Alright, so tonight’s recipe isn’t new. I know I’m supposed to make new recipes but, well, I just wasn’t feeling like it tonight. So I opted for a delicious recipe that I’ve made a few times before because it was easy and guaranteed to be good. Also, husband wasn’t eating with us tonight so I didn’t want to make something that would leave large amounts of leftovers. I mean, really, when AM I going to make a recipe that ACTUALLY serves 4? My fridge is pretty full with leftovers from the past two nights – I’m eating them as fast as I can but still, can’t a girl have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and not feel guilty about it? By the way, Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter is the BEST. PEANUT BUTTER. EVER. Just thought I would share that little tidbit. It’s worth knowing.
Anyway, tonight’s dinner was pizza – yes, pizza and no, not DiGiorno. I made this pizza. On the grill. Yep, on the GRILL! And, it was perfectly wonderful and light and tasty. I also made a lovely salad to go along with my delightful grilled pizza. It’s a two-fer! You get both recipes! The salad is also not new but is so easy and, whenever I take it anywhere (barbecues, office luncheons, etc), I never bring home leftovers. THAT’S a sure sign of a yummy salad! Okay, back to the pizza. Grilled pizza. It’s actually much easier than you think. AND, it hardly takes any time at all. AND, you can add additional toppings to suit your taste and the pizza will only be even more delicious! That is why the Boboli pizza crust was invented. Whomever invented that pizza crust clearly had grilled pizza in mind. Brilliant!
Both recipes came from the Pampered Chef® Casual Cooking cookbook. Lovely little cookbook, that one. Loads of fabulous recipes in there. If you can get one, I recommend it. Page 13 is where you’ll find the Italian-Style Grilled Pizza. YUM! (no, no, don’t worry a thing about the number 13 – it happens to be my lucky number and if you make this pizza, it will become yours too. Yes, it really is my lucky number. Lots of home runs in softball the year I had that number. But I digress.) Giada would be proud.
From the same cookbook, I made the Strawberry Spinach Salad. O. M. G. Such a delicious salad! Seriously, strawberries and spinach are perfect companions! Throw in some cucumber, some red onion and a quick little vinaigrette and tada! Amazeballs! Okay, okay, I’ll stop with all the weird words and get to the recipes. With the pizza, I left off the olives – Things 1 and 2 aren’t huge fans and I’m ambivalent so seemed better to just leave them out. I also didn’t have fresh basil. Well, I did have it but it wasn’t fresh anymore so it went in the trash and I substituted a couple of shakes of dried basil. No, I didn’t measure. I eyeballed it. I made it look like the amount that I wanted. It was easy. And it tasted delicious. Well, I thought it did. Thing 2 stripped the pizza down and essentially ate grilled pizza crust. It’s that whole tomato business again. Whatever. She needs to get over that. Tomatoes are FAB!
So, day 4 of vegetarian dinners and we’re doing pretty well with it all. And the pizza tonight totally hit the spot and didn’t come with all that grease and extra fat that DiGiorno or delivery would have landed you. You should definitely make this your go-to pizza when you’ve got that craving. Remember, you can add/change the toppings to your liking – just remember that if you add additional veggies (like bell peppers, etc), you may want to do a quick cooking of them before they go on the pizza. Otherwise, you’ll be eating crunchy, mostly raw peppers. Which are definitely good but probably not what you’ve imagined for a pizza topping. I bet even artichoke hearts would be good on this. Oh. Now I wish I had artichoke hearts and another boboli crust. Oh well, here are the recipes. Happy cooking, eating and drinking!
Italian-Style Grilled Pizza
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese (I used part-skim to cut down on fat)
¼ cup (1 ounce) grated fresh parmesan cheese
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (1 ½ cups)
¼ cups fresh basil leaves, sliced into fine ribbons
1 can (2.25 ounces) sliced pitted ripe olives, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed
½ teaspoon each salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1 package (16 ounces) prebaked pizza crust
1. Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium heat/coals. Place mozzarella cheese in large bowl; add grated parmesan. Slice, seed and dice tomatoes; slice basil into fine ribbons and add to bowl along with olives. Mix gently.
2. In small bowl, combine oil, vinegar, pressed garlic, salt and black pepper. Lightly brush top of pizza crust with 1 tablespoon oil mixture. Reserve remaining oil mixture.
3. Place pizza crust in center of grill grid, top side down. Grill crust, uncovered, 4-5 minutes or until deep golden brown. Using a large turner, turn crust over and remove to a large cutting board.
4. Add remaining oil mixture to cheese mixture; mix well. Spoon cheese mixture evenly over top of crust; return pizza to grill. Cover and grill 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bottom of crust is deep golden brown.
5. Remove pizza to cutting board; slice into wedges and enjoy!
Serves 4
Calories 500, Total Fat 21g, Saturated fat 6g, Cholesterol 30mg, Carbohydrate 55g, Protein 26g, Sodium 1290mg, Fiber 3g
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Dressing
1 lemon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or olive, canola, or other light oil of your choice)
1 teaspoon poppy seed
Salad
¼ cup sliced natural almonds, toasted
8 ounces (1 ½ cups) strawberries, hulled and quartered
½ medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half
¼ small red onion, sliced into thin wedges (1/4 cup)
1 package (6 ounces) baby spinach
1. For dressing, zest lemon to measure ½ teaspoon zest. Juice lemon to measure 2 tablespoons juice. Combine zest, juice, vinegar, sugar, oil and poppy seeds. Whisk until well blended. Cover; refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For salad, spread almonds in a single layer on a small baking pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and cool on pan.
3. Meanwhile, hull strawberries and cut into quarters.
4. Score cucumber lengthwise; remove seeds and slice cucumber. Cut slices in half. Slice onion into thin wedges.
5. Place spinach in a large serving bowl; add strawberries, cucumber, and onion. Whisk dressing; pour over salad, gently tossing to coat. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve immediately.
Serves 10
(serving size 1 cup)
Calories 70, Total fat 3g, saturated fat 0g, cholesterol 0mg, carbohydrate 10mg, Protein 1g, Sodium 15mg, Fiber 1g.
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