[Recipe] Easy Pizza Dough

Many apologies for the long hiatus on the blog! It has been really busy the past 2 months on the jewelry crafting front since having to cater to the year end gifting orders and right after it was for the Lunar New Year. I wish I had more time to stop and smell the roses but well, busy is good too! Truth be told, I have never been busier!

Anywayyyyy, the cooking at home still has to go on, despite the achy shoulders and back - my occupational hazard. And I really felt I needed to check into my blog to let y'all know that I am still around so I took the some time off last night to write this down. :)

I wanted so much to share this 2 ingredient no-rise pizza dough recipe I discovered from The Slow Roasted Italian. Like many others who blogged about this recipe, I too felt very skeptical about how this dough will turn out. I went ahead to try it anyway... half of me expecting it to fail and preparing to call for pizza delivery. But surprise surprise! It turned out wonderfully crisp on the edges and not at all soggy. It almost felt like we were having gourmet pizza! Definitely a must-try if you ever thought that it is too difficult a task to prepare a pizza dough. 

Preparation time : 10-15 mins   Yield : One 12" and One 9" base pizza  Serve : 2-3 pax

Ingredients :
1 cup self raising flour + 1/2 cup more for later
1 cup greek yoghurt
(that's it! really!)

Method :
- Set oven to 200 degrees celcius.
- Combine the flour and yoghurt together in a large mixing bowl
- Use an electric mixer with dough hook (mine is handheld)
- Knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes
- Gradually add more flour from the other 1/2 cup, as necessary until the dough comes together

Pardon the photo quality as I don't have fantastic kitchen lighting.

- Instead of kneading the dough on the counter top,which can be a messy affair, I kneaded the dough directly from the bowl for a few rounds, sprinkling more flour on it as necessary, until the dough doesn't stick to your hands when you pull away.
- I used a 12" pizza pan with holes at the bottom and another 9" round baking pan. Spray a light coat of olive oil on the base of the tray before placing the rolled out dough on it.
- You can either roll the dough out on a flat surface with a rolling pin or as I did, I took slightly more than half the portion of the dough and placed directly on the pans, then used my hands to spread the dough to the edge. In fact you can also shape it as desired!

This is the uncooked pizza, with cheeses, tomato based sauce and pepperoni. You can add any of your favorite toppings!

- Bake the pizza for 12-15 minutes, until the edges look crisp and the toppings are browned.
- Slice them up into portions, add wild rockets on top (mmm our favorite!) and serve!
- Enjoy!

Till the next post, have a wonderful day!

Absolutely Me,

[Recipe] Baked Cajun Seafood in a Bag

As I am winding down to my year end break, I have found some time this morning to write and share my successful dinner recipe we had last night - in celebration of my husband's birthday. It was absolutely a happy meal for us! 

This recipe of 'Cajun Seafood in a Bag' is simple enough for anyone to master and best of all, it is so much more cost saving having this at home versus eating at a specialty restaurant. (The seafood cost me slightly less than $30 only) This is also a great feast to share when we gather for a communal meal with family and friends at home. Except for the slight unglamorous manner eating them with your hands.

The only thing one may find challenging (or maybe it is just me) is handling and cleaning the raw crabs. If you are a noob at cleaning crabs, check out this video of how it can be done. Tip : actually, it can be made simpler with a good pair of scissors instead of picking the stuff inside the crab with fingers. You know... if you don't want to feel icky about it.

I have used flower crabs for my recipe. Just so that I don't have to handle live crabs! But please feel free to substitute it with mud crabs if you like or perhaps something easier would be cray fish which I didn't manage to find. Any assortment of seafood can also be used for this dish and it is lip smacking delicious, I tell you! The slight buttery and peppery flavor with the natural sweetness from the seafood is so so good!

This recipe is inspired by Cuisine Paradise.

Preparation time : 15 mins | Cooking time : approx.30 minutes | Serves : 3 adults

Ingredients :
- 2 large flower crabs : cleaned and quartered
- 6 large tiger prawns : with feelers snipped off
- 400 grams fresh clams : washed and cleaned
- 2 medium sized squid : cleaned and sliced to rings
- 1 sweet corn on cob : cut into 6 portions
- 1.5 tbsp of butter, cubed
- fresh parsley for garnishing

Seasoning :
- 1 tbsp cajun spices (check out McCormick brand)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1/4 cup of white wine (optional)

Items you need to wrap the seafood in :
- 1 large piece of parchment or baking paper (this is to hold the juices in place)
- 1 large piece of foil paper
(Please use your discretion with the sizes of wraps to fit the seafood in it)

Method :

- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.

- After cleaning and cutting the seafood into it's portions, layer the foil paper, followed by the parchment paper on a base of a large oven safe deep dish. If you don't have a large one to fit all the seafood in a bag, you may consider splitting the portions into 2 bags.

- Arrange the seafood onto the parchment paper and proceed to add all the seasoning onto the seafood. Give the seafood a good toss with your hands and top it of with butter.

 - Wrap and fold the ends of the foil together to form a bag. Don't worry if it's not large enough to fold over. Just use another piece of foil paper large enough to secure the top. The idea is to keep the cooking sealed without drying out the content.

- After 30 minutes, take out the bag and check to see if your seafood is cooked. If you are unsure, put it back into the oven for an extra 10 minutes. You can also probably tell when you smell the cooked seafood aroma in the air. 

- Garnish the seafood with some fresh chopped parsley before serving.

- Enjoy!

Till the next post, have a wonderful day!

Absolutely Me,

Updates In My Undertakings + Christmas Special For My Readers

I have been really swamped with jewelry orders that I have gone on a long hiatus on my blog. Plus with a recent private fair at a financial institution which saw an opportunity for me to showcase my wares, kept me even busier on the jewelry front. Geez, I didn't even find time to share much about my maiden feature in a cook book! 

This is a snippet of the front and back cover of the cookbook which is already available for sale at local major bookstores, as well as in Malaysia. You may recognize some, if not all of the mom/recipe bloggers featured in this book! A compilation of 50 favorite home cooked recipes from the 10 of us!

A snippet of my little booth set up at the fair which I shared on my Instagram account.

As we count down to Christmas that is happening in 26 days, my hands are ever constantly busy with a heavier load at this time of year. Even my shoulders, back and eyes are facing some kind of hullabaloo which I am choosing to ignore until my work is fulfilled. And then maybe I will go for a nice massage! *wink*

Speaking of Christmas, have you already been shopping for gifts to your loved ones or perhaps, for an office gift exchange program? If you are still stuck with ideas, jewelry pieces could be your better choice for the ladies. 

Christmas Special, Specially For My Readers

Suede Collection

The above suede collection is now available at my Facebook page and will be gift packed nicely, ready for your Christmas gifting. 

The current special for this collection on my Facebook page is 'For every 2 nett priced pieces purchased, receive 50% for the 3rd item* (*the least priced item will enjoy the 50% discount)' 

BUT (I cannot stress enough of this important BUT) if you are reading this, and wish to get a gift from this collection, just PM me on Adeline's Loft facebook page, mention that you read this post to enjoy this special instead :

For every 2 nett priced pieces purchased, receive the 3rd item with my compliments.  

(*the least priced item will be the complimentary piece)

How is that for helping you with a budget and with the spirit of giving this Christmas? :)

The designs on sale are very VERY limited so it's only while stocks last. 

And by the way, if you don't find anything suitable and wish to customize a jewelry piece from me, do know that 9th December will be the last day that I am accepting orders in time for Christmas. Customization pieces for necklaces or bracelets will start from $26 onwards, depending on final choice of components and earrings from $16 onwards.

I look forward to your support on local handmade this Christmas.

Till the next post, have a wonderful day!

Absolutely Me,