Well That's Different!

This morning I made hot barley cereal.  I can't imagine this is common but I love the chewy texture of barley and figured it would made a good breakfast so I cooked it in water until it was almost cooked then added almond milk.  I let it cool then added brown sugar and craisins.  I will definitely be doing this again but next time I might just add maple syrup instead of sugar and I'll probably just cook the barley in the rice cooker.  I also like to do oatmeal with almond milk, brown sugar, craisins and chia seeds.  I love eating hot cereals that I've just made but making them ahead of time and putting them in Tupperware so they are ready to go when I run out the door in the morning is also hugely convenient.

For lunch I made a pesto and onion tart.  I made pizza dough by combining 2 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp yeast, 3 Tbsp olive oil, and 1cup+1 Tbsp warm water.  I kneed the dough until it becomes sticky and stretchy then coat the bowl with olive oil and put in a mildly warm place covered with a kitchen towel for an hour or 2 until it doubles in size.  While I was waiting on the dough I made vegan pesto by pulsing 1/3 cup walnuts and 2 cups fresh basil in my mini food processor until it was chopped up.  I then added a tsp each of salt, garlic powder, and onion powder and pulsed again until smooth.  Then I slowly poured in 1/2 cup of olive oil while the food processor was on.  At the end I added a bit more salt but just do it to your own tastes.  I let the pesto sit while I attended to the dough.  I always break it in half because that's quite a bit of dough to handle and then slowly I let gravity help me to stretch it.  The technique was a bit hard for me to get at first but basically you just want it to stretch out while trying not to compress out all the wonderful air that makes the dough fluffy.  Its kind of like how if you hold silly putty up it will stretch out, same thing here.  Just hold it up until it stretches a bit and then rotate your hands to keep letting it stretch out.  It doesn't need to be too thin but keep in mind that it will fluff up. I get holes sometimes and I just push them back together.  Once it is stretched place it in an oiled 9x13 inch glass dish. Do the same with the other half and let them rise for another 30 minutes.  Glass rather than a cookie sheet gives it an amazing, delicate crunch to the crust and it cooks more evenly.  While its it rising I browned some thinly sliced onions.  One the dough had risen I brushed it liberally with the pesto and spread the browned onions on top and put it in the oven at 500 degrees for 12 minutes. I let it cool before I cut it so it doesn't fall apart.  It always blows my mind how much flavor such pure food can have. And the best part is there's plenty to take to my excruciatingly long ass day at clinicals tomorrow.