Pizza Topping Ideas

We have been making pizzas at home for about 4 years.  Recently, it has become more of a stable, ever since we realized that our preschooler loves it (no surprise!)  Our go to method:

1. Use  a store bought whole wheat dough.  It’s sweeter and has a nice texture compared to regular dough.
2. Drizzle a metal baking pan with oil and press the dough into the pan.
3. Often less is more-not too much sauce or topping otherwise you end up with a raw crust.  But most would argue that you could pile on the cheese!
4. Using light shredded cheese takes some of the guilt away since we eat this pretty often.
5. Bake at 425 degrees on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes, depending on the amount of toppings works our quite well.

The product is a pizza with a chewy, fluffy, ready crust!   Here are a few of my favorite combinations

the Chicago-Sausage, mushroom, provolone, pecorino and caramelized onion, pizza sauce – our favorite thus far. Can’t go wrong with pork!

the Naked Pizza-Bacon, mashed potato, roasted garlic, roasted cauliflower, sautéed spinach, ricotta, pecorino (no sauce)

BBQ Chicken-Store bought BBQ pulled chicken, red onion, sliced black olives, frozen roasted corn, mozzarella, BBQ sauce

Meatball Sub-Meatball, marinara, mozzarella, basil, pecorino

I would love to play around with figs and more roasted vegetables. Next pizza will be sausage, roasted bell pepper, basil for tomorrow night.

My favorite restaurant pizza combinations:

Spinach, garlic, ricotta, tomato sauce

Broccoli, tomato, olive, onion

Zucchini, Mushroom, Eggplant

California Summer Corn Salad

• 3 ears fresh corn, blanched
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 red onion, finely diced
• 2 small Persian cucumbers, chopped
• 1/2 red or orange bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2-3 strips of bacon (optional)
• juice from 1 juicy lime
• olive oil, or  substitute half the olive oil for bacon drippings
• salt and pepper to taste
• finely chopped jalapeno (optional)
• fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 avocados, chopped

Combine all the ingredients but the avocado in a bowl.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  Gently fold in the avocado

 

Family BBQ-Carrot Cake, Quinoa Tabbouleh and Apple-Broccoli Slaw

Last weekend, we set out to my brother-in-law’s house with dinner in hand. We were going to do a simple sparerib BBQ already dry-rubbed by Costco and basted with our jarred BBQ sauce.

For sides, I prepared a few cold salads and made carrot cake for dessert. The real hit was the carrot cake, which turrned out moist, sweet with just a hint of coconut. We couldn’t even wait for the cake to cool properly before frosting and eating it, but in the end it as a delicious ooey gooey treat!

Tropical Carrot Cake *adapted from Cook’s Country Best Coutry Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 8oz cans crushed pineapple
• A Few tablespoons of cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 pound peeled carrots
• 1 c sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1/2-3/4 c shopped walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS

Place pineapple in a saucepan with a few tablespoons and corn starch. Bring to a boil and allow to thicken to the consistency of thin pudding. Ensure that cornstarch is cooked. Take off heat and allow to cool in fridge. In the meanwhile, prepare the cake.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees, set rack in the middle

Whisk dry ingredients (not nuts) together in a large bowl, set side.

Process carrots until finely grated, set aside in a medium bowl big enough to hold the wet ingredients.

Process white sugar and coconut until the coconut is finely chopped Add the brown sugar and eggs and process until smooth. While the machine is on, add oil slowly. (This step can be done by hand)

Transfer the sugar mixture to the carrot bowl. Add about 3/4 cups of the pineapple and stir till combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add nuts and fold until well combined and no streaks of flour remains.

Pour batter into a prepared 9X13 glass pan and bake for about 40-50 minutes.

Let cool completely, frost with cream cheese frosting (Recipe below) and top with toasted coconut.

Cream Cheese Frosting and Coconut Topping

• 8 oz softened low-fat cream cheese
• 4 TBSP softened butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Remaining pineapple from cake recipe
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

INSTRUCTIONS

Beat cream cheese, butter, pineapple and salt till well inccorporated. Add sugar in 2-3 batches. Add sugar to taste

Toast coconut in a dry non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until golden brown and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes. Keep a close eye, it can burn very quickly! Turn off heat and allow to cool before sprinkling of frosted cake

Quinoa Tabbouleh

INGREDIENTS

• 1 c uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1 English cucumber, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 2/3 c chopped parsley
• 1/2 c chopped mint
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring water to a boil, add quinoa and a pinch of salt and stir. Cover and allow to cook until quinoa has absorbed the water, about 10 minutes). Alow to stand, fluff.

Whisk lemon juiec olive oil and herbs to make the vinaigrette. Season to tasted.

Add 1/3 of the vinaigrette to slightly warm quinoa and mix thoroughly. Allow to cool.

When ready to serve, add tomato, cucumber and remaining vinaigrette. Season to taste.

Apple-Broccoli Slaw

INGREDIENTS

• 1 granny smith apple cut into matchsticks to match the broccoli slaw
• 12 ox broccoli saw mix
• 1 carrots cut into matchsticks to math the broccoli slaw
• Handfull of dried cranberried
• Small handfull of slivered almonds
• 1/2 c low-fat mayo
• 2 TBSP sour cream
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 TBSP white sugar