Varada's Kitchen and Garden

My daughter is home for the summer. I am back to trying new things in the kitchen as she is willing to try anything I make. Unfortunately, not much has made it to the blog. Clicking pictures and making time to post to the blog has been an issue for me for the past year. After making several attempts I am back with some simple recipes. My goal is to keep posting recipes on 3 days at least 2 weeks of the month with a group of blogger friends. Two weeks back I posted trail mix and this week it is pizza. Cheese pizza is an old favorite. This time I tried it with a new combination of cheese. This three cheese pizza brings together our new favorite goat cheese with mozzarella and cheddar. It is a very simple recipe and cooks in about 7 minutes on very high heat. You will need Pizza dough with my classic pizza recipe Pizza sauce Mozzarella, goat and cheddar cheese to taste Follow instructions on  my classic pizza recipe  for the pizza dough.  Prepare the pizza sauce using my pizza

Several months back we tried a new pizza place in town. We loved the toppings they used on their Mediterranean pizza and went back for more over the next few months. The last time we visited I noted down the toppings so I could try it at home. My goal was not to create a copy cat recipe but to use the same toppings with my classic sourdough pizza recipe. My family loves the taste of sourdough pizza and I am always looking for new ways to top it. A close up of the toppings. Chopping up the olives into small pieces instead of slices gives it a whole new flavor. Use fresh olives instead of the canned ones. Adding garlic to this mix enhances the flavor. This is our new favorite. During the week I fed the sourdough and mixed the pizza dough. By the time the weekend rolled around the dough was ready after a long rise in the refrigerator. We got fresh groceries from Whole Foods and were ready to go. I followed my classic recipe except for the addition of toppings. The end result wa

This was one of the trail mixes we took with us on our Alaska trip this summer. It was very handy when we went hiking. But it was also great after we went exploring around Anchorage downtown. I wanted to visit the Ulu knife factory about a mile away from our hotel and get an Alaskan Ulu knife for my kitchen. My experiments in the kitchen with that knife will be a separate post. My husband and daughter willingly walked through the light rain to get to the factory. It was a beautiful walk down the hillside, a river flowing at the foot of the hill and the factory close by. When we walked back to the hotel we enjoyed some hot chocolate/tea/coffee and this trail mix. I made the Raisin Chocolate chip granola mix to try the new hemp oatmeal granola I found in the bulk bin at Whole Foods. It has a very light texture and I thought it would taste great when paired with something sweet or tart. Dried cranberries were an option but since this was to be taken on a trip I could not have anythin

Hiking trails is something my family loves. When we visited Alaska this summer it was on the top of our list of things to do. Healthy snacks and water is always a part of a hikers day pack. Our pack was no different. Chocolate chip, Pistachios Granola was one of the mixes we took along. This mix was made to order for my daughter. The Granola is has a apple cinnamon flavor. The pistachios are roasted and unsalted. On the way to Alaska we had a stopover in Phoenix. Our flight was delayed and we were stuck at the airport worried we would miss our connection. This trail mix was a good distraction. Most of it never made it to Alaska. You could add other nuts or seeds to this mixture or add white chocolate chips. Make sure you use mini chocolate chips so they are the same size as the rest of the mix. My daughter loves malt balls in the mix but they are usually stocked in the low bins. We have seen kids reaching into the bins with their hands while their doting parents watch so we o

When I began planning our family vacation to Alaska, I knew I would not have to worry about food on the cruise. But then we decided to spend some time in mainland Alaska and visit Denali, the tallest peak in the US. Bars and granola went on the list of things to take along. My daughter is very picky about these so we decided we would pick up whatever we liked the day before we left. We made our way to the bulk bins in Whole Foods and put together ingredients for 3 trail mixes. This dates, nuts and seeds trail mix was the first. Sliced dates rolled in oatmeal flour, roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, roasted chopped almonds and pecans went into this mix. It was super tasty and made a great snack while we walked along the Nenana river near our lodge at Denali, outside the Denali National Park. Denali National park is a wilderness area with a lot of wildlife. We had planned on walking the trails and expected to carry something to munch every time we stopped to rest.