Caramelized Onion and Sweet Potato "Pizzas"

And now back to our regularly scheduled food programming :)

I've had my eye on Erin's Caramelized Onion & Sweet Potato Tart for a few weeks now, but when I got out all my ingredients to make it tonight, I realized that I had accidentally purchased puff pastry shells and not puff pastry sheets. Not wanting to make another trip to the store, I decided to make a batch of my whole wheat thin crust pizza dough and see what happened.

In short, MAGIC.

 I rolled out the dough super thin, so when it cooked up it was crunchy and almost cracker-like.

I then followed Erin's recipe exactly and cooked my "pizzas" for about 8 minutes each (I use a pizza stone to get nice, crisp crust).

The flavors were so rich and warm and perfect for this cold evening. I was running low on Parmesan, but next time I'll be sure to use a heavier hand.

I had some beets from our CSA last week that were begging to be used, so I scrubbed them and tossed them in a pot of boiling water for about 30 minutes and then just served them with salt and pepper.

Brian loves beets. The bowl was half empty by the time I cut the pizzas and sat down to eat!

If you are here for the first time from FitBlogger, WELCOME! How are you cooking differently now that the seasons are changing?

Pizza Thursday!

Today is B's birthday!

[Source]

Happy birthday, honey!

I have lots of fun things planned for this weekened (I love birthdays!), but let's back up to last night.

Pizza Thursday!

Because we are going out to a fancy dinner tonight, I moved Pizza Friday to Thursday and whipped up a pie that has been hanging out in my bookmarked recipes for a few months now - Spinach, Bacon, and Feta!

You are supposed to make this with a sun-dried tomato pesto, but we just used regular old basil pesto and it was great. I started by mixing up a batch of whole-wheat thin crust pizza dough while B made pizza sauce (this is a really great recipe - you will never buy pizza sauce again!). I must have been distracted while measuring the flour because the dough was as sticky as bubblegum at first! If this happens to you, just add more flour one tablespoon at a time until you get a workable consistency.

Pizza before hitting the pizza stone:

Pizza after baking for 5 minutes, then topped with crumbled bacon and feta and then baked for another 3 minutes:

We made a simple salad and devoured an entire pie. Fortunately, we made two so I have leftovers in my lunchbox for this afternoon!

After dinner, I made B put a hot compress on his face because he had a stye that looked like it was getting infected...

TMI? I wasn't planning to tell this story, but then I took this picture and it was too funny to just leave on my camera:

He was not a happy camper.

But this morning he was much more pleasant when he got to take his coffee to work in his brand-new San Jose Earthquakes travel mug!

I am the best wife ever. :)

Hope you all have stellar weekends planned! I'll be back on Sunday with an update on all our birthday festivities!

Labor Intensive

[Source]

What a super weekend! Happy Labor Day (or, if you're reading this on Tuesday morning, Happy 4-Day Work Week)!

I originally wanted to plan a little getaway to Carmel or Tiburon this weekend because B has been so stressed with teaching his AP Physics class, but I waited until the last minute and couldn't find anything under $500!  Needless to say, we settled for staying home instead.

After our Shui Tea taste-test on Sunday morning, we packed up our things and headed to Peet's for a grading session and the first official Pumpkin Spice latte of the season (I say official because I had an Awake Tea latte at Starbucks with a pump of Pumpkin Spice while I got my nails done with Mom on Saturday, but I don't think that counts)!

This "spend several hours grading at Peet's" thing is a pretty regular occurrence here at Casa Ellis. We got some weird stares this weekend when we walked in carrying 36 spiral notebooks and 130 essays that needed to be graded. The barista asked if we were students doing homework!

Today B did more grading at home while I hit the outlets in search of khaki pants and nice jeans for work and new running shoes for, you know, running. Success on all three counts!

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I've been running in my current sneaks since December of 2009. Since I've never done a lot of running, I have never paid much attention to how often I replace my running shoes. You are supposed to replace running shoes every 300-400 miles. I have run ~250 miles since I started half-marathon training in May, and that doesn't count the running I did before May, which was probably about 10 miles a week.

You can do the math, I'm allergic to numbers. A lot of my running is outdoors and on rough terrain (gravel, trails, etc) too, both of which are harder on shoes.

I'm thinking that perhaps my broken-down Asics might be partly to blame for my achy knee. I'll take the new sneaks for a spin tomorrow morning before work. They are super light trail runners and I'm hoping I notice a difference!

Thank you, DSW, for having quality running shoes on clearance!

Tonight I made the least labor intensive dinner I could think of: calzones AKA oversized hot pockets! :) I grabbed two rounds of dough and leftover filling from the freezer and went to town.

My prettiest calzones to date!

While I rolled out dough, B cut up two heirloom tomatoes from our CSA and picked basil from our windowbox garden to make a yummy Caprese salad.

The tomatoes look a mess but were delicious! Super ripe and flavorful - I love fresh, local produce!

Right now B is doing dishes while I contemplate writing a quiz or catching up on True Blood. I'll let you guess what I end up doing...

Grown Up Hot Pockets

Did you eat Hot Pockets when you were a kid? We always had them in the house, but my brother was the primary consumer. My husband, unsurprisingly, loves convenience food like PopTarts, boxed granola bars, and (of course) Hot Pockets. But to be honest, Hot Pockets kind of gross me out.

[Source - getjustin]

I mean, if this print is to be believed, I do not want those things in my body! I mean, HELLO, imitation mozzarella cheese? Artificial butter flavor? Corn syrup solids?? It gives me the willies.

[Source - ScienceBlogs. This picture comes from a really interesting article about the physics of Hot Pockets, if you're into that sort of thing which, again, my husband totally is]

You know what doesn't give me the willies? Homemade pizza. Even better? Homemade calzones. Even better? Tiny homemade calzones that are basically Hot Pockets! I am a genius. Your husbands will worship the ground you walk on (as if they don't already!). You can thank me later.

Of course, what's great about this is that it's not so much a recipe as a jumping off point. You can put anything in these, including artichoke hearts and mushrooms and olives, which is totally next on my list. These are for my husband to take to work and eat for lunch, so I opted for meat.


Grown Up Hot Pockets
Ingredients

• 1 batch of thin crust pizza dough (or store bought)
• 1T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4" Italian sausage meat (I used turkey)
• 1 jar pizza or marinara sauce
• shredded mozzarella 
• 2-3 basil leaves, torn

Method

1. Preheat oven and pizza stone (if using) to 400 degrees.
2. Saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add sausage meat and cook until no longer pink. 
3. Add marinara sauce and let simmer until slightly thickened.
4. Meanwhile, divide pizza dough into four equal pieces and shape into rounds on one piece of parchment paper (or on a baking sheet)
5. When sauce is done, place ~1 cup of sauce on each dough round
6. Top with cheese and a few pieces of basil
7. Fold pizza dough over on itself so it forms a pocket. Pinch the edges together. Put a tiny slit in the top for ventilation.
8. Slide parchment paper onto pizza stone/place baking sheet in the oven.
9. Cook for 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

They might ooze a little out of the slit you made at the top, depending on how full you stuffed them.

This sauce actually makes about twice as much as you need for the amount of dough, so you could:

1. Half the sauce recipe  
2. Make 2 batches of pizza dough (this will make 8 hot pockets, but you could freeze them)
3. Or, do what I do and freeze the excess sauce for a night that you don't feel like cooking. Either whip up a batch of pizza dough (it seriously takes 10 minutes max), or buy some at TJ's, or just use the sauce on top of pasta! I am all about keeping extra sauces/fillings/etc in the freezer so my husband can't pull the "We don't have anything to eat! Let's get tacos at Taqueria Superior!" card.

This is my favorite jarred marinara, by the way. Check out that ingredient list! No corn syrup solids there!

What is your favorite childhood food (that you probably don't eat anymore)?
I loved Nestle Drumstick Sundae Cones when I was a kid. And Cookies 'n Cream ice cream. Strangely, I seem to have grown out of my sweet tooth now that I'm adult.

Pizza Friday

You guys know how much we love pizza over here! After a 4-mile run with the hubs, I whipped up a batch of my whole wheat thin crust pizza dough and went to town!

 
But first, run stats:

• Total Mileage: 4mi
• Total Time: 35:45min
• Average Pace: 8:55min/mi

Keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth and drama-free 9-miler tomorrow morning!

On the the pizza! I was originally planning to make Jenna's zucchini pizza. which promises to rock your face, but forgot to buy ricotta at the grocery store this weekend. I have a ton of zucchinis though, so I did a quick switch and went with an old favorite from Smitten Kitchen, a Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza.

The other pizza was a Corn, Bacon, Tomato and Basil pizza from Eggs on Sunday.

Sadly, in my haste to get this pizza in the oven (and, consequently, in my mouth) I forgot the tomatoes that I had been saving all week from our CSA box for this very pizza! I didn't even realize it until we had eaten half of it! It was delicious without them, but I'll be sure to include them next time!

Are you all reading Eggs on Sunday? If not, you should be. Amy really knows her stuff and posts some incredible recipes (and gorgeous photos!). I especially love her Ingredient Inspirations page, where you can browse recipes based on ingredient. Always helpful when I buy avocados and want to make something more creative than guacamole!

Note: I'm assuming that you already read Smitten Kitchen because, well, Deb is basically the Queen of the Foodblogging World. And her kid is so cute, I could totally eat him.

Anyway, pizza. I decided to do these in the oven since it's not a billion degrees today and I didn't feel like working super hard to get organized like I usually do when we grill (this might account for the forgotten tomatoes...). I assembled both pizzas on parchment paper while the oven heated to 500, then just slid them onto the pizza stone, parchment paper and all. The parchment paper keeps the dough from sticking to the stone and the dough pulls away from the paper as it cooks. Genius!

I'm considering an official Pizza Friday tradition around here. We used to do Pizza Friday when I was a kid (although it meant takeout!) and it was always something fun to look forward to.

Do you (or your family) have specific dinner theme nights? Mexican Monday? Thai Food Tuesday?

Pizza Grilling, Take 2!

Oh yes, my friends. B and I fired up the BBQ for some more pizza grilling goodness tonight!

That head of garlic in the last post? Roasted, pureed with sun dried tomatoes, and smeared on a pizza crust. This, dear readers, is living!

Let's back up. I started by getting super organized (the key to a successful pizza grilling endeavor).

Then, while B got the grill ready, I sliced up the last tomato from our CSA box and made a yummy little salad with feta, basil from our herb garden, and fancy balsamic. This is maybe my favorite salad in the world.

Then the pizzas hit the grill! As usual, we made two varieties.

For a run-down of how we grill pizzas on the BBQ, check out this post.

California Veggie Pizza

• red pizza sauce (from TJ's, but sometimes I make my own)
• mozzarella
• artichoke hearts
• gypsy pepper strips
• LOVE

OMG I Can't Believe What I Just Put in My Mouth Pizza (no, there's no better name for it)

• roasted pepper & sundried tomato "pesto" (recipe below)
• mozzarella
• red onions
• roasted red peppers
• fresh basil
• feta

The second pizza.... I don't even have words for how delicious that pie was. Roasted garlic, fresh basil, freaking FETA. Just... WOW. Wowowow. Make this pizza.

NOW!

Oh yeah, I promised you a recipe!

Roasted Garlic and Sundried Tomato "Pesto"
Ingredients

• 1 head of garlic
• 1T olive oil
• 1/3 cup oil-packed sundried tomatoes, drained - reserve oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Slice off the top of the head of garlic, place in a small baking dish
3. Drizzle with 1T olive oil
4. Bake until garlic cloves are light brown, about 35min
5. Remove from oven; let cool
6. Using fingers, squeeze out roasted garlic cloves into food processor; add sundried tomatoes
7. Pulse until almost smooth, adding enough reserved oil to form a paste

Pizza Party

Happy 4th of July, America!

Last night's pizza grilling endeavor was a huge success (and no fire extinguishers were necessary)!

Here's the play-by-play:  

1. I whipped up a double batch of my favorite thin crust pizza dough (recipe below) and froze half for a later date. Then, while the grill was heating up, I assembled and organized my toppings (organization is key for pizza on the BBQ!). I didn't take pictures until the pizzas were done because you have to move fast once those pizzas hit the grill!

• For pizza #1, I used TJ's pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, and red onions and mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic.

• For pizza #2, I used homemade pesto (recipe below), shredded mozzarella, sliced black olives, and crumbled spicy italian sausage.

2. Roll out your pizza dough nice and thin and rub both sides with a little olive oil. Sprinkle one side with cornmeal (don't use flour, it burns).

3. Once the grill is hot, put the aluminum foil with the dough on it down on the grate, cornmeal side UP. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, then slide the aluminum foil out from underneath the dough, so the dough is right on the grill. It will start to puff up and bubble a little. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes. Use metal tongs to check the underside of the dough frequently. You want it browned with nice grill marks, but not charred/burned.

4.When the dough is ready, flip it over. It should not stretch or tear. If it does, you didn't cook it long enough. Here is where you have to be quick and organized. Top your pizza with the desired toppings. Don't use too much or your pizza will be too heavy and the dough won't finish cooking properly. The key here is simple pizza with quality ingredients.

5. When you're done topping the pizza, put the lid on the BBQ and let your pizza cook for about 5 minutes.

6. When your pizza is done (cheese should be nice and melted, dough should be cooked through - use your tongs to check the bottom again), slide the pizza off the grill with your tongs onto a waiting cutting board.

7. DEVOUR.

These were awesome! The crust was super thin and crunchy and the toppings were super fresh and delicious. Also, using the grill outside was so much nicer than heating up the oven (and, by extension, the entire apartment). This would be so fun to do when we have dinner guests over too! Since we don't eat very much meat, the BBQ doesn't get a whole lot of action, but I could see doing this at least once a week until it gets too cold.

In unrelated news, my SI is still super sore. I thought I might be able to run today, but I think I will do a spin workout and then some abs instead. This afternoon we are going to a fun 4th of July wedding at Santa Clara. It's not our normal celebration, but I'm still looking forward to some serious BBQ!

What are you July 4th plans? Do you celebrate with family or friends? Will BBQ be involved?!



Thin Crust Pizza Dough
Yields 2 pizza rounds
This recipe is great - limited kneading and no rising! I use half whole-wheat and half white flour, but you could use all white if you prefer. I think all whole-wheat might make the dough a little heavy, but if you try it, let me know!

Ingredients
3/4c water
1/2t active dry yeast
2 cups flour (I use 1 cup white and 1 cup WW)
1/2t salt

Method
1. Heat the water until it feels barely lukewarm when you test it with your finger. Add the yeast to the water and use a fork or whisk to stir it into the water. Set this aside for a few minutes and allow the yeast to dissolve. It's ok if the yeast doesn't bubble, but it should be entirely dissolved.

2. Measure out the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and combine.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the water-yeast mixture in. Combine everything together (I use my hands, but it's kind of stretchy/sticky/gross. You can use a wooden spoon)

4. When it comes together in a semi-cohesive ball, turn it out onto the counter with any extra flour left in the bowl.

5. Knead the dough until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth to the touch - about five minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky. If it's still sticking to your hands and countertop like crazy, add 1T of flour at a time until you reach the right consistency.

6. Divide the dough in two. Work once piece of the dough in your hands until it forms a large disc. Then set the dough back on your work surface (I like to use parchment paper if these are going in the oven) and use the heel of your hand to gently press the dough outward until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick or less. You can also use a rolling pin for this.

7. If this is going in the oven, top your pizza and then slide the whole pie (parchment paper included) onto your pizza stone. (As it cooks, the dough will release from the parchment). If it's going on the grill, follow the steps I outlined above.


Fresh Pesto
Yields ~1 cup of pesto 
 

Ingredients
2c fresh basil
1/3c pine nuts or walnuts
3 cloves of garlic
1/3c olive oil
1/2 c parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method
1. Combine the basil and nuts in a food processor. Add the garlic and pulse a few more times.

2. Slowly add olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed. Add the cheese the pulse again. Taste and season to your liking.