Grilled Pizzas

I can't remember if I had shared that this past week was hard because we moved the boy into a big boy bed instead of a crib. He go tup earlier, took shorter naps...ugh. Friday afternoon the poor kid fell out of bed. :( We had a rail on there, so I don't know what happened. The husband secured it more once he got home, so hopefully we don't have any more mishaps like that. He was okay, just scared, and he only napped for an hour. Yuck. So, I didn't have my usual computer time to update the ol' cooking blog. Today has been a busy day with a birthday party this morning and then swimming and dinner at a friend's house. The husband went out with a friend, the boy is in bed, so I'm getting in some computer time.

Someone left me a comment about doing a BBQ chicken pizza, but unfortunately it was after we had done pizzas. We HEART BBQ chicken pizza in this house, and we haven't had it in a long time. Definitely one we'll be doing again soon. Thanks for the suggestion!!

I asked the husband for topping ideas, and he remembered this amazing, awesome, super duper cheesy pizza we used to get back when we were DINKS (dual income, no kids). Actually, I think it was before we were married. Actually, I think it was when we first met! Anyway, they had this Four Cheese Formaggio (yes, I realize saying cheese and formaggio is redundant, but it wasn't my pizza name!) that was fantastic. Soooo much cheese, and if you've been reading this awhile, you know we love our cheese in this house! So the husband suggested we do our own version of that. I checked the restaurant's website, and it was actually five cheeses...I assume they don't count the mozzarella. Provolone, Swiss, Cheddar, and Monterey Jack (and mozzarella). I wasn't able to find Provolone to shred, so I skipped it. I mixed all the cheeses together in a bowl, finely chopped some fresh oregano (my new favorite herb!!) and fresh basil, and that was that. Oh, and we are no frills kind of folks and just used some Ragu for the sauce. It was pretty good...definitely cheesy. Not as good as the restaurant, but how can anything with four cheeses on it be bad?!

For the other pizza I checked the Cooking Light website. Y'all know I heart Cooking Light! They've never led me astray before. That's probably not true. Anyway, I saw this recipe and thought it sounded really good and it was something new and different:

Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza
Cooking spray
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 (10-ounce) Italian cheese-flavored thin pizza crust (such as Boboli)
2 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded fontina cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and shallots to pan; sauté 7 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add garlic and thyme; sauté 1 minute. Stir in vinegar; remove from heat.

Place crust on the bottom rack of oven. Bake at 450° for 4 minutes.

Place the crust on a baking sheet. Spread mushroom mixture evenly over crust; sprinkle evenly with prosciutto and fontina cheese. Bake at 450° for 6 minutes or until cheese melts.

*****

Obviously I modified it some since I wasn't using the oven. And I didn't have some of the ingredients, so ours was really a loose adaptation of this recipe. I sauted cremini mushrooms (which were on manager's special when I went to the store because the "use by" date was yesterday!!) with some garlic and some dried thyme. Then, because I didn't have sherry vinegar, I added in a few teaspoons of red wine vinegar. We put that down on the crust of the pizza, then topped it with prosciutto I had sliced up, then put down some of our four cheese blend. Oh man, it was tasty!! I don't know which was my favorite pizza. I honestly think it was this one. The four cheese one needed some tweaking with the sauce for it to have been better I think.

BTW, I recently did a grilled pizza tutorial for a message board I belong to. If you'd be interested in me posting it on here, leave me a comment and let me know. It's complete with pictures and everything!!