MIA

Sorry for going MIA the last few days. I really enjoyed the time with the family and my son is here on Spring Break although we don't spend every waking moment together it is just nice knowing he is here.



My daughter and I went down to the Chopping Block in Lincoln Square on Saturday morning to attend Dawn Jackson Blatner's cooking class. If anyone is considering incorporating more plant based food into your diet you "HAVE" to get her book, The Flexatarian Diet" It is a wonderful book and I can't thank Abby enough for bring it into my life. I tell everyone about it.

We enjoyeds eating some wonderful vegetarian food Dawn prepared. I always leave her classes motivated to continue on my journey of healthy eating.



I wanted to show you what I made for my daughter to take home. I think I have talked about this before but I am going to talk about it again. I made her some homemade pitas. I remember when I made them for the first time I was so scared thinking they were difficult, I was wrong.



Pita Bread



1 1/8 cups warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour ( I use 1 1/2 cup white flour and 1 1/2 cup wheat flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast



I put all the ingredients in my bread maker and put it on the dough setting and let it do all the work. Love that! When the dough is ready I turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch the dough into a eight inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6-7 inch circle. Cover with a towel and let the pitas rise for about 30 minutes until slightly puffy. I put a pizza stone in the oven and turn the oven to 500 degrees. When the oven is ready put a pita on the stone and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Do not over bake because you will lose your pocket. Take it from me I know. Remove from oven and immediately wrap in tin foil. After the pitas have cooled removed from tin foil and store in refrigerator or what I do is I freeze them and take them out when I needed them.



Roll out the eight ball in to 6-7 inch circle and let rise until slightly puffy.

This is one that has come right out of the oven. Look how puffy it is? This is what will form the pocket.

Place it immediately in a piece of tin foil and let cool. Seriously these are so easy and well worth the effort. Now that I gave all mine to my daughter I need to make a batch for myself. I love have them in the freezer for a quick lunch filled with beans or I use it to make pita pizzas.

Here is the BIG reason I was MIA for a few days! There is nothing like having the whole family back together even if it is just for a very short time. I treasure the time together.