Stuffed pizza

This is one that I made a very long time ago and somehow didn't make again.  So when we had an extra pizza dough from an emergency "we need pizza dough so let's buy it from the grocery store," I decided it was high time we made it again.  I also got the incredibly brilliant idea to cook it in a cast iron skillet rather than any of my more typical pizza making methods.

Of course, "hit" was written all over this one.  It was fairly easy to make (though the steaming and the sauteeing does create more dishes than such an easy dish would suggest), it's loaded with veggies, and it's quite tasty.
It looks like I've made this twice before, once with roasted red peppers and once with tomatoes.  This time, I had no roasted peppers in the house and an abundance of tomatoes about to go bad, so the choice was easy.  I think this is probably my preferred version any way.

  

Stuffed Pizza Source:  Picky Palate, via Lauren's Kitchen

16 oz whole wheat or white pizza dough
1 Cup ricotta cheese
¼ Cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 Cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
2 Cups fresh broccoli florets, steamed until fork tender, about 3 minutes in boiling water
Pinch of salt
½ Cup Roasted red bell peppers, from can or fresh
1 ½ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Spread and press one piece of dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-9 ½ inch round cake or tart pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (I used a 9 ½ inch deep quiche pan with a removable bottom that worked perfectly) In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta and parmesan cheese until well combined. Spread into pressed pizza dough.
2. Place olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute spinach until wilted down, about 3 minutes. Place evenly over ricotta cheese layer. Place steamed broccoli florets over spinach and season with a pinch or two of kosher salt. Layer roasted red peppers, then mozzarella cheese over top. Press out remaining piece of dough and place over filling, tucking edges inside of pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cooked through.
3. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan or cutting into wedges.
8 slices

Mexican Pizza

When I told my husband we were having pizza for dinner, he told me to make sure I got spaghetti sauce and mozzarella when I went to the store.  Funny enough, I didn't need either for this version of pizza (well, I needed mozzarella, but I had a package in the fridge).

This was so incredibly tasty, and was a great end to a week chock full of delicious homemade meals.  My pizza turned out really ugly because, for some reason, we tend to have problems getting our pizza from the pizza peel to the pizza stone.  It didn't at all take away from the yum that was this pizza.

Make this for your next pizza night.  Dooooo it!!

Mexican Pizza Source:  Stephanie Cooks
Ingredients:
1 batch pizza dough
1 tsp. olive oil
1 bell pepper, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
3 ounces chicken
1/2 tsp. taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to as hot as it will go with your pizza stone in the oven.
2- Prepare your dough, rolling it out on a surface coated in corn meal or parchment paper.
3- Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet.  Add garlic and peppers, cooking until soft.
4- Rub the chicken breast with taco seasoning; dice the chicken. Add to the skillet, cooking until cooked through.
5-Add the salsa to the skillet, stirring well. Stir over medium heat for a couple minutes to warm through.
6- Top the pizza with the salsa mixture. Top with both cheesees. Bake 7-10 minutes on the pizza stone or until cheese is melted.
7- Serve hot.

Margherita Pizza

When it comes to a quick and easy dinner, pizza using pre-made dough is tops.  So, when looking through my blog for a quick dinner, this recipe came to mind, and since the pictures have disappeared, all the reasons came into place.

This is a delicious dinner.  It came together so quickly and inexpensively, it's perfect for crazy weeknight dinners. 

Margherita Pizza Source:  All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, p 302

1 (10 oz) can refrigerated pizza crust dough (or homemade will work too!)
Cooking spray
1t extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
5 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 t balsamic or red wine vinegar
1/2 c thinly sliced fresh basil


1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; pat into a 13x11 inch rectangle. Bake for 8 min. Remove crust from oven; brush with 1/2t oil. 
Rub crust with cut side of garlic (I use the jarred chopped garlic, so just sprinkled it all over; we love garlic).
3. Arrange tomato slices on crust, leaving a 1/2 border, sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake for 12 min or until cheese melts and crust is golden.
4. Combine 1/2t oil and vinegar, stirring with a whisk. Sprinkle pizza evenly with slice basil, salt, and pepper. Drizzle vinegar mixture evenly over pizza.
Cut into 8 rectangles.

Bruschetta Grilled Pizza

If you're one of the two people who reads this thing, you know how much I love mozzarella, tomato, and basil, and you also know that I've been playing around a lot with homemade pizza. When I saw that Stephanie Cooks had recreated Bruschetta Pizza from her favorite pizza place, I knew I'd have to try it too. I also decided that it should be done on the grill.

I'm not the best at reading for comprehension, I guess, and so added the pesto in with the tomato marinade. I'm not sure if it impacted the flavor or not, because it was still awesome, but it did save me a step--speed is imperative when making your pizza on the grill. Here's a refresher on how I make grilled pizza, and I used Perfect Pizza Dough from Annie's Eats, this time adding Italian seasoning and garlic powder to the dough.

As for the boys... Baby E devoured his. Like, shoving way too big pieces in a full mouth devoured. A took a teensy tiny bite and asked for something else (I'm sensing a trend, perhaps a power struggle round here?), and M liked it, but thought the red wine vinegar was a little too strong (I understood what he meant after a few bites when my tongue started tingling from the tang... I may have gone a little heavy handed with it, since I was at the very end of the bottle).

As for me, I loved this. It was one of those, "I'm not hungry anymore, but I can't stop eating this" kind of yummies. So I encourage you to give Stephanie's recipe a try!!

Bruschetta Pizza, very slightly adapted from Stephanie Cooks
Ingredients:
1 batch of pizza dough
1/4 cup pesto sauce
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tbsp. chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1- In a small bowl combine the tomatoes, red onion, garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Set the bowl in the fridge and allow it to marinade for at least an hour.
2- Preheat the grill on medium.
3- Stretch your dough into round or rectangle shapes; I used 1/4 of my dough for each pie. Brush one side with olive oil. Drain the bruschetta mixture of all oils and other juices. Take the dough, marinated bruschetta, and shredded cheese out to the grill. Lower the grill to low. Place each dough on the grill, oiled side down. Oil the other side of the dough. Cook until it starts to bubble (like ready to flip pancake). Flip each dough and MOVING VERY QUICKLY, top with bruschetta mixture and cheese (at this point, the cheese was having a hard time melting, so I turned the grill temp up to medium again. Just keep an eye on it). Cook until the cheese is melty and the bottom is cooked through.

Salami-Mozzarella Calzone

My husband likes to flip through Food Network Magazine when it arrives.  He will sometimes mark things that he requests for dinner, or he'll mark things he'd like to make himself.  This month's issue was no exception, and he chose this calzone as his birthday dinner, though due to the meat, it couldn't actually be the dinner ON his birthday.

So, making a calzone, I knew it wouldn't be the world's most healthful meal.  But, as I was eating it, I just couldn't get past how very much SALT was in it (pickled vegetables, plus salami, plus all that cheese!) and, as a huge fast food fan, I can usually get past that, but this wasn't even good to make it worth it.

It's a really good, basic calzone recipe.  It turned out very pretty, but this combination of flavors "was a no for me," in the words of Florian Bellanger.

Salami-Mozzarella Calzone from Food Network Magazine May 2011
Also found here

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/4 pound shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
• 1 13.8-ounce tube refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/4 pound deli-sliced salami, cut into thin strips
• 1 1/2 cups giardiniera (pickled mixed vegetables), drained
• 1/4 pound sliced provolone cheese

Directions

Place a baking sheet upside down in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Beat the eggs, parsley and lemon zest in a small bowl. Pour half of the egg mixture into a medium bowl and stir in the mozzarella. Reserve the remaining egg mixture for brushing on the crust.
Turn another baking sheet upside down; line with parchment paper and brush with olive oil. Unroll the dough on the parchment paper and pat into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. Spread the mozzarella mixture over one half of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border along the edge. Top with the salami, followed by the pickled vegetables and provolone. Fold the other half of the dough over to cover the filling. Crimp and roll the edges to seal, then pierce the top of the dough in a few places with a knife.
Slide the calzone with the parchment paper onto the hot baking sheet; bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with the remaining egg mixture, then continue to bake until the crust is golden, 5 to 10 more minutes. Let rest 5 minutes, then cut into wedges.

Malaysian Chicken Pizza

I'm continuing to participate in a recipe exchange.  This time around, the category was Asian.  I received Malaysian Chicken Pizza, which came from Cooking Light magazine originally.  Asian?  Yum.  Pizza?  Yum.  Put em together and what have you got?  Yummity yummity yum!

First thing to say is that the flavor is delicious. That said, I had a ton of problems making this one.  First, rice vinegar.  I had some, but didn't have quite enough.  I meant to go to the store, but it just didn't happen in time, so I used about 1/2c rice vinegar and about 1/4c white wine vinegar.  Next, I don't think I simmered the sauce long enough; it was probably way too liquidy, and as a result the dough sank over the edge of my pizza peel, making a big mess and losing some of the toppings.  The liquidy, um, ness, made the dough stick to the peel as well.  It made a huge mess trying to get it off the peel and then made a huge BURNED mess on the pizza stone and oven.  Ugh.  I highly recommend that if you choose to make this, use a prebaked pizza crust, like a Boboli.

We enjoyed this nonetheless, but M commented that, "although this one is very good, of all the fancy pizzas you make, my favorite is the BBQ pizza."

Malaysian Chicken Pizza

From Cooking Light MagazineIngredients

·         3/4  cup  rice vinegar

·         1/4  cup  firmly packed brown sugar

·         1/4  cup  low-sodium soy sauce

·         3  tablespoons  water

·         1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger

·         2  tablespoons  chunky peanut butter

·         1/2  to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

·         4  garlic cloves, minced

·         Cooking spray

·         1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

·         1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

·         1/4  cup  (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·         1  (12-inch) Basic Pizza Crust

·         1/4  cup  chopped green onions

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Heat a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add chicken, and sauté 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (Mixture will be consistency of thick syrup.)

Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500° for 12 minutes on bottom rack in oven. Sprinkle with green onions. Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes.

Stuffed Pizza

It's no secret that I love pizza, and that I've become fond of cooking it at home.  Although it seems that this pizza is bad for you, and of course it is, with so much dough to it, it's at least a little bit better for you with the addition of so many veggies.

I've made this once before, following Lauren's suggestion to use tomatoes, and this time, I made it with roasted red peppers instead.  I'm generally not a roasted red pepper fan, though they are slowly growing on me and I'm starting to enjoy them in certain combinations.


This came out very good; everyone enjoyed it, including my 10 month old son. I served it with marinara sauce on the side so it was actually very similar to a calzone. 

This was a really tasty meal, somewhere in between healthful and not so healthful, but something we'll be making again!

Ricotta Stuffed Spinach and Broccoli Pizza Pie

Picky Palate, via Lauren's Kitchen

16 oz whole wheat or white pizza dough
1 Cup ricotta cheese
¼ Cup grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 Cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
2 Cups fresh broccoli florets, steamed until fork tender, about 3 minutes in boiling water
Pinch of salt
½ Cup Roasted red bell peppers, from can or fresh
1 ½ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Spread and press one piece of dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-9 ½ inch round cake or tart pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (I used a 9 ½ inch deep quiche pan with a removable bottom that worked perfectly) In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta and parmesan cheese until well combined. Spread into pressed pizza dough.
2. Place olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute spinach until wilted down, about 3 minutes. Place evenly over ricotta cheese layer. Place steamed broccoli florets over spinach and season with a pinch or two of kosher salt. Layer roasted red peppers, then mozzarella cheese over top. Press out remaining piece of dough and place over filling, tucking edges inside of pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cooked through.
3. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan or cutting into wedges.
8 slices

Pizza Bagels

Before my husband and I started living together, I'd never had an English muffin pizza.  He, however had them often as a kid, and so this was something we had for dinners pretty frequently in those early days.  In a lot of ways, this reminded me of those.

A few weeks ago, Kelly at Running Mama Cooks posted a Weight Watchers style of chicken pizza using Pepperidge Farms' Bagel Flats.  Inspired, I went to the store to buy them; one store had only everything Bagel Flats and Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Flats.  I didn't think either of those would work.  I remembered I wanted to try them when I went to a different store; they only had plain.  I guess these things are really popular!  So, I picked up the plain.

As I said, I was inspired by Kelly, but I also went for something easy for lunch.  Plain bagel, homemade marinara sauce, topped by shredded mozzarella.  It was so good, but I also thought it would be delicious with a burger inside.

Today, I stepped it up a tiny bit and topped it with diced red pepper.  Again, really tasty, but also sort of...plain bagel.  I really want to try this again using those everything bagel flats!

My husband has eaten about half the package of Bagel Flats just as regular bagels.  He commented that he's been having them 2 at a time, but this is a huge step for him, since he typically eats two bagel shop bagels.

Chicago Style Pizza...?

A few weeks ago, I tried Annie's recipe for pizza dough, Perfect Pizza Crust.  I used half, and froze the rest.  The other night, I tried the frozen dough and wanted to try to do it Chicago style.  I found this recipe for Chicago style pizza dough, and followed it using the dough I already had.


I've been using a pizza stone for some time, and my pizza pan has been relegated to the drawer under the oven.  The benefit of making pizza in the pan rather than on the stone was that, even though the dough didn't stretch all the way to the edge of the pan, I was able to get it much more round than shaping it on the counter, which made a much prettier pie.

It didn't come out as deep dish, but I wonder what would've happened if I'd used the whole ball of dough instead of half.  At any rate, this was delicious again!

Pizza

I've been making my own pizza dough for a good while now.  First, I made it in the bread machine, but then something turned and I don't know if the machine broke or what, but it wasn't turning out right.  Then, I found a super fast dough that was great for me, intimidated by bread making.

But the time has come for me to look for something better.  Annie often posts about different breads and her post about "Perfect Pizza Crust" sparked my fancy.

Oh how glad I am to have tried this recipe.  First, I got to use the dough hook for my Kitchenaid for the very first time.  But the real reason is that this is awesome.  I was busy doing something with the baby, so BAJ was the one who took it out of the oven... a little too early probably, but this crust was so much like pizza crust.  It was soft and chewy on the inside but a little crispy on the outside. 

One note about this recipe is that it's very elasticy.  I couldn't get it to form a circle after rolling, it stuck to the pizza peel going into the oven, and then it puffed up a LOT.  So, not the prettiest pizza, but a tasty one.

Annie's right.  This is, indeed, perfect pizza crust!

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast

1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 ½ tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.  Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.  

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed.  Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms.  Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven.  Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal.  Top as desired.  Slide the dough onto the pizza stone.  Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.  Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

Source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from Baking Illustrated by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine

Chicken Ranch Pizza

I'm really happy with the version of pizza dough I make. But, we're starting to get bored with the traditional pizza and toppings. This summer, I've made pizza on the grill, BBQ chicken pizza, and now chicken ranch pizza. It's yet another recipe I've taken from the wonderful Annie's Eats. To be honest, I didn't quite make this. I did make the dough, but had to feed the babe, so M took over the preparation duties.

This came out quite tasty! Little Man (Formerly known as The Boy) wasn't a big fan, and barely touched his, but we liked it a lot! I think he rolled the crust a little bit too thin, perhaps because I only gave him half the dough to work with... I like my dough with a little doughiness to it, rather than cracker like.

So, yet another win for Annie's Eats!!

Chicken Ranch Pizza
Printer-Friendly Version

Ingredients:
½ batch of perfect pizza crust¼ cup Ranch dressing
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½-1 grilled chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tomato, seeded and diced
2-3 green onions, chopped
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat the oven and a pizza stone to 500° F. Allow the stone to heat for at least 30 minutes. In the mean time, cut a round of parchment paper the size of your pizza stone. (Alternatively, use a pizza peel.) Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal or semolina flour. Gently roll out the pizza dough into a large circle, leaving a thicker ring around the edge for the crust. Spread the Ranch dressing in a thin layer evenly over the unbaked crust. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Top with grilled chicken, tomato and green onions. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Once assembled, carefully transfer the parchment round and pizza to the preheated baking stone and return to the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This was first made in our house almost a year ago. I, however, not only didn't make it, but I also didn't even taste it. Newly pregnant, I was too tired to cook that day and the smell of the chicken turned my stomach. I finally got around to making it again, and it? Is awesome. This was fantastic and it will be going into our pizza rotation.

I used Bulls Eye Original BBQ sauce. I picked it because it had no HFCS, but the flavor is just awesome. It was perfect in this recipe.

Some alterations I would make to this is that, as written, it uses WAY too much BBQ sauce. I put 1c on the chicken as a marinade and a thin layer on the pizza itself. I should have just used the marinade and been done with it.

From $5 Dinners. Original recipe here.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup BBQ sauce
Homemade Pizza Crust (used our recipe, posted here)
1/2 large red onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 - 1 cup BBQ sauce

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dice chicken breasts and pour 1 cup of BBQ sauce over the pieces. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Saute chicken pieces in skillet over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes, or until chicken has cooked through.
2. Prepare homemade pizza dough.
3. Meanwhile, saute chopped red onions and garlic in 1 tsp olive oil for 4-5 minutes, or until onions become more opaque.
3. Roll pizza crust onto pizza pan or baking stone. Top with 1/2 - 1 cup of BBQ sauce and spread around with spoon.
4. Top with cooked diced chicken and sauted red onions. (Top with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese!)
5. Bake about 20 minutes.

Grilled Pizza

I've never had grilled pizza before. We had guests last night, and I suggested we give it a go. They had never heard of it before at all, and I'm not really sure how I even came across the idea. But boy, what an idea it is.

I did a lot of research on how to grill pizza, but in the end, just followed the directions on the package of pizza dough--yes, I was short on time and focused on getting the house in order for our guests, and chose to buy the dough at the grocery store rather than make it from scratch.

So, here's what I did:
Dust your dough lightly with flour, cut in half (for 1 personal pizza; about 6"). Stretch it into a circle, rub or brush olive oil onto one side of the dough. Preheat the grill to medium (following the directions here... the dough got seriously black following this method, but came out AWESOME on the next batch, which we cooked on low). Place the dough, oiled side down, on the grill grates, brush top with oil, and cook until bubbly like a ready to flip pancake.

Remove from grill, flip onto a plate (cooked side up, this becomes the part you top).

Make your pizza. I chose to top mine in the margherita style. Mmmm. I put a thin layer of marinara sauce, thinly sliced plum tomatoes, thinly sliced ball mozzarella, and fresh basil. Mmmm, it was perfect. The research I did warned that all toppings must be ready to go, since the dough cook so fast. So, if you're using meat, make sure it's cooked through BEFORE topping. You want everything chopped and ready to top when you get to the grill.

Now cook the newly oiled side until the cheese is melty.

I may now sell my pizza stone, because there's no way the pizza in the oven can compare to grilled pizza. REALLY, it's that good. (Since this is my first season grilling, I don't know how realistic it is to grill year round for us).

Stromboli

I found this in a cookbook from allrecipes. You can also see the recipe here.

This was very easy to make, but not a big hit in our house. BAJ complained the whole time about the beef, but he did eat his entire serving. I just didn't like it, but I'm not such a great test case these days.

I made a few substitutions... I used a cubanelle pepper instead of a bell. I omitted the pepperoni, and used spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce.

There's a picture on allrecipes, and their creation looks very different from mine... perhaps a slice of ham might have changed the texture/flavor instead of the diced ham I used. I also folded my dough in half, instead of creating a log like a typical stromboli... this made it VERY difficult to cut.

I also found that this got overcooked, and came very close to burning after 20 minutes at the recommended temperature.

Soo, maybe I'll make a stromboli this way again, but not with this particular filling.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

From $5 Dinners. Original recipe here.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup BBQ sauce
Homemade Pizza Crust (used our recipe, posted here)
1/2 large red onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 - 1 cup BBQ sauce

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dice chicken breasts and pour 1 cup of BBQ sauce over the pieces. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Saute chicken pieces in skillet over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes, or until chicken has cooked through.
2. Prepare homemade pizza dough.
3. Meanwhile, saute chopped red onions and garlic in 1 tsp olive oil for 4-5 minutes, or until onions become more opaque.
3. Roll pizza crust onto pizza pan or baking stone. Top with 1/2 - 1 cup of BBQ sauce and spread around with spoon.
4. Top with cooked diced chicken and sauted red onions. (Top with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese!)
5. Bake about 20 minutes.

BAJ made this one, since I am not feeling well today. I also was feeling too ill to eat the dinner, but he said it was REALLY good. So, this is keeper in our house, and hopefully, I'll like it too!! :)

Mmm, Pizza

Went ahead and made that no bread machine pizza again. So easy and so yummy. I added some minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to the dough, as well as using olive oil instead of vegetable oil. I also used 1c of whole wheat flour.
As a topping, I used diced tomato, fresh garlic, and red pepper. Yum.

Best Pizza yet.

I used the pizza dough recipe I posted last night to make this. This time, I used regular old AP flour. I did change the oil to olive oil, and added some Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes to the dough.


I used regular old jarred pasta sauce, and added some basil from my garden on top. I think the thing I did differently was that I kneaded the dough a little bit longer than I usually do.

Woohoo, this was delicious! I also made a mini pizza from the leftover dough (the whole recipe is too much for my pan), which BAJ is taking in for lunch today. We'll see how that one goes reheated in the micro...

Pizza!

I found this recipe on a website about saving some loot around the home. It came at a perfect time, since the last few times I've made pizza dough in my bread machine, it's come out funky for some reason. I can't figure out if there's something wrong with the bread machine, so a fast recipe without a bread machine is great. This is that recipe. It's pretty basic, and very fast to make.

I made a few modifications, but nothing major... I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and the remaining cup and a half, I used bread flour (King Arthur; I think it's whole wheat as well.) I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and added some hot pepper flakes, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.

This was actually my first time kneading dough. Woo!

I completely forgot the pictures, but it looked pretty!

I did find that this made more dough than was necessary for my pizza pan. Next time, I will use half the dough and freeze the rest.

I also didn't have any mozzarella in the house (woops!), and instead used shredded Monterey Jack. BAJ said it tasted different, and wouldn't say whether it was bad or good, just different. I am still fighting a cold, and couldn't really taste anything, but it tasted pretty good to me! I topped with canned mushrooms, and frozen mixed pepper slices.

Stuffed Pizza Pie

I saw this on Lauren's blog the other day, and as I was browsing for something to make for dinner today, this is what struck my fancy.

I went to the store and looked at the pizza dough, but it looked icky. Making the dough in the bread machine is so EASY, it was worth having dinner a little on the late side.

I used one bag of spinach, but it seemed like a LOT, so I didn't end up using it all. Next time, I'll save it and make spinach and strawberry salad as a side. I did toss some garlic in with them as I sauteed 'em.

Also, I forgot about the tomatoes, which are probably very necessary. I think I would have liked this a LOT more with them in there. It was a little confusing because the recipe didn't mention them but DID mention roasted red peppers. Luckily, though, I didn't start chopping them so they didn't just go to waste.



And, like Lauren's son, mine went nuts for this. Since we ate so late, we chose to eat *gasp, shock, Bad Mommy Role Model Alert* on the couch in front of the tv and The Boy. Which makes for easy begging for The Boy. I couldn't believe that he ate up the broccoli and the spinach, but he seemed to love it, as well as the dough. KEEPER!!

Pictures coming soon.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz whole wheat or white pizza dough
• 1 Cup ricotta cheese
• ¼ Cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (dried or fresh)
• 2 Cups fresh broccoli florets, steamed until fork tender, about 3 minutes in boiling water
• Pinch of salt
• ½ Cup chopped tomatoes
• 1 ½ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Spread and press one piece of dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-9 ½ inch round baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta and parmesan cheese until well combined. Spread into pressed pizza dough.


2. Place olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute spinach until wilted down, about 3 minutes. Place evenly over ricotta cheese layer, and sprinkle garlic on top. Place steamed broccoli florets over spinach and season with a pinch or two of kosher salt. Layer roasted red peppers, then mozzarella cheese over top. Press out remaining piece of dough and place over filling, tucking edges inside of pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cooked through.

3. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan or cutting into wedges.

Summer Pizza

This is from Food and Wine Magazine's One Dish cookbook, but can also be found here.

This was really good. We tried a whole wheat Boboli for the first time, and it was nice. The flavors of the pizza are really delicious and as the title implies, a great one for summer time. I will probably make this on my homemade pizza dough next time to cut costs, but will definitely make this again!