high school, I'll even bake up a dozen cookies and mail them to you if you can dedicate $50 or more of your charity budget this year to my fundraising for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Stollen

One last holiday recipe - Stollen, from a recipe published in the New York Times in December. I had never made this traditional bread and wanted to bring an extra treat to my family gathering.

I started with a lot of spice:

fruit soaked in rum:

And a started that had been rising since the night before:

The finished dough:

rising and loaf shaped, finally, before baking:

and after, coated in ginger-sugar after a soaking with melted butter:

Days later, powdered sugar-coated and ready to give:

Superbowl: The Savories

It's the day after the Superbowl and my food coma hasn't gone away:
Our fantastic host made an array of delicious dips, recipes here. Pictured: beet, chickpea and almond dip, caramelized shallot and blue cheese dip, and in the back, white bean dip. Don't forget the homemade guacamole, or the spinach and avocado dip heating in the oven.

Superbowl Sweets

It's Superbowl Sunday. Time for some treats:
Pecan Bars

Chocolate Sugar Cookies (note: I made these normal cookie sized, rather than huge as directed in the recipe)

And cupcakes!

(made with greenish frosting, yes, but I failed at making proper grass)

Pizza dough: With Beer!

In search of a quick dinner, I picked up a six pack and made this recipe a little healthier by adding some whole wheat flour:
Once the ingredients were mixed, kneaded and risen, I shaped the dough into a rimmed cookie sheet to make a big, doughy pizza crust:


Topped it, baked it...and ate my dinner!