Mediterranean Style Pizza

It was already after five, and I had not started dinner. Anthony already had one snack and was getting hungry again. I told him I couldn't think of anything to make for dinner. I asked him what he wanted for dinner, or if there was anything that he didn't want for dinner that he was sick of.  He answered, "pizza." I thought about it. It seemed a little late to start on pizza especially since both of us were pretty hungry already. Then I remembered seeing a recipe for shrimp tortilla pizzas. I looked for the recipe in the freezer and in the refrigerator. Nope, not on the back of the shrimp bag, and not on the back of the tortilla package either. There it was, the shrimp pizza recipe I was looking for was on the back of the mozzarella cheese bag. Once I had my second clue about what to make for dinner- a recipe, the first being my husband's wish, things happened quickly.

I substituted dried oregano and leftover tomato sauce for fresh basil and fresh tomatoes.

Red grapes went along well with the Italian theme.

The Weekend Pizza Story

I decided on a whim, after seeing some of my brave soul'd friends on Facebook had tried 2 ingredient pizza dough, that it was time I tried it too. While I was at Walmart today I picked up ingredient #1- self-rising flour. I'm so cheap I just couldn't pick up ingredient #2- Greek yogurt. I didn't see the point in spending extra for Greek yogurt when why not give regular yogurt a chance? But I didn't just downgrade to regular yogurt. I went with nonfat store brand yogurt. After returning home from shopping, I looked online and compared some random 2 ingredient pizza dough recipes- yep, they were all the same: 1 cup of this, and 1 cup of that. I double and triple checked just because in my old pizza dough recipes,  the dry to wet ingredient ratio was usually approximately 3 to 1 not 1 on 1. I mixed my cheap yogurt and flour together. Not cool. "Oh no," I thought, "this is terrible. This is not working out. This glue-like consistency is never going to turn out pizza." I was getting frustrated because it wasn't working out, I was hungry, I love pizza, I hadn't made it in awhile, and now this. I was freaking out but finally decided that I would just make it work. I added an extra cup of flour. Still gloppy, not unlike biscuit dough. "Great," I vented aloud, "this is not pizza dough, we are going to be having pizza biscuits." Anthony remained calm. He said that probably once I put all the toppings on, it would still probably taste like pizza. I was sure not. The dough still has to have a flavor of it's own, and be the right consistency, among other things. My hands had yogurt/flour grime all over them so I asked Anthony if he could get me the cornmeal. He obliged. Oh, by the way, initially, once I mixed the 1 cup with 1 cup and saw it was just goop, I set the mess on the stove to see if it would rise while the oven heated. Of course it didn't so I then added the second cup of flour I mentioned earlier. I had already sprayed my pan with olive oil, and now Anthony dusted the pan with cornmeal at my request. He also put cornmeal on both sides of my dough so I could flatten it out as much as possible. I was still not happy, the dough was still a little wet and ripped incessantly. There was never going to be a full size pizza from this batch of dough. I layered my ingredients, and stuck the pizza in the oven. Later, I heard sizzling and my cheese was running off the pizza and onto the floor of the oven. Oh my, not my pizza night. I tucked the cheese into the side of the pizza so that it would stop overflowing. When the pizza was ready, I was astounded! Not only did my favorite cheese and sauce pay off, the dough was amazing . . . I really liked the smoked ham topping as well. It was like artisan pizza- crunchy, soft, chewy, and with a nice sourdough sort of flavor.

BBQ Chicken Pizza Lunch Date

At church this morning I began thinking, hmm, I could make barbecue chicken pizza for lunch. I just wasn't sure if we still had barbecue sauce in the fridge, and if we did, if it was still good. Upon arriving home and searching the fridge I discovered some delicious and ready to use barbecue sauce. I began piling ingredients on the island.

I am so thankful that my Gramma bought us a bread machine for a wedding shower present. I love using it to make doughs, especially pizza and knots. I quickly threw ingredients into the bread machine canister only to realize I was a little short on flour. Reaching down in the cupboard I pulled the corn meal thinking it could substitute. For some reason, the bread machine error light came on. The dough had not risen yet. I unplugged the machine hoping to restart it. After plugging it back in the same light and frozen computer screen reappeared. I added more cornmeal to thicken the goop so I could remove it from the bottom of the canister. I added and added cornmeal. Turned out to be one of my favorite pizzas that I have made!

American Anniversary Dinner

Garlic Knots & Salad

Pepperoni Pizza

Nana Henning's Chocolate Cake & Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream