Chicken Calzones

If you have extra chicken on hand then this recipe is for you! It was quick, easy, and a hit (Mr. Lawyer inhaled two of them). I used thin crust pizza dough and it turned out nice and crispy. Instead of one cheese I did a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.

BBQ Chicken Calzones

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated classic pizza crust
1-1/3 cups refrigerated original barbecue sauce with shredded chicken
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Unroll dough; place on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press out dough into 14×10-inch rectangle; cut into 4 (7×5-inch) rectangles. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture onto half of each rectangle, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons cheese over each.
3. Fold dough in half over filling; press edges firmly with fork to seal. Prick tops with fork.
4. Bake 9-12 minutes or until light brown.

Healthy Flatbread

This recipe was a hit and it disappeared! It's a healthy pizza and could be made even more healthy if one made it with low-fat cheese/used less cheese...but I am not that person. The one stumbling block I hit was I didn't have enough bean spread or toppings to cover the entire pizza crust but I did not let that stop me! I baked the rest of the pizza crust with no toppings and when it came out I brushed it with a mixture of butter and garlic powder and sprinkled on some parmesan cheese for some quick breadsticks! Ta-da!

Here's the flatbread with extra breadstick combo

And the finished product!

Southwestern Flatbread

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:
1 can pillsbury thin crust pizza
1 16-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 avocado
Lime juice and salt

Directions:
1. Bake crust according to package. My can of dough baked at 400 degrees and needed to be pre-bake for 5 minutes before adding toppings.

2. Microwave black beans for 30 seconds. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, and olive oil. Mash the beans and spices into a paste.
3. Spread bean paste onto pizza crust, sprinkle on cheese, and top with onions and corn.
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Mash the avocado with a dash of lime juice and a pinch of salt. Serve on top of pizza.

Olympic Party!

We are such cool people that we had an Olympic Watching Party (actually, 2!) this week. Jackie decked out their house out with Olympic themed streamers, table clothes and a homemade medal counter. I dressed the part with a shirt and medal courtesy of summer camp and brought an Olympic themed treat: Fruit Pizza. Gold medals all around! The chocolate shortbread is much more enjoyable than vanilla and the sweet frosting is the perfect compliment to both the shortbread and fruit. My favorite was the strawberry section. We had a ton of leftover fruit which made for some amazing breakfast fruit salad. I think there needs to be more themed parties in my life.

Olympic Rings Fruit Pizza

(Pinterest, from A Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 cups whipped topping
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1 large kiwifruit, peeled and chopped
Directions:
1. In a bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugars. Beat in the egg, melted chocolate and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Place waxed paper over a 15-in. x 10-in. baking sheet without sides. Shape dough into a flattened rectangle and place on prepared baking sheet. Cover dough with waxed paper; roll dough to within 1/4 in. of edges of baking sheet. Remove top sheet of waxed paper; invert dough onto another greased baking sheet. Remove remaining waxed paper.
3. Using a 4-1/2-in. diameter plate or bowl and a knife, trace three touching circles along a long side of the dough. Trace two more circles centered below and overlapping upper circles by 1 in. Cut around outer edges of the rings; remove dough around rings and use to make cookies if desired. Bake rings at 350° for 14-16 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
4. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add whipped topping; mix well. Transfer cooled crust to a serving platter. Spread with frosting. On top rings, from left to right, place blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. Place pineapple and kiwi on lower rings. Store in the refrigerator.

Refrigerator Pizza

I had some random stuff in the fridge and a can of pizza dough so I took a page out of Grandpa Norm's book and made some refrigerator pizza (or flatbread since this is a classy establishment)! He always made refrigerator soup. I found a easy recipe for caramelized onions, sautéed some mushrooms and threw on the cheese! The cheese was a real experiment. I had a handful of blue cheese leftover from the Buffalo Chicken Rolls, enough to cover two pieces. I also had a couple of nubs of Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar and Chipotle which I shredded and mixed together (it was pretty even - half and half). I was worried the chipotle wouldn't go with the onion and mushrooms but you couldn't really taste it. We both preferred the cheddar pieces over the blue cheese.

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Flatbread

(From the Kitchen of Jenni!)

Ingredients:
1 can of thin crust pizza dough
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper to taste
2 red onions, sliced
1 package mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat 1 minute. Add butter; melt. Add onions, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 to 8 minutes without stirring. Reduce heat to medium; stir in honey and vinegar. Cook another 15 to 20 minutes or until onions are caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat and let it cool slightly.

2. While onions are caramelizing saute mushrooms in remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil.

3. Pre-bake the crust according to package directions, mine was 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Take crust out and add cheese, onions, and mushrooms. Bake at 400 for 10 more minutes.

Satay Chicken Pizza

In grad school I developed a slight obsession for Thai food and recently I have been brave enough to start experimenting with it in the kitchen. Granted it's normally in some Americanized version (my spicy peanut shrimp linguine which has yet to be featured here) or a pre-made kit but you have to start somewhere right? I'm also hindered by Mr. Lawyer's dislike of peanut sauces (and bean sprouts!).  I recently had the Thai Chicken Pizza from California Kitchen which was delicious but the copycat recipe had a bazillion ingredients, looked time consuming and required you to make your own pizza dough (my arch-nemesis!). I found another more simple recipe for Satay Chicken Pizza that used pitas instead of making your own crust, ingenious! I also had some satay sauce by Spiral Foods which did not have an overwhelming peanut flavor so the Lawyer could enjoy it.

Satay Chicken Pizza

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, chopped into pieces

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup prepared Thai peanut sauce (I used a whole lot less)
1 to 3 green onions, chopped (depending on how much you like green onions)
4 small (4 inch) pita breads
Shredded provolone cheese

1 carrot, shredded

Cilantro, chopped peanuts, or jalapenos for garnish
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Saute chicken pieces in hot oil for 6 to 7 minutes. Add the soy sauce and brown sugar in during the last minute and let it simmer down. This adds some flavor and color to the chicken.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
3. Spoon desired amount of peanut sauce onto each pita. Sprinkle 1/4 of the browned chicken and 1/4 of the scallions on top of each. Top each pizza with cheese. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly. 

4. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes and sprinkle with carrots, cilantro, jalapeno or peanuts.

So pretty. Such a keeper.

Reasons why this dish is wonderful:

1. No homemade pizza crust diaster!

2. Individual pizzas are easy to customize if you don't like something! I put more sauce and less cilantro on mine.

3. No need to cut it into pieces, pitas are easy to pick up and devour!

4. Provolone Cheese! I was a bit confused by this ingredient...provolone cheese and thai food?! But it worked really well with the flavors and added a nice tang to it. 

The perfect compromise sauce: light on the peanuts and a nice bit of zing

Notes on cilantro: I don't love it but I keep trying it in hopes that one day I will at least be able to enjoy it (much like my hunt for a super drinkable red wine. I'm leaning towards Pinot Noir by the way). It does not taste fresh, citrusy or lemon-limey to me. In fact it tastes kind of soapy, too much ruins a dish so I am always very reserved with it. Evidently this is fairly common and the NY Times ran a whole article on it which can be found HERE.

The Pizza that took over the kitchen...

Just give me a frozen Wegman's pizza. ALL I WANT IS A FROZEN WEGMAN'S PIZZA!!!! (You hear that my dear Syracuse readers?! Find a way to mail me one!!)
It would seem that Pizza is going to be my Kitchen Arch Nemesis for a while. If you recall I made a Margherita Pizza last month that came out so-so. It was not overly flavorful, I had problems with the yeast rising, and I didn't have a proper pizza pan so parts of the crust began to burn. Oh and it didn't look pretty at all. Well tonight I used my new pizza pan from the Mother Unit, the pizza tasted delicious, and I had absolutely no problem getting the dough to rise. None at all. In fact, my pizza dough exploded and took over my kitchen. Instead of a deep dish pizza we have a creation Mr. Lawyer dubbed "Cheesey Bread with  Sauce."

Before and After

(BOOM! Pizza take over!)

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

(Food Network Magazine)

Dough Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pizza Dough Directions:
Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. In a bowl mix 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; add to flour and knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe unless noted.
Directions for the Chicago Pizza:

1. Press one pound of dough into an oiled and cornmeal dusted 10-inch pizza or cake pan. (the original recipe called for two pounds of dough which I do not recommend)

2. Top with 2 cups each shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce, some cooked sausage and Italian seasoning.

3. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

I used some leftover spicy basil tomato sauce, a handful of leftover mozzarella mixed with a bunch of Cabot Cheddar (my life blood), and topped it with some roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts. It tasted amazing! The crust, while perfectly golden and crunchy due to the new ceramic pizza tray, was waaaay too big. It really was like dipping a loaf of bread into a saucy cheesy concoction. As a carb lover I throughly enjoyed this but poor Kevin felt it was a bit much.

That's not too much crust is it?!

Margherita Pizza

Around lunch time I realized that we did not have any dinner plans so I hastily whipped out a Food Network Magazine "50" insert. These amazing inserts come in every issue and have a different theme each month. I went for the 50 pizzas but previous themes have been pancakes/waffles, eggs, nachos, holiday drinks, panini, burgers, etc. The idea is they give you the basic recipe, for example in 50 pizza it's the pizza dough, and then 50 different ways and combinations to make the dish. The outcome was sufficient. It was fine but did not have any special flavor pop, we added some garlic and red pepper flakes after the fact. This was influence by the fact that I only had a fresh tomato to use and didn't used canned ones. It was good in a pinch but I would keep looking for a more flavorful Margherita Pizza recipe (in fact there's a yummy looking one from Tyler Florence I just found).

Margherita Pizza

(Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups flour

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 1/3 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

1/2 pound diced mozzarella

Fresh Basil Leaves

Oregano, Salt, Pepper to taste

Pizza Dough Directions:
Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Make a well and add 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe unless noted.

Directions for toppings:
Stretch dough into two thin 9-inch rounds. Top each with 1/2 cup crushed San Marzano tomatoes, dried oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil; bake until golden. Sprinkle with 1/2 pound diced mozzarella, torn basil and salt. Bake until the cheese melts, then drizzle with olive oil.

How to make a pizza:
Step 1: Place a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 500 degrees.
Step 2: Stretch 1 pound dough on a floured pizza peel, large wooden cutting board or parchment paper.
Step 3: Top as desired, then slide the pizza (with the parchment paper, if using) onto the stone or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

I also ran out of flour and had to cut the dough recipe, it took forever to rise, I didn't have a stone or parchment paper, and the lack of flour made the sticky dough a pain to roll out. But it came out okay and we're not starving. Mission accomplished.