Perfectly Plated

Fancy & Stacked

Hey, Friends! Happy Wednesday!

Two things I love: stack recipes, and fancy made easy. This recipe can be very easy if you buy all the ingredients instead of making them. It’s the perfect snack or appetizer. Want to throw it together fast? Run to the store and grab goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and your choice of pesto. Stack them up and serve.

How to stack? This is one of my favorite kitchen tools ever. All you do is layer whatever it is you want to stack and push down the top while you slide up the ring.

I linked where to get this cool tool. Amazon of course. But, in my opinion it’s worth it to have around if you like messing around in the kitchen.

Let’s make pesto! Now, let me just say I make it with my heart so this recipe isn’t totally exact. My stack is vegan so the pesto is too. You can also sub the nutritional yeast for vegan parm if you’d like. I make my pesto with a mortar and pestle like the old ladies in Italy but you can also use a blender or food processor.

If you’re skipping the goat cheese and keeping vegan here is the super easy “cheese”:

  • 1/2 raw cashews (soaked for about two hours)

  • 1/2 of a lemon, juiced

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

    what you do:

    Throw it all in a food processor and then just put it in the fridge for a couple hours or if you might have gotten distracted like myself a week. Oops. You can also freeze it if you want to use it sooner.

Once you have all of your ingredients, layer them up. If you don’t have this tool you can also use a one cup measuring cup and flip it. That’s what I did before using my stacking ring.

This recipe is a great way to feel fancy and still eat on the lighter side. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a fabulous and fancy day!

Pizza Made With Love…

Happy National Pizza Day!

Am I blindingly busy right now? Oh yes. But that isn’t going to stop me from paying homage to PIZZA! This is a photo of the best pizza I have ever eaten in Marselle France. It was hands down the best, too. And I’ve eaten pizza in Naples. I sure do love a fork and knife kind of ‘Za and that is exactly what I’m trying to recreate today. I know I won’t get the crust as good as this was but I’m going to give it a whirl.

While Theo Shane was living his best life at school and enjoying his Valentine’s Day party, I decided to utilize my pizza loving Coco. She. Loves. Pizza. Like in her soul. So, when I asked her if she wanted to have a pizza day, she just about lost her mind. To the store we went…

Now it was time to make the dough! This girl loves to get her hands dirty so she was very ready for all of the flour.

Like I said this is just how I made my dough. I’d love to go back and get a lesson from a chef in Europe but for now here is how we did it…

We were very excited to get all of the fixin’s for our pizza. She wanted cheese and tomatoes on hers. Don’t worry it only takes us twice as long in any kind of store because my social butterfly really needs to talk to…everyone.

what you do:

  1. Add flour, salt, and yeast to Kitchen Aid and mix well.

  2. Slowly add in water until well combined.

  3. Cut dough into six pieces and form into rounds.

  4. Drizzle with olive oil and cover for about an hour or so.

  5. Sprinkle the counter with flour and keep pressing down until you have about a 10 inch pie.

  6. Add your toppings and throw into the oven for about 5-7 minutes. These are small pizzas they don’t take too long.

How about her very satisfied chef’s pose here?

Colette went with a classic fresh mozzarella, parm, tomatoes, and spinach. She was very pleased with the her decision.

To recreate my French pizza, I brushed the crust with olive oil and garlic, then I used greens, cherry tomatoes, assorted olives, fresh parmesan and mozzarella. Was it as good as it was in Marselle? Nothing ever will be, but it was indeed very delicious!

To finish our girl’s pizza day, we of course had a little cheers! We had the best day, and I can’t wait to continue teaching The Kilgore Kids all about good food and their way around the kitchen.

Carbs don’t count today!

I hope you find yourself with a delicious slice in your hand on this fine Thursday!

Fancy & Fast

Let’s feel fancy on this lovely Wednesday shall we?

Not only are we getting fancy we are doing it quickly and with much ease. So grab a bottle of bubbles and let’s get to it. The hardest part of my (mostly) plant based diet is seafood. I love it in my soul so on weekends if I really want it, I make it and I make it worth it.

One of my very favorite things is finding something I can make better. My whole vibe this year is to elevate everything. Now, me being a seafood lover and seeing this sad box of seafood in the grocery store truly evoked me to add some love to it. Surly it had a better fate than just being dipped in subpar cocktail sauce.

So, what’s fast, elegant, and most importantly deserving for this poor neglected seafood? A bake of course!

First, get everything out and measured for speed. Here is what you need for the sauce:

what you do:

It’s very simple!

  1. Add two tablespoons of butter and since I used some scallops along with this I sautéed for about a minute or so on each side.

2. Remove the seafood and splash the pan with white wine for a little deglazing action. Then throw in milk, broth, seasonings, and mustard.

3. Add two more tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour to the mixture (beurre manié, see fun fact below). This will thicken the sauce. Simmer until it’s nice and thick.

4. Turn off the heat and add it to an oven safe dish.

5. I did mine on 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

That’s it! I made this sad box of seafood a meal worth eating and gave it the love that it deserved. I also made my sauce dairy free by using almond milk and plant based butter but you can use whole milk to make it more creamy.

fun fact: Beurre manié is just a dough that is equal parts butter and flour. It’s used to sauces and soups to make them thick.

Hope you’re feeling extra fancy today and I hope no one effs with your good vibes!