Quickie Pizza Friday

I'm short on time, so I'm just throwing this out there.

What happens with you spread Whole Wheat Pizza Dough with leftover garlicky black beans and raw broccoli...

and then bake it at 425.

 

You get amazing pizza.  Yeahhhhhhhhh ..........

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Pizza Friday and Snack-y Saturday

Whew!  What a crazy week!  In between all of the snowstorms I've barely had time to breathe, let alone cook!  

In spite of all outdoor inconveniences, I managed to make Leftover Pizza on Friday and a yummy cauliflower snack on Saturday. 

Remember last week?  I know it was a loooong time ago.  Here.  I'll refresh your memory.  I made roasted veggies on Sunday.  Then, I reused them on Wednesday.  Well, after all that there was STILL a tiny bit left.  So, in brilliant Pizza Friday tradition...

I rolled out the dough...

 

Slathered it with Ricotta...

 

Added the rest of the roasted veggies...

And baked it at a ::NEW  BAKING TEMPERATURE!:: of 425.  

 

It made the crust amazingly brown and crispy!

 

Why did we never think of that before?!

On to Snack-y Saturday.  When I made allll of that roasted veggie deliciousness, we discovered that there was a BIT too much cauliflower.  And broccoli.  A huge serving bowl full.  I utilized the raw cauliflower in a recipe.  Of course, now I can't find the exact recipe.  But it was really good, trust me. 

 

I remember that I sauteed 2 pans full (1 layer in each pan) of lightly salted cauliflower with 1 1/2 tbs coconut oil in each.  I left it sitting on each side until they were brown.

 

Then I stirred in the sauce.  It had water, garlic powder, honey, diced onions, and a bunch of other things in it.  I am going to try to find the recipe asap and post it. 

 

I just kept stirring it all until there was no liquid left. 

It was so easy, as long as the cauliflower is cut, cleaned, and dry.  

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Pizza Friday!

This week's Pizza Friday features a Ricotta-Vodka Sauce Pizza with a side salad.  Enjoy!

 

Raw.  

Layer of whole wheat dough, layer of Ricotta Cheese, layer of Vodka Sauce, sprinkling of parsley, oregano, basil, and Parmesean Cheese.  There is also a grapeseed oil-parmesean-garlic glaze on the crust.  FANCY!

 

Cooked.

Note the crispiness?  It is thanks to another one of my bridal shower gifts.  A pizza crisper!  It is basically a pizza pan with holes in it to allow the air to circulate and crisp it up. 

  

Served....

with a salad on the side.  

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Leftover Cooking

Today's post will focus on the art of leftover cooking.  Regular readers of this blog know about my love for re-cooking leftovers and creating something new from them.  While there are many ways to give new life to old meals, I have a few favorites.

One of my favorite ways to re-use leftover is to make it into a pizza.  I adore pizza in all of its delicious forms.  If you have good leftovers, like this Lubyia (Lebanese Green Beans in Olive Oil with Garlic) John's mom made, just throw it on some dough and bake it like a pizza.   

It is really a side dish, but SO good, as long as you don't mind smelling like a garlic factory.  Are there such things as garlic factories?  ANYWAY.  I added lots of Parmesean Cheese on top, because that's how I like my pizza.  It works for lots of things, especially things that have a little bit of their own sauce to keep them moist in the oven. 

Check it out!  I just rolled out the whole wheat dough, spread the leftovers on, added P. Cheese, and baked it until the crust was done.  It doesn't get any easier than that (at least to make pizza) and it is soooo good.

Another way I like to revive leftovers is with garlic, onions, and oil.  We have discussed my penchant for greens with garlic, onion, and olive oil, but you might not know that it extends to all food.  For this leftover meal, I added mushrooms to the mix.

They all sauteed until it was one mix of yummy flavors.  Then I added the leftovers, a mix of brown rice, toasted almonds, black beans, and other things that John had made for dinner one day. 

See?  Leftovers can be fun!

 

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Friday: Pizza a la Eggplant Smush

A few months ago John and I went to a Lebanese Restaurant in town and I had this really good eggplant dish.  Since I had a few eggplants left I decided to try and re-create it on the top of my pizza.

First, I sauteed LOTS of onion and garlic in grape seed oil.  Lots. You know how I feel about onions and garlic.  I am one smelly-breathed girl!

  When the onions were almost clear, I added chunks of eggplant. 

I let them cook alllll the way down, and then added what was left of a bag of frozen tomato sauce I had made a few weeks ago (the rest was in this).  See how nice and smushy the eggplant got?!

While the eggplant mix continued to simmer together, I rolled out the whole wheat dough and covered it in Ricotta cheese. Usually I cut the dough after the pizza cooks, but when it is a loaded pizza it tends to be a mess, so I precut this one.  GREAT idea, must remember that for next time. 

 

 After the dough baked, I spooned the eggplant smush on top and ate it.  It didn't taste the same as the restaurant one (I tend to be light on the salt), but it was really warm and filling and perfect for me!

 

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Quick Pizza Friday

Hi!  Nothing too interesting happened today, but it is Pizza Friday, so I thought I'd let ya know what I made!

I WANTED to make a pasta vodka ricotta pizza but SOMEONE who shall remain nameless ate all the leftover macaroni and forced me to have salad pizza because I didn't feel like making more macaroni.

I brushed the whole wheat dough with grape seed oil...

and then sprinkled parmesean cheese all over it!

Whipped up a quick salad while the dough baked

and then topped it!

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Pizza Friday! (with a sprinkle of last minute inspiration)

..... Hello, and welcome back, to another episode of Pizza Friday!

No, really, it is Friday and we had pizza. Since it is Pizza Friday, you know.

We are heading to the farmers' market this weekend, so right now our refrigerator is bare. There was one yellow pepper, some radishes, ricotta cheese, a tiiiiiny bit of hummus, and various condiments left in it. That's it. John decided to make his pizza into mankoushe because of the lack of... other food. I was planning on making a simple ricotta pie.
Just as I had given up all hope of an interesting dinner, I thought of something. the FREEZER!

I sauteed some onions and garlic (of course), added some frozen arugula, and some PIEROGIES!! Genious!



And so ends another delightfully boring episode of PIZZA FRIDAYYYYYYYY

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Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday!

Happy birthday to me!

I am eating out this entire weekend (with John, my parents, his parents, and John again!) and I thought I would give you a preview:


I took my cousin to California Pizza Kitchen after school the other day. As I mentioned here, I always get the same pizza. When I went most recently, I decided to change it up. I ordered the Vegetarian without cheese on honey wheat dough.
It was so good! I probably won't be taking photos of any of the other restaurant meals, but let me ASSURE you that they will be delicious. Take my word for it!

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Mankoushe

This morning John made some delish Lebanese breakfast for us... Mankoushe! Just for the record, John's family pronounces it "ma-NOO-sheh" so I had to google how to spell it :)

Anyway, this delicious delight is basically pizza dough with spices mixed with olive oil on it. It sounds so simple, but it is so amazing. It tastes vaguely lemon-ey and oregano-ey. The spice mix is called "zaatar" and is a mix of sesame seeds, marjoram, sumac, thyme, oregano, and salt. John mixed it together with olive oil to make a paste, and spread it out on whole wheat dough. After baking for 10 minutes at 350...

VOILA!!!

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Pizza Friday!

Every Friday John and I have homemade pizza. We buy and freeze whole-wheat dough when it is on sale at Shoprite and go to town with whatever toppings we have! While John typically opts for either a white pizza or a regular pizza, I tend to use this as an opportunity for..... LEFTOVER COOKING!! ::cue applause::

This week I saw that I had lots of spring mix leftover from the Farmer's Market. I thought back to this AMAZING pizza that I ALWAYS get at California Pizza Kitchen. It is Tricolore Salad Pizza and it is my favorite. I decided to try and recreate it, only better!

• Phase 1- The Dough and such: I mixed olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic and spread it on the dough. Then, I spread part-skim Ricotta cheese over the dough. That went into the oven (350) and baked for 15 minutes
• Phase 2- The Topping/Dressing: I sauteed some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. When the oil was gone, I added balsamic vinegar. In a small bowl I combined the rest of the garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and LOTS of Parmesan cheese. When the onion/garlic bit was sufficiently sauteed, I added the dressing.
• Phase 3- Dress the Salad: Self-explanatory. I dressed the salad.

• Phase 4- Make it a Pizza: Took it out of the oven, sliced it, and added the salad/onion dressing mix.

I have to say, I thought it was even better than the CPK one... and DEFINITELY cheaper!

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