Who needs delivery? Quick & Easy Pizza at Home

Inspired by the current incredible deal on a Personalized Bamboo Pizza Board (makes a great gift now just $30) currently available on Lybations.com, we thought we'd share our favorite quick & easy pizza dough recipe you can make anytime. 

What you need:

• 1 package active dry yeast (.25 ounce)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 to 2 2/3 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (EVOO)

Directions:
Combine yeast packet and warm water in a bowl. Let it activate and set for 5-10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Let it rest in the bowl for 10-15 minutes and then knead out on a floured surface until smooth and elastic without clumps. Roll out onto well-floured flat surface and with more olive oil, coat the edges for a crispy crust. Add sauce, cheese and anything combination of ingredients you choose. We love a good Greek with spinach, feta, pine nuts and sun-dried tomatoes. 

Happy Margarita Day!

What you will need for this Watermelon Margarita:

• 3 oz quality tequila blanco
• 2 oz St Germain
• 2 oz watermelon juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• chipotle salt for rim (see our chipotle salt post for recipe)
• basil leaf for garnish 

Cut up some seedless watermelon. Liquefy in a blender until you have about 16 oz (for multiple cocktails). Add the watermelon juice and remaining ingredients over ice and shake in a cocktail shaker. Taste and add simple syrup if watermelon is not sweet enough. Serve in a bucket or margarita glass with a chipotle salted rim. Garnish with a slice of watermelon and basil leaf. Cheers!

Culinary Vixen's Sun-dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Ball

I was asked to be a judge for the Cheese and Champagne blog's Cheese Ball Invitational competition recently.  It was a pleasure to look over all the recipes and help to decide the winners.

It also inspired me to create my own cheese ball recipe. Just in time for the big game this weekend. This recipe is based on a dip I have been making since the 1980's and the ingredients certainly show it! Classic combination.

Ingredients: 

• 1 11-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet)
• 1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled
• 1/4 cup (about) sour cream
• Cracked Black Pepper
• 2/3 cup pine nuts
• 2 French bread baguettes, sliced 

What to do:

Combine the goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes & thyme in a bowl. Use a fork to break up the cheese, add enough sour cream to make a creamy texture, but keep the texture firm. Add a grind or two of black pepper. Taste and add more thyme, salt or pepper if needed to balance the flavor. Refrigerate the cheese mixture for one hour. 

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast them lightly. Let them cool. Lay them out on a plate. Using plastic wrap or waxed paper to cover your hands, create a ball with the cheese dip mixture. Roll the cheese ball into the pine nuts to coat completely.

Serve with the sliced baguettes.

Article written by contributing editor Vickie McCorkendale

Salt air meets a margarita

Want salt with your margie, but just a lot less of it? Salt does great things to tequila and lime, but in small doses. Too often that gritty, too salty sensation is overkill. Now, we've got it covered. With foam. The Lybations margarita comes with a cloud of lightly salted foam on top. No grit. No overkill. Just the right balance of the sweet, sour, and salty. The secret? Egg whites? A cappuccino foamer? Nope, we've made it much easier than all that.

Salt Air Foam:

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon soy lecithin (available at any vitamin store)

Preparation:

Combine ingredients. Tilt the bowl away from you and blend with hand-held blender held away from you. When there's an inch or so of foam on top, it's ready to use. Skim off foam onto margarita. When you've used it all up, repeat the process. Juice mixture can be refrigerated for several days, so it's great for multiple uses.

deck the holiday sangria

This is a great drink to pre-mix before a holiday get together. You can make it up to a day in advance, but if you need to make it the same day let it chill for at least 4 hours prior to serving.

• simple syrup (made with 1 cup sugar & 1 cup water cooked until completely dissolved & slightly reduced)
• orange peel from 1 orange
• juice from 1 orange 
• 2 cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1) Make simple syrup. 2) Add remaing ingredients above. 3) Bring to a slight boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. 4) Remove the orange peel, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. 5) Add a bottle of red wine (fruity Pinot Noir or Merlot). 6) Mix thoroughly and add to a pitcher with chopped pears and apples and whole blackberries. 7) Cover to chill (minimum 4 hours, up to 1 day prior). Cheers!