Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Flatbreads

Tonight, with the cooler temperatures, I decided to make flatbread pizzas now that it's okay to turn on the oven.  I used homemade hot sausage, which my uncle made a few weeks ago when I went to my parent's house for the weekend.  The recipe I used must have LOADED the flatbreads up from the maounts they called for, but I ended up using much less than I thought I would.  I turned the rest into a pasta dish for Matt to eat as leftovers and lunches this week.
These turned out really good and you can serve them with a salad for a complete meal!

Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Flatbreads

Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Flatbreads

Ingredients:
1 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. water
6 pieces broccoli rabe
1 (8.8-oz.) pkg. garlic naan (such as Stonefire)
3 ounces hot or sweet Italian sausage, crumbled
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a medium skillet heat oil over medium heat.  Add broccoli rabe and water.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Set aside.
Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add sausage to pan; cook 8 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
Spread pizza sauce evenly on 1 side of each naan on baking sheet. Dollop ricotta evenly over top; top evenly with 3 pieces broccoli rabe apiece, sausage, and pepper.
Place naan in the oven.  If using two pans, switch top and bottom pans after 4 minutes.
Continue baking until the cheese is melted and the naan bread is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.
Take pizza out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Caramelized Onion and Arugula Goat Cheese Pizza

Today I needed to make a vegetarian meal because my friend Kevin was over. I knew I wanted to make pizza and I had some arugula to use up and plenty of onions.  I looked at a bunch of recipes for different kinds of pizza, many had figs on them (which my grocery store doesn't carry) or meat (not today!).  I settled on a recipe and loosely followed it, cutting the cheese by over half, I promise, you won't miss it if I am telling you it would have been way way too much.  (Matt calls me the cheese queen).
This turned out delicious!  I served a salad on the side and it was a great meal!  The only problem was that there weren't any leftovers!  Well, there were, but after a few glasses of wine, we finished the last pieces right up!

Caramelized Onion and Arugula Goat Cheese Pizza

Caramelized Onion and Arugula Goat Cheese Pizza

Ingredients:
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 pound pizza dough, either homemade or store bought
2 medium onions, sliced thin
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp.  olive oil
2 oz. arugula
Cornmeal, optional
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Balsamic reduction, to taste

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 425F.
In a large skillet over medium low heat, melt butter.  Add onions and cook stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized. This will take about 25-30 minutes. (I did this while waiting for my dough to rise).
Meanwhile, on a flat surface, like your kitchen counter, place some flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll out your pizza dough with a rolling pin.  Sprinkle cornmeal on the baking sheet.  Place the pizza dough onto a baking sheet.
Spread oil all over the dough, as you would sauce.  It might not seem like enough, but you don't want too much in one place, so really spread it around.
Add mozzarella, goat cheese, and onions on top of pizza.
Bake the pizza in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. Take out and let cool for 5 minutes.  Add arugula and drizzle balsamic on top.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Miryam at Eat Good 4 Life.

BLT Flatbread Pizza

I needed a quick, yummy dinner this week because I spent longer at school helping out with the play.  This recipe fit the bill!  Using pre-made crust, naan in this case, was a great time saver, and the only prep I had to do was to cook the bacon.  It took about 20 minutes in total and we were ready to eat in no time!
We ordered wings (because who has pizza without wings!?), though if I had more time, I could have made wings.  Alas, that will be a great weekend project.

BLT Flatbread Pizza

BLT Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:
4 pieces garlic naan
1/2 cup tomato sauce
5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
2 Roma tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch thick circles
1/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup arugula
1/2 lemon
Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Lay naan on a pizza stone, pizza steel, or baking sheet. (I had to use a pizza stone and a baking sheet).

Spread about 1/8 cup of tomato sauce on each piece of naan.

Divide the bacon, tomato circles, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese evenly between the naan.

Place naan in the oven.  If using two pans, switch top and bottom pans after 4 minutes.

Continue baking until the cheese is melted and the naan bread is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.

Take pizza out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

While the pizza is resting, place the arugula in a small bowl and toss it with the lemon juice and ground pepper.

Top each pizza with a quarter of the arugula salad.

Slice the pizzas into halves.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Cookin' Canuck

Onion Pizza

Cooking for my sister, Alyssa isn't always easy.  You would think I would be safe with pizza... nope!  She only likes either cheese or onion pizza, while I would prefer onions along with some sausage and peppers.  Oh well, onion pizza it is!
I was just going to make pizza and that was going to be dinner, however I decided last minute I really wanted wings!  Our normal pizza place wasn't open because of labor day weekend, so we were really scrambling!  Finally, we found a place that was open and that delivered and was cheap!  Hooray!

Onion Pizza

Onion Pizza*

Ingredients:

For the dough:
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 packet yeast

Toppings:

1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 cup fresh mozzarella, or whatever cheese you would like
Garlic Powder, to taste
1 onion, diced
Whatever other ingredients you like on your pizza!

Preparation: 

For the dough:
Add water and vegetable oil to bread machine.
Top with flour, sugar, and salt.
Tap the sides of the bread pan to evenly spread the dry ingredients.
Make a small well in the center of the pan.  Put yeast in well.
Program bread machine to dough.
Hang out for an hour and a half.
Once dough is finished, flour countertop and hands.  Remove dough from bread machine and knead for about one minute.  Let rise for fifteen minutes.
Roll out dough to fit onto pizza stone or whatever pan you will be using.  Rest for 25 minutes.

For the pizza:
Preheat oven to 425.
After rolling out the dough, and waiting for the dough to rise again, saute onions over medium heat until slightly translucent.
Once dough is ready, transfer to pizza stone or pan.
Spread marinara sauce over dough.
Top with cheese and onions.
Sprinkle garlic powder over crust.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Let rest 5 minutes before cutting.
Enjoy!


*This recipe is intended to be made in a bread machine.  Of course you can always buy pre-made dough instead of making it from scratch.

Taco Pizza

Today I decided to try my hand at another kind of pizza, taco pizza!  Giving Matt and I's affinity to Mexican food, this seemed like a perfect way to get my pizza fix in too.  I did cheat a bit and use a store-bought pizza dough for this, but I was busy this week and didn't have time to make my own!
First I browned the meat with a packet of taco seasoning.  After that,  I rolled out the dough (with my homemade rolling pin... an empty wine bottle) and spread it onto a cookie sheet.  I topped the dough with  salsa (as the sauce), the ground beef, one pepper and some fresh mozzarella.  I only used the fresh mozzarella because I needed to use it before it went bad, but you can use any cheese!

Before going in the oven

 I popped the pizza in the oven and and waited for it to come out bubbly and delicious (which it was!)  After it came out, I topped it with fresh tomatoes and fresh cilantro.  The cilantro really made it.  I can't stress enough how much better this pizza came out because of it!  I try to use fresh herbs whenever I can because of how much BETTER they make everything!!

Taco Pizza 

Anyway, though the pizza tasted super delicious, next time I would make a thicker crust because it didn't stand up to the sauce and extra liquid from the tomatoes.  It was fine for dinner, but the leftovers I had for lunch the next day I had to eat with a fork.  Oh well, it was still super yummy!

Taco Pizza

Ingredients:
1 pound pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)
1 pound ground beef
1  medium bell pepper, diced (whatever color you would like!)
1 packet taco seasoning (or your favorite taco seasonings)
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese (or whatever you have on hand)
1 cup salsa
fresh cilantro, chopped, to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425.
Add a tablespoon of oil to a skillet.
Once hot, add the ground beef and taco seasoning.
While the beef is browning, spread flour onto a clean countertop and roll out the pizza dough with a rolling pin (or wine bottle!).  Spread to desired thickness.
Move dough to greased cooking sheet.  Add salsa, then layer with cheese, ground beef, and peppers.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
After you take out the pizza, top with tomatoes and cilantro.
Enjoy!!

Pepper and Onion Calzones

I've been trying to cook one vegetarian meal a week to cut down on cholesterol for Matt and I.  This week, I decided to do that with some pepper and onion calzones.  (Well, honestly, the cheese probably negates the meatlessness, but at least I didn't have both!)
First, I sauteed the peppers and onions with some garlic for a few minutes in a frying pan, just to make sure they cooked all the way through.  After that, I decided to roll out the herb dough I bought at Trader Joe's (I know, cheating) on the counter.  I spread the flour out on the counter to roll it out that I don't have a rolling pin... wine bottle it was!  After it was an adequate size, I filled half of the dough with the peppers, onions, some ricotta, and fresh mozzarella.  (Note, in the picture, you can see that I didn't leave room around the edges, make sure you do that if you make these, it will make folding it over so much easier!!)

Filling the calzone

Once filled, I folded the empty half over onto the full half, closed it up, sprayed the outside with cooking spray, and transferred it to the oven.

Calzone!

 I cooked it for 35 minutes (for wheat dough!) on 400 and then enjoyed it when done!

Pepper and Onion Calzone

Pepper and Onion Calzones

Ingredients:
1 package pizza dough (or you can make one batch of your own!)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
4 ounces fresh mozzarella
Toppings of choice (I used 1 green pepper and one onion)
Cooking Spray or olive oil

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook your calzone filling to about half cooked.  (Unless it's meat, then cook it through.)
Meanwhile, spread some flour onto your counter.  Take your rolling pin (or bottle of wine!) and spread out to about 3/4 length of a cookie sheet, just make sure you don't make it too thin.
After that, add ricotta to half of your dough, making sure not to go all the way to the edges.  After that, add the filling and top with mozzarella.
Fold empty dough half on top of filled dough half.
To seal the calzone, fold bottom extra dough edges (aren't you glad you didn't put the filling all the way to the edge!) over the top of the top layer.  Once you work all the way around, transfer to a greased cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 30 minutes (add 5-10 minutes for wheat dough) on 400.
When you take it out, let it rest for about five minutes and serve with a side of marinara sauce.
Enjoy!