Recap: Homemade Pizza Sauce and Crust

I made this again the other night, only I took one batch of dough and made two pizzas with it. It gave me two 14" thin crust pizzas. Of course the sauce is a great as always too.

I made one that Mr. likes with bell peppers, olives, sausage and onions. Hawaiian style for me and the kiddos.

You can find the recipe I use for both right here.






enjoy,

English Muffin Pizzas

The weekend is almost here! Why don't you whip up some of these little guys to make it easier on you, and something everyone could enjoy?

I've only just started making our pizzas at home remember? Well one night I wasn't up to making the dough, so I used English muffins. I've always known about them for pizzas but never gave them a try. Well, now that I have tried them, we'll be doing that more often! These were so good, quick and fun to make with personal toppings! The toppings are endless, below is what we used. I made extras for lunch the next day, so you can cut this recipe in half if you like. I also pre toasted the muffins so they would not be soggy from the sauce.

8 English muffins, cut in half
1 cup pizza sauce (Our favorite homemade sauce found here)

Dry Italian seasoning
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella Cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Pepperoni slices

Canadian bacon, sliced into pieces (or use deli ham slices)

Pineapple rings, cut into pieces
Olives, sliced

Mushrooms, sliced

non stick vegetable spray (or olive oil)

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Spray English muffins with spray (or brush with olive oil) and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Place on foil-lined baking sheet. Place in oven for about 6 minutes to lightly toast up. Remove and spread English muffin halves with pizza sauce. Top with cheeses and toppings.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

-adapted from Kraft

enjoy,

My Contribution to the Super Bowl XLIII

You know, you can still get your tickets (cough)! Or you can just stay home, make some good food and watch from your comfy couch.

We're not huge sports fans (well the Mr. does watch Nascar -he does race at a circle track, you know how our local boy, Jimmie Johnson got started, anyways...). We will probably turn the game on to check it out, but we're not all gung-ho about it. Which means I won't be in the kitchen! But if you will be, here are some recipe ideas to check out!

Pizza!

My own Chicken Salad sandwiches

Or one of these big boys! Focaccia Chicken Sandwich.



These next few I talked about here.

Cheeseball dip

Sweet Onion Tartlets

Deviled Eggs

Don't forget dessert!!

This is a great Chocolate sheet cake...



Or how about some of this good stuff!

*don't forget about my sweet giveaway!

enjoy,

Homemade Pizza! Buffalo Style Chicken and Hawaiian

I was browsing my all time favorite site of trusted recipes, Allrecipes. I came across this homemade pizza crust and sauce. They both had such great reviews, I knew they must be good. Then I saw the buffalo chicken pizza on another food blog, and was reminded of the yummy one that Pizza Hut used to make. I'm not one for spicy, but I could handle their pizza. I knew it'd be on our menu real soon.

I prepped the dough and had it risen and ready when we got home from school at 4pm, just in time to bake it and eat dinner. I let the kids make theirs into Hawaiian, they had a blast doing it. Canadian bacon and pineapple with 2 cheeses. I made the other Buffalo chicken. I had roasted 2 big bone in chicken breasts earlier in the day and shredded them in big chunks (season chicken, roast on baking sheet 425' 45 min-1 hr).

These came out great! I'll definitely be making homemade pizza more often. The weekend is almost here, go make some! Need some pizza topping ideas, check this out!

*UPDATE: I now prebake the crust 10 minutes. Add toppings and finish baking 10-15 more minutes.*

Pizza Crust:
makes 1 large cookie sheet size pizza (could easily make a couple smaller ones)

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I had to use more, just depends)

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour* until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately.
If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
-(I used a Silpat on a baking sheet, and let the topped pizza sit for a bit, baked up nice and puffy)

Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza Sauce:
I double this for 2 pizzas and have some leftover, or freeze for later use.

Pizza Sauce -single recipe

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
6 fluid ounces warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons honey (or less, I used 1 Tbl and a little sugar)
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used a shake of this)
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (I used a tiny pinch)
salt to taste

In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, Parmesan cheese, garlic, honey, onion powder, oregano, marjoram, basil, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes and salt; mix together, breaking up any clumps of cheese.
Sauce should sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors; spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.


Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and cubed or pulled apart
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (2 ounce) bottle hot sauce (I used 3 TBL)
1 (8 ounce) bottle blue cheese salad dressing (I used both pizza sauce & about 1/4 C. dressing)
1 (16 inch) prepared pizza crust
1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese

In a medium bowl combine the cubed chicken, melted butter and hot sauce. Mix well. Spread whole bottle of salad dressing + some pizza sauce over crust, then top with chicken mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese.