One Crust, Three Pizzas

Here's another catch up post - I made this about two weeks ago while watching the Wings raise their latest Stanley Cup banner. They lost to the Leafs, but the Wings were probably just a little tired from celebrating all summer - the Leafs have been on vacation & relaxing since the end of April......sorry Leafs fans, I couldn't help it :)

I love it on pizza, but Jamie doesn't - so I decided to make mini pizzas that have different toppings which we like. It would have been even better with homemade dough, but I just didn't have the time, so I used a pre-made dough. And sorry for the dark pictures, my natural light was long gone - I really need to start cooking earlier.

Pizza Trio

1 roll Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Preheat the oven to 350. Roll out the dough on a baking sheet sprayed lightly with non-stick spray (I like olive oil flavored). Cut dough into three equal portions and spread apart slightly so they don't touch.

Put the crust in the oven for about 5 minutes to pre-bake, this will make the crust a little crispier. Remove and put on the toppings:

Pizza 1:

basil pesto
goat cheese
roma tomato, thinly sliced

Easy Basil Parsley Pesto

1.5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves, packed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced

Combine herbs, pine nuts & garlic in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and continue to blend and slowly add the rest of the oil until mixture is smooth. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Spread a thin layer of pesto on the dough, add cheese and toppings.

Pizza 2:
shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
shredded aged white cheddar cheese
thinly sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
thinly sliced red onion

Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over dough, add cheeses, and top with veggies.

Pizza 3:
basil pesto
shredded part skim mozzarella
pepperoni
thinly sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
thinly sliced red onion
pepperoni
pizza sauce I cut my recipe in half and reserved the rest for later use

Garlicky Pizza Sauce

6 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup (or more if required) of water
4 cloves garlic, minced1 tbsp oregano
1.5 tsp dried onion
1.5 tsp dried basil
dash of sugar
kosher salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl & let flavors blend. It makes enough for 2 large pizzas.

Mix together some pesto and pizza sauce, spread a thin layer over dough, then layer mozzarella cheese and toppings.

Return to the oven and bake for approximately 8-10 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

Chicken Soup For The Sick Cook's Soul

I've been sick all week, and was craving some homemade soup. The weather finally feels like Fall here, and I've wanted to make this ever since seeing this recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light. We both loved it - even though I usually make chicken soup with homemade stock, this turned out wonderful and had that homemade feel; I think having the fresh herbs in the soup as well as in the dumplings helped.

There were a couple of firsts in this recipe for me - I've never made/had chicken thighs, nor have I made dumplings without Bisquick. I'm definitely a white meat-type person, but the thighs added great flavor, so I'll keep adding them to my soup, and the dumplings were so easy and used only a couple of ingredients that I already had, I don't need to buy Bisquick again.

For some of the broth I used White Wine & Herb chicken broth, and I think it added a lot of great flavor. If you can't find that, I'm sure even adding a little white wine to regular broth would have a similar effect.

And one final piece of advice - make more dumplings than the recipe states - they are wonderful and you'll want to load your bowl up and there won't be any left when you go back for seconds!



Herbed Chicken and Dumplings
from Cooking Light

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 2 cups) I doubled the following amounts, plus more flour, salt & parsley to make a larger amount of dumplings

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces I used 6 chicken thighs and two chicken breasts
3/4 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut celery
1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme I used about 1 tsp of thyme
3 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth I used 5 cups of fat-free stock and 1 cup of College Inn White Wine & Herb broth
2.25 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk

Preparation:

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add celery and next 5 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute. Add broth to pan; bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, chopped parsley, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk, stirring just until moist. Spoon by heaping teaspoonfuls into broth mixture; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until dumplings are done. Discard parsley sprigs and bay leaf. I removed the parsley and chopped it in smaller pieces and put back in the soup.

Easy As Mexican Pie

I was feeling like Mexican, but didn't want plain old tacos. After browsing through some blogs, I found a recipe that sounded great. I had the ingredients on hand, and it meant that my poor, rarely used springform pan would get some action time in the oven. We loved this dinner, layers of tortillas, Mexican seasoned beef, black beans, enchilada sauce...it looks impressive, but it so easy...what's not to love? And the leftovers are just as good. I made some changes to the recipe, the original ones can be seen in the links below.


Before.... and trying to wait patiently for 25 minutes....

After...25 minutes are up, time to dig in!


Tortilla and Black Bean Pie
adapted from Delicious Meliscious & Liz's Cooking Blog

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 small jar enchilada sauce
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 large onion, diced
1 can fire roasted diced green chilies
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ancho chili powder
2 tsp Mexican chili powder
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
12 ounces Mexican beer
8-10 oz frozen corn
4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
2 1/2-3 cups shredded Mexican or cheddar cheese
1 tomato, seeded and diced
sour cream and salsa, for serving

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a paring knife, trim tortillas to fit a 9-inch springform pan, using the bottom of the pan as a guide. Set aside.

Brown ground beef and drain fat.

Add onion, diced chilies, garlic, cumin and chili powders; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add beans and beer to skillet, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in corn, and remove from heat.

Fit a trimmed tortilla in bottom of springform pan; layer with 1/4 of the meat & beans, spoon some enchilada sauce over top (maybe 3-4 spoonfuls) and 1/2 cup cheese.

Repeat three times, using 1-1.5 cups of cheese on top layer. Bake until hot and cheese is melted, 20 to 25 minutes. Unmold pie; spoon any extra enchilada sauce on top, then sprinkle with scallions & diced tomatoes.

To serve, slice into wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa if desired.

Not Quite From The Blue Box....

Since we were out much of the weekend, I didn't really plan dinner this past Sunday night. I wanted something quick and on-hand, so the thought of Kraft Mac & Cheese was pretty appealing - hey - every meal can't be homemade/gourmet/healthy! I was disappointed to discover that there was none in my pantry - I didn't have enough "real" cheese on hand, nor the patience to find a recipe for homemade mac & cheese. However, I discovered some Velveeta and elbow noodles, and 30 minutes later - presto - mac & cheese. It doesn't compare to using "real" cheese, but it sure was good & quick!

Velveeta Down-home Macaroni & Cheese
from Kraft

Prep Time:20 min
Total Time:40 min
Makes:5 servings, 1 cup each

What You Need

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, divided
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk I used skim
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked, drained
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese I used 2% Milk Medium Cheddar
6 RITZ Crackers, crushed I omitted

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F. Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in medium saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in flour; cook 2 min., stirring constantly. Gradually stir in milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add VELVEETA; cook 3 min. or until melted, stirring frequently. Stir in macaroni.

SPOON into 2-qt. casserole sprayed with cooking spray; sprinkle with shredded cheese. Melt remaining butter; toss with cracker crumbs. Sprinkle over casserole.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

Menu - Week of October 12th

I'm trying to use up items from around the house & eat cheap this week:

Sunday - Mac & cheese

Monday - Leftover pasta & salad

Tuesday - Beef & black bean Mexican tortilla pie

Wednesday - Breakfast for Dinner - Jamie is cooking, my night off in the kitchen

Thursday - Herbed chicken and dumpling stew

Friday - Pretzel chicken w/honey mustard dipping sauce, roasted red potatoes & asparagus

Saturday - Watching sports - tacos, chicken wings and artichoke spinach dip

I Love My (Pumpkin) Kisses Spicy!

New to Halloween and Fall this year, is Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses. (Hint - I've only been able to find them at Target) I wanted to make a dessert for the big tailgate party for the U of Michigan game, and to make something with these little treats, so these Pumpkin Spice Brownies fit the bill.

But I'll confess - this was the second batch - the first one turned out kind of dry. I'm still pretty new to baking, and this was my first attempt at plain brownies (I've made ones with cheesecake before). If you love pumpkin, you'll love these. I'll definitely be making these again - I better head to Target and stock up.

Pumpkin Spice Brownies
from My Yummy Goodness & Dinner & Dessert

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces, at room temperature
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
45 Hershey’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Kisses, unwrapped

Getting ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.Whisk the flour, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon together.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate melts. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring until it melts. It’s important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you’ve got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them-it’s better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated-you’ll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds-the dry ingredients won’t be completely incorporated. Then finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula. Fold in the raisins, along with any liquid remaining in the pan. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Place the unwrapped kisses in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, and then drop by spoonfuls into the brownie batter. Using a knife, swirl the batter to create a marbled effect.Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Menu - Week of October 5th

I really need to get back to posting my menus on time. I've been out of town a lot recently, so we haven't always ate at home, or ate quickie non-blog worthy meals. However, three of this week's meals included things I previously made and froze.

Sunday - Whole wheat rotini with marinara (homemade from the freezer) & salad

Monday - Turkey burgers, corn, and oven fries

Tuesday - Black bean and chicken quesadillas

Wednesday - Homemade chicken potstickers, vegetable fried rice and steamed veggies with ginger-orange soy sauce

Thursday - It's Red Wings game watching night (Beat the Leafs!!!) - homemade pizza & chicken wings, still deciding on the exact toppings, but I know goat cheese will be involved...and of course some beer - we're loving Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale

Friday - baked ziti (under Italian & Pasta in my blog), salad and roasted garlic bread

Saturday - Going to the Nashville Predators season opener & eating downtown

Sunday - something healthy to make up for the naughty eating the previous three days