The Bendeguz

So ... the other day my husband was craving Eggs Benedict. But it was already way past breakfast time and we didn't have any of the ingredients anyway so we just left it.  Then our friends invited us to come have pizza for dinner.  We never turn down pizza with Craig & Jodie ... this was no exception !  Rory threw out the idea of making an Eggs Benedict Pizza.  Craig was up to the challenge and the rest my friends, is history !  Mouth watering, record breaking, best pizza eva history !

So, how do you make it ?

You'll need your favorite pizza dough recipe. This one had a nice thick crust.

Roll out your dough.  Top with "funky lime" garlic and the oil you cooked it in.  (funky lime garlic ... heat olive oil in a small frying pan. Add freshly minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, til light brown ... DON'T BURN IT !! Burned garlic is bitter and yucky !)

Top with mozzarella cheese and sliced bacon.  Cook the pizza til cheese/crust are golden.

While pizza is cooking, make hollandaise sauce and poach a couple eggs. (recipe here)

Once pizza is cooked, drizzle hollandaise sauce on top, top with baby spinach leaves and poached eggs.

Try not to make groaning noises when you eat this ... (but don't be surprised to find that is an effort in futility !) 

the mini-me ~ a bella russia original

last night we did pizza night with friends

it is tradition with these friends that you make your signature pizza on your first visit

so, last night ... it was Bel's first visit ... and she pulled off a ripper

THE MINI-ME

she calls it

You will need ...

Pizza dough
Tomato based pizza sauce
Kalamata olives, diced
Red onion, slivered
Feta cheese, finely diced
Broccoli, finely diced
Sun dried tomatoes, finely diced
Fresh parsley
Mozarella

Yogurt or sour cream
Garlic, crushed
Fresh chives, chopped

Here's how you make it ...

Mix yogurt (or sour cream) with garlic and chives to taste. Set aside.

From Bel ... and I quote "The key with the mini-me is the spacing and finely chopped-ness. It is a vegetarian dish from the backstreets of Florence. The recipe has been passed down through families over centuries and was initially dated back to some time near AD250."

Everything after her first sentence may or may not be fictional ....

Using your favorite pizza dough, spread it with a tomato based pizza sauce, evenly space all ingredients (as you will see demonstrated in the photo below). Top with a light sprinkling of mozzarella. Cook in pizza oven, BBQ or oven .... you decide.

Top with garlic chive yogurt ...

Greek Chicken Pizza

I found this recipe at Dragon's Kitchen. I tried it once before but found it to be a bit oily. Probably because I didn't use a pizza stone. But, my pizza stone broke a few years ago and it's just not priority to get a new one. This time, I ammended the recipe. I'm going to give you my version of Greek Chicken Pizza ... if you want the original one ... head over to Dragon's kitchen !!

1 cooked chicken breast, cut into cubes
1/2 small zucchini, sliced
4 asparagus spears, chopped
1/4 cup red onions, chopped
1/4 cup of kalamata olives, halved
1/4 feta cheese, crumbled
1 garlic clove, minced finely
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
sun dried tomato strips (optional)


1. Preheat the oven to 500° F / 260 ° C.

2. Roll out your dough and place on baking tray.

3. Combine the oil, garlic, herbs and pepper.

4. Put cooked chicken, chopped veggies, and oil mixture into bowl. Mix well.

5. Top the pizza with the mixture. Sprinkle with feta and add sun dried tomatos, if using.

6. Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is cooked and brown.

7. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board. Slice and serve.

Funky Lime Pizza

I originally posted this funky lime pizza here. I have refined it a fair bit so am reposting with the refined directions ...

pizza dough enough to make two pizzas

4 cloves garlic, minced ~ I do a whole lot more but you do what you like !!

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

2 ears of corn, kernels removed

pinch of black pepper

2 cups Mozzarella, shredded

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

zucchini, thinly sliced

feta cheese, crumbled

fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, coarsely chopped

juice of 2 or 3 limes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 C if using oven.  (We do ours in our outside pizza oven ... and have even done it in the weber ... just cook it however you would normally cook pizza)

Use your favorite dough, roll out two bases.

Drizzle olive oil on both bases, spread around with a spoon.  Sprinkle with black pepper.  Top with zucchini, onion, corn and feta.  Top with mozzarella.

Bake for about 8 minutes then swap which rack the pizzas are on. Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes, til cheese is done to your liking ! I like it a bit brown ...

While the pizzas are cooking, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, til light brown ... DON'T BURN IT !! Burned garlic is bitter and narsty ! (that's for you Jimmy !)

Immediately after removing the pizza from the oven, top with garlic, squeeze a lime over the top and cover with the cilantro.

I serve with additional lime and we sqeeze more lime over during the meal !!

PS ... I googled funky lime pizza today and my original post came up FIRST ! How fun is that ? It also brought up another couple people who have reposted the recipe. One I knew about. One I didn't. Again ... FUN !!!

Pizza Primavera

Pizza Primavera

Weight Watchers book "Pizza, Pizza." Copyright © 2003

Makes 6 servings

½ pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces

2 plum tomatoes, cut into ¾ -inch chunks

1 zucchini, cut into ¾-inch chunks

1 yellow squash, cut into ¾-inch chunks

1 red onion, cut into ¾-inch chunks

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

1 (1-ounce) piece Parmesan cheese, shaved

prepared whole wheat pizza dough

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Spray a large baking pan with olive-oil nonstick spray.
• Combine the asparagus, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; toss to coat. Place the vegetable in a single layer on the pan. Roast until tender and lightly browned, 20-25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside.
• Arrange one rack on the bottom rung of the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 475°F.
• Sprinkle prepared pizza dough with the mozzarella cheese, then top with the roasted vegetables. Bake in the bottom rack of the oven until the crust is golden and the cheese melts, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and Parmesan cheese just before serving.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough with Whole Wheat Flour

Fridays around here are known as "Pizza Night." It's a tradition my husband's mom started a few years ago. Then, it was take-out from our favorite pizzeria. Now, it's just us three here in Alaska, I have taken to making our own dough and providing a wide array of toppings!
It's one of my favorite nights to cook, because we all make our own individual pizzas however we like. Pizza is a great accompaniment to a movie or board game!
My husband is a stickler for his favorite: pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and pineapple.
My daughter is a plain ol' pepperoni kind of girl.
Personally I like to make my pizzas sans meat, and LOVE lots of veggies!
Try this dough with the recipe titled "Pizza Primavera" that I have posted!
This pizza dough recipe pleases all of my family's selective tastes! It's a wonderful crispy on the outside-tender on the inside crust!
Hope you enjoy!

Bread Machine Pizza Dough with Whole Wheat Flour

The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna Rathwell German

Makes 2-14-inch round pizzas

1 1/3 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole-wheat flour ( I love Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour.)

2 teaspoons yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine as directed by your manual.

This dough turns out crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.

Buffalo Boneless Chicken Pizza

This pizza is so easy.

I saw a recipe for it and just had to try it. She used ranch in her base ... Rory doesn't like cooked ranch so we didn't bother. Here's how I made ours ...

Leftover boneless buffalo chicken
Your favorite pizza dough
Thinly Sliced Red Onion
Mozzarella Cheese

Break up the chicken bits and spread them, with the sauce onto the pizza base. Top with red onion and Mozzarella Cheese.

We cook our pizzas outside in our pizza oven but just cook it however you normally cook pizza.

This got gobbled up ! Jono dipped his in ranch. Rory and I just inhaled ours. Alia doesn't like spicy ...

PS ... If you don't have any leftover buffalo boneless, just melt 1TBLS butter, add 1/2 cup Franks hot sauce (or hot sauce of your choice) and then add some shredded chicken.  I make shredded chicken in my crock pot and keep it in ziplock bags in the freezer.

Another Pizza Recipe

This Veggie Pizza is fairly quick and easy to do, especially if you do the chopping before hand. We found premade whole wheat crusts which really ratchet up the easy factor!

1 lb of veggies (we usually use red and orange peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, artichoke heats [the frozen kind], red and white onions, minced garlic, and jalenpenos [obviously those are left off of Pam's]) chopped up small.
1 sm can of chopped up black olives
1 sm can of tomato sauce
2 lg or 4 sm Boboli whole wheat pizza crusts
Finely shredded italian cheese

Saute the veggies in a little olive oil (we usually make more than is needed for the pizza and use the cooked veggies later in a pita or something for snacks, it also freezes well) untill tender crisp. Mix together tomato sauce and olives and spread generously on pizza crust. Add veggies and top with cheese.

Broil for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is crisp. (we recently learned that if the pizza is too close to the broiler the cheese will melt too fast and the bottom won't be nice and crispy) Enjoy!

Stuffed Crust Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza !!!

I am soooo excited about this !!

Shifting from white flour to whole wheat flour has been one of my biggest fears in this whole unprocessed journey. I finally decided early in the week that I just needed to 'give it a go' ! If I have some failures along the way, no worries ... just 'give it a go' again !! Last night, I put this dough into the bread maker and it worked ! And it's delicious ! And I'll make it over and over again !! I think I like it even better than my white flour pizza dough. And knowing that it's doing our body some good is just a cherry on top !

I hadn't planned on doing a stuffed crust but when I rolled the dough out, it was bigger than the pizza tray so I decided to go for the stuffed ! Probably wouldn't do it all the time because it just adds more cheese but it was good ...

You know how to do stuffed crust right ?
You just spread the cheese around the edges and then fold 'em over ...



Did anyone else notice that I forgot to round the corners on those pictures ? Duh.



Here's how I topped this pizza.
Tomato paste ... garlic flakes ... fresh oregano, parsley and greek basil from our garden.
Onion, thinly sliced
Fresh Spinach, diced like the herbs
Zucchini, thinly sliced
Green (preservative free !!) Olives
Pumpkin, thinly sliced
Mushrooms (except on the kids one)
Asparagus
Pine Nuts and Mozzarella Cheese




It was sooo good.
Just look at it.



You can almost taste it ...



But not quite ...

I think you might need to go make your own !

Here's how you do the dough ... compiled from about four different recipes I found on line to meet my own requirements !

1 & 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/4 teaspoon yeast

Put it all in your breadmaker, I did mine in that order. Turn it on to the 'pizza dough' setting. When it's done, roll it out. It will make two stuffed crust pizzas or 4 thin crust pizzas !

PS ... I forgot I was going to make 'mini pizza' ... oops ! I'm thinking I'll do that soon and pop 'em in the freezer for easy lunch options !

****
Edited to add ... I cook my pizzas in an oven preheated to 200C/390F - for between 10-20 minutes. Totally depends on how much is on the top ! I just do it til the cheese is a nice golden brown.

Spicy Potato Pizza

This was a little experiment ... I liked it ok the first night ... I liked it lots as leftovers !

I used my whole wheat pizza dough ... and then the recipe for spicy potatoes ...

All I did was thinly slice a potato or two ... just enough to cover the top of the pizza. In a bowl, I mixed a bit of olive oil and the spices:

1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp salt

Add the potatoes. Let them sit while you roll out your dough ... then add your potatoes to the top of the dough. I drizzled all the olive oil and spice mixture onto the top ... there wasn't a heap left ... you really just want them coated ... Put your pizza into the oven. 200c/400f ... for about 15 - 20 minutes.

While that's cooking ...

2 tbls oil
1 or 2 tsp black mustard seeds ( I never measure these, just pour 'em in ... )
3. 4, 5 (??) garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbls sesame seeds

Get your smallest frying pan and heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. I use a combination of black and yellow seeds. Fry the mustard seeds a couple minutes ~ til they splutter. Add the garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes. I like the garlic to begin to turn brown. Then add the sesame seeds. Fry for a couple of minutes ~ til they begin to turn brown. Remove from heat.

When the pizza comes out of the oven, top with the mustard seed mixture !!

**

We think this needs something ... maybe a sauce for the base. Don't think tomato will be good, that's why I didn't use anything. Any ideas ?? A cream base ? A pesto base ? Help us out here ... this could be an AMAZING pizza if we could just find that 'something' it needs !!

BLT Pizza

I LOVE trying new pizza recipes.  When I found this recipe, I knew it was one we needed to try.  I did exactly what she said to do, except I added red onions and I didn't measure at all.  That's one of the best things about making pizza ... you can just throw whatever you want on top.  No measurements needed.

Ingredients:
Dough - use your favorite recipe or store bought.  (There are a few recipes on the beans blog that you could try.  I'll be posting my go to recipe soon ...)
Alfredo sauce, I used store bought but you could totally make it if you wanted to
Tomatoes, sliced
Red onion, thinkly sliced
Bacon, cooked
Rocket (arugula if you are in America)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Method:

It's not complicated.

Roll out your dough and spread alfredo sauce on it.  Top with tomatoes, red onion, bacon and mozzarella cheese. 

We cook our pizzas in a outdoor pizza oven but you can do it in the oven on 200C/390F for about 10/20 minutes.  You just want the dough to be cooked through and the cheese to be melted and golden.

Top cooked pizza with arugula.

Delish.

Roast Garlic & Chicken on Cream Cheese Pizza

This was delicious. Rory says he's not convinced about cream cheese on pizza but the kids and I are ! We loved this !! I found this recipe that I wanted to try but rather than go buy extra stuff, I decided to use what I had. This is the resulting pizza ...

Use your favorite pizza dough.

Ingredients:

2 heads of garlic

cream cheese mixed with cream

parsley, thyme, basil, oregano ... all fresh, chopped small

provolone and mozzarella cheese, grated

a cooked chicken, pulled apart

red onions, sliced

Roast 2 heads of garlic. Get that started before anything else as it takes a bit of time. I just wrap the heads in tin foil, into a hot oven for about 30 minutes or until soft and smelling amazing !

I didn't really measure anything else.  I had some cream cheese in the fridge,  I used a couple of spoonfuls, mixed it with some cream that I also had in the fridge just to soften up the cream cheese and make it a bit more spreadable.  I didn't use much cream.  Maybe a tablespoon ?   It won't matter how much you use ... cream cheese and cream, you can't really go wrong !

I spread that on the bottom of the pizza and then sprinkled the herbs on top of that.  Top that with as little or as much chicken as you want to pull off of your cooked chicken.  We froze the rest of our chicken to make Trina's chicken casserole later.  Top with onions and then cheeses.

Bake in 425F/220C oven for about 10 minutes ... or until cheese is melted to your liking. 

Rosemary Chicken Pizza

I found this recipe and just had to try it ! It was delicious ! Alia had requested pizza for her night of helping me cook ... she made this and also funky lime pizza.

You'll need Lemon Grilled Chicken for the pizza and it needs to marinate. Like this ...

2 chicken breasts
juice of one lemon
1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano

Marinate chicken overnight or for several hours. Grill.

Make your favorite pizza dough ... see how Alia rolls it out !

1 large lemon grilled chicken breast, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (for 1 tsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Toss all ingredients together with 1 1/2 cup cheese.
Spread mixture over dough and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake on 200C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Funky Lime Pizza

I got this recipe here. If you need a recipe for the dough she's got one included. Or you could try Khrista's whole wheat dough, or my bread maker dough. (I used my bread maker dough for this, as I do for every pizza I make !)

So ... I made two pizzas with this amount of topping ... (and yeah, I modified it but not too much)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 ear of corn, kernels removed

pinch of black pepper

1/2 t red pepper flakes (I just put this on the table for people to sprinkle as wanted)

1 lb Mozzarella, shredded

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

zucchini, thinly sliced

feta cheese, crumbled

fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, coarsely chopped

juice of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (she did a bunch of tricky stuff with the pizza baking process, i prefer simple so didn't do any of that ... you should go check out her way if you like tricky ... )

In a small bowl, combine the garlic and olive oil and set aside.

In a bowl, toss the corn kernels with the black pepper and red pepper.

Scatter half of the Mozzarella over the pizzas, leaving a 1/2" rim. Place the onion over the cheese and the zucchini over the onion. Scatter the remaining Mozzarella over the zucchini. Sprinkle with the feta and the corn.

Bake for about 8 minutes then swap which rack the pizzas are on. Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes, til cheese is done to your liking ! I like it a bit brown ...

Immediately after removing the pizza from the oven, brush the garlic oil onto the rim, squeeze the lime juice over the top and garnish with the cilantro.

This method of brushing with the olive oil left the garlic a bit raw for our tastes. Next time, I think I will add the garlic to the pizza itself and just brush with plain olive oil at the end ...

Asparagus Pizza

I don't think I've posted any pizza recipes yet ... this one is my current favorite. And it's an original. Came from my brain, it did.

~

Here's what it looked like before the cheese ...

So ... use whatever crust you like. Khrista has posted one that I am going to try next time I make pizza ... I use Bertolli Five Brothers - Roasted Garlic and Onion Pasta Sauce for the base. Sprinkle with basil, oregano, parsley and garlic powder. I chop a couple asparagus spears up, slice some mushrooms and a bit of red onion. Add kalamata olives and some nice marinated green olives. Sprinkle with a good handful of pine nuts. Add some crumbled feta cheese.

Then top with the mozarella. Put in a hot oven ... 200C ... 400 F. Usually takes about 10 - 15 minutes but watch it at the end so it doesn't burn !

This is a yummy yummy pizza. No, I don't cook the asparagus before I put it on. It cooks perfectly with the pizza !!!

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - 2 August 2010

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Are the weeks passing by quicker and quicker ... or is it just me ?

Sunday
Alia missed her night cooking this week b/c she and I went out for dinner.
Tonight, she's going to help Rory make The Bohemian #14 at Cheese and Burger.

I'm going to cook Tuesday night's dinner while they are doing the burgers.
I need to because Tuesday's are NUTSO and this Tuesday even more so !

Monday
I am going to make my chicken taco salad again !
YUMMMMM !



Tuesday
I didn't make this last week because my pasta machine BROKE AGAIN !
Not my fault this time !! I'm going to send it back for a refund !!
Winter Vegetable Tomato Sauce
with plain old dried pasta.

Wednesday
I'm so excited about trying Nanette's Pancit Guisado and Lumpiang Shanghai

Thursday
I'm going to try making this Orange and Coriander Marinated Salmon.
I'm going to serve this with whole wheat cous cous.

Friday
Jono wants to make Pizza.
We're going to try Garlic & Spinach Pizza w/Ricotta Blobs and Lemon Asparagus Pizza
We'll make a 4 or 5 cheese one too that the kids will love !
And I think I'll get some salami as a little treat.
Jono especially loves a good salami pizza.

Saturday
Alia wants to make grilled cheese and hot chips,
with fresh snow peas from our garden on the side ...

Pizza Dough

The long awaited pizza dough recipe!
After recieving my Kitchenaid mixer for my birthday, I had to rework the recipe a bit.
I've included both a mixer method and hand mixing method in this recipe.

This dough makes enough for two pizzas.

You can freeze the dough for another day.

If you freeze it, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, or on the counter for 1 ½ hours.

Dough is easier to roll out at room temperature.

1 ½ cups warm water (105-115°F)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups bread flour

2 teaspoons salt

*½  - 1 cup of all-purpose flour

·   Combine warm water and sugar in mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in olive oil

·   In a medium bowl, mix together the 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 ½ cups bread flour with the salt.

·   Turn mixer, attached with dough hook, on to lowest setting and slowly add flour and salt mixture. Raise speed after most of the flour is combined. Mix until dough forms into a ball *adding the remaining ½ cup – 1 cup of flour if necessary so that dough no longer appears sticky, and is easily handled.

·   Turn dough onto floured surface and knead briefly until smooth and elastic, sprinkling with flour until no longer sticky.

·   Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; place dough in bowl. Cover lightly with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Let rise in a warm spot until double in size. About 1 hour.

    (Tip: Turn oven on, set to ‘warm,’ for about 5 minutes and then shut it off. On the lower rack place a large bowl filled with the hottest water you can get out of the tap. Place the bowl of covered dough on the upper rack, close oven and allow the dough to rise in this warm moist spot.)

·   Punch down dough and cut in half. Roll out and place on pizza pans/stones lined with baking paper. You can also refrigerate or freeze in floured Ziploc freezer bags.

If Mixing by Hand: Combine water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Set aside until foamy. Stir in oil, flour and salt until the dough starts to gather around the spoon. (You may find that you will use less flour with this method.) Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Spread onto pizza pans lined with baking paper.

Click image for printable recipe:

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - Edition 17

From Today's Simple Beauty post :

QUOTE

I need to plan this weeks menu too. I usually have it done by now but we were away for the weekend and as well, I'm not shopping this week ! I've bought bread, milk etc but that's it. Everything else will come out of what we have in the fridge/freezer/pantry already !!

We're trying to save for an international trip later in the year so I'm trying to lower the grocery budget. I'm trying to lower the everything budget but groceries is probably the one I have the most control over. That and miscellaneous spending but I'm pretty good at not doing that to excess. It's the groceries ... I love cooking, I love trying new recipes, we all ( in my little family ) love eating ! I do, most of the time, stick to the budget we've set but when trying to save, I feel like I need to come in WAY UNDER that budget figure !

Anyway, my Menu Plan Monday posts over at the Beans Blog could be interesting for the next little while. Do any of you have some great (healthy) cheap meals ? That's the other thing ... it's pretty easy to eat cheap if you don't eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg ... but I want to do cheap(er) while still healthy. I'd love to hear your ideas ...

END QUOTE

I thought it was easier to cut and paste than to write all of that over again !

The menu for this week ... well, we had pizza on Friday. Pizza and movie night. You all should know that by now !! Although, I guess I do change it up from time to time. Saturday we were at Mum and Dad's place in Brissy. Mum cooked a delicious rolled chicken roast that she stuffed herself. One of these days I'll make her recipe and post it here. Sunday was a throw together meal after being away for the weekend. We had BLT's. I love BLT's.

Monday, that's tonight. Spaghetti - from the stash in my freezer. Can you believe we are still eating that ? That's why I love it !! One day's effort and I have a stash of good, healthy, yummy food in my freezer for those nights that I don't feel like cooking !! Yeah ... like tonight. See aforementioned Simple Beauty post !

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Well ... I haven't really planned them yet. BUT I didn't end up making the lentil wraps and hummus last week so we will probably have that one night. We went light on the cheese on pizza's Friday night so still have 1/2 a bag of mozzarella left. We will probably have pizza one night. I've got some chicken breast in the freezer so one meal will definitely involve that and probably rice.

Head over to Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.com to see what everyone else is cookin' this week. But ... make sure you leave me a comment with your healthy/light on my budget meal ideas first !!

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - Edition 8

Ya'll KNOW we had pizza for dinner Friday night. We tried Pam's version of my asparagus pizza (it's mine not her's pictured here). We had friends join us for pizza and movie night this week so I wasn't takin' food photos !!

Plans to go to the beach Saturday had me preparing this vegetarian lasagna in the afternoon so I could just pop it in the oven when we got home. Unfortunately, when we got home there was no power !! Still none by time to eat dinner ... so, we went out.

Sunday was a crazy day around here ... dinner was sporadic. Grab a bite and run. The kids had hot chips at the cafe after church. Rory had a milkshake and some of those chips. I had a Sprite and called it good. Actually, I had a piece of the leftover pizza about 4:00 and that was pretty filling !

Monday - tonight - we will FINALLY eat the lasagna !!! I'll be posting the recipe later in the week.

Remember when I made a bunch of spaghetti sauce and chili and froze them ? We'll be having spaghetti Tuesday night and chili Thursday night.

Out of order, but that just leaves us with Wednesday since my menu's start on Fridays. We'll be having Lemon Baked Cod and trying Khris's lemon spaghetti. (her photo shown here)

And that's what we're havin' . What' s on the menu at your place this week ? Pop over to Laura's place and share ...

Pizza Poppers

I saw this recipe and had to immediately try it !

pizza dough ... your favorite kind will do.
16 bite size pieces of mozarella
sliced pepperoni, olives, mushrooms .... whatever you want to go on the inside !
2 tsp italian herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, and garlic)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400C/200F

Super easy ... I rolled out a small ball of pizza dough. Cut into 16 pieces. Put a piece of cheese and a bit of something else (i did all pepperoni last night) into one piece. Fold over and place 'seam' side down in a oiled pie dish. Repeat. Mix oil and herbs. Pour on top of pizza poppers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden. Watch them though ... the cheese explodes if you leave them in too long.

Serve with marinara or ranch ....