Southwestern Pizza with Black Beans and Corn

If I wanted to toy with your emotions, I might hint (wink wink nudge nudge) about how there was big doings going on at our house, that I had a “big announcement” coming up, or that we were thinking about adding another member to our family. But it all happened so fast, and Monday night, we met our newest family member:

 

Meet Stitch! He’s a 6 year old Ragdoll (to go with our other two Ragdolls), and he came to us because his previous family was very stressful for him and he needed a home without young children and dogs. So far, he’s integrating pretty well after spending about 24 hours under our bed. He is super sweet and wants lots of love from Joe and me even if he isn’t too sure about the other cats in the house yet. I never thought I’d own three cats, but adopting an older cat was much less intense than getting another kitten, and I’m very happy that we can give Stitch a home where he can be happier.

This week I’m thankful for fluffy cats and avocados. I bought a couple of avocados this week assuming I could figure out some way to use them. When I proposed this dinner to Joe, his eyes lit up, and I hoped it would live up to his expectations. No worries there. The black bean base was the perfect spice level, and all of the toppings made it fun to eat. Using a pre-made pizza crust (processed food alert! Sorry I’m not sorry!) meant that this will be a repeat weeknight dinner for sure.

Southwestern Pizza with Black Beans and Corn
source: Prevention RD
Yields 4 servings (2 slices each)

Ingredients

1 roll Pillsbury original pizza dough
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 chile en adobo, minced + 2 tsp adobo sauce
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 small tomato, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
2 green onions, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 avocado
2 Tbsp nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp lime juice

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and unroll pizza dough, stretching and pressing to create a rectangle reaching the sides of the baking sheet.

Bake the dough for 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, place the black beans in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave them on HIGH for 45 seconds. Add the chile en adobo, sauce, chili powder, cumin, and salt to the bowl and use the back of a fork to smash the beans into a thick paste.

Spread the black beans on the pizza dough, followed by the tomatoes, red onion, and frozen corn. Bake the pizza for 8 minutes or until edges of the pizza are just starting to turn golden. Remove the pizza, sprinkle the top with cheese, and bake for another 3-4 minutes until the cheese is melted.

While pizza baked, mash the avocado with the Greek yogurt, lime juice, and a pinch of salt in a bowl. When pizza is done baking, smear the avocado cream across the pizza and sprinkle with green onions and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Thin-Crust Pizza

Anyone who has been around for a while might remember the first time I tried to make pizza dough. It was an utter disaster. There was weeping and gnashing of teeth and sticky dough everywhere. I’ve always envied those people who do homemade pizza every Friday night with their own dough as if it is the easiest thing in the world. For me, pizza dough was almost always a production that involved a fair amount of angst and raised voices. If pizza was on the menu, Joe knew to steer clear of the kitchen lest my wrath towards the pizza dough be misdirected towards him. Until now.

This was the pizza night that almost didn’t happen. I made the dough 24 hours ahead of time (easily! in the food processor!), on Thursday afternoon, to give it plenty of time to rise, but when I was at the grocery store on Friday to pick up a few extras, Joe called me to tell me that he was very sick, was coming home to collapse, and probably wouldn’t be feeling up to dinner. So I had a glass of wine and wandered around the house, until at 8:30 pm, Joe announced that I could begin making the pizza. Well, the dough needed an hour to come to room temperature, and I wasn’t about to wait until 9:30 to eat. Then we had relatives in town for the rest of the weekend, so pizza wasn’t going to happen the next night. After a huge brunch, we needed something for dinner on Sunday but could actually wait for the dough to stand while we finished watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

 

The dough! The dough rolled out perfectly without all the stickiness that I usually experience even after throwing flour at it. And look at those crust bubbles in the picture above. I have NEVER gotten crust bubbles, just like at a real pizza place. And it wasn’t soggy. I could hold a piece and not have it wilt and cause all the toppings to slide off. Even Joe remarked that our pizza night was uncharacteristically successful. He got to top his with pesto, fresh mozzarella, and Boar’s Head pepperoni, like so:

And I stuck with traditional tomato sauce, an Italian blend of cheeses, and mushrooms. We each only ate half a pizza, so there were leftovers the next day as well.

Thin-Crust Pizza Dough
source: Cook’s Illustrated as seen on Oishii Food

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBS. olive oil, plus extra
1 1/3 cups  ice water
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tsp. sugar
3 cups bread flour, plus extra
Cornmeal (optional)

Preparation

• At least 24 Hours before prepare the dough. In a food processor, process the flour, sugar, and yeast until combined. With the machine running, slowly add ice water through the feed tube and process until a dough forms and no dry flour remains. Let dough stand for 10 minutes.
• Add oil and salt and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball – about 30 to 60 seconds. Remove dough from bowl, knead briefly on lightly oiled work area until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
• One hour before baking the pizza, adjust the oven rack to the second highest position and place a baking stone on the rack to preheat. Preheat the oven to 500˚ degrees.
• Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and divide in half. Form each half into a ball and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet, with at least 3 to 5 inches apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Coat 1 ball of dough generously with flour, and place on a well-floured counter top. Using fingertips, gently flatten into 8-inch disk. Leave 1 inch of the outer edge a little thicker, while gently stretching the middle until you have a 12-inch round. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper and spread a handful of cornmeal on the paper (if using). Place the dough on the paper.
• Spread sauce (tomato or pesto) over pizza, add a couple handfuls of cheese and your choice of toppings. Carefully lift the parchment paper with pizza on-top and place onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling, about 10-12 minutes. Remove pizza and place on wire rack for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
• Repeat steps above to make and bake second pizza. Enjoy with your favorite bottle of red wine.

Pizza with Prosciutto, Peppers, and Goat Cheese

I've mentioned before how I'm pretty sure that dough can smell fear and anxiety. If I'm in a rush, the gluten strands just will not relax no matter how much time I give them. But on Sunday, I got my pizza dough thinner than I ever have before. I had frozen a 1/2 batch of it, and I got it out Sunday morning to defrost. By the time dinner came around, it rolled out like a dream. And with toppings of goat cheese, prosciutto, and red pepper (arranged artfully by Joe), this pizza was one of the best I had ever made. I will definitely be making pizza more often now.

Pizza with Prosciutto, Peppers, and Goat Cheese
adapted from Kelsey's Apple a Day

Ingredients
1/2 batch pizza dough (I use Bridget's recipe.)
Cornmeal for sprinkling
1 roasted red pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
2 oz prosciutto, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, divided
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Preheat oven and pizza stone at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle your work surface with cornmeal and prepare the dough by shaping it with your hands. Brush lightly with olive oil.
3. When oven and pizza stone have been at temperature for 30 minutes remove the pizza stone and transfer pizza dough. Use a fork to prick a few holes in the dough. Bake for five minutes.
4. Remove the partially baked crust. Top with tomato sauce, prosciutto, peppers, goat cheese, and half the basil. Bake for 7-8 minutes more, or until crust is golden brown on the outer edges.
5. Allow to cool three minutes, then top with the remaining basil, salt, and pepper and serve.

Strawberry, Pistachio, and Goat Cheese Pizza

In Houston, there was this restaurant right around the corner from my apartment that, in addition to some killer margaritas, had this salad on the menu that included a sort of cheesy pita bread under all of the salad. It was like you were rewarded for eating your salad with some delicious, cheesy flatbread. This pizza is a little bit like that in concept because it's not really a traditional pizza with sauce and cheese and toppings. It's more like salad on top of bread, with which, as I learned from that salad in Houston, there is absolutely nothing wrong.

I had bookmarked this last year as part of a fictional backyard cookout menu that we never got around to hosting. Because, you know, it's totally normal to plan menus for parties that you don't actually have. It was brought to my attention again by Coach Nicole from Sparkpeople, and I decided that this time I would actually make it.

The goat cheese melts a little on the hot crust, and this is just a lovely spring supper with a glass of white wine. It would also make a nice appetizer for a not-so-fictional outdoor party. I substituted arugula for the watercress and really enjoyed the peppery bite of the arugula with the cool sweetness of the strawberries.

Strawberry, Pistachio, and Goat Cheese Pizza
source: Cooking Light May 2009
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 12 oz prebaked whole wheat pizza crust
1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup trimmed watercress (or arugula or spinach)
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
1/4 cup shaved fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tbsp shelled, dry-roasted pistachios, chopped

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425-degrees.
2. Place crust on a baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove crust from oven and sprinkle goat cheese evenly over the crust.
3. Combine strawberries, watercress, olive oil, juice, salt, and black pepper; toss gently to coat. Arrange strawberry mixture evenly over goat cheese. Sprinkle pizza with Parmigiano-Reggiano and nuts. Cut into 12 wedges. Serve immediately.

Chicken, Red Grape, and Pesto Pizza

I found my camera! And I realized I had forgotten that I had made this chicken, red grape, and pesto pizza when I posted my recipe round-up, so it gets its own entry complete with photo. This meal is a little semi-homemade, but you could do it completely homemade if you were so inclined. That would just involve making the pesto and pizza dough from scratch ahead of time.

I tend to prefer pizzas without tomato sauce, so I loved the pesto base. The fresh mozzarella adds a lot of flavor and creaminess, and the juiciness and sweetness of the grapes is a nice unique twist.

Chicken, Red Grape, and Pesto Pizza
source: Cooking Light, September 2009

Ingredients
1 whole wheat pre-made crust (like Boboli)
1/3 cup refrigerated pesto
1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
8 oz shredded skinless, boneless chicken breast, cooked
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
3 tbsp grated Romano cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425-degrees with pizza stone inside (if desired).
2. Spread pesto evenly over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Spread grapes evenly over pesto, and top with chicken. Place garlic and mozzarella over grapes and chicken. Sprinkle with Romano cheese and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with onions.

Cilantro Pesto Pizza with Red Onion and Feta

I had the brilliant idea to use the cilantro pesto I made as the base for a pizza, but I couldn't decide on appropriate toppings so I tweeted about it. All of the selections sounded delicious: baby bella mushrooms, shredded chicken, etc. But when I asked Joe he promptly said, "Red onion and feta," which sounded so perfect that I wasn't even shocked that he didn't request meat.

I cooked the onions until soft so that they didn't have quite as much bite and so the sweetness could shine through. The tanginess of the feta offset the wonderful taste of all that cilantro. After a whole day of hospital orientation, this pizza was a great way to end the day, and I hope it lived up to Joe's expectations since he said he had been looking forward to it all day!

Cilantro Pesto Pizza with Red Onion and Feta

Ingredients

Pizza dough
Cilantro pesto to cover dough
1 red onion, sliced and cooked down
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out dough into a circle. Coat dough with cilantro pesto to the thickness of your liking. Spread cooked onions evenly around the pizza and sprinkle crumbled feta on top. Bake 12-15 minutes or until dough seems cooked and cheese is slightly browned.

Pizza Night

Last week was pretty insane, it being Holy Week and all, so I deemed Saturday Pizza Night before going to Easter Vigil. It was my last night of Lenten pescatarianism, so I knew pizza would be something easy to do, plus I had a bunch of odds and ends in the refrigerator that I wanted to use up. I also tried out a new pizza dough recipe, which left me with enough dough for two good-sized pizzas, so we each made our own pizza.

I was also feeling a little punchy after spending all week in church, so I ended up tossing my pizza dough for the first time. Joe thought it was going to end up all over the kitchen, but once I got a few good tosses in, he reached for the camera. Next time I'll work on improving my technique, but it was pretty fun!

Joe's pizza consisted of marinara sauce, TJ's smoked apple and chardonnay chicken sausage, fresh tomato slices, mozzarella cheese, and healthy dose of crushed red pepper.

My pizza had marinara sauce, spinach, mozzarella cheese, and fresh tomato slices. This made two meals each for the two of us. Not bad for using up a bunch of fridge remnants!

Pizza night was a big success. Not only did we enjoy making pizzas using our own toppings, but we put on music and danced around and it was a great way for Joe and I to spend a little quality time together in the middle of a stressful week.

I like this pizza crust a lot. The seasonings and parmesan cheese put it over the top, and it's a nice thick, chewy crust. I used subbed in half whole wheat flour to make it even heartier and a little healthier.

Easy Bread Machine Pizza Crust

source: RecipeZaar

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups bread flour

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Preparation

1. Add ingredients to the bread machine in the order given. Set to dough setting and let run.

2. When finished, roll dough out to desired shape, top with desired toppings, and bake at 450-degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Margherita Pizza

Oh boy, looking at these pictures is making my stomach grumble. Now that I have discovered the wonders of homemade pizza, there may be quite a few of these types of updates. After transplanting my basil plant to a bigger container, it finally grew, so now I have lots of basil too! When I was contemplating what to do with it, I decided on a margherita pizza: a little more exciting than plain cheese but still simple.


There's no real recipe here. I rolled out some of Mitch's Pizza Dough, mixed an 8 oz can of tomato sauce with some Italian seasoning, covered the dough with the sauce (we used leftovers to dip the crust in), sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese and some sliced Roma tomatoes and chiffonaded basil. I threw it in a 450-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

I honestly don't know if there is a more beautiful sight in the world than real, non-greasy delivery pizza.

Pizza Dough Success

After my last pizza-making attempt, I needed a little time to recover. I really like pizza and making it at home is cheaper and healthier, but I was so underwhelmed by store-bought pizza crusts so I opted to try again. I decided that my next move would be to try to make pizza dough using the dough setting on my bread machine. Obviously, KMAYS + kneading = trouble. After looking around, I decided on this recipe, and it turned out really well!

After doing Crockpot Pulled Pork on Monday, we had this BBQ pulled pork pizza the Tuesday night of the Town Hall debate, so even though I got stuck behind the candidates' motorcades on my way home from work, we were still able to have freshly-baked pizza as the debate started.

Mitch's Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour (Bread flour works best.)
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Throw the ingredients in the bread machine and set to "dough" setting. When it finishes, it's ready to be rolled out. The dough can also be refrigerated or frozen, just allow time for it to return to room temperature before rolling out.

BBQ Pork Pizza

When we lived in Houston, Joe and I used to occasionally go to a brewery called Two Rows on Monday nights because they had half-price pizza and cheap beer. Joe would almost always get the BBQ Chicken Pizza. Because we had all the leftover pork from the slow-cooker, I decided to try my hand at a similar pizza for dinner last night.


Ingredients:
- 1 (12 inch) pre-baked pizza crust
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used Kroger brand honey barbecue sauce)
- 1/2 cup diced grilled chicken (I used shredded pork)
- 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (I omitted. Have you seen the price of red bell peppers lately?)
- 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used part-skim mozzarella instead.)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Place pizza crust on cookie sheet. Spread with barbecue sauce. Scatter chicken over top. Sprinkle evenly with red pepper, green pepper and onion. Cover with cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

So I didn't really measure any of the ingredients, and it turned out I used a little too much barbecue sauce. Also, I used a Kroger brand pre-baked crust, and it was not that great. Next time I will use a little less barbecue sauce, either splurge for the Boboli crust or make my own, and perhaps flash-saute the veggies before going on the pizza. Joe liked the crunch of the veggies, but I think that the flavor could be brought out a little more by sauteing them. I have an extra crust and more pork leftover, so I think I'll make another one and freeze it. Also, if we had a pizza stone, I would've used that instead of the cookie sheet.

I served this with a side salad of mixed greens with a Dijon vinaigrette dressing, and we ate outside on the deck because it was such a nice evening.

recipe from here