"jennifer iserloh" news and stories

Pizza dough is a staple in my freezer. I entertain often and while most store-bought versions are good, I'm hooked on the taste of this homemade recipe. I've tested so many different pizza recipes and this one is a combination of my favorites. For me, a great pizza has a crispy outer crust with a soft-textured dough on the inside, baked perfectly in a preheated oven.

For cocktail parties, mini homemade pizzas are easy to make and are elegant enough for our buffet table. I make two to three batches of the whole-wheat dough recipe, depending on the number of guests. Divide your choice of ingredient among individual rounds and use your creativity to top this tasty crust. If you are using meats, seafood or dense vegetables, precook them before topping your pizza.

Making holiday cookies is a serious family tradition for me, a tradition that goes well beyond just Christmas cookies. Perhaps it's a Pittsburgh thing, but I can't remember a single wedding, reunion, graduation, or football game that didn't have mounds of homemade cookies.

Now that December is here, I'm already into serious cookie-cranking mode. When I was growing up, my Granny and I used to start baking almost three weeks before Christmas. Lemon cream sandwiches, ceci cookies, lady fingers, toffee bars, dark chocolate with white chocolate chips and pfefferrnüsse -- the list was huge and we used to rotate our annual selections depending on Granny's mood, preparing 15 to 16 different types to outfit large cookie trays and send care packages to the neighbors.

Since there was no possible way to get it all done, even in a week, Granny had a foolproof storage system that she used each and every year, starting with battered cookie tins that she had collected over the years.

Dessert rolls, also called "Swiss rolls," are cakes or pastries of yeast bread with one or more fillings, either poppy seed or fruit. While still delicious and satisfying, these desserts rely more on texture, flavors and aromas rather than on high amounts of fat and sugar.

My Hungarian family serves this dessert at every winter and spring holiday, but my neighbors in Hoboken, N.J., claim that it's originally from medieval Slovenia since their relatives passed down a recipe from that origin to them.

Beigli is the Hungarian version of the dessert roll I grew up with, and we make it with ground walnuts and fragrant cinnamon or with dark, luscious poppy seeds boiled with spices and sugar to form a thick, sweet, spreadable paste. The filling is lower in calories and fat than chocolate spreads and doesn't contain preservatives. It has only 60 calories for one tablespoon and 1 1/2 grams of fat, but still has a rich, satisfying taste.

Making healthy tweaks to your fridge and pantry doesn't have to come at the cost of taste. If you're a pasta fiend, try twirling your spaghetti while getting some whole-grain advantages.

Here's a shopping guide for whole-grain pastas, organized by grain, and the classic sauces and toppings that suit them best. So opt for a warm pasta dinner -- an al dente delight that keeps family and friends coming back for more while filling them with healthful benefits.

I love savory hot foods and miso soup is the perfect rainy day dish to fill the tummy and help you shake off the chill. Even if you aren't in the mood for visiting your local sushi bar, you can still make miso at home.

Miso soup is one of those mysterious dishes that might look hard to prepare, but in fact is the easiest thing in the world -- and it just happens to be low in fat and calories. You can find the paste in your local health-food store and as long as you store it in an airtight zipper-lock bag, it will store well for months in the meat drawer of your fridge.

The only downside to miso is the sodium content. Health professionals say to stay under 2,300 milligrams of salt a day, that's 1 teaspoon. In most packaged miso pastes, one tablespoon can contain up to 750 milligrams alone. So, look for the reduced-sodium or light version that still has the rich flavor with a lot less salt. Get my recipe for spicy miso soup after the jump.