Rosemary Focaccia Bread (The 'Fresh & Easy' Way)

One of my favorite places to shop for food is Fresh & Easy.  I am trying to eat healthy (clean, organic, fresh, natural, raw). Especially since my new responsibility of providing food for a growing baby. Check out http://kristensraw.com/blog/ for information on eating raw.  Whatever the new good-for-you trend is, I'm interested.  At Fresh & Easy they have many products already made or ready-to-make that have all natural ingredients with no preservatives.  This week I picked up a package of Rosemary Focaccia Dough.

I'm sure I could have just bought some focaccia bread, but touching the dough and baking it in the oven gives me some satisfaction as if I had made it from scratch.  I'm really not there yet when it comes to cooking/baking.  Trust me, I tried this recipe for homemade soft pretzels that I found at sugarlaws.com, and couldn't quite pull it off.  I'll let you know when I get it right. Looks so amazing!

On to the bread... I followed the directions on the package and drizzled it with olive oil (highly recommended).  It bakes at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 

I baked it for 10, took it out,  and topped it with shredded monterey jack cheese and spinach. Then I baked it for another 5 minutes.  It was perfectly crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle. This was so much faster and tastier than ordering pizza or even getting out a frozen one. I know...we do both. Any combination of vegetables would be great on this bread.  However, it can definitely stand alone as a side with dinner. 

What's your favorite pizza topping combination?

Free Message Prints

I found these wonderful message prints online today at Make it Perfect. There are many to choose from. All you have to do is drag them to your desktop. I can't wait to print and frame these for my daughter's room.  She gives some other clever ideas for using these on her blog. Check it out!

Zuppa Toscana Soup and Kale Chips

I love Zuppa Toscana soup. The last time I ordered it at Olive Garden I thought, "I want to make this." So I looked it up online and found a lot of recipes posted.  They were all similar, and just what I thought: sausage, potatoes, bacon, kale, chicken stock, and a little cream.  I used this recipe.  One difference is that I used red potatoes, which worked great.  I chopped the potatoes first, so they could start cooking in the pot with the seasonings and chicken stock. While that was cooking, I started on the meat.

I heard a great trick on Rachael Ray the other day. She talked about cooking bacon in the oven on a roasting pan or cooling rack. I just put it in the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes, and didn't have to fuss over it on the stove. I turned out great! Using the roasting pan allowed the bacon to cook evenly and all the fat drained to the bottom.  I cooked the bacon in the oven while I browned the sausage on the stove.

Then I chopped the bacon and kale and added the bacon to the pot with the sausage.

After 10 min, I added the kale and heavy cream.

That's it! It was delicious. It tasted just like at the restaurant.  Actually, a little better. ;)

With some of the kale I had left, I tried making kale chips.  Sounds weird, but they're really tasty. I got the recipe from smitten kitchen, which is a great website. Basically, you tear the kale into pieces, toss it with olive oil and salt, and bake at 300 for 10-20 min.  It's a little tricky, though. My first batch burned and was too salty.  The second batch was just right.  If you're leery, let me tell you that my veggie-hating husband loved these!