Pizza Rolls

Slowly but surely (okay, more slowly than surely) I'm getting caught up on my blog posts. I have a note in Outlook that I update with the posts I'm going to do, and I'm hoping soon it starts getting shorter instead of longer. I feel like my time management skills have really been lacking lately. It's not just my blog, it's with everything!

This goes all the way back to the Super Bowl. I'm at least getting it in just under two months, so it could be worse I guess. My BFF Jen and her husband had a Super Bowl party for all of our friends. It was super fun but a little nuts with 16 kids running around and 12 adults hanging out watching the game. The food we had was amazing. AMAZING. Everyone brought a ton of stuff, and I gorged the whole time. I had a food baby for days afterwards. But it was worth it. On the Evite she had sent it seemed like most people were bringing some kind of dip or spread, so I wanted to do something different. I had seen these on Pinterest and thought they looked good and would be kid friendly.

Pizza Rolls
Source: Adapted from TidyMom.net via Pinterest

2 cans crescent rolls
garlic salt
Italian Seasoning
1 cup sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 425

Dust a large cutting board or piece of wax paper with flour and roll out each pizza crust. Season each crust with garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Top with cheese and meat.

Starting with the long side, roll crust into a tight log. Slice into 1" sections.

Place on lightly greased pan and bake for 10-12 mins.

*****

The original recipe called for using the tubes of pizza crust dough, but I opted for crescent rolls. I don't remember why now, but it probably involved cost and coupons. It also said to roll it starting with the short side, but I rolled the long side so I'd get more out of it instead of thicker ones, if that makes sense. The crescent roll dough was a little thin once it was rolled out some, but I made it work. My five year old (well, now he's six but he was five at the time) loved helping me make these.

These were fantastic and were gobbled up at the party. There were a few left, so I left some with Jen for her son to take in his lunch and I brought the rest home and did the same for Boy #1. These are actually a great lunchbox item, too! I'll definitely be making them again, either for another party or event or to have on hand to send in lunches.

No Carb Pizza

Last week the husband suggested to me that we have a no carb week this week. He went to Mississippi to visit his best friend and knew he'd be over indulging. Last year we started the year off with a no carb week, but this year we were running a half marathon on January 15th, so going without carbs the first week of the year was going to be more detrimental than helpful. Since we both tend to get tired of the no carb thing quickly I chose all new dinner recipes to try and keep it exciting for us. Enter Pinterest.com. I did a search on low carb meals and came up with a bevy of ideas. Some have been good, some have been okay, nothing has been awful. I've had an easier time this week than in times past cutting out carbs, maybe because I'm more used to doing it now? I don't know. Or maybe I know we're just doing it through Monday, so the end is near already.

Anyway, the husband and my kiddos love pizza. I'm a fan, but I'm not a pizza monster like the three of them are. This sounded intriguing...pizza with no carbs in the crust? But I figured it was worth a try.

No Carb Pizza
Source: AccidentalMommies.com via Pinterest.com

For the crust:
1 (8 oz.) package of full fat cream cheese (room temp.)
2 eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
Garlic powder
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

For the pizza:
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Sauteed pepperoni
Garlic powder

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 9×13 baking dish
Blend cream cheese and eggs and season with pepper & garlic powder
Add parmesan cheese and stir until combined
Pour into buttered baking dish
Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown
Let crust cool for 10 minutes before adding toppings
After crust is cooked, raise oven to 400 degrees

For the pizza:
Mix together marinara sauce, garlic powder, & oregano
Top crust with marinara and spread evenly
Top with mozzarella cheese
Add toppings
Bake for 8 minutes or until cheese is bubbly

*****

I was pretty skeptical when I pulled the "crust" out of the oven, and I was a bit worried because my universal dinner back-up plan of Little Ceasar's pizza wouldn't work with no carbs. But I forged ahead praying and crossing my fingers it would at least be edible. And you know what? It was actually pretty awesome. Boy #2 wasn't sure about the crust at first and just ate the toppings, but once the husband told him it was cheese and eggs, he was completely on board with it. There was none of this left by the time dinner was done. The husband said he'd even eat it when we were doing no carbs! I used turkey pepperoni as the only topping. It didn't even occur to me to put anything else on it, but I think next time I'd add some veggies or a second meat to make it slightly more filling. this will definitely grace our table again!

Pizza Loaf

And my updating continues! Boy #2 has taken to getting up at the ass crack of dawn, so while he's engrossed in an episode of Word World I figured I'd do some blog updating. For my meal plan last week I went through some older clipped recipes I had. For years my mom got me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine. I'd doggy-ear a bunch of recipes in each issue and then usually forget about it. I got tired of having years' worth of magazines around, so I finally went through each one and looked at all the recipes again (the husband has gotten more adventurous in his eating over the years, so I knew there'd be stuff I had originally passed up but that he'd eat now) and cut out all the recipes I wanted to try. Then I stuck them in a folder and forgot about them there. Not really, I just rarely pull that folder out to go through the recipes in it. I figured I was probably missing out on some tasty stuff, so I got it out last week and did the bulk of my meal planning using recipes from there.

Boy #1 had his first friend sleepover last week, and I thought this would be a good dinner to have while his BFF was here eating dinner with us.

Pizza Loaf
Source: Adapted from Quick Cooking Magazine, September/October 2003

1 loaf (1 pound) frozen bread dough, thawed
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
8 ounces sliced turkey pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 medium green pepper, diced
Marinara sauce for dipping

On a greased baking sheet, roll out dough into a 15-inch x 10-inch rectangle. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, parmesan cheese, oil, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper. Brush over the dough. Sprinkle with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, and green pepper. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal and tuck ends under.

Place seam side down; brush with egg whites. Do not let rise. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Warm the marinara sauce and serve with sliced loaf.

Yield: 10-12 slices

*****

First of all, make sure you allow enough time for the frozen dough to rise, if you're using that instead of making your own. There are three thawing options on the package, including a "quick" rise that takes around three hours instead of overnight. I didn't have that problem this time, but it has happened to me before.

This was a HUGE hit at my house. Boy #1 isn't a fan of pepperoni or anything on pizza except cheese, but even he ate it (admittedly it was somewhat begrudgingly). The husband kept going back for more pieces, and the BFF had two pieces of it. This was definitely a fun twist on pizza and something I'll make again since we all loved it so much.

(Sorry again for the cell phone pic!)

Mexican Pizza

I'm so far behind on my blog I figure it's easiest to just start with what's current and go back as I have time. Otherwise I'm going to end up overwhelmed and nothing will ever get done. I looked through my pictures today and realized I have been making a lot of new stuff and have a lot of catching up to do. There are nine things on my list that I want to do posts on. Sheesh!

I had a really yummy sounding dinner planned for one night this week, but then it turned out the meat I needed for it wasn't as much on sale as I thought it would be when I went to the store, so I had to come up with a new plan. I was catching up on blogs I follow and went to Meal Planning 101 for some ideas. One of the first posts on there was ideas for ground beef. I recently purchased 10 pounds of ground beef, so I was open to ideas. I saw this taco pizza recipe and had everything on hand for it, so it was a go!

Mexican Pizza
Source: Meal Planning 101 blog

1 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp taco seasoning (homemade or store-bought)
Splash of water

Your favorite pizza crust
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream
Grated cheese (cheddar, mozza or Monteray Jack would all work fine)
1-2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 cup lettuce, finely shredded or 2 tbsp fresh basil, finely shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a skillet over medium high heat, brown the beef with the onions and garlic. Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, salsa spice, salt and pepper (or sub out all these spices for your favorite taco seasoning). Mix and cook for about 30 seconds then add a splash or two of water to let the spices create more of a sauce for the beef. Turn to low and let simmer a couple minutes until the water has evaporated and remove from heat.

Put your pizza crust on a baking sheet or pizza stone. Mix together the salsa and sour cream and spread about 1/3 - 1/2 cup over your pizza crust. Top with the taco seasoned beef and shredded cheese. I bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees and then broil for 1-3 minutes to get the cheese on top a nice golden brown. You should note that I use the par-baked shells from the bakery, so if you use fresh dough adjust your cooking time and temperature accordingly.

Give the pizza just a moment or two to cool ever so slightly and then top with diced tomatoes and lettuce or basil. Serve with the rest of the salsa sour cream as a dipping sauce.

*****

I didn't have any taco seasoning on hand, so I just threw in some chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. It was definitely a tad under-seasoned, but I didn't want to over do it. I also could have spread more of the sauce on my crust. Overall, though, we really liked this new take on pizza. The kids didn't have any toppings on theirs, but the husband and I both did and really liked it. I'd definitely make this again!!

Tomato and Pesto Pizza

I wasn't going to post this because it was ridiculously easy, but my friend Jen said since I liked it so much I should document it so I remember it. She probably has a point, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was saying it so she remembers to make it at some point. ;)

I'm finally out of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet (down 12 pounds!!), so I'm starting to incorporate some good carbs back into my diet. I had an apple this morning on the way to pick up my oldest from school (I don't think an apple has ever tasted so good), and then I made pizza crust with whole wheat flour for dinner. I'm still kind of timid to add carbs back in a whole lot since I had such great success with taking them out of my diet. For the first week or so I'm going to take it pretty easy and probably do something similar to what I did today--a little bit of fruit and some whole grains. Anyway, this should probably go on my weight loss blog instead of here.

I've been dying to have pizza for some reason while I was carb-free. Normally I can really take or leave pizza, but I think just not being able to eat it has made it more enticing. I was going to make a margherita pizza and a cheese pizza, but upon taking my basil out I realized the stems were fuzzy. Yuck. So, not wanting to feed my family moldy basil (or eat it myself), I had to do some quick pizza thinking. This is what I came up with.

Claire's Tomato and Pesto Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza dough, made using all whole wheat flour
1/4 cup pesto (homemade or store bought)
3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thin
Mozzarella cheese

On rolled out dough, spread pesto to completely cover dough. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

*****

I'm sad I didn't take a picture. I thought about it before I put the cheese on because it really looked awesome with the green pesto and the various colored heirloom tomatoes. Have I mentioned that heirloom tomatoes are my new BFF? Okay, not really, but I do like them a lot. When I picked these ones out at Whole Foods today I could tell that heirloom tomato time is coming to an end. Most of the ones I picked up were pretty mushy and over-ripe. Sad. I kind of freaked out a little when I discovered my basil wasn't good anymore because I had already sliced the tomatoes, and there was no way I would let them go to waste. I was pleased with my quick thinking and coming up with what turned out to be an awesome pizza!

Claire's Buffalo Chicken Pizza (aka Father's Day Pizza Fest)

Happy Father's Day!! I hope all you dads out there have been sufficiently spoiled today. My husband was inundated with gifts this morning and got to have pizza for lunch AND dinner! We've had a really nice family day, and I hope the husband is feeling loved and appreciated.

I asked him earlier this past week what he'd want for dinner tonight, and at first he wasn't sure then he decided on grilled pizza. I wanted to do something special but couldn't decide what, so I figured I'd make up a double batch of homemade pizza dough and split it into four smaller pizzas so we could have a real pizza feast and have an assortment of pizza flavors.

Two of the ones we did were pretty boring--one with a mix of cheeses and one with meat (pepperoni, sausage, and prosciutto). The husband said I could pick two fancy ones to make. I knew one would be the veggie pesto pizza I make pretty often because we love it, and I had everything on hand to make it.

The fourth pizza caused me some strife. In the March issue of Cooking Light magazine there was a special article on pizzas and several of those looked amazing. I slated one for the fourth pizza but couldn't find arugula at the grocery store. Bummer. So I remembered one I'd seen on my friend Jen's blog that used prosciutto and fontina cheese. But then when I got home and looked at the recipe it also called for ricotta, which I didn't have. Oops. I'd recently had two ideas for pizza toppings and knew I had everything for one of them. So I gave the husband his choice between a Claire creation pizza or a smoked salmon pizza from that issue of Cooking Light. He went with the Claire creation pizza.

Apparently I'm on a buffalo chicken kick lately because that's the kind of pizza he choose. I gotta say I was pretty excited to try it. I figured I'd base it on the buffalo chicken lasagna I made awhile back. All measurements below are approximate.

Claire's Buffalo Chicken Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough (or pizza dough of your choice)
1 cup pizza sauce
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup wing sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot)
2-3 cups diced, cooked chicken
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (or pizza blend) cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Roll out pizza dough to desired size. Combine pizza sauce and wing sauce in a bowl. Spread over the dough. Sprinkle chicken and blue cheese on top of sauce. Cover pizza with shredded mozzarella. Bake 12-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

*****

Like I said, all measurements are approximate. I have no idea how much sauce I used, I poured some into a bowl, added the wing sauce, mixed it up, and called it good. For the chicken I was going to defrost and cook a chicken breast, but then I saw my bag of Naked Nuggets in the freezer (I may boycott Costco if they ever stop selling these, by the way) so figured I'd just heat up those and then chop them up.

I'm going to grill all my pizzas but I included instructions for baking them because it was just easier to type out that way.

*****

Wow. Wow. WOW!!! This pizza was phenomenal!! I think this is our new favorite pizza. The kids had already had cheese pizza by the time this one was done, so I didn't get their take on it, but the husband and I were all over this one!! I'd probably increase the amount of wing sauce I used next time, but I really have no idea how much I even used.

This pizza is definitely going to be a favorite in our house over the summer!! Especially since I always have blue cheese and wing sauce on hand.

(And I do have pictures, but I need to get them uploaded still.)

Brisket Pizza

Like I mentioned in the original Brisketfest post, the idea for Brisketfest stemmed from an episode of Man Vs. Food where Adam had a brisket pizza in San Antonio. So of course a brisket pizza needed to be one of the things I made with some of the leftovers. The husband's dad came to visit for some hockey playoff games, so we had brisket pizza while he was here. I didn't really have a set recipe in mind, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Brisket Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza crust
2 cups barbecue sauce (I used my leftover Rick Bayless barbecue sauce)
shredded brisket
shredded mozzarella or pizza blend cheese

Prepare pizza dough according to recipe. Top with barbecue sauce spread evenly over crust. Spread shredded brisket on top of the sauce, covering completely. Top with cheese. Bake at 450 for approximately 15 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

*****

The only thing I think I'd change would be to mix a bit of barbecue sauce into the meat, but everyone else thought it was fine as it was. This was a great new pizza and like the brisket tostadas, something I'd make again without hesitation if I had leftover brisket!!

Veggie Pesto PIzza

I realized I forgot to mention a couple other recent happenings around here that have contributed to my lack of blog posting. I finally had Lasik done!!! I was beginning to wonder if I was not meant to ever get it because I had to change from my original date so we could go to a seminar at church (that totally wasn't worth it), then both my kids got pink eye and they wouldn't let me get it done in case I ended up getting it too (which I did). So Friday was the day, and I have to say my life has been changed!!! It was definitely creepy--reminded me entirely too much of this scene from "A Clockwork Orange"--but so worth it in the end!

The other exciting happening is that my friend Jen had her twin baby girls on Friday!!! I guess it really has nothing to do with my lack of blogging, but it's very exciting!! I got to spend a good chunk of the day at the hospital with them yesterday, and aside from my own kids, they are some of the cutest babies ever!! Warning: snuggling with two cute newborn baby girls that have red bows in their hair WILL induce baby fever. And if it doesn't, there might be something wrong with you.

Anyway, I figured Jen would come home from the hospital today or tomorrow, so I slated this dinner in case they wanted me to bring some to them, as I know it's one of their favorites as well. Jen's mom is coming to stay with them for awhile, and Jen thought she'd probably want to make them dinner, but I kept it on the menu for tonight just in case. I'm really excited to have it!! It's been awhile, and lately all we've had is pepperoni or cheese pizza, so a good, homemade, veggie pizza will be fantastic!!

Veggie Pesto Pizza

White Pizzas with Arugula

Here's the other Barefoot Bloggers recipe for August. A picture of this recipe is on the back cover of the Back to Basics cookbook, and it's always looked super tasty to me. I was excited that this was one of the recipe choices!

White Pizzas with Arugula

For the dough:
* 1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110) water
* 2 packages dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon honey
* Good olive oil
* 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
* Kosher salt
* 4 cloves garlic, sliced
* 5 sprigs fresh thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the topping:
* 3 cups grated Italian fontina cheese (8 ounces)
* 1 1/2 cups grated fresh mozzarella cheese (7 ounces)
* 11 ounces creamy goat cheese, such as montrachet, crumbled

For the vinaigrette:
* 1/2 cup good olive oil
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 8 ounces baby arugula
* 1 lemon, sliced

Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Let it rise. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Place 1/2 cup of olive oil, the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. (Be sure your oven is clean!)

Dump the dough onto a board and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Place the doughs on sheet pans lined with parchment paper and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Press and stretch each ball into an 8-inch circle and place 2 circles on each sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)

Brush the pizzas with the garlic oil, and sprinkle each one liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pizzas evenly with fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese. Drizzle each pizza with 1 tablespoon more of the garlic oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil, the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

When the pizzas are done, place the arugula in a large bowl and toss with just enough lemon vinaigrette to moisten. Place a large bunch of arugula on each pizza and a slice of lemon and serve immediately.

*****

The only thing I changed up was that I used my quick homemade pizza crust recipe instead of the dough/crust recipe here. Mostly because I didn't want six pizzas, I just wanted one and knew what size crust I'd get with my recipe. And it doesn't have to rise/rest for very long, so I didn't have to get it together way in advance. Getting things together in advance is not my strong suit! Oh, and I didn't have fresh thyme, so I just sprinkled in some dried. I was bummed because I really like fresh thyme, but I couldn't find it at either store I was at yesterday (Walmart and Trader Joe's...I actually didn't look at Walmart because I figured TJ's would have it...that's the first time TJ's has let me down...sigh.).

*****

Wow. WOW. This pizza was so yummy!! The husband was darn near drooling looking at the piles of shredded cheese on the counter when I was assembling the pizza. I ended up only putting the arugula on half of the pizza because the husband seemed really skeptical of it, and I didn't know if the boy would eat it that way. I LOVED it with the arugula on top...I love the peppery bite of arugula and with the lemon and olive oil mixed in it added a great flavor and texture to the pizza. I honestly thought the bites I had with just cheese and no arugula were a little too cheesy--and that's not something I say very often, if ever! We all really liked this, and this will definitely be a pizza I make again!

(Picture to come later once I get it uploaded!)

Pizza Night!

I know I missed a couple nights posting, but there wasn't anything new, so you're not missing out. I'm so, so, so, so, so excited for dinner tonight! It occurred to me that we hadn't had grilled pizza for one of our Friday mini date nights, so I put it on my meal plan for this week. I wasn't sure what toppings to do on each until today, although I did buy dough at Trader Joe's earlier this week. I was thinking back to pizzas we've really liked, and I remembered the veggie pesto pizza we had awhile back. I knew I had pesto in my freezer and most of the veggies in my fridge, so I decided it was meant to be. Here's my original post:

Veggie Pesto Pizza

I don't know why I feel the need to have two pizzas, but it's nice to have a little variety I guess. I was looking at another food blog that I really like, Aggie's Kitchen, and saw a pizza that looked fantastic. Actually I was looking at the pictures on her Facebook fan page and saw a picture of a different pizza that looked yummy and while searching her blog for that one I came across this pizza. How's that for confusing?! Anyway, I didn't think the husband would dig it if I told him what it was, so I sent him a picture of it from her blog and he thought it looked tasty. Actually I gave him the choice of this or BBQ chicken and he said "whatever" so I chose this...I interpret that as him thinking it's tasty. ;) I can't wait to try this!!

Spinach Alfredo Pizza
(From AggiesKitchen.com)

Spinach White Cream Sauce - melt 2-4 tb butter in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in 2 tb of flour into butter, cook for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 cups half and half to butter mixture. Add dash of salt, pepper, and fresh ground nutmeg to cream. Bring to a simmer, continually stirring to avoid bottom of pan burning. Simmer for few minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Take sauce off heat and bring to room temperature. Add 8oz thawed chopped frozen spinach to sauce.
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

*****

Okay, so there isn't a real recipe I guess, but I'm going to assume that anyone reading this can figure out how to assemble a pizza. Dough, sauce, cheese, go! Doesn't it sound amazing? You should go see the picture of it on her blog...wow! The recipe title up there is a link to the post on her blog, and if you scroll down you'll come to it. Or if you're lazy like me, hit Ctrl+F to do a search and type in "spinach" and there you go.

I can't wait for dinner!! My kids' bedtime can't get here soon enough! Of course, the baby is still napping, so I'm thinking he's going to need to be woken up here soon so that he goes to bed at a reasonable time!

ETA: In a crazy twist, Jen B.--whom I originally got the pesto pizza recipe from--got the idea/recipe from Aggie's Kitchen as well! So I guess it's Aggie's Kitchen's Pizza Night at our house this evening!

*****

Mmmmmmm...these were both really good pizzas! My white sauce for the spinach pizza got a little too thick because I added an extra tablespoon of flour, forgetting it would thicken up as it cooled. oops. It wasn't bad, just a little thick. I probably could have put a little more pepper and nutmeg in it as well. I wouldn't hesitate to make it again, though. Tasty!!!

Bubble Pizza

We're having kind of a ghetto dinner tonight, but I'm okay with it. I have a folder of recipes that I've been collecting since college. It actually started as a little cookbook I made myself when I moved out of the dorms and would be having to cook for myself. I didn't always like to cook, I only really started doing it at that time. Over the years as I printed off recipes or came across them in magazines I'd stick them in this folder. I hadn't gone through it in awhile, so this weekend I sat down and went through it. Most of the dinners I'm making this week are recipes I came across in there that I haven't made in forever or have never made.

This recipe I found on a frugal/budget website several years ago. We were low on funds so I was looking for some frugal recipes. I've made other recipes I found on there and they've all been good. I had some pepperoni in the fridge that I need to use up, so I thought this might be a good use for it.

Bubble Up Pizza

3 pkgs. refrigerator biscuits
1 can or jar of spaghetti sauce
Shredded cheese
Pizza toppings of your choice (I'm using pepperoni, green pepper, and mushrooms...I was having vegetable guilt)

Cut biscuits into quarters and place in a 9x13 baking dish. Add sauce, stir to coat, and spread evenly in bottom of pan. Top with cheese, then toppings, (I usually stick to 3 toppings at a time).

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35-40 min. Be sure to check middle to make sure all the dough is cooked through.

*****

See? Pretty ghetto, but I'm actually looking forward to trying it. Plus I'm hoping the boy will enjoy it, so we won't have to fight him to eat at dinner tonight. I think we'll probably just have a salad on the side. Oh, and I'm going to make up some sauce using a can of crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and some onion and garlic. I can only handle so many processed foods at a time. ;)

*****

There were mixed reviews on this. The husband LOVED it. He said he could eat the whole pan of it. I thought it was just okay. If I'm going to make pizza I'd rather make real pizza. I'll probably only make this again if he requests it. It wasn't bad necessarily, just not my favorite.

Veggie Pesto Pizza

I'm still full from lunch, but the husband and I have decided to have a late dinner and a mini date night at home. I've had a great day. This morning while the boy watched his morning shows I cleaned house, then my mom came over to stay with the kids while I went and got a much needed haircut. The last time I went was while I was pregnant...and the baby is five months old now. Yikes. It was BAD. Then when I got home we went out to lunch then to a Crocs warehouse sale. Now we've had a nice relaxing afternoon with the boy watching "Cars" and me doing not much of anything.

When I told the husband I wasn't hungry and didn't know what to do for dinner he said he was going to run to Walmart later and could pick up a pizza while he was there for us to have. I said I had pesto pizza on the menu for Tuesday dinner, but then I was sick and didn't make it. So we're going to have that after the boy goes to bed. Jen B. made this recently and really liked it, so I got the idea from her blog. I split the pesto sauce I made earlier this week into two bags and froze them, so I'll just pull one of those out to use for the sauce. I'll make my standard pizza crust, Jen A's Quick Homemade Pizza Crust. Now hopefully I'll be hungry by dinner time!

Veggie Pesto Pizza
1/2 of a red onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced; drained and dried with paper towels
2-3 sliced Roma tomatoes
1 bag of pre-shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
olive oil to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste
salt to taste
pine nuts
Pecorino Romano cheese, grated finely

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

After dough has rested, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Spread evenly with sauce. Cover with cheese and toppings, in an even layer. Drizzle a little more olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar on top of pizza toppings. Scatter pine nuts and minced garlic. Bake 15-20 min. Let cool 5 minutes. Grate Pecorino Romano cheese on pizza. Cut and serve!

*****

Mmmmm...this pizza was awesome!! I ended up changing a bit of stuff from above. I didn't use roasted red peppers, instead I sliced up a red pepper and a yellow pepper into rings and used those instead. And I forgot to drizzle the balsamic vinegar on it. Regardless, this was incredibly good--definitely one of my most favorite pizzas. I LOVED the pesto sauce on it, and all the veggies made it super filling. Yum!

Pizza

The husband and I are going to have a mini date night tonight after the boy goes to bed. We had planned on grilling pizzas, but it's insanely windy here today, so I think we'll just bake them instead. I heard something strange on my patio and looked out to see my grill move at least three feet across the patio on its own--well, helped by the wind. Yikes. So I think we'll have two pizzas. I'll link to the recipes below because they're ones I've made before:

Quick Homemade Pizza Crust

Mushroom Prosciutto Pizza

The second pizza we have had before, but I didn't have a real post on it. I'm going to do artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and feta. I may caramelize some onions, too.

I'm excited to have a mini date night and get some alone time with the husband.

Oh, and in case you were wondering (which you probably weren't, but I'll update you anyway), the potty training is going pretty well. The boy had one accident yesterday and one this morning, but that's been it. I'm so proud of him!

Pizza

The boy wasn't napping yesterday, so I had to cut my updating short so I could actually get some stuff done while he was contained in his room. It was nice to have a clean house for awhile--of course this morning when I got up it was a disaster already. I think elves or some other small mythical creatures must sneak into my house in the middle of the night after I've cleaned and make a mess again. Oh wait--or maybe it's the husband and my almost three year old son. That's probably a more likely scenario.

Anyway, we had pizza last night. it was yummy. I had bought proscuitto at Trader Joe's a couple weeks ago and remembered a pizza I'd made with proscuitto awhile ago, so I made one of those and a plain cheese. I think the baby is going through a growth spurt because he wanted to eat every hour yesterday evening, so the husband and I ended up eating dinner after the boy went to bed because there was no way the pizza was going to be ready in time for us to all eat together. Here are the recipes for the crust I made and the proscuitto pizza.

Quick Homemade Pizza Crust
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 Tablespoon of garlic powder (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes).
2. Stir in flour, salt, & olive oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Spread evenly with sauce. Cover with toppings in an even layer.
5. Bake 15-20 min. Let cool 5 minutes. Cut and serve!


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 changed up the proscuitto one since I made my own crust. I also didn't have sherry vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar instead. I also couldn't find fontina cheese at the store I was at, so I got some smoked gouda instead. I don't like all smoked cheese on a pizza, so I did a layer of that and then regular old mozzarella (well, not old mozzarella because that would be gross, but you know what I meant). And I baked for the time in the dough recipe.

This pizza is FANTASTIC. I had kind of forgotten about it until I bought the proscuitto, and I was so glad I remembered it. The flavors in it are so good together. This is one I need to make more often because the husband and I both really like it. We had planned on grilling them, but we're low on propane, so we just did them in the oven instead. There are a few pieces left which I can't wait to have for lunch!!

Quick Homemade Pizza

Ah, Friday. Even though I don't work anymore, I still love Fridays and the promise of the weekend lying ahead...which means I don't have to deal with a bi-polar toddler by myself all day for two whole days. Daddy can take some of the duty too! :) Of course, this weekend is completely up in the air since kid #2 could make his grand appearance at any time.

I'm still not totally motivated to cook, but since I know my cooking nights are numbered for awhile, I'm plugging along with it. My friend Jen B. posted this pizza recipe recently on her blog that she got from our friend Jen A.. I couldn't believe how fast and easy the dough was, so I wanted to give it a try. I've had Jen A's pizza before, and it's quite tasty, I just didn't know how super easy it is to make. The boy and husband are both pizza fanatics, so I know dinner will be well received tonight, which is always a plus.

Quick Homemade Pizza
For Dough:
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 Tablespoon of garlic powder (optional)

Sauce
Cheese
Toppings of choice

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes).
2. Stir in flour, salt, & olive oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.
3. While dough is resting, combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor, and blend until smooth.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Spread evenly with sauce. Cover with toppings in an even layer.
5. Bake 15-20 min. Let cool 5 minutes. Cut and serve!

*****

Jen B. made her own sauce (she's such a show-off...), but I bought a jar of sauce to use because I'm lazy. ACtually I had planned to make her sauce (I think it was her recipe, not Jen A's, but if I've given false credit I apologize!!), but I forgot to look at the recipe before we left this morning. I think I used the last of my canned tomatoes the other night for the goat cheese pasta, and I know I don't have any tomato paste like it called for, so jarred sauce it is.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to top it with, but basil was a decent price, so I figured I'd go with a basil, tomato, and fresh mozzarella. Then I decided I'd make two and do the second one with just cheese...plain ol' bagged pizza blend cheese. I'm such a mean mommy, but I just don't know if I want to introduce fresh mozzarella to my toddler. There are some things he just doesn't need to try until he's older...mostly so the husband and I don't get jipped out of yummy things like fresh mozzarella. Brie and Lucky Charms are two other things that fall into this category. King crab legs would be another. A few years ago we were in Ireland with the husband's family, and the husband gave one of our nephews a mussel to try. I think he was five at the time. To this day, our nephew still wants mussels if they go somewhere that has them. The husband's sister was pretty pissed she had to go from her son being satisfied with chicken nuggets kids' meals to demanding mussels. I don't want that to happen yet.

Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza

When I was coming up with dinners for this week I busted out some cookbooks I hadn't used in awhile. Seriously, I have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks...it's getting to be completely out of hand. Anyway, I'm trying to use some that I don't look at as often, so I got out a Southern Living cookbook. Everything I've tried from it has been good, I just don't think to use it that often. Which is somewhat ironic because it's a cookbook that's displayed on my kitchen wall.

I bought a refrigerated pizza crust awhile back and need to use it. This sounded really yummy, and I didn't need that much for it except the peppers and artichokes (okay, so I was missing the two main ingredients but still). I hope it's good.

Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza
1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray
i Tbsp olive oil
1 7-ounce bottle roasted red peppers, drained and julienne-cut
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 2.5-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) mozzarella cheese
Cracked pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pizza crust dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and pat dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes and set aside.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and next three ingredients, saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in artichokes and mushrooms.

Sprinkle half of cheese over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread vegetable mixture evenly over cheese; top with remaining cheese. SPrinkle with cracked pepper, if desired. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until crust is lighly browned.

*****

I'm opposed to canned or jarred mushrooms. They're a weird color, the texture is weird to me. I don't dig them. So I bought fresh. And chances are I'll use more cheese than what's called for because that's just how we roll. I'm excited to try it.

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!!

Grilled Pizzas

Back to the daily grind of cooking dinner! I have had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. Hope you have too! Saturday it was just the boy and me as the husband spent the afternoon playing golf. The husband and my uncle installed a ceiling fan in our play room before golfing, so the boy and I hung out in there since it wasn't so blazing hot in there anymore. Yesterday we went to church, returned a ceiling fan at Lowe's and then hung out at home for the afternoon. My mom came over after the boy's nap and took him home with her so the husband and I could have a date night. Woo hoo for date night!!! We went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie (pretty decent, kind of cheesy ending, but worth seeing on the big screen) and went out for dinner. What a treat! This morning we were super productive...he did yard work and I worked on cleaning out our disaster area of a garage. I only got one wall of it done (hey, I said disaster area!) before our garbage can and recycle bin were full, but it's a vast improvement. Hopefully I can get the other two walls done before it gets ridiculously hot here. It's been so nice this weekend, I wish the weather would last!! I was supposed to get a pedicure today, but all the nail places around here were closed! So I got some Coldstone instead. ;) once the boy got home from my mom's, I got busy listing stuff on Freecycle and Craigslist that I had found in the garage. Hopefully it will earn me some extra moolah!

ANYWAY. Since it is Memorial Day, I figured we couldn't go all weekend without grilling, so we'd grill tonight. Actually I'll grill tonight because it's game #2 in the Stanley Cup finals, so the husband will be glued to the TV watching that and cheering on the Red Wings. I've been trying to use up things we have in our freezers and pantry, and we had an almost full pacakge of frozen bread dough, so I figured grilled pizzas were the way to go! And we haven't had them in quite awhile. I'll probably put them back in to rotation now that it's heating up because we like to grill in the summer so the kitchen doesn't get as hot.

Here's a nice tutorial on grilling pizzas if you haven't done it before:

Cooking Light's How To Grill Pizzas

My directions for it are below. I use the frozen bread dough you get at the grocery store, like Rhodes. Only I get the store brand because it's cheaper. You can also make them with the refrigerated dough from stores like Trader Joe's or Fresh & Easy. I don't think I've tried them with the Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough, but I imagine it would work. Or you can make your own dough. I've done that before when we didn't have the frozen bread dough. I just like the frozen becaue it's cheap and easy. I'm all about cheap and easy. I make two pizzas from each loaf of frozen bread dough, then we can pick our own toppings.

Grilled Pizzas
Preheat grill to medium heat. Place dough on grill rack, close lid. Dough will take 5-7 minutes. Check it occasionally for bubbles. Once the bottom is golden brown (or at least not burned...ours don't always get golden brown I guess), flip the crust over. This can be tricky and may require two spatulas, depending on the size of your crust. Turn heat down to low or move pizza(s) to top rack if your grill has one. Put toppings on the side you just cooked. Close lid. Check after five minutes, cook until cheese is melted.

*****

Tonight I'm making four different pizzas. Last time we had grilled pizzas as a family, I found out that one loaf of dough wasn't really enough for the three of us, so I'm using two loaves tonight. We're having:

pepperoni

cheese

mushroom and black olive

spinach, roased red peppers, and caramelized onion

Normally I throw some feta on the red pepper pizza, but this baby growing inside me makes me think feta tastes like puke. So, no feta this time. Oh how I miss it so!! I haven't decided yet if I'll saute the spinach first or just throw the leaves on the pizza. I wanted to do a super veggie pizza, but I cheaped out when I was at the grocery store. Green peppers were $1.25 each!! Lordy mama that's expensive! They were the same price as red peppers. So, mushroom and black olive it will be. Which is fine with me...that's one of my favorites, and I rarely get to have it becaue the husband doesn't like olives.

Man alive, this was a long post! I'm off to continue my productive day and assemble a bookcase for our play room. It's only been sitting out in the garage since March.

Grilled Pizzas

Well, the husband is on the mend. Woo hoo!! We're having grilled pizzas tonight, and I'm so excited! We haven't had them in quite awhile. I bought two crusts at Trader Joe's today...one plain and one garlic and herb. I'm hoping to get two pizzas out of each dough, but we'll see. I don't remember how big they are. I'm going to use the plain crust for BBQ Chicken Pizza. The garlic and herb I think I'm going to do one margherita pizza (basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella) and one with red peppers, caramelized onions, and feta. I have a red pepper I need to use, so I thought that would be good.

For the BBQ Chicken Pizza I mix chicken with some BBQ sauce, not a lot, just enough to lightly coat each piece. I use BBQ sauce as the sauce for the crust. For cheese I do a mixture of smoked mozzarella and regular mozzarella. Then I top it with cilantro or green onions. Yum!!

Since it's been awhile since we've done grilled pizzas, here's a link to a tutorial on how to grill them in case you haven't tried it:

Cooking Light's How to Grill Pizzas

It says on there to flip after three minutes, but we've found it to be closer to five. It may depend on the grill, too. Grilling pizzas is totally addicting, so consider yourselves warned. I'm totally excited for this dinner tonight, plus we're going to have baked brie as a pre-dinner snack!

Pizza

Think of the soup recipe as another special bonus. There have been a lot of those this week! Tonight we're grilling pizzas after the little man is in bed. I wasn't sure what toppings to have, then I remembered we have all the stuff for one of the fancy ones we had a couple weeks ago--feta, caramelized onions, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers. YUM!! I can't wait!