I'll tell it like I did on Facebook - when I told Buppy I was making pizza for dinner on Friday night and not using the bread maker to 'cheat' to make the dough, his response was, well, not real positive. The first words out of his mouth were, "Do you want me to stop and pick some up? You know, just in case." No. I don't. C'mon now - I'm usually pretty great in the kitchen. Have a little faith man!
Now I'll admit, the crust was a bit thicker than I'd hoped for. I'm definitely a thin crust kind o' gal, so next time I think I'll divide the dough and simply make 2 pizzas. What's not to love about that? I used a rectangular baking sheet as opposed to the round 12" pizza pan the recipe suggested, which might account for a bit of the thickness. Maybe not; what do I know? Whatever the case though, I didn't even mind the crust being a little thicker; it was tasty-o! Plus, the thickness seemed a bit more balanced because I loaded that puppy up with toppings. Have I mentioned I love pizza lately? 'Cause I do. Good thing I work ooouuuuuutttttt!
Basic Pizza Crust
The Taste of Home Cookbook, p. 449
Beverly Anderson, Sinclairville, NY
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp. from a jar, which is what I used)
1 c. warm water (110F - 115F)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 - 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
Cornmeal
Pizza toppings of your choice
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the oil, sugar, salt and 1 1/2 c. flour; mix until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough; I ended up using 2 3/4 c. flour total to achieve this. Turn onto a floured surface, cover and let rise for 10 minutes; I used these 10 minutes to chop my toppings. Multi-tasking!
Roll the dough into a circle or rectangle depending on the pan you plan to use. I just noticed the recipe says to grease the pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Apparently I missed the "grease the pan" part last night; my pan only got cornmeal and the dough still released perfectly. I guess either way works! Oh, and side note: instead of rolling the dough next time, I might just use floured hands to press it into the pan, which is kind of what I had to eventually do last night anyway. I'm not sure rolling is necessary, although I suppose it helps to make it all a uniform thickness. I'll let you know . . .
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. The recipe suggests building up the edges slightly, but I didn't do this. Since the dough was thicker than anticipated at this point, I just pressed it to fit into the pan and made it all the same thickness. You make the call though - thicker-edge crust or not? Ah, decisions. Either way, do not let the crust rise while you hash this out with your inner self. Good luck.
Bake the crust (no toppings yet!) for 12 - 15 minutes in a preheated 425F oven; it should be a little brown when you pull it. Add your choice of toppings and bake for 10 - 15 minutes longer. Viola - pizza success! After Buppy's lack of confidence in me, I had to post a picture on Facebook to assure everyone (fine, myself, I admit it!) that I can, in fact, successfully make dough from scratch. And to be honest, it was so good, I don't see myself using anything else in the future. I love that feeling.
As for toppings, my 'za has chopped onion, sliced mushrooms, chopped black and green olives, sliced deli ham, crumbled bacon, pepperoni, sauce (which I still need to try to make from scratch) and an Italian cheese blend. Yes, it's as good leftover today as it was last night for dinner, possibly better. Enjoy!
Last Monday night's dinner was supposed to be a pizza braid, but that morphed into personal calzones since I was working with sticky dough and wasn't sure I could pull off the cuts and braiding. No worries, mate, it was still a tasty meal, and the best part was being able to personalize the fillings in each one. Tiny Tot #1 wanted cheese only, Tiny Tot #2 wanted pepperoni and cheese, and Buppy and I each had sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, sauteed onions, black and green olives and cheese. Lets just say the kids' calzones were much easier to seal than the adult ones.
The hardest part (if you can call it that) about this recipe is sealing the edges of each calzone. The dough didn't really want to cooperate, but I showed it who's boss, and only a little cheese managed to escape from one of the lesser-filled ones.
I used this pizza crust recipe made in my bread machine (does it get any easier?) to start with. Once it was done, I plopped out the dough, kneaded it a little (with oiled hands because it was sticky), then divided it into 4 equal portions. I rolled each portion out as best I could to look like a little mini pizza, then topped with sauce, each person's requested fillings and cheese. For a calzone, you basically just fill up half the mini pizza with your toppings/cheese, fold the empty half over and do your best to seal the edges. Hence Tiny Tot #2 calling dinner 'pizza folded over'. I did the 2 for the kids first, and while they were baking made mine and Buppy's. I made sure to poke a few holes in the first batch to allow some steam to escape, but that was unneccessary in the bigger ones because I tore the dough a bit. I'm gonna say I did it on purpose so I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of poking the holes. Believe what you want.
Give calzones a try sometime. They're a nice twist on the original pizza and could easily be stuffed with whatever you want. Be careful with super wet ingredients though, because if too much water cooks out of something (i.e. raw veggies), your dough will get soggy. I suggest sauteeing fresh veggies before cramming 'em in.
Lastly, to those of you who have asked about finding inexpensive bread machines --- there were 3 at my local Goodwill last time I checked (2 weeks or so ago). Good luck finding one in your area!
*Linked to Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday, 4/28/11.
I sure can't thank my sister enough for purchasing a bread maker for $5 from Goodwill and donating it to me. You see, where she lives, she can buy things at GW and return them if they don't work. Same was true when I lived in Wisco. But not here folks. Big, bold print at the bottom of the receipt states ALL SALES ARE FINAL. Makes me leery about buying anything that might not work, because regardless, I'd be stuck with it. So here's a big shout out to my sister for my free bread machine! I'm making quite a habit out of using it!
The first pizza dough recipe I tried with the bread machine was from allrecipes.com and had great reviews. I really like it, but variety is the spice of life. I decided to go to the bread machine manufacturer's website and see what kind of recipes they have, and that's where this one come from.
Pizza Dough
Slightly adapted from the Regal Breadmaker Guide and Cookbook
7.5 oz. water (between 100F-110F)
3/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. garlic powder
Measure all ingredients and add to the bread pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select the 'dough' setting and press the start/stop button. When the display reads 00:00, press the start/stop button again and remove the dough.
Preheat your oven to 425F. Pat dough into 2 greased cookie sheets to the thinness you desire. I'm a pretty thin crust kinda gal, but Buppy stops me short of turning it into a cracker. Prick the dough with a fork in various spots and pop into the oven for 3+/- minutes. I like this par-baking technique because it keeps my dough from being soggy. Once you remove one pan, repeat with the other sheet of dough. From here, top with your favorite pizza toppings and return to the oven for 10+/- minutes, until the cheese gets all bubbly and beautiful and golden. A word to the wise here: because of the short cooking time, things like fresh veggies don't really have much chance to cook through. Onions would probably still be rather crunchy, so if you have toppings like onions, mushrooms, green peppers, etc., I suggest sauteing them a bit first to soften them up. Or, if you like crunchy veg, by all means don't. The other reason this is helpful is so your pizza doesn't get soggy when all the veggies start to release their water. Totally up to you though.
Yeast intimidates me. There. I said it. But my sister recently gave me a bread machine, and it's time I put it to use.
I made my first loaf of bread in it last week, and it was actually pretty pain-free! Go figure, the machine does all the work for me. Yay! Earlier this week, I made another loaf, and also remembered that mom said she uses her machine to make pizza dough more than anything else. Hmmmm, I says to myself, I'm hungry for pizza. Buppy & I scored a major deal at the grocery store on some "gourmet" pepperoni the other day. By that, I mean it wasn't Hormel. More along the lines of Soppressata than Hormel pepperoni. When eaten alone, it definitely had the feel of something one would find on an antipasto platter at an Italian restaurant. It wasn't what I was expecting when I purchased it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor it added to the pizza. Anyway, we had it on hand already, and I was dying to try it out on some 'za. So . . . I made dough!
Bread Machine Pizza Crust
Source: allrecipes.com
3/4 c. water
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. white sugar
1 Tbsp. dry milk powder
2 1/4 c. bread flour
1 tsp. active dry yeast
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select "dough" cycle and start.
Remove dough from pan when the machine signals it's finished.
I took the advice of one of the reviews and decided to split the dough into 2 balls as soon as I took it out of the machine and let the balls rise, covered, for 10 minutes. I then took each ball and rolled it out as much as possible with a rolling pin. I covered each and let them rise, covered, for another 10 minutes. I rolled them out again to make them as big as possible, then pricked each with a fork in numerous places. Ok, Buppy gets credit for said pricking. Since I wanted a nice crisp crust, I baked each crust on its own for 5 minutes at 450F. After the initial 5 minutes, I pulled each crust out, topped it with my chosen ingredients, then baked each pizza for 10+/- minutes until the cheese became nice and melted and golden.
I really liked this crust. It was sturdy and held the toppings well, but wasn't too thick or chewy. Buppy & the kids liked it too, although the kids weren't fans of the pepperoni we used. Go figure. They love expensive cheese (that I hate), but don't want the good-quality pepperoni. Whatevs. I think next time I might add some minced garlic or spices to the dough, but other than that, this will now be my go-to pizza crust. Enjoy!
I know it's already Tuesday and I'm just now posting our week's menu plan, but better late than never, right? Besides, then I can refer back to this post instead of my ugly scratched up list when I totally forget what I'm supposed to be making. Good times.
Monday: Garden salads (lettuce, tomato, cremini mushrooms, celery, scallions & shredded cheddar cheese) topped with blackened chicken
Tuesday: Chicken-fried steak & gravy
Wednesday: A spin on grilled ham & cheese pull-apart sandwich loaf. If the turkey in the fridge is still good, we plan to use that instead of ham. Also, I have to see what type of cheese I have in the fridge; I think we have several, so I might mix 2 together. And since it's just the 2 of us eating, I might use buns instead of a whole loaf of bread. No need to waste food, right? Lastly, I keep seeing this butter/worcestershire mix that other foodies are brushing on top of sammys before warming in the oven. I might try to find that recipe and brush it on our sammys, too. Who knows where this dinner will eventually end up!
Thursday: I'm usually by myself because Thursdays are Buppy's overnight, but I think my sister is coming into town on Thursday (to stay for the weekend, yay!), so I think I'll try Alfredo pizza. My sister loves Alfredo sauce, and since the pizza has lots of spinach on it, I'm not sure how Buppy will like it. If it's good, I can always make some for him another night.
Friday: Onion beef stroganoff
Saturday: We'll be at a friend's surprise birthday party, to which we're bringing a hot pizza dip (unless I change my mind before then). My sister will be at a show she came to town to see, so no need to worry about her either. I'm sure lunch will be sandwiches and/or leftovers.
Sunday: This is my free day. By the time it rolls around, I hope to have something in mind. As of right now, I'm completely blank. I guess we'll see if my sister has any ideas for something she'd like me to make. We'll see.
I think I was a slacker this past week and didn't menu plan at all. Buppy's father and his wife were in town at the beginning, work has been somewhat stressful and I just didn't have the time or energy to menu plan. We survived all the same, so it's all good. But I'm back on it this week with some yummy recipes to try!
Monday lunch [because Buppy & I are both off work]: grilled brats, raw cauliflower, grapes
Monday dinner: spaghetti & meatballs, green salad
Tuesday: slow cooker easy beef & broccoli
Wednesday: grilled turkey Italian sausages, whatever fruits/veggies/salad we decide on
Thursday: my night home alone, so probably a tuna sandwich or leftovers
Friday: Parmigiano & herb chicken tenders, roasted cauliflower
Saturday: we're heading to a housewarming party that starts at 1pm, so no lunch or dinner plans
Sunday lunch: jalapeno popper dogs, cheese & crackers
Sunday dinner: cheeseburger pizza, green salad
It's that time again. Time to map out our meals for the week. Make sure we thaw what we need before the night we need it. Get any missing ingredients prior to attempting a recipe. Good stuff.
Last week was mostly on track with what I planned. We were thrown off mid-week because we didn't feel like making the ribs. Buppy loves ribs, but we got a bad 10 lb. box and are now just trying to use them up. We caved and ordered pizza one night, but then did the ribs the following night. They still weren't good, and after 1 rib, I was done. As I said, mostly on track though . . .
Monday: Leftover buffet / fend for yourself
Tuesday: Crab stuffed mushroom caps [no recipe yet, but I plan to devise my own]
Wednesday: Chicken in Poblano cream sauce [I love a restaurant version of this and am trying to recreate it]
Thursday: Leftover pork roast & sides from Sunday [my 1 night home alone]
Friday: Shrimp pizza Saturday lunch: Tuna melts, fresh fruits and/or veggies we have on hand
Saturday dinner: Beef & broccoli stir-fry over white rice
Sunday lunch: BLTs with fresh fruits and/or veggiesSunday dinner: Marinated grilled pork chops, baked sweet potato chips & green saladBuppy's father & his wife are coming down from NY and should arrive Sunday afternoon/evening, so Sunday through the following Tuesday night will be meals with them. Good times!
I'm a corned beef lover. There, I said it. Don't be jealous Buppy! To be honest, I'm a total carnivore and love most meats, but corned beef holds a special place in my itty-bitty heart. The seasoning, the tenderness . . . oh how love it all! Corned beef & cabbage? Yes please! Reubens? You betcha! A big hunk o' corned beef on my plate with nothing else? Sure!
My big hang up at restaurants though is Thousand Island dressing on reubens. Ick. Blecky. That stuff is almost always down-right horrible. Ruins my sammy in my humble opinion. And the worst part? Every now and then I forget to ask them to 86 it. And then I'm stuck with it. In all it's gross glory. Usually I cope and chalk it up to my own forgetfulness [no one else to blame, damn] and it's still a decent sandwich. The exception to this that really sticks out in my mind happened in the Inner Harbor in Bmore at the M&S Grill. Beautiful little restaurant, outside seating next to the water, plenty of people watching to be done . . . and the worst Thousand Island dressing ever. Even Buppy agreed, and he likes the stuff! We actually switched meals and he choked down my sandwich [I don't even remember what he ordered and I ended up eating, but it sure was better than that nastiness!]
I don't generally like Kraft salad dressings either; not that they're bad, I just have other brands I prefer. Except for Kraft's Thousand Island with bacon. I wouldn't eat the stuff on a salad, but it actually adds some nice pizazz to reubens. Good job Kraft, well done!
So where is all this talk of corned beef and reubens going? To reuben pizza, of course! I saw a recipe card once upon a time in a Taste of Home magazine and always thought, "Man, I wish I could make that, but what would I use for sauce because Thousand Island dressing is baaaaaaaaaad stuff?" But now that I've found I like Kraft's, I did it. I made the pizza. And it was everything I dreamed it would be. Can I get a woo-hoo?There's no real recipe. We used an $.88 dry packet of pizza dough that you just add water to and let sit for 5 minutes. Note: Buppy has the hardest time spreading the dough out in the pan, so he is no longer allowed to attempt this step. Trust me, it wasn't pretty. The dough was spread out onto a rectangular baking sheet until it was as thin as I wanted. I'm a thin crust kinda gal, but not cracker thin. We then spread some Kraft thousand island dressing onto the crust; enough to where it doesn't look like the pizza will be dry in the end. I didn't use as much as I'd have used were it a normal pizza with red sauce, if that helps any. We toss on some well-drained sauerkraut; important to drain well so the pizza doesn't get soggy. Trust me, I once made a Hawaiian pizza with crushed pineapple --- you can imagine how that turned out. Won't do that again!
Back to the reuben pizza: we topped the sauerkraut with chopped leftover corned beef from the night before. On top of that? Oh yeah, shredded Swiss cheese. We baked it per our pizza dough package instructions, and about 10 minutes later had a thing of beauty sitting before us. That pizza was good. Like real good. Like hide-the-leftovers-for-yourself good. Try it; you can thank me later. Enjoy!
*This is linked to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap for 3/17/11 for St. Patrick's Day recipes. Love it!
Some of you may find this recipe strange, others may think it perfectly normal. When I first attempted to introduce Buppy to it, he was definitely skeptical. But I have other friends from my previous place of employment who have grown up with such a food and love it as much as I.
I was first introduced to this dish at Shooters, a.k.a The Party Capital of the Universe. This is a supper club in Plover, WI with great food, an amazing owner and a good crowd of regulars. I started working there as a bartender while in school at UWSP; this happens to be where I developed my mad-crazy bartending skills and love for the job. The homemade chicken soup (with homemade noodles or dumplings, depending on the day) is out of this world. Really good salad bar. Broasted chicken that kicks butt and will burn your face off if you eat it without allowing it to cool off at all (trust me on this one.) They also have this sandwich that I just can't get enough of. In fact, when I visited WI this summer to see family, I made sure to stop at Shooters to see friends . . . and to eat this sandwich. It's called an Oscar Exotica, but I digress. Today's post, should I ever get back on track, is about Shooters pizza. Specifically: shrimp pizza.
When I first told Buppy I wanted to make this, I couldn't seem to remember what type of sauce Shooters used on theirs. We talked about marinara, but I was sure that wasn't it. Then I suggested alfredo, but neither of us likes jarred alfredo sauce (and my homemade recipe is too thin to act as a pizza sauce and Buppy's is just too darn unhealthy.) Then it hit me --- cocktail sauce silly! (Well, the cocktail sauce didn't actually hit me . . . ) This, my friends, is good stuff.
Please don't be upset and get your panties all in a bundle because I didn't measure anything when I made this. It's simple, so don't stress.
Shrimp Pizza
Inspiration: Shooters, Plover, WI
1 pre-made pizza crust (We used Boboli, although I don't really care for that kind. I haven't made it with an un-baked or homemade crust, but as long as you cook the shrimp first to get the water content down, I'd think it would be ok.)
1/2-1 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
Fresh garlic, minced
Cocktail sauce
Raw onion
Mozzi cheese
Lightly saute the shrimp and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked, roughly 2 minutes per side. Please take care not to over cook, as I've already mentioned in a previous post how I feel about over cooked shrimp. Once cooked, remove from pan with a slotted spoon to take as little juice with them as possible; set aside. Chop some raw onion until it's the size you want it, or leave it out if you're not an onion fan. Spread cocktail sauce all over the pizza crust, as much as you'd use if making a regular pizza with marinara. Do get scared now. Top the cocktail sauce with the shrimp (roughly chopped is a good size) and raw onion, then dump on as much cheese as possible. I mean, as much as you'd like. We actually used a combo of mozzi and extra sharp and it turned out well. Toss that puppy into the oven according to your crust directions and wait. Once your crust starts to brown and the cheese is nice and melty, pull it out and dig in. Shooters also used to put on chunks of raw tomato too, but Buppy and I don't care for tomato cooked like that. Still, everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Play with whatever toppings you'd like and enjoy!
Is it time to post a menu plan again? Where do my weekends go? Oh well. This week might be a bit hectic as I'm only at my current job for today and tomorrow, I'll have Wednesday off and then I start my new job on Thursday. Without knowing exactly what my schedule will be just yet, it's hard to know if I'll be around for dinner or not. I figure I'll plan dinners with the expectation to be at home and if I'm not, Buppy can either make what I have planned or do something simple (grilled cheese, tuna, hot dogs) that both he and the kids can have relatively quickly. I tried to make the menu as simple and quick as possible this week anyway, so it still won't be hard for him to make what I've planned if I'm not around. Here it is:Monday: *free night* Ham sandwich (with lettuce, tomato & cheese), cantaloupeTuesday: *free night* hot dog, apple, veggies & dipWednesday: Pierogi (I still haven't gotten the chance to make these darn things and I'm determined to make them this week!)Thursday: Buffalo chicken salad (green salad with buffalo wing flavored chicken, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives and whatever else we decide to throw in)Friday: Pizza (what kind yet has not been determine; Buppy mentioned BBQ chicken pizza the other day, so perhaps we'll throw one of those together)Saturday: Poker Run (Buppy & I will be out most of the day working a stop for the Poker Run his employer sponsors and will be eating out)Sunday: *free night* Tuna fish sammy or some soup (homemade that's been frozen), fruits and/or veggies & dip (which ever I still have in the house)*Free nights for me are nights when Buppy is at work, the kids are with their mom and I'm left on my own for dinner.While BBQ chicken pizza is relatively easy to make, here's how we make ours.BBQ Chicken Pizza1 Pillsbury pizza crust (I like the thin crust but I think Buppy likes the regular one better. I'm sure that homemade, which I really want to try to make again, or the powdered mix would be great too.)BBQ sauce (Use your favorite here. I'm pretty picky and don't like most sauces; my favorite is Sweet Baby Ray's.)Chopped green onions (We've also used red and they're really good on there too.)1-2 cooked, chopped chicken breasts (Canned chicken works great here too; use what you have and what's easiest for you.)Chopped fresh mushrooms (Or canned, whatever you've got on hand!)Cheese (This is so versatile here. I think we've used almost everything under the sun at one point or another. I'm so not a it has to be Mozzarella kind of girl. Nope. Sharp cheddar is really good on this pizza, and this time I'm thinking we might throw on some Monterey Jack.)Bacon (We don't always put bacon on this particular pizza, but it's really good when it's on there.)So there you have it. Throw as much BBQ sauce as you like onto the crust, pile on your toppings and bake as directed per the crust instructions, or until it looks done. It's not hard at all, but it sure tastes scrumptious!I'll be linking this post up to Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie. Check out her MPMs for great menu ideas!
