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.

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 ...

Seafood Pizza

I made this ages ago and never posted the recipe.

It was delicious. I'll make it again soon. Very simple recipe !!

All I did was mozzarella and gruyere cheese as the base. sliced red onion, garlic powder, capers, feta cheese and prawns (w/garlic and parsley) that I cooked for a minute in the fry pan before adding to the pizza. Top with a bit more Mozzarella and then into the oven at 200C. I use a thin crust ....

PS ... I made this up.

Mexican Chicken Quesadillas

These were so simple.
I just spread a whole (not cut up) whole (not white) wheat flour tortilla with
leftover Crock Pot Mexican Chicken, avocado, rice and mozarella cheese.
Top with another whole whole wheat flour tortilla.
Toast in sandwich press.
DONE !!

40 Clove Garlic Chicken Pizza

We had leftover 40 clove chicken the other night and I decided to try a little experiment. Seriously ... I think that's pretty much all I do these days ... experiment ! I wanted to try and change up the dough a bit. Last time I made it, I found it a bit hard to roll out and I had read that adding a small amount of gluten flour will help with elasticity. So ... I made my dough like this ....

1 and 1/3 cup water
2 TBLS honey
2 TBLS olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole wheat spelt flour
1 TBLS gluten flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 tsp yeast

This dough was really nice. It is much wetter and required more flour on the surface to roll but the taste was great ! I think I'll try adding half as much gluten flour next time and see what that does. I'll tweak it til it's perfect !! :)

Here's the pizza before we put the mozzarella on top ...

The toppings went like this :

Tomato Sauce:
2 TBLS tomato paste
1 TBLS thickened cream
Leftover garlic and onions from the 40 clove garlic chicken

Mix and spread on dough.

The Rest of It:
One small potato, unpeeled, uncooked and thinly sliced
Leftover 40 clove garlic chicken, maybe we used about 1/2 a cup ? Do it to your liking.
A handful of fresh baby spinach leaves
A dozen or so kalamata style olives
Three homemade sun dried tomatoes, defrosted earlier and cut into chunks
Red onion, sliced
Spring onion, chopped
Camembert cheese, slivered

And then top with mozarella cheese. Bake in oven 15/20 minutes on 400F/200C.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS !!

Prosciutto Pizza

You all may have noticed that we have a new addition to the beans blog ! Andrea posted her first recipe today !! I'm very excited about this !! She's always talking (on facebook) about amazing things she makes that I finally just sent her an invite and a suggestion that she post some of them here ! I think you all are going to be as glad as me that she took me up on the offer !!

And now ... the Prosciutto Pizza recipe !!

This was so yummy.
I started with a homemade pizza dough. I make mine in my breadmaker. Easy.

For the topping.
I used a few scoops of Roasted Garlic and Onion Pasta Sauce for the base.
Baby Spinach
Prosciutto, I used about 7 thin slices
Basil leaves, I used Greek Basil (from my garden) which has very small leaves
Kalamata Olives
Mozarella Cheese

Baked in a pre-heated 200 C oven for about 10/15 minutes til cheese was my desired level of brown ... and dough was cooked.



~~

PS ... The photo in my last post was of a lamington ...

Lemon Mozzarella Chicken

Chicken Brest Fillet , Mozzarella Cheese , Lemon , Onion

I had another pictures of delicious dish in my computer. I named 'Lemon Cheese Chicken '.
It is good for Fall season , I guess . Vitamin C will help your body adjust dropping Temp outside!

Spread Chopped Onions on the pan.

Slice Lemon
The Lemon - it depends on how much you are in to sour Lemon.


Try to cut in half the Chicken Fillet so I became thinner.


Cover lemon top of chicken - well, i put a lot but you can just put two or one slice.


Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese . It is like a Pizza in someway.

Bonnie,
It is good questions.
Do you bake this in the oven ? Yes
On what temperature ? It is Chicken but with Mozzarella cheese so I bake until the Cheese turns brown. About 160 C' (with Fan) I donno F' Sorry for North American friends~ !
and how long does it take ? About 20 Mints

Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Basil, Olives and Fresh Mozzarella

I tried a wonderful new recipe for dinner tonight. It was fresh and perfect for a hot summer night. It seemed a little strange at first, because the sauce isn't cooked at all, but it is absolutely delicious!

Here it is. Enjoy.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Basil, Olives and Fresh Mozzarella

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes (about 6), chopped

3/4 pound salted fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch cubes, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup halved and pitted black olives (I used Kalamata olives.)

4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

1 pound spaghetti

1/2 cup olive oil (This may not look like enough, but it's plenty.)

3 cloves garlic, minced (I used eight!)

DIRECTIONS

In a large glass or stainless-steel bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes with the mozzarella, basil, olives, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the spaghetti until just done, about 12 minutes. Drain,, add to the tomato mixture, and toss.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over moderately low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Pour the oil over the pasta and toss again.

I didn't toss the pasta and tomato mixture together. I left them separate so that when we have leftovers, we can heat the pasta and still have the fresh tomato topping. Therefore, when I served it, I heaped a generous bunch of the tomato mixture on top of the pasta. Don't forget to dig to the bottom to dip out some of the vinegar for the pasta.

Eggplant Parmesan

I am not and original cook. Most of the recipes I will be sharing, either came from a book or http://www.foodnetwork.com/. :o)
Thank you Bonnie for the invite! I can't wait to try all this great food!
Here's my first contribution. Sorry no picture. Next time I make it I will be sure to snap a photo, and edit this post.

Eggplant Parmesan
Recipe courtesy Juan-Carlos Cruz - http://www.foodnetwork.com/

1 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 medium eggplant, sliced into 6 (1/2-inch) rounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed and then minced
1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
2 (15-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place bread crumbs on a shallow plate. Pour egg substitute onto another shallow plate. Place a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet. Take a round of eggplant, dip it into the egg substitute until fully covered, and then drag through the bread crumbs until completely coated; transfer to a wire rack. Repeat for each round of eggplant and then bake in oven for 15 minutes.

While eggplant is baking, heat olive oil in a 5-quart nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the chili flakes and stir to incorporate. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to blend completely. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, stir in the basil, and remove from heat.

Remove eggplant from oven and leave oven at 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a medium-sized casserole dish (about 13 by 11 inches) with the eggplant rounds. Pour the tomato sauce over the eggplant. Top with the cheeses. Bake for 30 minutes until cheese is soft and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information
Nutritional Analysis per serving	Calories 245
Fat 10 grams	Saturated Fat 4 grams
Carbohydrates 26 grams	Fiber 5 grams

The yummiest thing you'll put in your face

The famous Spicy Chicken Upside-down Whole Wheat G. St. Lasagna:

Whole wheat lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1/4 lb chicken breast, chopped into little pieces (the size you'd use for Thai Chicken Soup)
2 T pesto
1-2 squeezes of chili pepper paste (to taste)
1/2 cup Romano (or Parmesan), finely shredded
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook chicken with chili paste, when chicken is cooked through, stir in pesto. Set aside.

Stir together spinach and cottage cheese. Set aside.

In a meatloaf pan, spray non-stick spray. Layer one of the noodles, spread on chicken and pesto, sprinkle Romano cheese on top. Layer 1 or 2 more noodles, to cover chicken, spread on spinach mixture. Layer 1 or 2 more noodles, to cover, then sprinkle on mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 375 for 35-45 min. (I could be making that temperature up...so check it often) until the cheese is browned on the edges and noodles are al dente.

Flip pan upside-down onto a plate and let sit for 5-10 min. Remove from pan and enjoy!

Makes 3 Servings.