The prelude!

   I am back in business - kitchen is finished, cleaned and organized (actually it was done few weeks ago, but I was being lazy with posting). Not that I needed any encouragement to cook before, but now I love it even more! And what better way to break in the new kitchen than to host family Thanksgiving dinner (for the first time, may I add!)? It turned out great - we had family, we had some great friends and we had lots of fun (and food). But that was long time ago and now we are ready for Christmas. With that in mind today's post will be about "pre-feast" dish - an appetizer! Everybody always focuses on main dishes, but to me, appetizers are equally important and I always struggle to find the right one. It has to be something that will be satisfying, but not too filling, so you still have room to enjoy the dinner. So here is one that was a hit recently - a veggie pizza, but not the one you would buy in the pizza joint, very different and very delicious! Check it out.
 
Ingredients:

* 2 ready (pre-cooked) pizza crusts
* 16oz cream cheese, room temp.
* 0.5 cup ranch dressing
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
* 8 radishes, sliced
* 1.5 cups broccoli cut into small pieces


Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine softened cream cheese, ranch dressing and garlic. Mix until combined and smooth.

2. Spread half of the mixture on each pizza crust, sprinkle with vegetables and cut into small (about 2-bites) pieces.

   Fresh, light, crunchy and delicious - the perfect appetizer! You can get creative with toppings and you can use any veggies you like: carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower... endless possibilities. I cut it into small squares that were easy to manage and didn't require plates or utensils, finger food is always fun!

Enjoy,
Magda

Pizza love!

   Anybody want another pizza? I know we never get tired of them, actually every Friday is pizza night in our house. I won't lie to you, most of the time it's a frozen pizza, but sometimes we get inspired and make our own (depending on how we feel after a whole week of work). As I said before, my herb garden is spreading like wide fire and I am always looking for exciting ideas to use all these herbs, so last Friday we made our own pesto pizza with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Great spin on a caprese salad (one of my favorites) and it let me use up bunch of my mint and basil.

Ingredients:

*  thin crust refrigerated Pillsbury pizza dough
*  8oz mozzarella ball, sliced
*  2 medium tomatoes, sliced
*  1 tsp olive oil

Pesto:
*  1 cup fresh basil
*  1 cup fresh mint
*  1/3 cup pine nuts
*  1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
*  1 tbsp lemon juice
*  1/3 cup olive oil
*  1 garlic clove
*  salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients of the pesto in food processor and process until smooth and well combined. Set aside.
2. Roll the pizza dough, brush 1 tsp of olive oil on the top and pre-bake at 400F for 5 minutes.
3. Once crust is pre-baked, spread a thin layer of pesto on the top. Don't add too much of pesto, just enough to barely cover the top - if you have left overs use in on a sandwiches - delicious.
4. Top pizza with slices of tomatoes and mozzarella and bake at 400F for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

   Do you see the size of this pizza? Well, let me tell you, it was so good that there were only two tiny slices left after we were done with it. I can't believe that we ate all of it, but it was so delicious that we couldn't stop! Fresh, aromatic and cheesy - that tells you all you need to know!

Enjoy,
Magda

New favorite...

   ... pizza! Yes, we have found yet another pizza that we fell in love with right away. Actually, Justin found it by accident in a frozen section of a supermarket and took it as an "emergency" dinner! Little did we know, it turned out to be awesome! Chicken 'n Bacon Ranch Pizza... sounds good, doesn't it? Justin is so proud of his "finding" and he is not shy about bragging about it every time we eat it! Well, I do have to give it to him, it is a great find! I decided to make a home-made version of it, mostly to challenge myself, because you can find it everywhere and it's super cheap, but it's nice to make it yourself (and pile a mountain of chicken on it)!

Ingredients:

*  Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough
*  1 tbsp olive oil
*  1 large chicken breast, cooked and cubed
*  10-12 slices of turkey bacon, coarsely chopped and crisped
*  1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
*  3/4 cup fat-free ranch dressing
*  2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Roll the pizza dough on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil and bake at 425F for 5 minutes.
2. In a bowl combine cubed chicken, crisped bacon, ranch dressing and half of the mozzarella cheese. Spread on pre-baked dough, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake at 425F for 10 more minutes (or until crust is golden brown).
3. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

   Do you see the amount of toppings on this baby? Oh, I wasn't shy about them... and that's the advantage of making your own pizza, you can "customize" it however you want to and you don't have to fight for the only piece of chicken that's on it!

Homemade CPK!

   We love, love, love California Pizza Kitchen... the variety and quality of pizzas and salads they serve is unbelievable. Our favorite kinds of pizza from this place are the ones with a fresh and crispy salad/slaw on top, especially the "burger pizza". It has ground beef, pickles and fresh lettuce tossed with dressing on top. It's so amazing that we got really addicted to it (and I mean a serious obsession) and the second we got addicted ... they took it off the menu! I think we cried for 3-4 days straight and thought that life will never be the same, until I decided to make my own! It may not be exactly the same (I've yet to crack the CPK secret), but it's pretty damn good and that's all I care about! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

*  Pillsbury Refrigerated Thin-style Pizza Crust
*  1lb lean ground beef
*  2 tbsp grill seasoning (I use Weber Gourmet Burger)
*  1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
*  1 cup of sliced pickles
*  2 cups chopped or shredded lettuce
*  2 tbsp fat-free mayo
*  2 tbsp fat-free Thousand Island dressing
*  1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat a non stick skillet and brown the beef with grill seasoning and Worcestershire sauce for 5-6 minutes. Drain the fat.
2. Roll the pizza dough on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and brush it onto entire dough. Prebake at 400F for 3-4 minutes.
3. Take out pre-baked pizza dough, spread the browned meat on the top of it and bake at 400F for about 10 more minutes (until the crust is golden brown)
4. When the pizza is ready, top it with sliced pickles and lettuce tossed with mayo and thousand island dressing.
5. It's ready to enjoy!

   If you want to you can drizzle it with a little bit of ketchup (you know I did that!) to make it more burger-like. The crust is crispy, meat is hot and flavorful, and pickles and lettuce are fresh, crunchy and tangy. Delicious, interesting and "different" kind of pizza!

Enjoy,
Magda

Almost Classic.

   Pizza again! "Classic" - margherita, "almost" - fresh tomatoes rather than marinara sauce! This was a special request from my lovely husband, who had this pizza when we were vacationing this summer and he was so impressed by it that he talked about it for next two days. I do have to admit it was pretty amazing... fresh, light, flavorful, just a perfect simple margherita pizza. I still have tomatoes and basil in my garden, Justin spotted a great deal on a huge ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, so how could I not make it? It's one of those dishes that are supper simple, with only a few ingredients, but man do they taste good! Here is the recipe and few tricks on how to make this pizza perfect.

Ingredients:

*  Pillsbury Refrigerated Thin-style Pizza Crust
*  2 medium red tomatoes, sliced
*  1 cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
*  1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
*  1 tbsp olive oil
*  10-15 fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1. Place the pizza dough on the baking sheet or a pizza stone. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and using a pastry brush spread it on the entire dough.
2. Bake the crust at 400F for 6 minutes. It's important to pre-bake it, because you don't want to bake tomatoes for too long, not to make them mushy.
3. Remove pre-baked crust from the oven and cover with tomato slices and mozzarella cheese. Return into 400F oven and bake for 7-8 more minutes.
4. Sprinkle baked pizza with fresh basil and serve your dinner!

   Such a great pizza. The simplicity of the ingredients allows all of them to stand out and shine. Tomatoes are sweet and juicy, mozzarella super gooey, and the basil is fresh and fragrant. Brushing olive oil on pizza dough changed my life, it makes it so much better, you should definitely try this trick. No need for any sauce, it's just perfect the way it is.

Enjoy,
Magda.

Not only dessert!

   So I am continuing with a "Peach Week" theme but no, it's not going to be another dessert! This time I made a savory, delicious pizza with peaches, Prosciutto and mozzarella cheese. Pizza is one of those super versatile dishes that can be made with any ingredient available and everybody can create their own (that would make about 7.031 billion different versions of pizza!). Pizza dough is almost like a clean board that let you discover your inner artist and create a real masterpiece. After making this one, I think it's not the last one from me, I just got inspired to create even more pizzas with all sorts of ingredients. Here is this one:

*  thin crust pizza dough
*  fresh mozzarella cheese
*  1 large onion (thinly sliced)
*  1 large peach (peeled and thinly sliced)
*  6 slices Prosciutto
*  Parmesan cheese block
*  1/2 cup chopped cilantro
*  1 tbsp olive oil
*  1 tbsp butter

1. Melt butter and saute thinly sliced onions until browned and caramelized.
2. Roll the pizza dough, brush the top with olive oil and cover with caramelized onions.
3. On the top of onions layer slices of mozzarella cheese, peaches and Prosciutto.

4. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.
5. After taking it out of the oven, sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro and shaved Parmesan cheese.

   Where do I start? Salty Prosciutto and Parmesan, sweet peaches, fresh cilantro and melted gooey mozzarella... do I need to go on? Such a great pizza.

Enjoy.
Magda.