Stromboli

This recipe comes from my favorite magazine, Real Simple. And just as the title suggests, it is pretty simple.

pizza dough (Use this recipe or this one, or just buy the refrigerated ones)

1/4 lb. sliced salami

4 c. fresh spinach

1/2 lb. thinly sliced provolone

olive oil

Shape the dough into a 12-by-15-inch rectangle. Top with salami, spinach, and provolone. Working from a short end, roll us the dough. Place seam-side down on an oiled baking sheet; brush with olive oil. Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown, 25-30 minutes.

I have made this recipe several times and we really enjoy it. Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients for your favorite toppings. Last night I used ham, provolone, tomatoes, and mushrooms because that's what I had on hand.

Be creative!

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Pizza- The Easy Way

So I love pizza. Homemade pizza is over the moon better than the store bought- or even Pizza Hut kind! (Well, except for stuffed crust) Anyway, I had been using this recipe. But you have to plan ahead and let the dough rise and all that nonsense. I'm not good at dinners that take longer than 20 minutes prep time. I simply don't like it. So I found a recipe that makes its way around all that! It was amazing. Even my husband liked it. (his one complaint was that I used whole wheat flour to make a whole wheat crust. Oooh- sorry for being a bit healthy!)
I'm making it again this week- with a compromise, half whole wheat flour, half white flour. Should be good. I also found "pizza dough yeast" at the store today, so I'm going to try that out as well! So here it is! Have fun! 




The Sauce:

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic salt

pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and blend until desired consistency. All the seasonings can be modified depending on taste – add what you like! (I messed up and misread tablespoon instead of teaspoon halfway into it- put 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon oregano on there. I thought I was done for! But no! It tasted great! That's the kind of recipe I need more of!) 

The Dough:

3 cups flour, more or less
1 tablespoon honey, heaping
1 tablespoon oil, heaping
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. (If using a pizza stone, let stone heat for at least 30 minutes in the oven before baking pizza.) Put the yeast into the warm water and let it do its thing. Then mix the rest of the ingredients together, except the flour. Add flour and knead for a bit then put it into your chosen method of baking. If baking in a sheet pan, bake for about 12 minutes (checking often) until crust is browned and cheese is golden and bubbly. If baking on the preheated pizza stone, slide pizza onto stone and bake for about 8 minutes.

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Pita Pizza

Much akin to Pita Tostadas, these are easy to make, and easy to let kids help! I often just buy two packs of pitas and have Pita Tostadas and Pita Pizzas in the same week.

6 Pitas
1 jar pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
toppings- pepperoni, ham, chicken, olives, onion, green pepper, pineapple chunks, mushrooms, etc.

Preheat oven (or handy toaster oven!) to 350, make up your own pita pizza and arrange them on cookie trays. Cook in the oven for 10 mins, until cheese is melted and golden.

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Pizza Dough

Since Becca gave me some awesome pizza topping ideas, I thought I would share a secret that will ruin every pizza for you forever. Those frozen ones will look like chopped liver. Somehow, I feel like I should apologize. But if even I can make pizza from scratch, so can you! (I got this from Style Lush- so no one sues me)

2 c. warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp oil (optional)
1 tsp salt
4 c. flour (more as needed to make dough workable)
cornmeal (optional bottom)

Mix warm water, yeast, and sugar.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes.  (The yeast needs to eat some sugar so it can do its magic.)  Add oil, salt, and flour.  Knead and let double in size.  (One hour to one and a half hours.)   Sprinkle pizza pan, baking sheet or counter with cornmeal, smush and gently pull dough into pizza shape, put it on prepared surface and apply toppings as desired.

Makes two big pizzas.  Bake on preheated baking sheet, pizza pan or pizza stone on lowest rack at 425 until edges are brown.

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PIZZA!!!

I was on a pizza kick the other day, but wanted it to be semi-healthy. I love buying pre-made crusts and just throwing a bunch of stuff on them. It's fun!

For this pizza I used

-1 medium zucchini

-a handful of grape tomatoes

- a handful of green onions

- Ranch salad, spritzer (normal Ranch would be just fine)

Brush the crust with a little EVOO and decorate your pizza with the remaining ingredients. Then throw on a couple handfuls of whatever cheese you want (I used mozzarella) and bake according to the packaged crust directions. Mine was a whole wheat thin crust and came out almost flat bread/cracker texture. I loved it, but the hubs likes a thicker, bready crust.

My version of CPK's BBQ Chicken Pizza!

-1 pre-made crust

- a couple glugs of your favorite BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's... all the way!! Woot woot!)

- 1-2 grilled chicken breasts (or enough off a rotisserie to your liking)

- diced or julienned red onions (I buy them pre-cut along with my green onions... I HATE cutting oninos)

- small handful of green onions (not pictured)

- mozzarella cheese, as much as you want

Brush the crust with a bit of EVOO then squirt on a nice, thin layer of BBQ sauce. Cut up the chicken and arrange that on top with the rest of your ingredients, with the cheese last. Bake according to crust package directions.

YUM... enjoy!

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