Zaatar Pizza (Manoush Zaatar)

Hello one and all!

I'm back with a very quick and easy pizza recipe and the dough used for this particular recipe is extremely versatile and can be used for almost anything!

I came across this 10 min. dough recipe a few years ago on an Arabic forum (can't remember the name for the life of me) and I found this amazing recipe! It comes in two parts and only takes 10 mins.

Part one:

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbs fast acting yeast

2 cups warm water

2 cups plain flour

Whisk to combine, cover with cling film and a tea towel and allow to sit for 10 mins.

Part two:

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cups plan flour

Mix in part two with part one, once the 10 mins. is over. At this point you can either use your hands to mix or use a mixer with the dough attachment to combine everything together.

You will find that the dough will keep rising and this recipe is good for at least 3 large pizzas.

For the Zaatar you can purchase the zaatar mix from a middle eastern grocer or dry your own oregano and add sesame seeds to it.

Zaatar mixture

In a bowl mix in 5 tbs of the zaatar mix with enough olive oil to cover the dry zaatar. Stir with a spoon.

Take a hand full of dough you like and press it down on a pizza tray or you can free handed-ly shape your dough. Spoon a few table spoons of the zaatar and oil mixture on to the dough and spread around to cover the surface. Place in the oven until golden*. Add a pinch of sumac on top of the pizza for added taste.

For a healthier option you can substitute plain flour for wholemeal flour, which is what I did!

*You may find that the zaatar has dried up you can simply add more mixture while its cooking to keep it moist.

Red hot steak

I sometimes feel as though a lot of the food that I put together isn't worth me uploading and are a bit embarrassingly simple. But if the title hasn't been taken yet, I'd like to dub myself the lazy home cook.

If there is an easy way out, I'm there, right at the front!

As most of you have realised I am still catering for the slow carb diet. But as I've mentioned before, a side of rice, pasta, or bread can be added to any of my dishes to cater to those lucky enough to be eating them :-D

Steak has been big in our diet since starting the slow carb regime. I don't think I've eaten this much steak in my life...not complaining, as there is so many things you can do with steak.

This recipe calls for 5 ingredients:

Steak (any cut and size)
2-4 tbs Tomato paste
A few dashes of Tabasco
2-3 tbsp Soy sauce
A good dash of garlic powder

Method:

1) Heat a big fry pan with oil, butter or ghee ( all are optional)
2) Rub each side of the steak with garlic powder and tomato paste
3) place into the fry pan and add soy sauce
4) Keep turning the steak until there is even caramelisation on either side of the steak.
5) Take off from the heat and allow to stand for 5-10 mins.

If you wanted to add the veggies just add them to the pan with all the steak juices and sauce add some Tabasco sauce and you've got yourself one hot steak with veg!

Face of the day

Today is a beautiful summer's day here in Oz and what better way to incorporate the sun and blue skies than to have a summery face to go with it.

There's just something about wearing barely there makeup during the summer season. It's light, simple and easy and  fool proof ;-p

Today I've gone for a powder foundation that is exactly my skin colour (as it should be). It gives good coverage without being too full on which defeats the purpose of summer/whimsical looks. I beautiful peach tone blush goes exceedingly well with Mediterranean skin tones (more yellowish undertones).

A coat or two of a mascara black or brown. And finish off a summer pinky-coral lip.

This to me defines summer.

Enjoy!

Christian dior
sephora.com

Mac cosmetic
$28 - debenhams.com