Artichoke Pizza with Ricotta and Parsley

Yes, this is my awkward upside down photo- it's not your eyes.

Um... pizza. Yum. We like all kinds around here. Pepperoni and jalapeno, goat cheese and roasted red bell pepper, marinara and green pepper, ricotta and roasted asparagus..... and this, the latest invention: artichoke hearts +ricotta +parsley.

Easy peasy kinda stuff.

Pizza comes in handy when you need something laid-back, inexpensive (well, depending...), but when you need something to impress.

This will impress you. If you like what's on top of it, that is.

Artichoke-heart Pizza with Ricotta and Parsley

1 cup ricotta cheese (more or less)

1 15-oz can of artichoke hearts, drained

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

Coarse salt and pepper

Fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1 recipe lazy whole wheat pizza dough

Olive Oil

Roll out pizza dough to desired circumference. Using a pastry brush, stroke olive oil all over the surface and sprinkle with a little coarse salt. Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown-ish and then remove and allow to cool momentarily.

Mix ricotta cheese and garlic cloves together with a pinch of pepper. Spread this over pizza crust. Scatter artichoke hearts all over with parsley. Eat semi-warm or cold.

Lazy Pizza Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 package active dry yeast

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Combine warm water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Allow to "proof" or foam for 5-10 minutes. Add flour, oil, and salt. Mix with your hands until mostly incorporated and then dump out onto a semi-floured surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until it's nice and smooth-- allow to rise for 1 hour. Roll out as desired. Makes at least 2 large pizza crusts.

Please note, I don't exactly measure out these ingredients, but I know it's pretty close to this-- it may be a little more olive oil, perhaps a snitch less- you'll have to gauge how dry or moist the dough is once the flour is added and go from there. Follow your heart on it:).

Squash Pizza with Thyme and Goat Cheese

Yesh, it looks like Philadelphia out there when I peep through our blinds, yet it feels like the heart of the Sahara desert. Turning on the oven amplifies this mega-heat problem significantly and had we not suffered a crock pot causality early last week, well, you bet that appliance would've been knocking out dinner left and right. Oh well. RIP, crocky.

Pizza sounded like the next best thing. Reason number 112 why I hate to say goodbye to Philly? My neighborhood grocer, Trader Joes. We've had some good times with that place. Their pizza dough is fantastic tasting, might I insert, and fantastically priced. It makes it into my grocery cart nine times out of ten.

Tonight with semi-questionable but still edible goat cheese lurking about in our fridge, squash, zucchini, and some few sprigs of thyme, we had dinner. Really good. Really versatile. Here's how it went.

A Summer Pizza

1 recipe, or 1 Trader Joes bag, pizza dough

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 zucchini squash, thinly sliced

1 yellow summer squash, thinly sliced

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

olive oil

salt

3 ounces goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sliced squash in a colander with lots of salt over it and place on top of plate. Allow to sit for 15-30 minutes (this step helps get some of the residual moisture out of the squash).

Roll out pizza dough to desired size (we baked ours in a rectangular jelly roll pan). Place in pan and brush the surface with olive oil. Scatter the dough with minced garlic. Place squash, onion, and cheese all over. Season with thyme, salt and pepper, if desired.

Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Goat Cheese and Roasted Garlic Pizza

Our friends had us over recently for dinner and served us this brilliant concoction. The roof of my mouth and tongue are still being nursed to full recovery because I couldn't slow myself down while inhaling it! Yum. I made it for lunch today and again, burned my mouth on that hot but succulent cheese! I really, really love this recipe; it's almost better than dessert. Almost.

One major plus is that it's a very flexible and versatile recipe. I don't have exact measurements for it, but you can use a bit more of this or a bit more of that to cater it your taste buds.

Okay, enjoy! I know you will.

Goat Cheese Pizza with

Roasted Garlic and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

1 recipe pizza dough of your choice

Goat cheese, crumbled

Real mozzarella cheese, sliced

Sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and sliced

2 heads of garlic

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400. Set garlic heads on counter top and cut each top of with sharp knife. Place garlic in a sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil and wrap up tightly. Cook in oven for 20 minutes or so. Remove from oven, take out of aluminum foil, and allow to cool until you can handle it. Once it's able to be handled (or maybe you have nice calluses on your fingertips!:)), squeeze from bottom of garlic head up towards top and the roasted garlic cloves should come spilling out and onto a cutting board. Run your knife through it and dice into pieces.

Roll out your pizza dough to desired shape. Place on pizza stone or sheet pan, and begin your layering of goat cheese, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, and chopped garlic pieces. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Bake in oven until crust is done and cheese is oozy.

Feta, Caramelized Onion, and Mushroom Pizza

I'll fain admit right now that some of my most favorite dishes include a strong cheese and some hefty garlic. I really like caramelized onion too.

But, no real story or creative words to dish out on this one. Fetus was in the mood simply for a "sauceless" pizza of sorts with sharp flavors. So we picked up some ingredients at the store I thought might marry well together.

Come to find out, it's a very likable dish with a very versatile nature to it: include the mushroom, exclude it, use portabello instead or a normal white button, exchange the feta for blue cheese, dare I say. Swap the caramelized onion for caramelized pear.

It's yours to play with.

My husband really liked it too. Henry didn't try it which means I'm two for three on this dish in the family:).

Toodles!

Pizza with Caramelized Onion, Crimini Mushroom, and Feta

1 recipe pizza dough (or store bought dough), rolled out to fit pan

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2-3 medium onions, sliced in half moons

1 package crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp butter

Salt and pepper

4-6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1-2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Spread out pizza dough to fit the desired pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, place olive oil, butter, onions, and mushrooms in a large saute pan over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very tender and caramelized (mushrooms will cook quickly). Remove from heat, drain any excess liquid.

Place dough in oven for about 5-7 minutes, until it's halfway baked- just barely light.

Assemble other ingredients during this time: mince garlic, chop parsley, and crumble feta. Once dough is removed from oven, scatter minced garlic all over the dough. Spread the onion and mushroom mixture over the garlic (tasting to make sure they are well seasoned), and then sprinkle feta cheese all over that.

Bake for another 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted soft and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh parsley, cut, and serve warm.

Pizza with Ricotta and Goat Cheese

I'm here at my mom's having a ball: QT together, nice view of the mountains, and relishing in her lovely kitchen with lots of counter space:).

Felt like pizza yester evening. Winged my own pizza dough from a yeast, water, sugar, salt, flour, and olive oil concoction, only allowing 15 minutes to rise because I wanted a thinner crust.... and then I rolled it out to an oblong shape, placed it on a large jelly roll sheet, and went crazy with the toppings.

It started out with mushrooms sitting in the fridge looking at me with a frown, begging to be used or discarded. Same with the fresh spinach. So, I took the two, and in a large skillet, sauteed them with 3 cloves of minced garlic, lots of salt and pepper, and PAM. Removed from heat, and allowed to sit.

I then spread Ricotta cheese all over the pizza dough. I sliced up ripe tomatoes very thinly and placed those over the entire surface as well, with the sauteed spinach-mushroom mixture on top. I then finished it all off with 6 ounces of goat cheese, crumbled it to death, and sprinkled that all over.

It baked in a hot 425 oven for about 25 minutes until the crust was golden and the goat cheese had melted.

I loved using the ricotta cheese as my 'sauce' and flavoring it up with the tang of goat cheese, as well as the garlic. Next time around, I'd like to add some sauteed shallots, perhaps another clove of garlic, and just maybe some fresh herbs.

Ricotta Vegetable Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough

8 ounces Ricotta cheese

5-6 ounces goat cheese

Vegetables of your choice (make sure they are either blanched or sauteed first- particularly if using asparagus, spinach, or the 'shroom).

Salt and pepper

3-4 cloves garlic

Follow my instructions above or improvise on your own!

Enjoy.

BBQ Chix Pizza With Bacon and Pepper

When was the last time you ate BBQ pizza? No seriously. Am I just the weird one here who hasn't eaten the stuff in 6 years--- really, I can even tell you the last place I had it: Porcupine Grill.

Oh it's good stuff. We've been on pizza kicks this last year, many thanks to our neighborhood Trader Joes that sells bags of whole wheat pizza dough by the buck. With that hook up around the corner, pizzas have been coming out of our ears.

Anywho.

With some leftover bacon, a 2 inch square of sharp white cheddar cheese, we concocted this popular dish with our own touches. I know my photograph probably makes you want to barf, but it, honest to Pete, was deliciously messy and tasty...... Used up 3 paper towels on my own, just to clean off my mouth and fingers.... And needed a toothbrush afterwards with some strong mouthwash. That kind of deliciously messy.

So Long! Enjoy the fall leaves!!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

{...with green pepper, bacon, and Gouda}

1 store bought pizza crust or 1 pkg of store bought pizza dough
1- 2 bottles of your most beloved BBQ sauce (we went Trader Joes brand this time)
1 lb chicken breasts
1 green pepper, sliced
1 small onion,sliced
4 strips bacon, cooked and cut up
1 cup smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sharp Vermont white cheddar cheese, shredded
Cilantro, to garnish


In a tight ziploc bag, pour 2/3 cup or so of bbq sauce in it along with chicken. Stick in fridge and allow to marinate for a couple of hours.

Pour chicken and marinade and juices into a baking dish and bake at 325 until chicken is just done. Let cool and cut into pieces.

Preheat your oven to 425. On your pizza stone or whatever sheet pan you prefer for pizza baking, place dough or prepared crust on it.

Spread the remaining bottle of BBQ sauce all over the surface of it. Cover it with remaining toppings in any fashion (except for cilantro) and bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is oozing over.

Garnish with cut-up cilantro and eat while it's hot hot hot!

Like I Said..

More Eggplant!!

I had leftover eggplant from this pasta dish so we continued the rubber fun and made pizza one night. Oh, yes, my husband did cooperate and eat it.

My commentary on this will be short and concise (give thanks for that) however I must add that I thought this was fairly tasty and please please for the love use fresh herbs instead of the dried stuff, K?

Eggplant Pizza

1 ball of whole wheat pizza dough (recipe follows)
Cornmeal
1/2 of a large eggplant, cut into quarter-inch slices
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffionaded (or fresh Italian parsley, etc)
Balsamic vinegar

dish with cornmeal (just a dusting will do). On a floured surface, roll out your dough to about the size of the pan and place inside the pan, forming it to cover all the corners.

Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil. Place slices of eggplant all over, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle more olive oil over. Sprinkle shredded cheese so it covers most the pizza. Bake until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven. Top with fresh basil and balsamic vinegar, if desired.

Cut into squares and eat it hot hot hot!


Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 packets active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp coarse salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

Place water in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and let it stand until somewhat foamy, about 5 minutes. Whisk in sugar, salt and oil. Stir in flours with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms (and it is goopy beware!). Transfer to a bowl that's been sprayed with PAM and brush the the top of the dough with olive oil. Cover with a towel and let stand in a warm spot for about an hour.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth, about 30 seconds or less. Divide into two balls.

Use one ball for eggplant pizza and either freeze the other ball (wrapped in plastic- good for 3 months) or store in fridge for up to a few days.

Mexican Pizzia

I adore Mexican food. I crave avocado's and lime. Pizza dough is always good. And my body needed some fiber. Presto Pizza!

Fiesta Pizza

1 whole wheat pizza crust-dough*
2 cans refried black beans**
2-3 plum tomatoes,diced
Mexican-blend cheese
Jalapeno,sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1-2 avocados,diced
Dash of Frank's Red hot sauce
Cilantro, chopped up
Lime juice-2-3 limes needed


Preheat oven to 375. Roll out pizza dough on either a pizza pan or a jelly-roll sheet. Spread black beans all over crust. Sprinkle tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, then cheese all over the black beans. Bake for 25 minutes or so until crust is golden brown and cheese is fully melted and sizzlin... Remove from oven, and spread diced avocado and cilantro all over. Squeeze lime juice and hot sauce all over as well. Is there another way to say "all over"? Sorry for the repetition! And eat hot.


*I bought a .99 cent whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joes and it's just fabulous if you have a TJ's by you. You can always make a simple whole wheat crust- yeast, water, w.w. flour, salt and olive oil.
** I found refried black beans which were perfect, but if you can't, mash up regular black beans or process them with a little olive oil until they come into a saucy, smooth-chunky consistency.

Unconventionally Refreshing

I know-lemons on your pizza- sick woman! What are you thinking? I kept asking myself, Self, do you really wish to bite into lemon slices on your pizza??? My curiosity got the better of me and to my utter delight, this was such a treat to make and indulge in- I was totally pleased with the results and look, if you're skeptical, even my husband uttered an, "Hmm it's good" (I did however, in the goodness of my heart, make one half of the pizza a marinara- based jalapeno cheese version- his favorite). Don't be intimidated by the fancy- pants sound of "Piave" cheese- it's simply an aged cow's cheese that has a similar undertone to Parmesan and you should be able to track down at a grocery store. I did a few things differently from what MS LIVING printed in their issue and my changes are shown.


Lemon-Piave Pizza
{Martha Stewart, Living, May 2009}


1 recipe dough (my recipe down below)
3-4 ounces shredded Piave cheese (my micro plane zester worked fantastic for this job)
6-8 very thinly sliced lemons, seeds OUT
Red onion, thinly sliced (eyeball how much red onion you want on it- I wish I'd put more on)
1 tsp Herbs de Provence (or original recipe calls for fresh rosemary sprigs)
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground cracked pepper

Spread dough out on a round pan. Top with lemon and onion slices. Sprinkle herbs all over, as well as pepper. Drizzle olive oil all over and pop in the oven, either broil or bake at 400 degree's until dough is well brown.


Dough

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups warm water+a sprinkle of sugar
4- 5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp olive oil


Dissolve yeast in a large bowl with water and a sprinkle of sugar (the sugar helps the yeast to "come alive"). Let proof for 10 minutes. Add 4 cups of flour. Add salt and oil. If you need more flour at this point, go ahead and sprinkle some more in, tablespoon by tablespoon. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for a few minutes until it comes in a smooth, round shape. Grease bowl, and place dough ball back in. Cover and let rise for at least one hour at room temperature.

When ready to bake off pizzas, I tried to do the whole Italian pizza dough toss thing in the air and though it nearly landed on the floor multiple times, it did help in stretching it out and aiding in the dough's desired circular shape. My tossing dough capabilities are a bit rusty to say the least!! ha ha ha.

pizza pizza

Spinach-Feta Pizza

Serves 6-8


1 recipe pizza dough*
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil
½ tsp garlic salt
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms
½ cup sliced red onions
1 beefsteak tomato, thinly sliced, or cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tbs chopped fresh basil
Balsamic Vinegar, for drizzling


Preheat oven to 375 d's. Spread dough out onto desired pizza pan (can use round shape, or a smaller sized cookie sheet). I sprinkled cornmeal over my crust, particularly the edges, but it's certainly optional. Using a pastry brush, spread olive oil all over the crust. Sprinkle garlic salt all over, along with minced garlic cloves. I sauteed my onions, spinach, and mushrooms in a skillet with olive oil before topping pizza. You may either do that or leave them raw and skip that step. At any rate, spread veggies (including tomatoes) over crust. Top with cheeses and fresh basil. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese has melted. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar just before serving, if you like the stuff.

* So, my pizza crust recipe was a bit random and made-up, but I'll try to re-create here as best I can: take one envelope yeast, dissolve it with 1 cup warm water, and gently stir around with 1 tsp sugar. Let raise for 10 minutes or so. Add 2-3 cups flour (might need more), 1/2 tsp or so of salt, approx. 1 tbsp olive oil and mix (use your hands or a bread hook attachment). Knead for a couple minutes, leave in bowl, cover with towl, store in a warm place, and let rise for one hour. See what I mean? You may just want to use your own recipe or buy a crust.