Category Archives: Pizza

Oct 16

Spinach, Bacon & Feta Pizza with Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

I love pizza!  If you think about it, it’s pretty much the perfect food!  It has all of the major food groups, it tastes amazing and you eat it with your hands.  Yup, definitely a stellar combination!

I stumbled upon Lauren’s Latest a few weeks ago on Pinterest, when I made her Thai Sweet Chili Chicken Bites (which were SOOOOOOO good, by the way!).  I decided to do something UNHEARD of!  I made two new recipes from the same blog for dinner!  They were both so delicious!

Now, I discovered a trick for cooking bacon- bake it!  In fact, this has so revolutionized my world that I am planning to do a whole blog post on it, the next time I get a few minutes during nap time (which doesn’t happen very often… good thing Caleb is a cutie!)

The recipe calls for homemade sun-dried tomato pesto, which is DELISH!  The combination of pizza sauce and sun-dried tomato pesto is divine and makes regular pizza spectacular!  If you have store-bought, I’m sure it’s fine as well!  Now, the recipe for the pesto makes about 3 cups, but you only need 1/3 cup for this recipe.  I cut it in half, and froze the rest of the pesto for another recipe (think- over pasta with mozzarella cheese and spinach) or the next time you make this pizza!

Spinach, Bacon & Feta Pizza with Sundried Tomato Sauce
Recipe from Lauren’s Latest, who in turn got the recipe from Perry’s Plate

Enough pizza dough to make a large pizza (about 1 lb)
12 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/3 cup homemade sun-dried tomato pesto (see recipe below)
1/3 cup pizza sauce
2 or 3 handfuls fresh baby spinach
2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
2/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1.  Preheat oven to 450°.
2.  Spread pizza dough out onto your pizza pan (or cookie sheet, I use a stone…).
3.  Combine the pizza sauce and pesto in a small bowl.  Spread over the dough.
4.  Top with fresh spinach and mozzarella.
5.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the crust isn’t quite brown yet, but has gotten firm.
6.  Remove pizza from the oven and top with the bacon and feta.
7.  Return the pizza to the oven for another 5-8 minutes, or until the mozzarella cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden!
8.  Cut and ENJOY!

Homemade Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Makes 2-1/2 – 3 cups
Also from Lauren’s Latest, via Perry’s Plate

2 cups oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced thinly ( or just buy them thinly sliced to save time!)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

1.  Combine tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts in a food processor.  Pulse until you have a nice, thick, combined texture!  Drizzle in a little olive oil if the mixture is too thick!

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Mar 14

A Veggie Cheesy Pizza

When you’re pretty much a vegetarian, but you have a full-blown carnivore for a husband, the daily question becomes “how do I cook a meal that will satisfy both of us?”  This pizza provided the answer!  This pizza was amazingly delicious!

I found the recipe on Life’s Ambrosia, a great blog that I read often.  The author, Des, said that this pizza would please even meat-eaters and she was absolutely correct!  I took her recipe and adapted it a bit… I followed her recipe for pizza dough (and it was great!), but I cut down on the amount of onions and spinach on the pizza, and I substituted Parmesan and feta for Romano and goat.  I use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer to mix the dough (it makes it sooooo easy!), but you can mix and knead by hand if you’d prefer!

PLEASE, PLEASE buy real Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano is the best!) and grate it yourself.  Yes, it’s expensive, BUT you only need a little bit of it to make a huge flavor improvement.  It keeps forever in the fridge– I keep mine in a Ziploc baggie (and keep as much of the original wrapper on the cheese as possible).  I use a Microplane grater to grate the cheese.  It creates a nice, fine grate and it’s so fast to use!

A Veggie Cheesy Pizza
Makes a 15″ round pizza (which feeds a very hungry teacher and her husband…)
Recipe adapted from Life’s Ambrosia

2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp kosher salt

2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
half of a medium red onion, sliced
1 red pepper, seeds and ribs removed, sliced
1-1/2 cups baby spinach
2-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water for 10 minutes.
In mixer bowl, combine flour, basil and salt.
After yeast is dissolved, stir it into the flour mixture.  Using the dough hook, mix the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
Coat a large bowl with 1 tsp of olive oil.  Place the dough in the bowl, coat all sides with oil.  Cover loosely with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 40 minutes to an hour.  After the dough has doubled, gently punch it down.

Preheat oven to 400°.  Gently stretch dough onto a 15″ pizza pan (I LOVE my Pampered Chef large round stone!).  Bake dough for 8 minutes.
While dough is cooking, in a small skillet, heat the 2 Tbsp of olive oil, garlic and oregano.  Cook just until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
Remove the dough from the oven and spread it with the oil-garlic mixture.  Put the remaining ingredients on top of the pizza.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and golden-brown.

ENJOY!
The Hungry Teacher

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Jul 5

Grilled Pizza

Our summer finally arrived!  We had a beautiful, sunny afternoon… a perfect day for BBQing!  I am beginning to enjoy this form of cooking!  I went from burning everything I put on the BBQ to turning out moist chicken breasts!  I’ll let you in on my secret– indirect heat.  Our BBQ has three burners.  Put one on high or medium, and the other two on low.  Cook your food over the low heat.  You still get the amazing grilled flavor and the charred marks, but without the black crust over your entire food!  Plus, food like chicken breasts, which dry out so quickly, stay moist!

Grilled pizza has mystified me for a while.  Three years ago, the last summer we had a BBQ, we tried grilling pizzas, and it was a disaster.  But, I thought that I had to try again to perfect something this enticing.  It was a giant success!  Delicious!  Impressive-looking!  Fun to make!  You can use whatever you would like on your pizza.  Let your imagination and taste buds be your guide.

The main secret.  You must, I repeat, MUST have your ingredients prepped and by the BBQ before you begin this adventure.  You won’t have time to run back into the kitchen to grab something.  It has to be within arm’s reach.  I marinated the chicken for my pizzas in Greek salad dressing and quickly grilled them before making the pizza.  You can  bake, fry, grill or do whatever to your chicken!  I would recommend making individual sized pizzas, but if you want to try making a big one, go ahead!

The first thing to do is make your pizza dough.  This recipe is quick and requires no rising.  Perfect for a weeknight!

Fast and Easy Pizza Crust
Recipe from The Best of the Best and more, by The Best of Bridge

3/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp yellow cornmeal
1 Tbsp olive oil

In a small bowl, mix the warm water, yeast and sugar together.  Let sit until the yeast gets foamy, about 5 minutes.  In a large bowl, (I use my stand mixer with the dough hook), stir together the flour, salt and cornmeal.  Add yeast mixture and olive oil.  Knead to a smooth dough, about 10 minutes.  If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you don’t need to knead your dough.  The mixer does it for you!  You can use this dough in your normal pizza recipes for the oven.  If you’re using it for grilled pizza– keep reading.

Make sure all of your ingredients are prepped.  I made a BBQ Chicken Pizza for the husband (chicken, BBQ sauce, chopped onions and grated cheddar cheese) and a Greek Chicken Pizza for myself (spinach leaves, chicken, Greek dressing, chopped tomatoes and onions, and crumbled feta cheese).

Now, make sure your BBQ is hot and have one burner on medium, and the other two on low.  I had the burner on the far ride side on high and the other two low.

Stretch out your pizza dough.  I spread some vegetable oil on my crusts to prevent them from sticking.  I’m not sure this is necessary, as once the grill is really hot, the dough won’t stick once it’s cooked.

Put your pizza dough on the BBQ.  Close the lid and wait for about 3-4 minutes.  Open the lid.  Using a big, metal spatula, flip over the dough.  You’ll have nice grill marks on the top.

Now, put your toppings on your pizzas!  Close the grill and let them cook for a minute or two, to melt the cheese and warm everything up.

Using my spatula and the aid of my tongs, I successfully maneuvered both pizzas onto plates without incident!

ENJOY!

The Hungry Teacher

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Apr 21

Greek Pita Pizzas

So, we’re moving in two days to a house!  Yes, we bought our very first house– and it’s brand-new!   So, we’re pretty excited!   It’s so much work, and I’ve been trying to clean out my cupboards so I don’t have to pack so much.

I made these little pizzas on Saturday night for dinner and they were simple, delicious and inspiring!  A pita bread is the perfect canvas for a multitude of little pizzas, and it’s quick and easy!  I think they would be good with typical pizza toppings or anything that you can imagine.

Greek Pita Pizzas
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com
Serves 2

2 whole pita breads
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup torn spinach
1/3 crumbled feta cheese
1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Brush pitas with 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Place on a baking sheet and broil 4 inches from the heat for 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine remaining oil, olives, vinegar, spices, salt and pepper.  Spread over pita.  Top with spinach, feta cheese, tomatoes and parmesan.  Broil 3 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.

XOXO,
The Hungry Teacher

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