Making a Comeback With Homemade Pizza!

I would like to start by saying that I, once again, apologize for my long absence. This time, there really was a good reason which I will not get into other than to say that I've had a lot going on in my life both physically and emotionally. Thank you to those who bear with me through these long periods of no posting. I hope to be able to stick with it a little more. That being said, let's get down to the good stuff, THE FOOD!!

Of course, I would be the crazy one who would decide to get my life back into order and start menu planning, cooking, and blogging during the HOTTEST week of the year. What was I thinking? But, I did it! More or less anyway! I may not have accomplished the menu on the nights I planned, but I got them all cooked except for one (which I still cooked on that night, just an impromptu meal instead of the planned one). So, what did I cook this week? Here's a quick list of this weeks cooking. Yes, I realize it isn't 7 recipes but we also ate out a little and had a picnic to go to. (I never said I was perfect... lol)

White Chicken Bacon Spinach Pizza on a Homemade Herbed (Pan-style) Crust

Super Speedway Taco Pie (earlier post)

Cinnamon Banana Honey Oatmeal & Hodge Podge Smoothie (posts to follow)

Beef Chimichangas (post to follow)

I started Monday out with a White Chicken Pizza recipe that I found at www.mommiecooks.com. We've been eating a lot of frozen pizzas in this house this summer and I also am familiar with making pizza dough since we make it in huge batches at work and I've also made it from scratch at home so I felt this was a great way to jump back into my routine of cooking. My husband was also home, so we had the pleasure of getting into the kitchen together. The pizza turned out OK. My husband decided to add bacon to it (because everything is better with bacon) and a friend suggested adding feta. The crust, however, was one of the best I've made at home. Very nice and fluffy and thick and just like the pizzas I like to get when I eat out. I doubled the pizza dough recipe. When it was finished mixing, I divided it in half, and froze one half (wrapped tightly in plastic wrap) for a future use. I then continued with the recipe to make Monday night's pizza. Hope you all enjoy and I see you back here a little more often.

White Chicken Bacon Spinach Pizza
Adapted from www.mommiecooks.com

*2 sm. Chicken Breast, chopped small
*2 Shallots, chopped
*5 cloves Garlic, minced
*2 Tbsp. olive oil
*1 large bunch basil, chopped
*1 large handful fresh spinach, chopped
*Salt
*Pepper
*6-8 oz. shredded pizza cheese (I used a 4 cheese Italian blend)
*1 ball homemade pizza dough (or store bought) (recipe I used follows)


 1. Saute the chicken, shallots, and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper until cooked through. While this is cooking, parbake your crust for about 7-10 min. at 425F.
2. Remove crust from oven and chicken from heat. Brush crust liberally with olive oil. Spread the chicken mixture on the crust and then top with basil first and then the spinach and finally with the cheese.
3. Put back in the oven for another 7-10 min or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown around the edges.
4. Remove from oven and let rest a minute or two for the cheese to set.

Homemade Herbed Pizza Crust (pan style)
This yields ONE pizza. If you'd like to freeze some, you must double the recipe!
Adapted from www.mommiecooks.com

1 c. lukewarm water (slightly warmer than your body temperature)
1 pkg. dry active yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2.5 cups all purpose flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. basil (dried)
1/2 tsp. onion powder

1. Mix water, yeast and sugar. Let rest for 10-15 min until the yeast reactivates and starts to bubble.
2. Add oil, salt, garlic, basil and onion powder. (I mixed these ingredients in a separate bowl while the yeast was setting).
3. Add flour and knead for about 10 min to develop the gluten. (I did this all in my stand mixer and used the dough hook.)
4. Let dough rest 10 min and start preheating oven to 425F if you haven't already.
5. Now, roll out (or stretch your dough) to the size of your pan. I stretched it, pizzeria style on my hands, to about the size I needed and then used my fingers to stretch it the rest of the way once in the pan.
6. Poke the dough in several places (docking) the dough so it doesn't bubble too much at spots while baking. Brush with oil.
7. Bake at 425F for 7-10 min to parbake. Then add topping of your choice and bake another 7-10 min or until your cheese is bubbly and edges are golden.

ENJOY!!

Pockets: Endless Possibilities

Last week was both my husband's, March 2, and my father's, March 3, birthdays. Since their birthdays are so close, we usually celebrate them at the same time. Since I love to cook, I usually contribute a great deal to the event, if not completely. I always give my father the option to request something for the menu, but he usually differs to my husband. That being said, the first year my husband and I knew each other, he told me his two favorite things to eat were chicken cordon bleu and pasta with alfredo sauce. So, since we've been together, I've tried MANY different varieties of cordon bleu. This year was a chicken cordon bleu pocket. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this so it didn't post it. Why am I telling you all this you want to know? Because it was the inspiration for tonight's meal.

Normally, I'm very thorough at planning the weekly meals. This week, however, we were on vacation and my mother-in-law was visiting so it was alot more meals and less leftovers. So, I stopped at the store for a few things and picked up some proteins, since that's what I was lacking. One of the proteins I picked up was ground beef since I was craving a thick, juicy burger. My husband said I could make those pockets again. I didn't have any cooked chicken and cooking some would have taken too long, so I tried to figure out what else I could stuff in the pocket. At that moment, it came to me, bacon cheeseburger pockets. My husband saw what I was doing and requested that I make some with swiss cheese instead of cheddar and add mushrooms. So thus, dinner was made.

This is just an example of letting your imagination go wild when cooking. Take techniques you've used, like making pockets for the Chicken Cordon Bleu pockets, and use whatever you have available. I think these were, by far, a step up from last weeks meal and I never would have known if I hadn't tried! So start cooking, build your repertoire of techniques, and have fun!

Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger Pockets
Yields: 8 pockets

1.25 lb. ground beef
Salt & Pepper
1.5-2 tsp. Steak Seasoning
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. bacon
2 c. cheddar or swiss cheese
2 cans crescent rolls

Note: I made this recipe half cheddar for me and half swiss for my husband. Out of that, I used roughly half of each mixture. You could definitely cut this in about half and still fill 8 pockets. I, however, enjoyed having extra for other uses (see note at bottom).

Cook bacon using desired method. (I laid the slices out flat in a single layer on two cookie sheets and baked at 400F for about 15 min. checking often so as not to burn and rotating pans halfway.)

While the bacon cooks, brown burger in a small amount of olive oil, seasoning with salt, pepper and steak seasoning. Drain. Brown mushrooms and then season with more salt and pepper. Add to burger.

When bacon is cooked, cool until able to handle and then crumble into burger and mushroom mixture. Mix in cheese of choice or separate into two bowls if doing both cheeses.

Unroll crescent rolls, leaving 2 triangles together to make 4 rectangles. You may need to pinch seems together to help them stay as one. If you can get the 'recipe creations' crescent dough, it would work GREAT for this and just cut the sheet in quarters. My store no longer carries this product, bummer! Pile about a 1/4 c. (good handful) of beef mixture on one half of each rectangle. Fold the empty half over the mixture and pinch along the edges to seal. If your seam where the triangles met begins to come open, you can pinch it closed a little bit.

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 13 to 15 min or until golden.

ENJOY!

Second note: The original recipe talked about freezing these pockets after baking and microwaving to thaw. I'm going to make extra and put them in the freezer for this purpose. I think the beef and cheese mixture would also be delicious mixed with pasta or rice.