Marinara Sauce Recipe

Ultimate Marinara Sauce Recipe

This recipe is one of the most requested recipes that I receive.   That is for good reason.   It is fantastic and one of the most often made recipes in my home.   Marinara Sauce is my wife's specialty, so I can't take any credit for this.    I often say that my Grandmother would be proud of her and her Marinara Sauce Recipe.

This Marinara Sauce Recipe is the very best I ever tasted!  It has evolved over time, only to get better just when I thought that it couldn't get any better. One of the things about Marinara Sauce is the quality of the tomatoes and their ripeness makes a difference.   We use Organic Tomatoes exclusively in our Marinara Sauce.

As many of you watch my videos, you have seen my gardens and tomatoes. We use the plum tomatoes, however there are times a few Cherokee Purple tomatoes find their way into the Marina Sauce.    If we have to use tomatoes form a can, we pretty much always use Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes.

One of the changes we have made over the years is that we cook this Marinara Sauce Recipe in a crock pot.  We used to cook it in a very large pot on the stove, but the Crock Pot does a better job.  After it is complete, we usually end up with 6-8 quarts of some of the best Marinara Sauce ever.   Sometimes we can it in quart mason jars, but most of the time we just keep a quart or two in the Refrigerator and freeze the rest.

Another important note in making this marinara sauce recipe is that we uses peeled whole tomatoes.   We cook the tomatoes whole and it is only at the end of the cooking process that we smash them with a potato masher.    This change greatly improved the quality of the marinara sauce, which went from super amazing to out of this world stellar amazing...   The reasoning for this is smashing the tomatoes early make the sauce too bitter, due to the seeds.

Marinara Sauce Recipe Ingredients

• 7 - 8 cans of Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes (with the fluid drained off)
• 1 1/2 cup of a hearty Red Wine, like a burgundy.
• 1/2 Cup of Fresh Chopped Garlic
• 1 chopped medium sweet onion
• 3 Tablespoons Dried Basil
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
• 1 Tsp Thyme
• 1 Pinch of Rosemary
• Salt to taste ( Most of the time we only use this in the fresh homegrown tomatoes )
• Optional Sugar ( only a little to taste, but we hardly ever use it as the organic tomatoes are sweet enough )

Marinara Sauce Directions

Saute the onions until they are translucent and then add the garlic in the best olive oil you can find.   Take care not to burn the garlic as if you do...  Throw the whole thing out and start over.   After the garlic and onions are sauteed, add them to the crock pot ( or pot on your stove ). 

Next, add all of your peeled tomatoes to the crock pot.   It is starting to look like Marinara Sauce already!    Pour in the wine.

The next step in making the Marinara Sauce is to put the dried spices on top. Then, simply put the top on your crock pot and turn it on.   After some time, it will start to liquefy and boil.   When that happens, you can gently stir in the spices, taking care not so smash the tomatoes.

After it simmers for a few hours, place the lid ajar, so that steam can escape.   This will produce a thicker marinara sauce.   Now, let the Marinara Sauce simmer for another few hours.

When the Marinara Sauce has simmered for several hours, then it is time to smash the tomatoes.   We like a chunky and rustic marinara sauce.   So, that is when I mash the tomatoes with potato masher.    If you want a smoother sauce, you can probably use an immersion blender, but that would be a crime..   The texture of the marinara sauce with chunks of tomatoes in it by using the potato masher is part of what makes this marinara sauce recipe so wonderful.

Stir the Marinara Sauce and return the top to the crock pot.    You are ready to serve, however, we often add another optional step.   We very often get some fresh Sweet Basil Leaves and rip them apart by hand into pieces.   Then, we stir them into the sauce and let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so...  

Finally, it is time to serve.   My family enjoys this marinara sauce recipe on virtually any Italian dish.    Meatballs, Chicken Cutlets, Manicotti , eggplant and lasagna.

I hope you have enjoyed learning how to make this Marinara Sauce Recipe.   It is my wife's specialty and she deserves all the credit here.   I would highly recommend giving it a try.

Homemade Ice Cream - Yum

I love summertime.   Ever since I was a kid, I loved it.  The endless days, the beach and BBQ.   But I always loved Ice Cream.   The sound of the Good Humor Man... Coming down the street and ringing his bell.   Every kid in the neighborhood would scream, "ICE CREAM!" and probably make each and every one of our parents crazy.

Homemade Ice Cream

Now that I am an adult.... well sort of...  I still love ice cream, but I am concerned about the quality of the things I am ingesting.   Dairy today is different then the dairy we had when I was a kid.   And did you know that I read an article which said that Vanilla may not even really be Vanilla?   The article said that there is some sort of bacteria that secretes some sort of thing that tastes similar to Vanilla, so companies can use that flavoring and call it Vanilla and supposedly no one would know the difference!

In fact, they can say All Natural, and it can be Vanilla made in some lab.  Well, that is not my idea of Natural!  It is funny that Breyers used to say all natural, and it doesn't anymore!   Enough of my ranting, back to the point... Ice Cream!

I want Ice Cream that is good and real.  Where Natural means with stuff that is not from a lab.  I want Organic Dairy in my Ice Cream.   No Xanthum Gum. No Polly Wolly Sorbate 8000.   So, in a moment of impulsiveness, I bought an Ice Cream Machine, A Book on how to make Ice Cream and a great stainless steel Ice Cream Scoop!    Since getting it, I have to say it is one of the best purchases I ever made...

Homemade Ice Cream Making Recommendations

Armed with these wonderful things, I made Homemade Ice Cream...  I used organic dairy and I have to say from my very first attempt, it came out amazing!   So, like David Lee Roth says, "I'm Your Ice Cream Man, Stop Me When I'm Passin By!"

My first attempt was to make Black Raspberry Homemade Ice Cream.  You know, with those organic black raspberries that you have been seeing me grow for the past few years on my YouTube channel!   Wow!  It came out amazingly intense and delicious.  The texture and density was similar to Haagen Daz.  Unbelievable for my first attempt.   I thought I just had beginner's luck.

My next Homemade Ice Cream was Mint Chip.   I pretty much followed the recipe in the Ben and Jerry's book, but doubled the mint extract.  I also hand chopped up some Newman's Organic Dark Chocolate bars and added that in place of chocolate chips.  Of course, I used organic cream and milk.  My second Ice Cream attempt was as good, or even better than the first one!   I never imagined that it could be so easy to make Ice Cream that was even better than what is sold at those expensive boutique shops.

Yesterday, I made my third Homemade Ice Cream.   It was Vanilla Malt Chip.   I added Malted Milk to the mix and tiny Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.  My head is spinning.  I don't know which one is the best.   Each of these Ice Creams is off the hook good!   And I am not an expert!

The beauty of making your own Homemade Ice Cream is you can make it with organic ingredients, real Vanilla and Fruit.   In fact, most basic Homemade Ice Cream recipes have only a small handful of ingredients.  For example:

1 Cup Of Organic Milk
2 Cups Of Organic Heavy Cream
3/4 Cups Of Organic Sugar
2 Organic Eggs
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract, Organic of course!

With these five ingredients, you have Vanilla Ice Cream!   Add fruit if you want.  Add Chocolate Chips!  Get creative!

I have to say the Ben and Jerry's book is amazing! If you want to make Homemade Ice Cream, then you must have this book.   Those guys have excellent recipes for just about any Ice Cream you could imagine.  They even have a Pumpkin Ice Cream! Ben and Jerry:  I love you guys!  You are Pioneers!  Thanks for writing such an amazing book!

The recipes in the Ben and Jerry's book say that they make a generous quart of Homemade Ice Cream.  That is really more like a quart and a half.  I would recommend not adding more than that to your Ice Cream machine, if you get the same one that I purchased. In other words, don't double the recipe, even though you have a two quart machine.   There will be more than enough for some, uhhh, quality control tasting as you are making the Ice Cream...

One piece of advice is to freeze the bowl at least a day before making Ice Cream with the machine.   The bowl is sort of like a Freezer Ice Pack in the shape of a bowl, so it freezes the homemade ice cream as it turns it.   If you want to make two flavors in the same day, get the extra bowl insert, so that you can freeze both bowls 24 hrs before.

While the Ice Cream Machine makes some noise, it is not nearly as loud as I thought it would be.  The quality of the machine and the Homemade Ice Cream it makes is outstanding.  The mint chip ice cream I made was a really fun activity to do with kids.   We had a blast!

If you are thinking about getting an Ice Cream Machine, just do it.   You know you want one.   It is so worth it.   At least you can say that you are giving your kids real homemade ice cream with quality ingredients.

Toxic Pesticides We're Eating

Everyone wants to eat better quality food for a healthy lifestyle.   We are bombarded with information on the Internet, the News and from our doctors about what is good to eat and what is bad to eat.  Sometimes the information about what is healthy and not healthy conflicts with one another.  I always do my best to take in the information and make up my own mind as to what makes sense to me.

Fruits That Commonly Have Toxic Pesticide Residue

The general info we hear time and time again is to eat more leafy greens, vegetables and fruit.   Limit fats and fried foods. Yeah, I am sure you have seen all of this stuff, too.   But, what I read this morning, I found shocking and quite disturbing.  

According to the Environmental Working Group, many of the foods we believe to be part of that healthy list are actually quite bad for you if you buy the conventionally grown foods.   The reason for this is the pesticides found in the foods.

One of the examples in their list is Kale.   Kale and Collard Greens have been touted as being some of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.   Many consider it a super food, packed with all sorts of goodness.  BUT, did you know that in tests conducted by USDA Scientists, they detected 51 different pesticides on conventionally grown Kale and 41 on Collard Greens?   The study sites many particular pesticides that I can’t pronounce, like DDE, Dieldrin, Chlorpyrifos, Oxydemention, Esfenvalerate and Famoxadone.  Two of these pesticides,  DDE and Dieldrin, have been proven to be so toxic that they were banned a few years back!

This is why I make an effort to buy Organic produce whenever I can or grow as much as I can on my property.  Those of you who have watched my videos can see that I do a lot of growing at home and I do my best to show people how I do it, so that they too can do the same.

So, you may ask what foods have the most pesticides on them?

The number one worst food with the most pesticides was Apples!   Do you remember that saying, an apple a day….  Apples were followed by Strawberries and Grapes.

Celery was in their number four spot.   Who would ever even think about celery having pesticides, right?   Their number 5 on the list of most pesticide residue was peaches.  Number 8 was imported Nectarines, which I thought was interesting.   You would think that peaches and nectarines were so similar, that they would be next to each other.  I always thought that produce that was imported had more pesticides than what was in the US, but the Domestic peaches had MORE pesticides than the imported Nectarines.

Surprisingly, between Peaches and Nectarines was in the number 6 spot.   Spinach!   WOW, a leafy green!  Who would have thought that Spinach would have more pesticides then number 7, which was sweet bell peppers.    Now, for those of you who see my videos, you see how easy it is to grow spinach.   I am growing it, as you can freely see WITHOUT PESTICIDES at all!

Cucumbers held the number 9 spot in this list, followed by Cherry Tomatoes in the number 10 spot.   As you can see, many of these things I grow myself, and you can too!

The list goes on and on, with Snap Peas, Potatoes, Hot Peppers, Blueberries, and yes, Lettuce and Kale.   Now, what can you do about it?   I believe that you can demand better by making your voice heard with your wallet!   For these things, at least, buy Organic if you can or Grow Your Own.   Either way, make sure you wash your produce very well with a quality produce wash.

I think it is important to learn how to grow your own food!   Even if you are living in a City area, you can do amazing things with Hydroponic Systems to grow your own food.    In fact, you can use the Kratky method, like I did and make a lettuce growing station using a rough tote.   All you need is quality hydroponic nutrients.   You can’t use conventional fertilizer in hydroponics. 

If you wanted to grow hydroponically all year long, you could!   You would need a quality grow light, and I would recommend either this LED Grow Light for smaller systems or this UFO LED Grow Light for larger systems.

You can grow in the ground, of course.   I recommend doing a combination of both.   The lettuce comes out so great hydroponically, so that is my preferred method of growing these days for lettuce.   Tomatoes I will continue to do in the ground.

I am looking forward to experimenting with Kale and Spinach using hydroponics.   I want to give that a try.

So, I hope you have found this post informative and helpful.   Please feel free to let me know how you feel about this type of information and what you and your family are doing, so that we can learn from each other. 

Whole Wheat Pizza Recipe

Whole Wheat Pizza

 

So, your on a diet and feeling deprived. You are eating veggie burgers, tofu and salad but feeling like you want pizza.  I have had whole wheat pizzas before and thought that they were ok, but I always kind of knew that there had to be a way to make a whole wheat pizza even better.   So, you will not have to use up too many of those Weight Watcher's points and satisfy that inner pizza lover who wants to be set free.

My Whole Wheat Pizza - Margareta Style

I have seen Mario, a famous chef make pizzas before and he shares the same opinion that I do.   Most american pizzas have too much cheese.   I agree with him 100 percent!   So in my quest to make a lower calorie whole wheat pizza that is full of flavor and absolutely delicious, I took a few things into account:

1. I would use less cheese.
2. I would use Fresh Mozzarella, the fully fatted one, but much less of it.
3. I would use some part skim shredded Mozzarella to round it out.
4. I would use the very best quality ingredients I could find.

For one thing, I remember that many whole wheat breads, as they are good for you with all the bran  and other healthful stuff, tasted like I was eating sawdust.  I knew I didn't want that for my whole wheat pizza .

I found this flour at the local supermarket in the natural foods section.

Bob's Red Mill is a great company that makes excellent products.   I would highly recommend any of his products, as the company has integrity.

Armed with this white whole wheat flour, I decided to craft a whole wheat pizza dough using it.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe

• 2 cups of water
• 1 packet of yeast
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of the Best Olive Oil you can find
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 2 cups of Bob's Red Mill White Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 cups of all purpose white flour

Directions for the whole wheat pizza dough recipe:

•  Put the water, olive oil, sugar and salt in your mixer and mix it until all the sugar is dissolved. 
• Add the yeast and gently mix it in to incorporate it.   Wait 10 Minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients.    Slowly pulse the mixer to wet the flour.
• When the flour is wet, mix on slow using the dough hook on your mixer.
• If the dough seems dry, add a little water and continue to mix until a dough is formed.
• Turn up the speed and knead in the mixer for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Take out the dough, cut into three equal sizes and bake three whole wheat pizza dough balls.
• Coat the whole wheat pizza dough balls with a thin layer of olive oil and put into three separate containers or zip-lock bags.
• Immediately refrigerate over night.

Once you have the whole wheat pizza dough made and aged for at least a day in your refrigerator, then you are ready to make a delicious whole wheat pizza.

Ingredients for Whole Wheat Pizza

• Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
• Organic Diced Tomatoes, one can
• 2 cloves chopped fresh garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Romano Cheese
• 1 Cup of Part Skim or Low Fat Shredded Mozzarella
• 6 Ozs of Fresh Mozzarella  Cubed into 1/2 inch cubes.
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Basil Leaves
• Sea Salt

 Directions to make Delicious Whole Wheat Pizza Recipe

To make this whole wheat pizza recipe, we are going to use the same techniques described in the New York Style Pizza post.   Please read that post fully before you get started.

• Take a whole wheat pizza dough out of your refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour to rest.
• Preheat your stone as described in the NY Pizza post.
• Place your Diced Tomatoes in  strainer and drain out the excess moisture.
• Evenly flour your pizza dough for easy handling.
• Form your dough by either hand tossing it or using a rolling pin and put it on a pizza screen or pan with holes in it.
• Sprinkle the top of the whole wheat pizza dough with the garlic.
• Spread the drained tomatoes across the top of the pizza evenly.
• Sprinkle the Romano Cheese across the pizza evenly.
• Now is the time for the cubes of Fresh Mozzarella.    Evenly distribute the cubes.   There will not be a lot of them, so dot them around the whole wheat pizza strategically.
• Sprinkle the remaining shredded Mozzarella around the rest of the pizza.   There is about a third of the cheese on this whole wheat pizza, so spread it out evenly .
• Grind some sea salt on top of the pizza.   Isn't it starting to look good?
• Tear some fresh basil leaves and distribute across the top of the pizza.
• Drizzle some Olive Oil on top sparingly.

Now that you have assembled your whole wheat pizza, now is the time to change the oven from the broiler, which was preheating your stone, making it extra hot, to bake at 400 F.    Remember that we were pre-heating the stone by using the broiler?  It is important not to forget to switch it to bake or you will have a very burnt pizza.

Place your whole wheat pizza that is on the pan (or screen) directly on the stone pan and all.   Bake it for about 15 minutes or until it looks nice and toasty brown.

Take the whole wheat pizza out of the oven when finished cooking to perfection and let it sit for about 4 minutes before transferring it to a pan without holes for cutting and devouring.

Now, you can enjoy your whole wheat pizza guilt free and with all the calories that you saved, you can enjoy a nice glass of Chianti or Pinot Noir with your delicious pizza.   It will be crisp on the bottom and well browned, but not burned.   It should look like the picture of the whole wheat pizza that I made on the top of this post.

So, I hope you have enjoyed making this awesome whole wheat pizza!   It satisfies the inner wild child in all of us when we are dieting.   It is so tasty, that you will want it even if you are not dieting.   In my opinion, pizza shouldn't have as much cheese on it anyway.   There is enough on this whole wheat pizza to satisfy the melty cravings, but not so much that you feel clogged after eating it.  

You will find that cooking like this is fun, healthy and delicious.   It is hard to believe, but kids even love this pizza!   Just don't tell them that it is whole wheat pizza and they will be more than willing to try it.  Enjoy this Italian Recipe and please give it a try.

DIY Herbal Acne Remedy

Herbal Acne Remedy

Acne has been a problem for so many people.   In fact, there are so many acne remedies on the market that many don’t know where to start.   There are commercials with celebrities endorsing acne medicines that are so costly, and from what people I know have told me, they only have marginal success.   Acne is painful and to many people suffer with it.

 

Echinacea Purpurea Root Is Part Of This Acne Remedy

I developed this DIY Herbal Acne remedy with cooling in mind.   I have seen it work very well for people who have painful acne where they were not able to get results with other acne products.   In shamanistic terms, I would say that it is designed to “Put out the fire” for those who have infected acne and feel that their face is literally on fire.

Of course, all of this is according to herbal folklore, and you should always consult your doctor before taking any herbal or pharmaceutical medicine.

 

The components of this remedy are Echinacea Purpurea root, Chamomile flowers and Stinging Nettles leaves.   As with anything, some folks are allergic to these herbs and if you are, you will need to find something else.   When in doubt, ask your doctor.  Echinacea and Chamomile are both part of the Asteraceae family.   If you are allergic to Asteraceae, don’t use this.

You will need a ¼ cup of each herb for my DIY Herbal Acne Remedy.

Here is my video on how to make this DIY Herbal Acne Remedy:

Directions

Take the Echinacea root and add it to a pot with 1 ½ cups of water.    Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

After the 30 Minutes, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the Chamomile and Stinging Nettles.

Cover and let the mixture infuse for at least 4 hours, over night preferred.
The next morning, strain your Herbal Acne Remedy into a bowl, retaining the liquid.  I like to use a cheese cloth or jelly bag.    Then, squeeze every drop of your Acne Remedy out .

Compost the herbs and give thanks for their contribution to your herbal healing.

Now, the liquid will last up to 3 days.   You should have around a cup of liquid.   What I recommend is taking an Ice Cube tray and filling the tray half full with the Acne Remedy.   After freezing, remove the ice cube from the tray and store in a ziplock in your freezer.  Defrost one every three days, and you will be good to go for a longer period of time.

I recommend using this herbal medicine for acne by using it topically, as you would a toner.   Use a cotton ball and wet it with your homemade herbal acne medicine and put it on the infected area.   You can also mix it with some clay powder to make an herbal acne mask.  Please refer to my video for details.

I wish you the greatest success with this DIY herbal acne remedy.  Please take the time to teach these herbalism skills to your children and friends.  Sharing is caring.   Help and teach others how to heal themselves. 

New York Style Pizza

New York Style Pizza

It is no secret that New York style pizza is the most loved pizza in the world!  I have had lots of questions about pizza making from those wanting to learn how to make it in their own homes.   I have decided to write this post to share my New York Style Pizza making secrets with you and give you some tips to help you make the best pizza you ever had. 

Being a New Yorker, I always took pizza for granted.  Jersey and Connecticut also had great pizza, but it wasn't until I left the tri-state area for vacations and other trips did I realize how different pizza was in other areas.

In fact, once I was away on a business trip in Missouri and some of the folks that I met up with were raving about a great pizzeria a town away that had this amazing New York style pizza.   I was doubtful, but went along with the group and traveled on a lunch break to the restaurant. Sure enough, there were signs all over stating that the specialty of the pizzeria was Authentic New York Style Pizza.  So, we ordered a few pies and grabbed a table.

In NY, most pizzerias use Baker's Pride ovens that are lined with bricks on the floor of the oven.

New York Style Pizza Oven

The oven in the Missouri Pizzeria was a really nice looking brick oven pizza with a fire in it.   I was like wow, I am going to be in for a treat.   But after what would seem to be an eternity to wait, we finally got our alleged New York Style Pizza pies.   I have to tell you that it was some of the worst pizza I ever had, yet the people I was with thought it was amazing.   The people I was with came from Missouri, Texas, Florida and Alabama.   I was the only actual New Yorker in the crew, so I guess they didn't have much to compare it to.

When I got back to New York, I talked my friend Johnny, who owned a pizzeria.   We were discussing pizza and what people are calling New York Style pizza in other states.  He told me that he believed it was the water in the NY Tri-State area that makes pizza much better here.  I was not quite convinced, though.

As an experiment, I tried to make a New York Style pizza using bottled spring water.   The pizza came out just fine, so it would only make sense that if the water wasn't good where you are, you can make pizza with spring water in the dough.   Logic would have it then that you can make New York style pizza anywhere.

I decided to help folks make authentic New York style pizza in their own homes.  I have made videos on how to make grandma pizza with my no knead dough, but when people think about pizza, they think about the standard Neapolitan round pizza.   For a round thin crust New York Style Pizza, I would recommend not using the no knead dough as it is too soft and will not stretch out easily.  Instead, use this NY Pizza Dough.

Once you have the correct dough and quality ingredients, you are off to a good start.   But, the one problem you face is that you don't have that Baker's Pride oven in your house!   That oven gets really hot, much hotter than a standard consumer oven that someone would have in their house.  So, how do we get around this issue and still have excellent results for our New York Style pizza?

The first thing you need is a bread stone.   Here are a few bread stones that I really like:

The reason I like those particular stones is that they are thicker than some of the other stones out there and hold the heat better. 

Another thing I would recommend getting is some pizza pans with hole in them, or pizza screens.  These are the ones that I recommend:

The reason for the holes is so that air and heat can get to the underside of the pizza and crisp up the crust on the bottom.   Sure, you can put the New York Style pizza directly on the stone, and that would work fine.   To do that, you would need a Pizza Peel.


But, using a screen or pan with holes will make your life much easier.   And yes, many NY Pizzerias use the screens, too.  I have seen people in pizzerias assemble the pizza on the screen and put the screen in the oven.   After the pizza is about half way cooked, they sometimes choose to remove the screen and place the pizza directly on the stone.   You can do that, too, although it is not necessary to make New York Style Pizza.

To see my New York Style Pizza secrets in action, watch this video:


The secret to making this New York Style Pizza in your oven at home is to get the stone hot enough.   That is where people mess up.   The Baker's Pride oven gets much hotter than your oven will bake.   How do we achieve that high temperature in your home oven?  By putting the stone on a high rack and pre-heating it with the broiler.   That will get your stone really hot, definitely higher than the 500 degrees that is probably your maximum baking temperature.

After pre-heating your stone with the broiler, shut off the broiler and switch over to baking at 450 degrees.   The stone will retain the heat at above 500, toasting the bottom of the pizza.  The pizza will have a nice crispy crust on the bottom, not soggy.  But it will not be like a cracker, either.

Another question I get asked a lot  is what kind of flour to use.   Simple All Purpose Flour!   Most of the pizzerias in New York get Pilsbury's Best All Purpose Flour.   Not bread flour, not cake flour.  Now, since I like to cook with organic ingredients, I get organic all purpose white flour when I can.  I have used standard white flour with great results, too.

Sauce is another place people go wrong.   Most of the time, the put too much.   Moisture is not a good thing when it comes to making pizza, so too much sauce can make a soggy pie.   People also put too much oregano or other spices in the sauce, too! 

Try this:  Get yourself a can of organic diced tomatoes and drain them in a colander to remove excess fluid.  Instead of sauce, put the tomatoes on the pizza. You don't have to cook them first, trust me!  Add some chopped garlic and fresh basil and you will have the best pizza you ever had.   Sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano cheese and some Mozzarella and forget about it!  You get the idea.

I hope that the tips that I presented here help you get awesome results making New York Style Pizza in your home, regardless of where you live.    If you watch the video and do what I did with quality ingredients, you will have great results, too!

Italian Monkey Bread - Delicious Olive Oil Rolls

Italian Monkey Bread

I know what you are saying... There is no such thing as a monkey from Italy.   Well, that may be true, but this bread will make you swing from the vines.   It is truly amazing.   

This bread was inspired by a man I saw on the subway in NYC.   He was playing an Accordion and had a monkey collecting tips.    Only in New York City!   I think it was the 1 Train, between 34th st. and 50th st. stations.  This bread is dedicated to that man and his monkey.

So first you will need to make some of the no knead dough.   This no knead dough is so great!  You don't need anything but a spoon and a container with a cover.

Sicilian Prince's Italian Monkey Bread

 
Ingredients

•    6 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
•    2 ½ cups warm water
•    2 Tbsp organic sugar
•    1/4 cup olive oil
•    1 Tbsp sea salt
•    1 packet of yeast
•    Extra Olive Oil and Sea Salt
 

Directions For Dough

Put all of the ingredients except the extra Olive Oil and Sea salt into the container and stir. ( Yes it is that easy )


Leave the container out for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, put it in the refrigerator overnight or longer (up to 2 weeks)

This is what the no knead dough looks like after 24 hrs

This is what the no knead dough looks like after 24 hrs

Here is the video to make Italian Monkey Bread:

 

Directions for Monkey Bread

Pour some olive oil into a baking dish.
Make some small balls of dough about 1 inch in diameter and place them in the dish on the olive oil.  Make them fit next to each other, so that when they rise, they will squish into each other .
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 2 to 3 hrs at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

After monkey bread has risen, remove plastic wrap and brush olive oil on top of the monkey bread.   Then, grind a little sea salt on top of the bread.   As an option, garlic powder sprinkled is always a good option.

Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes.

When you take it out of the over, immediately brush the tops of the bread with olive oil, again.

Let the bread cool and enjoy...

By the way, this is not a low carb food!  It is definitely not on the Paleo Diet.

It is very yummy, and I am not responsible for breaking your diet.

That is my Italian Monkey Bread.   I sure hope you enjoy making this amazing Italian Recipe.

New Winemaking Website

How To Make Homemade Wine

Hello and Happy New Year!   First off, I would like to thank all of my readers of my blog and viewers of my YouTube Channel.  I have received a lot of positive feedback and appreciation from so many of you for the information that I share, and it brings me so much happiness to be of help for you.

Announcing New Website On Winemaking!

I have been doing a lot of wine making at home lately.   In fact, right now, I have three wine kits going thru Primary Fermentation right now, a Chocolate Raspberry Port Wine carboy in clearing, a Merlot carboy bulk aging, and my homegrown Marquette wine in secondary.   Wow!  A whole lot of fermenterainment!

I wanted to bring you some exciting news today.   I created a new blog just for wine making, called http://howtomakehomemadewine.biz .   I had to get the .biz extension, as .com was already taken...  Oh, well...  I guess someday I may have my open winery someday.... 

My plans for this new website, in combination with my YouTube channel, is to make a Living Online Multi-Media book on making homemade wine in a variety of ways.  I am so excited to bring this to you and think that it will be a valuable resource to anyone who may want to get started in this rewarding hobby.  

On How To Make Homemade Wine, I will be covering all aspects of wine making, including:

• Winemaking Kits
• Winemaking from Frozen Pails
• Winemaking from Fresh Fruit
• Winemakng from Whatever I Can Think Of!

How cool is that!  The best part of this is that YOU get to be part of it.   You can ask questions about winemaking.  If I can answer your wine making questions, it will.

So, this is just one way you can use my new site:

Let's say that you want to make wine, and saw a Vino Italiano Borolo Wine kit for sale.   You think that you may want to try to make it, but you never made wine before.  You come to my website, How To Make Homemade Wine, and see exactly what is involved, step by step, by reading my reviews and instructions, and actually seeing me make the same wine you want to make with the embedded YouTube videos from my YouTube channel.   You will also see all of my tweaks on how to make that wine kit the best it can be!

You will then be equipped with all the information you need to make wine at home from that kit.   But, it doesn't stop there.   You can ask questions, too.  It is kind of like having a free wine making course online. 

Why am I doing this? Because it is fun!  Wine making is a fun hobby!   I am making the website I wish I had when I first started making wine at home.

So, I hope you are as excited about this as I am, and I hope you visit my new site.   I will still be posting some winemaking articles here, too, but the in depth stuff will be on  How To Make Homemade Wine.

Soon, you will be raising a glass with friends and everyone will be amazed that you crafted this wine!   Cheers.

 

Christmas Food Ideas - Traditional Italian Christmas Dinner

Hello Everyone,

First off, I want that thank all of my readers for stopping by and want to wish you and your families a very happy holiday season!  For all Italians, especially Sicilians, Christmas is family time, where we get together and share good food, wine and family togetherness. Food, of course, brings us together, and I wanted to share some Christmas Food Ideas with you, for your Traditional Italian Christmas Dinner.  

What says Christmas like a family gathering with all you your most loved people, with excellent Christmas Food and Wine!   Of course, like most Italian family gatherings, it will be loud, there will be some arguing, yelling, mis-understandings, and the televisions will be blaring in every single room, but hey, that is what Italian's do during the holidays!  Thank God for Wine!



Strufoli - A Festive Christmas Food Idea



Italian Rice Balls Strufoli - Traditional Christmas Food Idea



Eggplant Parm is a great Vegetarian Christmas Food Idea 

So, let's start off with the bread.    This is something you want to start at least two days before, and it is easy if you use the No Knead Method.    So, here is my No Knead Bread recipe, as the first of my Christmas Food Ideas.  This is really easy to make, so definitely give it a try.    The great thing is that you can make the dough a head of time, and make it fresh for your Christmas Dinner!  Another kind of Italian bread is the Ciabatta. There is no better Christmas Food Idea than fresh baked bread!   Brush some of it with egg whites and sprinkle with sesame seeds before baking!

The next of my Christmas Food Ideas is a Traditional Italian Appetizer, called an Antipasto Platter. My article of how to make an Antipasto Platter will show you how you can easily make your own and impress your family and friends.  A nice glass of wine is an excellent accompaniment to this delicious appetizer. 

The soups I am suggesting for my Christmas Food Ideas are Pasta Fagioli and Grandma's Chicken Soup.  We love soup during the winter months....

Italians usually have multiple things for dinners at family gatherings, Christmas and Easter are usually two of the biggest.  So, I will suggest a few Christmas Food Ideas for dinner options.   Usually several are made.

Turkey Meatballs
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Cutlet Parmesan
Turkey Lasagna
Eggplant Parmesan
Chicken Marsala
Manicotti


For my side dish Christmas Food Ideas are:

Rice Balls
Shrimp Scampi
Stuffed Mushrooms

Don't forget a nice Romaine Salad, with lettuce and tomatoes. The Red and Green of this salad make it a perfect Christmas Food Idea.   Choose your favorite vinaigrette as a dressing.

And for Dessert if you can fit it!

Tiramisu
Italian Sesame Cookies
Strufolli

I hope these Christmas Food Ideas are helpful for you and your family to have a festive Holiday meal with your loved ones.  From my family to your's, I am wishing you the most happy and healthy family season.

Homemade Chicken Soup without the MSG - Works for Turkey Soup Too!

It is very easy to make Home Made Chicken Soup.

The past few years, we have been very into making soups.   Often times, you will find rotisserie chickens stores for very inexpensive.    BJs, Costco and others have these Chickens for $4.99 US.  You couldn't buy a chicken and make it yourself for that price.   So, I usually buy a couple of chickens already cooked and...

• Have a Chicken Meal
• Have left over Chicken for other meals
• And make Homemade Chicken Soup...

It is easy to do, and I will show you how!   My video on how to make chicken soup is here:



Ingredients

• Soup Greens from the Store,  cut up like I have it in the video
• Usually comes with Carrots, Celery, Onion, Parsnip, Turnip, Leek, Dill, Parsley, Thyme.
• Two Cooked Rotisserie Chickens from the store
• Minced Garlic
• Water
• Salt to taste

Directions

Debone the Chickens.  Put all of the bones and any skin you don't want into a pot.

Cover the bones in the pot with water, cover the pot with a lid and simmer for about two hours.

Chop up the veggies and herbs, and set them aside.

Cube some of the chicken for the soup.   Make the pieces the size you would like your soup.  You can see how I cut up mine my video, as well as how the veggies are cut up.

After the chicken soup has been simmering for a few hours, I transferred the chicken broth out by pouring into another container and straining out the bones and other parts with a colander .

Next, I let the broth sit a little while and let the fat rise to the top.   Using a ladle, I remove the fat.  You can see this in the video, too.    If I am making turkey soup, I let this sit over night in the refrigerator (after cooling of course) and the fat rises to the top.  

After removing the fat, I discard the bones, return the broth to the pot.

Then, I add the veggies and chicken and simmer for about an hour.    I may add some water, depending on how intense the flavor is of the broth.

Finally, I serve the soup, usually with some nice Italian bread and butter.

It takes a little time to make, but it sure is worth it.    I believe this to be far superior to any soup you can buy in the store.   If caning, I reserve the carrots for the jars.   They will cook in the jars, while pressure canning for an hour and a half...   They may get too mushy if you cook them in the soup for an hour and then pressure can them for an hour and a half...    Please refer to a good book on caning, so that you follow safe preserving practices.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and method on how to make your own homemade chicken soup, made without MSG.   That is something you can feel really good about, being able to serve your family soup you made yourself in a wholesome way that has no MSG.    

Homemade Cranberry Sauce - The World's Best Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Hello, Sicilian Prince here - 

I just needed to share this homemade cranberry sauce recipe, as it is one of the greatest I have ever tasted.  A few years ago, my wife and I were watching Ozzy Osbourne's reality show, and he had a Holiday special.   I don't remember who, but someone was making fresh cranberry sauce from scratch, and it looked really easy to do.   We love cranberry sauce, so we said that we just had to try to do that someday.

Fast forward a year or two, we are shopping in Whole Foods and see fresh organic cranberries on sale, and we looked at each other and said now we don't have an excuse not to try it.  But, we needed a recipe...  Where to get one...   So, we looked and looked..  Now, commercial cranberry sauce, most of them anyway, has high fructose corn syrup...  Something we actively try to ignore.   We decided to make ours with Organic Sugar.

 In asking round, we came across a recipe from someone's German Grandmother.   It looked good and sort of a starting place.   It also looked similar to what we saw on that Ozzy show.   But, we wanted this to be spectacular...

Shopping at Trader Joes, we found these:

Trader Joe's Orange Cranberries

Immediately, we knew that these would be awesome in the recipe.   So, we tried it.   Wow!   Totally blown away.  If you can get your hands on these, get them.

Technically, this easy cranberry sauce recipe is a cranberry relish, or cranberry conserve.   I really don't care about the technicalities.   What matters to me is this is one of our healthy easy recipes.   The ingredients are so good and wholesome.   Look up the health benefits of cranberries, you will see what I am talking about.

This Cranberry Orange Relish is one of the best recipes I have... If you don't try any other recipe, do try this one...

Here is my YouTube video for this Cranberry Sauce Recipe ( Note, I am more than quadrupling it... It is THAT GOOD!)

 

Ingredients

• 4 Cups Cranberries
• 1 tbsp Orange Zest
• 2 Oranges, peeled, pitted and quartered.
• 1 Cup Dried Orange Cranberries (Trader Joes) or Rasins
• 1 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Pecans
• 2 1/2 Cup Sugar

Directions

 In a pot put in everything but the sugar and pecans.    Stir occasionally while simmering on medium low heat ( Probably 15 to 20 minutes.) Do this until the cranberries are soft that the pot  is bubbling.

After the cranberries are soft, the pecans and stir them in well.

Next, add all of the sugar at one time!   Stir it in well and let the whole mixture melt, bubble and thicken.   About 10 or 15 minutes more.   Taste it and see if you want to add a little more sugar.   Depends on the tartness of the cranberries you are using.

If you are canning, do your canning now.   If not, transfer to a container and allow to cool before serving.   I like cranberry sauce cold, so I would refrigerate it before serving.

That was easy, wasn't it.    Now, I am not responsible for your addiction to this easy cranberry sauce or tears when there is no more left.   Although this is not an Italian recipe, I feel it is too good not to share with you.   As you can see in my video, I ended up with 25 Jelly Jars and 2 Pint jars....That is a lot of cranberry sauce!   I truly hope you try out this cranberry relish recipe.   

From my family to yours, I wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.   

- Sicilian Prince

Chicken Piccata Recipe - Lemon Chicken Recipe

I seem to really enjoy lemon this time of year.   This Italian chicken recipe, My Chicken Piccata Recipe, tastes very gourmet, yet is very easy to make.  I also have previously posted a recipe for Chicken Francese, another recipe that has lemon.   This Chicken Piccata Recipe is a little easier to make, but also very delicious.  That makes both of these Lemon Chicken recipes among my very most favorite Italian chicken recipes.

Chicken Piccata - Doesn't This Look Great!

Ingredients

• 1 lb Thin Sliced Chicken Cutlets
• Sea Salt
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Stick of butter
• 1/2 Cup premium quality extra-virgin olive oil, I use Colivita
• 4 Lemons
• 1 cup Chicken Broth
• 1/4 cup rinsed and drained Capers
• 1 Can of Artichoke Hearts, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Squeeze 3 of the lemons and set the juice aside.   Take the 4th lemon and cut into thin slices for garnish.
          
Reserve 2 Tbl of flour and set aside.

Put the remaining flour on a plate. Grind some fresh Sea Salt on the Flour and mix. 

Dredge the chicken cutlets in flour.

In a large skillet, melt some butter and add some olive oil. 

Fry the chicken in the butter and olive oil mixture, cooking both sides until browned. Cook all of your chicken this way.

Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside. Do NOT clean the pan
.
Add the flour to the chicken broth and mix it well, while the broth is cold.

Add the chicken broth (with the flour), lemon juice and capers to the skillet. Bring this gravy to gentle boil. Make sure you incorporate what was left in the skillet by scraping with your spatchula or spoon, for added flavor. Simmer for 5 minutes. 

Add the chicken and the artichoke hearts to the gravy in the pan and simmer for an additional 5 to 10 minutes minutes. 

Plate the chicken piccata and ladle some of the gravy with capers and artichoke hearts over the chicken piccata. 

Garnish the Chicken Piccata with the lemon slices and parsley.   Serve with a side of pene.

I hope you enjoy this awesome and easy to make Italian chicken recipe. Chicken Piccata just tastes amazing, and it very easy to make.   On a cold winter day, perhaps if you don't feel well, Chicken Piccata seems to make you feel better, like Grandma's Chicken Soup.   An easy variation for this Chicken Piccata Recipe is to omit the capers, since not everyone likes them.

Holiday Shopping for the New Wine Maker

Do you have a special person who would love to learn how to make wine at home?  Do they stare at their Wine Spectator magazine with visions of Chianti dancing in their head? With the holiday season quickly approaching, I thought it may be helpful for folks, who are interested in giving the gift of home wine making but don’t know where to start, some guidance.

First, while so many people would love to receive a gift like the ability to learn how to make homemade wine, it pays to do a little homework! You wouldn’t want to give the ability to make Alcohol to a person with dependency challenges.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Wine Kits

Wine making doesn’t have to be hard. While many are intimidated by the idea of stomping on grapes or growing / picking / buying fresh fruit, these days, there are other options that are much easier for the beginner. Wine Kits are a great option for someone just starting out, and many make excellent wines.   

Most of the things I will recommend here are available from your local Home brew shop. But, many don’t have a local home brew shop, so I am putting in links here where everything comes from Amazon.com. Amazon has a great selection, and often time has free shipping, which is a huge plus. If you are getting these things as gifts, you can even have Amazon ship the gift directly to the person you are giving it to, saving you time, money and lines at the post office…

There are lots and lots of options, so I would suggest doing a little snooping to find out a few things like:

     Does the person like Reds or Whites?

        What kinds? Do they like a Cab or Pinot Noir? Chardonnay or Riesling?

    Do they like Dry, Slightly off Dry, or Sweet Wines?

 After you do a little research, you next need to know this very important fact:

Wine Kits are like Cake Mixes! A Wine Kit is a Wine Ingredient Kit! Wine Kits don’t come with the equipment to make the wine (most of the time). Let us compare this to a box of Brownie Mix. The Brownie Mix doesn’t come with pans, mixers, spoons, bowls or the oven, right?

Most Wine Kits come with:

•     A Bag of Grape Juice Concentrate
•     Yeast
•     Packet of K-Meta ( to stop fermentation )
•     Packet of Bentonite
•     Packets for clearing (Most use Chitosan, a shell fish derivative )

And some come these things in addition:

•     Oak Chips – Oak Sawdust or both
•     Sorbate ( Used to prevent fermentation if back-sweetening wine )
•     Corks and Caps ( Only included in PakLab Kits, such as Vino Italiano )

That is it! You will most likely need to add water (unless you are doing a port). There is no equipment included here, except for the one thing I will recommend that comes with everything. More on that later….

Now you will need to add the wine making equipment to the equation. You don’t need a lot of equipment to make wine, but a few things are essential. The equipment is a buy once and use over and over investment.

For equipment, this is a basic starter kit:

　

But, I would recommend adding these things:

 

If you want a better equipment kit, I would recommend this:

 
 

Now that you have wine making equipment out of the way, you can look at the wine kits. Based off of your research, I would recommend getting the person the type of wine they like. If they like big red wines, get them a Cabernet Sauvignon, or Merlot. If Pinot Noir is their thing, go for it…. If they like white wines, go with their preference.

For starters, I would recommend these wine kits:

Lower Priced:

Medium Priced:

Premium Priced: 

This is something entirely new. Amazon now has a wine kit AND equipment kit all in one package! The kit comes with the basic equipment you need AND two wine kits!
 

 
This comes with a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay wine kit, each producing about 25 bottles of wine. For the price, it is very attractive. This it includes a food grade Plastic carboy, similar to the Better Bottle style carboy. While many folks prefer this style carboy, I still prefer the glass carboys. Sure Glass can break and is heavy, but I am old school that way. If you want Glass, then I would pass on this. Otherwise, it is an awesome deal.

What is nice about it is that it comes with everything but the bottles… It makes for a more complete gift. I would still order extra cleanser, K-Meta and Oak. And if you are following along with my videos, I would make these to 5 gallons each, instead of 6. Just like the Vino Italiano.

So, I hope this article was helpful for you to put a smile on a new winemaker’s face, when they find these things under the tree this year.