Taco Pizza

Margherita Pizza

For pizza, it probably doesn't get much healthier than this one!

For this one, we made a batch of pizza crust (1/3 all purpose flour, 1/3 whole wheat flour, 1/3 white whole wheat flour), used a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes (could use regular crushed tomatoes!), little bit of mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.  Super light for pizza, but tons of flavor!

Mushroom & Spinach White Pizza

This has become a new family favorite!

Just take the pizza dough recipe and make a white cream sauce, and top with mozzarella cheese, sliced baby bella mushrooms and fresh spinach!  YUM!

White Cream Sauce:

3 Tbsp butter

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup half and half

sprinkle of Italian seasoning

3 Tbsp grated romano cheese

Directions:

1.  In small sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter.  Add garlic and cook for about a minute.

2.  Add half and half and Italian seasoning.  Whisk together and cook for 2 to 10 minutes (however long you have), whisking well every minute or two.

3.  Remove from heat and add romano cheese.  Stir well.

Na'an - WEMP Free!

So this is my experiment for Na'an for Derek...It turned out great!
I also used it as a pizza crust for him because it only takes 1 hour to rise, instead of 2...that turned out great too! A little difficult to work with, but it was quick!

Ingredients:
3 cups wheat-free flour mix
2 teaspoons xanthum gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 cup vanilla dairy-free (soy) yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil, for coating

Optional:
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl by hand), stir together the flour, xanthum gum, salt, baking powder, sugar, yeast, and baking soda. In a small bowl, mix together the egg replacer and water. Stir in dairy-free yogurt, soy milk, vinegar, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients and mix for about 1 minute, until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the wet ingredients.
2. Increase machine speed to 2 (or by hand) and knead the dough until it is smooth and shiny. Remove the bowl from the mixer, coat doughball with olive oil, and cover with a towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until the dough doubles in size, about an hour.
3. Put a baking stone or heavy baking sheet on the lowest rack of your oven. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.
4. Divide the dough into eight pieces and form into teardrop (mine were more like oval) shapes with your hands, about 6 to 8 inches across.
5. Cook two or three pieces at a time. Drop the dough onto the hot stone and shut the oven door, watching until they are just starting to turn brown in places, about 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Remove the naan and lay on a board. Serve warm with a nice curry. (The original recipe says to butter the naan with garlic butter after it comes out of the oven but I did this with the first batch and found it made the bread too greasy for my taste - we much preferred the bread soft and tender without the butter. Follow your tastes and do what you prefer!)

Pleasing Potato Pizza

OK, so I have to admit, I was skeptical. I LOVE pizza and I LOVED loaded baked potatoes...but together?! That sounded nuts.
It was the award winning pizza recipe from Taste of Home though...so I figured since they've never steered me wrong even once, I'd give it a try. And you know what?! It was fantastic!

Pleasing Potato Pizza

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 pizza crust (homemade or store-bought)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound sliced bacon, diced (OR 1 package pre-cooked bacon pieces - I use these!)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped sweet red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
**I also added a minced up jalapeno pepper, seeds and membrane removed
sour cream, optional

Directions:
1. Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until very tender.
2. Preheat oven to 550 degrees with large round stone in place on rack in middle of oven.
3. Unroll (or flatten out) pizza crust onto large pizza peel, sprinkled generously with coarse corn flour (to keep from sticking!).
4. Drain potatoes and transfer to a mixing bowl. Mash with milk and salt until smooth. Spread over crust. In a skillet, partially cook the bacon. Add onion and red pepper; cook until bacon is crisp and vegetables are tender. Drain well; sprinkle over potatoes. Top with cheeses and jalapenos.
5. Bake for approximately 7-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is fully melted.
6. Serve with sour cream, if desired.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

This was my own creation! SO GOOD!

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust (see post)
1/4 cup blue cheese dressing
1/4 cup franks hot wing sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 small red onion, sliced
1 cup cooked chicken (I used rotisserie chicken)
cooked bacon, if desired

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 550 degrees. Make and roll out pizza crust, if necessary.
2. Mix together blue cheese and hot wing sauce.
3. Spread sauce over pizza.
4. Add chicken, red onion, and top with cheese.
5. Sprinkle with cooked bacon.
6. Bake for about 7-10 minutes until hot and bubbly, and crust just starts to brown.

Diana's Breakfast Pizza

A friend from MOPS, Diana, made this last year...and it was outstanding! I've been meaning to make it, but with Julie not able to eat eggs now, I don't seem to ever get around to it! :-(

Ingredients:
Pizza dough
10 eggs
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
4 green onions
handful frozen spinach, thawed and drained
salt and pepper
cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:
1. Make pizza dough the night before and place in refrigerator over night. Remove from fridge one hour before making pizza, leaving it on the counter to warm up and rise.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, then add red and yellow peppers, onions, spinach, and salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
3. Using a large rectangle pan/stone (coated with olive oil if not a stone!), spread out pizza dough. Bake for about 10 minutes. Then, pour egg mixture on top and bake for an additional 40 minutes.
4. Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Grands Mini Pizzas

I found this recipe on Pillsbury.com and thought it was a great idea! Super quick and easy. Great way for the kids to help in the kitchen! We made some with pepperoni, and I used some pre-cooked bacon for the kids (they LOVE bacon pizza). Tasted pretty good...certainly not home made...but very tasty!

Grands Mini Pizzas

Ingredients:
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits (any variety)
1 cup pizza sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)
1/2 package (3.5-oz size) sliced pepperoni or other pizza toppings, as desired

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Place on 2 large or 3 small greased cookie sheets.
2. Top each biscuit with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni (and/or other pizza toppings).
3. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until bottoms are deep golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

Apple Jack Pizza with Caramelized Onions

I found this recipe on Pillsbury's website. It was one of the finalists for the million dollar prize one year for their annual Bake-Off. I changed it a tiny bit and posted the recipe as I did it.
I know it sounds weird to put apples on a chicken...especially with lots of cheese and chicken, but oh my goodness it was good! We'll definitely make this again!



INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 medium sweet onion, dice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust
1 unpeeled large Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1/3 cup cooked real bacon bits
2 medium green onions, sliced (2 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups shredded pepper Jack cheese (6 oz)
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (6 oz)


DIRECTIONS
1. In 12-inch skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add sweet onions and thyme; cook about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Stir in salt and pepper. Remove onions from skillet; set aside.
2. Heat oven to 425°F. Spray large cookie sheet with Non-Stick Cooking Spray. Unroll pizza crust dough on cookie sheet; press dough into 14x10-inch rectangle. Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until light golden brown. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.
3. Meanwhile, in same skillet, melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add apple and sugar; cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted and apple is slightly soft.
4. Spread onion mixture over partially baked crust. Top evenly with chicken, apple mixture, bacon, green onions and cheeses.
5. Bake 10 to 20 minutes longer or until cheeses are melted and crust is golden brown.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza (like Olive Garden's)

Here's my first attempt at making a Chicken Alfredo Pizza like Olive Garden's. It was pretty good! I'd probably use plain chicken instead of rotisserie seasoned next time, but other than that, it's pretty close!


Dough: Use the California Pizza Kitchen Dough recipe below.
When mixing flour, sugar, and salt together, add 1/4 tsp dried rosemary and 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Sauce: I started by using "Better than Olive Gardens Alfredo Sauce" recipe I found on Recipezaar.com. It looked really good! But it had mozzarella cheese in it and it curdled the whole thing! So, I redid it and made it my own:

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup salted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium/low heat.
2. In a bowl, combine milk, cornstarch, and flour. Whisk until smooth. Add the milk, garlic, and white pepper to the melted butter and bring mixture to a simmer.
3. Stir often.
4. Add the Parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened and is smooth.

Chicken:
Ingredients:
4 oz chicken from a rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup flour
olive oil
2-3 cloves of minced garlic

Directions:
1. Heat some olive oil up in a skillet and cook the chicken until done and browned on both sides. About 2 minutes before the chicken is done, add the garlic to the pan and cook along side with the chicken. Remove and shred or cut into small pieces. (I just cooked the pre-cooked chicken with the garlic for a minute or two).

Assembling the Pizza
Ingredients:
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Spread the Alfredo sauce on the pizza crust. Top with the chicken, sprinkle with 2-3 cloves minced garlic, then top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle top with green onions.

Bake about 7 to 8 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza Crust

This is the recipe we always use for our pizza crust. It's from the California Pizza Kitchen's cookbook, except that we triple the recipe to make 2 large pizzas. I've put the recipe here as we do it (tripled).

*****We found that the best dough is made by using an equal mixture of all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and white whole wheat flour.  Made a super flavorful crust that had a great texture!*****

California Pizza Kitchen Basic Pizza Dough

Makes dough for two large pizzas.

3 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
4 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
6 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus 2 tablespoons for coating bowls

To Make The Dough

Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Be sure that the water is hot. Temperatures of 120 degrees F and above will kill the yeast, and your dough will not rise.

We ALWAYS USE our upright KitchenAid mixer. Uuse the mixing paddle attachment because the batch size is too small for the dough hook to be effective. Combine all other ingredients (except the additional teaspoon of olive oil) and combine them with the dissolved yeast in the mixing bowl. (Do not pour the salt directly into the yeast water because this would kill some of the yeast.) Allow these ingredients to mix gradually, use the lowest 2 speeds to mix the dough. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Over-mixing the dough will produce tough, rubbery dough, and friction will cause the dough to rise too fast.

If mixing by hand, place the dry ingredients in a 4 to 6 quart mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the liquids (reserving the teaspoon of olive oil). Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients. Once initial mixing is done, you can lightly oil your hands and begin kneading the dough. Knead for 5 minutes. When done the dough should be slightly tacky (that is, it should be barely beyond sticking to your hands).

Lightly oil the dough ball and the interior of a 1-quart glass bowl. Place the dough ball in the bowl and seal the bowl with clear food wrap or cover with a very damp dish towel. Set aside at room temperature (70 to 70 degrees F) to rise until double in bulk - about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The recipe recommends letting it sit overnight in the fridge and then letting it rise again, but honestly, who has time for that? It's always great after the first rising, so I never bother doing all that. I can't plan that far ahead anyway!

To stretch and form the dough for pizza

Sprinkle a medium dusting of flour over a 12 x 12-inch clean, smooth surface. Flour the dough liberally. Place the floured dough on the floured smooth surface.

Use your hand to press the dough down forming a flat circle about 1/2-inch thick. Pinch the dough between your fingers all around the edge of the circle, forming a lip or rim that rises about 1/4-inch above the center surface of the dough. You may continue this outward stretching motion of the hands until you have reached a 9-inch diameter pizza dough.

To dress the pizza

Lightly sprinkle cornmeal, semolina or flour over the surface of a wooden pizza peel. Arrange the stretched dough over the floured peel surface. Work quickly to dress the pizza so that the dough will not become soggy or sticky from the sauces and toppings.

When you are ready to transfer the pizza to the pizza stone in the pre-heated oven, grasp the handle of the peel and execute a very small test jerk to verify that the pizza will come easily off the peel. If the dough does not move freely, carefully lift the edges of the dough and try to rotate it by hand. Extreme cases may require that you toss more flour under the dough edges.

Once the dough is moving easily on the peel, open the oven and position the edge of the peel over the center of the stone about 2/3 from the front of the stone. Jiggle and tilt the peel to get the pizza to start sliding off. When the pizza begins to touch the stone, pull the peel quickly out from under it. Don't attempt to move the pizza until it has begun to set (about 3 minutes). The peel can be slid under the pizza to move it or remove it.