Wolfgan's BBQ chicken pizza

Otherwise known as man pizza if you ask me. I'm being stereotypical but I think just about any man would love this creation... ok fine, and probably every woman, I LOVED it. Sunday morning before I headed to the grocery store I handed John The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook and told him to pick what he wanted to for dinner. He immediately hands down wanted this, period. No more looking necessary.

To make it even easier we used a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking and cubing our own. Super fast and perfect with some home made bruschetta on the side. John literally stopped eating and clapped because this was so good, HA!

Wolfgang Puck's BBQ Chicken Pizza
recipe from The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced yellow and red bell peppers
1 lb refrigerated pizza dough (we used whole wheat)
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fontina cheese (we used sharp cheddar)
1.5 cups cooked chicken breast cubed (I used a rotisserie chicken and shredded the meat)
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

Cook the peppers in olive oil and roll out your dough. Top dough with peppers and cheese. He has you bake it for 12 minutes at 500 and cook the chicken separate, then top the pizza with it. I shredded the chicken, tossed it with the BBQ sauce and put it all onto the pizza and into the oven at the same time. Top with parsley once out of the oven.

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Fire toasted grilled pizza

I've made grilled pizza in my back yard before... but what about grilling pizza at your camp site over an open flame? Game ON.

I cheated and packed a pan.. and wegmans whole wheat dough. A little sauce some cheese and yellow peppers later we were ready to go.


Don't you think pizza taste better when you have a nice backdrop like this?

We used a tin foil tent to help the top cook. We got the crispest best crust I've ever had. AMAZING. Although next time I'd grill the dough on one side, take it off the fire, flip it over, then put all the sauce and toppings on. There's always next year :)


*drool* Ever made pizza on a camp fire before??

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Turkey Day BBQ Pizza

Is everyone stuffed? Are you seriously sick and tired of turkey?? Well I've got a fabulous solution for you. Pulled turkey BBQ pizza! You can make this with any leftover turkey you have or if you want just used torn up sliced cold cuts.


Truth be told... I'm not a turkey fan... thankfully my cousin also made a ham!! In all reality though I could have gotten by just fine with everything else there was to eat. We started with fruit salad, followed by homemade ravioli, then cream of chicken soup, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, fried cauliflower, eggplant, cranberry dressing, normal stuffing, pineapple stuffing (this stuff is bright yellow and horrible for you... but I LOVE it)... and so many more things... who ever needs the turkey!! And then there was dessert, pumpkin pie, 2 kinds of apple pie, crumb cake, pumpkin chocolate cheesecake, brandied pears... is anyone else getting full just listening to this? To put it simply it was delicious!! I'll try to wrangle a picture out of my family so you can see the setup... a giant square of cobbled together tables made to fit all 23 of us... YIKES!!!

So how did you all celebrate?

Turkey BBQ Pizza (the easy way)
by steph chows

1 premade crust (sure you can make it yourself but this is the easy version)
Dinosaur BBQ sauce (or whatever your favorite is)
part skim mozzarella
turkey (cooked and torn into small pieces)
chopped onion (if you want to get fancy caramelize them first)

Layer sauce onto the crust and then cover with torn turkey, sprinkle on cheese and then finish with some onions. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

CHOW!!!!

more grilled pizza

I can't help myself, this is just too easy to make... and doesn't heat up the house... and is done within 20 minutes of starting... I can't stop talking about it!!!

I made two this weekend... yup, two... and I love every minute of it. Did you all have wonderful Memorial Days? I hope so! John and I finished moving his stuff to the new house... a couch didn't make it... it wouldn't leave his house in one piece... we had to saw it in half to get it out LOL... yes you read that write! Best part... I used a super sharp kitchen knife to cut parts of it in and it went through it like butter!!!


OK back to that pizza, this time, spicy red sauce, mushrooms, chicken sausage, pesto blobbed on top. YUM To read about my first grilled pizza adventure go here.

Grilled Pizza with a twist

You know how sometimes people tell you something is so so very tasty, but you just don't get around to trying it? Well I've known about grilling pizza for a long time now and have heard so many rave about it... well now it's my turn... AMAZING!!!

We moved my grill to the new house this weekend so of course I had to use it! I was given a ton of pizza paraphernalia at my NJ bridal shower so it was time to break it all out! I started with a Trader Joe's chabatta style pizza crust. John had the idea of topping it with chipotle hummus, wicked good idea! Topped that with sliced garlic (using my awesome new garlic slicer), added a few dashed of red hot. Plopped on some thawed frozen cooked shrimp, some roasted red peppers, and then topped it all off with some part skim mozzarella.


Sounds weird right? I wasn't so convinced... I thought this would be ok but not great... but it turned out FN AMAZING!!! AMAZING I say!!! Like go out and make it tonight!!

The bottom of the dough was so crisp, yet it still had this wonderful chew to it... *drool*

So here's how it goes, and perfect for a hot humid day like it was this weekend (no oven to warm up the house more!). Turn your grill on high and close the lid, let it heat up for about 10 minutes. While that is happening take a pizza peel and sprinkle it with a little corn meal. Add your dough and then cover with whatever toppings you like (see above for our version). Once grill is heated up slide the pizza right onto the grill, close the lid and lower the heat to medium. In about 10 minutes you will have a super crisp bottom and a bubbling cheesy top! (Just a side note, the dough was a precooked variety, I know you can do this with homemade dough... just don't ask me how yet!)

YUM, too bad there were no leftovers :(

Pizza on the Grill

So this was my first attempt at pizza on the grill! As I mentioned before, John got me a kick butt gas grill for my birthday!!! How cool is that??

My mom laughed at me when I told her what she got me... she thought I was kidding...

"Steph don't you want some nice jewelry or something?? You really wanted a grill?"

Yes mom, yes I did :D

Dad seemed pretty amused at my gift, I think he was proud of my choice :D


I've heard about cooking pizza on a gas grill for a long time, and have always wanted to try. With John's kitchen under construction, this seemed like the perfect opportunity! For my first try I kinda whimped out though... I used flat out wraps as my crust. I'll try home made dough soon for sure though! The pizzas cooked up super fast and had a wonderful wood fired taste to them. Pile the toppings high and get grilling!

Guidas

When I moved to upstate NY I never thought I'd have to worry about finding good pizza... I mean come on I'm still in NY... and NYC is like the land of pizza! Surely there is good pizza upstate... yeahhhh I learned pretty quick that a lot of pizza places up here like to use sweet sauce. No joke, it tastes like there is a jar of sugar in it!! NASTY MUCH??


There is however a place I hold near and dear to my heart up here. Guidas Pizza. It's the closest NYC style that I've found up here (although I recently read about another place where a guy from Brooklyn just opened so I need to go check it out!). Guidas is true to NYC style where you can walk in and just order a slice to go or stay (love that). Plus it totally helps with the portion control... you give me a large pizza and I'm gonna chow most of it without blinking. See this is why ordering a slice = moderation = a good thing.

Although a slice is rather large... yes this is 1 slice, I know it's cut in half... but it's 1 :D


Mmmmm what's your favorite style pizza? Thin crust, thick and chewy? And what are your toppings of choice?

MORE pizza and a teaser

I'm waiting on the images I took with my dad's kick-butt camera... so the remainder of the DC trip write up will have to wait until then. In the mean time I give you some amazingly delicious pizza.


Tons of mushrooms, fresh parsley, mozzarella. You can find the quick and easy dough recipe here. And the no cook sauce here. This dough was from a batch I made a month or so ago and froze half of. I just took it out to thaw in the fridge the night before. Even after freezing and thawing the dough rolls out well... it does get a little more crisp though... so if you don't like thin crispy crust... don't freeze it... just make it fresh! Oh come on, it's not like it takes a long time :)

Oh right did I mention a teaser?


It's going down right here on FRIDAY of this week! So come on back and comment for your chance to win! Aren't prizes fun?? I sure think they are :)

Memorial Day Pizza

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope you are all having a beautiful work free day filled with ice cold drinks and lots of time to relax! I leave you today with a nice home made pizza. You can find the quick and easy dough recipe here. And the no cook sauce here. I covered this bad boy in roasted red peppers, turkey pepperoni, part skim cheese, mushrooms, and fresh parsley.

Chow!!

So what are your Memorial Day plans??

Wheat pizza dough in 30 minutes flat

I like the idea of being able to get home at night and have a nice pizza with home made dough... and I REALLY like the idea when it doesn't take 2 hours for the dough to rise!! I found the recipe on What's cooking in the orange kitchen yesterday and HAD to make this for dinner.


Having a kitchen aid mixer makes this stupidly easy, but if you don't have one no worries just use your hands :) (bonus you get a little arm workout).

I made broccoli and mushroom stuffed calazones. My roomie and I gave them a thumbs up! And the crust recipe is a keeper for sure! Filling recipe is below the dough recipe.


Jessica says the 12 ounce dough recipe made 2 good size calzones, but they are on the thin side so if you like yours thicker (crustier) go for the 1 pound recipe.

Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough
(Source: Originally from EatingWell.com As found on Amber's Delectable Delights I found it linked there from What's cooking in the orange kitchen) man this recipe gets around!

To make 12 ounces dough:
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 package quick-rising yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann's RapidRise
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2-2/3 cup hot water (120-130°F)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

To make 1 pound dough:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 package quick-rising yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann's RapidRise
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup hot water (120-130°F)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Combine hot water and oil in a measuring cup. With the motor running, gradually pour in enough of the hot liquid until the mixture forms a sticky ball. The dough should be quite soft. If it seems dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water; if too sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour. Process until the dough forms a ball, then process for 1 minute to knead.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Coat a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place it, sprayed-side down, over the dough. Let the dough rest for 10 to 20 minutes before rolling.
3. Place a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet on the lowest oven rack;preheat oven to 450°F or highest setting. Roll and top the pizza as desired(we suggest a 13-inch circle) and bake the pizza until the bottom is crisp and golden, 10 to 14 minutes.

*For calzones split the dough in half and roll them out into 2 flat circles. Put the filling on half of one of the dough circles and then folded the other half over. Pinch the edges all the way around. Keep an eye on the baking time. Mine took 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately



Calazone filling
recipe by me

1 tsp chopped garlic
spray of olive oil for pan
1/2 cup chopped brocolli
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup pasta sauce of choice
1/4 tsp dried basil (or 1 Tbs chopped fresh if you have it on hand)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup part skim mozzerella
1 Tbs parmasaian cheese

Saute garlic until fragrant then add everything but the cheeses in a pan until cooked through, roll out half the dough from the recipe above and pile mixture on half of the circle. I used all of this filling for 1 calazone (half the dough recipe). Sprinkle with cheeses. Fold dough over and pinch to seal. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes. CHOW!

Highjacks & high jinx

Well, Steph was in the Poconos, and a man needs to eat. So I decide, if I’m gonna get down, I’m gonna get down and highjack the blog while I’m at it. All I hear about is blogging this and blogging that (not that I’m complaining about being an official taste tester of Stephchows, mind you). How hard can this be, right?? (I’ll tell you how hard: its Thursday night and I’m just writing this mess from Sat!!)

Now, I need to feel like cooking, and that doesn’t happen often, especially with my woman so eager to take on that chore. But desperate times call for desperate measures. She had told me I had stuff to make pizzas (I used to know such things about my own fridge). So, it was ‘go time.’ Whole wheat pizza dough was waiting for me; I just needed to knead it, flatten it, work it a bit. It smelled a little vinegar-y, so that scared me (but not enough to cease operation). Now, I do have some skills in the kitchen, truth be told; the thing is, it is more of throwing things together into a massive goulash-type deal (I am the self-proclaimed “Koncoction King”).

The next logical step, then, was just to start tossing things on top of this canvas. Pesto, garlic, lil grated parm, some diavola tomato sauce, dashes of pepper and pizza spices.. pretty much no rhyme or reason. Top with some Red Hot, fat free mozzarella, and lean turkey pepperoni. Oh yeah, I am a freak with the lowfat etc, so this was all on the healthy tip. I guess you can tell there will be no recipe to follow, but I baked this bad boy at about 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so (who the hell really knows). Check out the pics. Not bad… not bad at all!

before

after

Well this was fun. Ladies, holla for a man who cooks!! Wait - what’s that Steph? What dishes need to be cleaned...? but… but…I’m blogging.

No cook pizza sauce

Pizza is one of those things that I think I could eat everyday... and I would be a very large and happy woman! I love making pizza at home, you get to make the crust as thin as you want, add whatever you like, and it really doesn't' take that long at all to make!


Wegmans (the best food store EVER) sells their whole wheat (or white) pizza dough in big ball form. You basically pay $2 and get enough dough for two large pizzas, nice deal huh? I make sure to give the dough enough time to rest outside of the refrigerator so it can rise a little more, that way I can get the crust SUPER thin. Tear the ball in half and toss one back in the fridge for latter use. I don't have a rolling pin at John's house so I use an empty jar or a wine bottle, in reality I like this better then a rolling pin, the dough seems to stick to it less :) I also have one of those pizza pans that has all the holes in the bottom, makes the crust so super crisp I LOVE IT!

Anyway John wanted to make our own sauce for the pizza, we normally just use wegmans diavola sauce but he said it just didn't taste like a real pizza that way. So we made our own and MAN was it GOOD! John was eating the leftovers by the spoonful later in the week hehe. It only takes a few minutes and is again super cheep. You basically take a 45 cent can of tomato paste and add a bunch of spices to it. YUM

John's fancy pizza sauce
6oz can tomato paste
2 tsp chopped garlic cloves
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs basil
1 Tbs rosemary
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
couple glugs red hot

2/3 cup water

Mix everything through red hot in a bowl, slowly stir in water and stop at desired consistency. Taste, add more spices if you like, that's it, you're DONE.


We didn't use the whole batch of sauce for the one pizza, we had some left over, spread it all over your dough and add whatever toppings you like! Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes. CHOW!!!!

Crisp Rosemary Flatbread topped with salad

So I read about these flat breads over at Smitten Kitchen a little while back and made them one night LOVE THEM. Then on another night I decided to make them into cheese-less pizza's topped with salad... I know seems a bit odd... TOTALLY DELICIOUS!! I mean look at this!


YUM!!

Anyway, make the flatbreads as described below (so simple quick and easy it's awesome, no yeast, no kneeding, no waiting!). I added some onions and slices of big fat tomatoes, and baked them as directed in the flat bread recipe. Then top with your favorite salad toppings and dressing! I put the recipe I used for the salad and dressing below the flatbread recipe. YUM!!!

flat breads hot out of the oven

Crisp Rosemary Flatbread
Gourmet, July 2008

Nothing could be easier than making this cracker, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell people you slaved all day over it because they’re going to be impressed, really impressed, and I see no reason not to milk it.

I think you could easily swap the rosemary for other herbs, such as thyme or tarragon, or punch it up with black pepper or other spices, but personally, I like it just the way it is here.

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary plus 2 (6-inch) sprigs (I used thyme)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
Flaky sea salt such as Maldon

Preheat oven to 450°F with a heavy baking sheet on rack in middle.

Stir together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in center, then add water and oil and gradually stir into flour with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Knead dough gently on a work surface 4 or 5 times.

Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll out 1 piece (keep remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap) on a sheet of parchment paper into a 10-inch round (shape can be rustic; dough should be thin).

Lightly brush top with additional oil and scatter small clusters of rosemary leaves on top, pressing in slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt. Slide round (still on parchment) onto preheated baking sheet and bake until pale golden and browned in spots, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer flatbread (discard parchment) to a rack to cool, then make 2 more rounds (1 at a time) on fresh parchment (do not oil or salt until just before baking). Break into pieces.

Flatbread can be made 2 days ahead and cooled completely, then kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Salad and Dressing
lettuce greens
roma tomatoes sliced in half
red onions sliced
kalamata olives (i can't stand these but others love this flavor combo)
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Mix vinegar, oil, red pepper in a bowl, add lettuce and other salad ingredients you'd like to use and toss to coat. Pile onto of warm flatbreads and serve.

Chow!!

Super easy, quick, and looks like you spent all day on it! Change up the toppings to personalize it to each family member, or have them top it themselves :)

Are we lost again?

So we got some snow this weekend... Or i should say we got A LOT of snow this weekend. So we powered up with some homemade pizza before taking to the trails to snow shoe! It's a good thing we chowed up since what started out as a well marked easy to follow trail turned into a never ending saga that lasted over 2 hours and many miles... But in the end we found our way home!! hooray!!


Back to the pizza... This is what I call Pizza in a hurry because it's all said done and on your plate within 15 minutes of starting.

Pizza in a hurry
4 flat out style wraps (we use the low carb originals)
1 cup diavola (spicy) tomato sauce
4 tsp basil pesto
1.5 - 2 cups part skim mozzarella
turkey pepperoni (however much you feel like!)
sundried tomatoes
1 can sliced mushrooms (we were out so none on this one booo!)
oregano
black pepper

Heat oven to 350.
Lightly spray cookies sheets with olive oil and place flat out wraps on them.
Spread lightly the pesto onto the wraps then spread on the spicy diavola sauce (1/4 cup each wrap)
Sprinkle mozzarella over sauce
Add pepperoni, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, and whatever else you have on hand.
Sprinkle with oregano and black pepper.
Cook for 8 minutes, or until nicely browned and crispy.

Enjoy some deliciously crisp thin crust pizza in a hurry!