Pizza Alfredo!

I wanted to create something with chicken, artichokes and bacon, giving a lot of thought to what I could do with these three ingredients. I had thought about making a lasagna with these ingredients, but then finally settled on something easier! A pizza! So come along, and head into the kitchen with me as I put this together with you!

Ingredients

Ingredients
Pizza dough
1/2 cup of alfredo sauce
1 tsp oregano, I used dry
6 tops of fresh basil chiffonade, divided
1 tomato chopped
1 1/2 cups of fresh roasted chicken, shredded
1/2 cup pancetta (Italian bacon), cut into small cubes
1 cup each of mozzarella and cheddar, grated

Get your pizza dough made and ready and bake at 375 degrees for 6 minutes. Remove this from the oven and let it cool. Using a paint brush, paint the dough with the alfredo sauce.

Spread on the alfredo sauce

Next, sprinkle on the oregano, 1/2 of the basil, followed by the tomato.

Sprinkle on the herbs and tomatoes

Then sprinkle with a bit of the cheese. Follow this with the chicken and the pancetta and the remaining basil.

One colorful pizza!

Pretty, isn’t it? Then dot the pizza with the artichoke hearts.

Top with artichoke hearts

Top with the remaining cheese, covering the pizza evenly.

Then cheese

Place this in the oven and bake for roughly 15 minutes, until the crust browns. when done, remove from the oven.

Right out of the oven!

Let the pizza sit for about 5 minutes, slice and then serve it up!

Dinner is served!

I hope that you enjoy the gentle flavors of this pizza as much as we did!

Now go out and have a great Sunday, and thank you for joining me in the kitchen!

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A Day in My Life…A WordPress Photo Challenge!

Yesterday, WordPress announced that the photo challenge for this week is “A Day in My Life.” So, what could possibly be interesting in my daily life that would interest my readers? Every post that I do is about a day in my life! Today, I am taking you through some of the stuff that I do on a Saturday.

I don’t know about you, but to get my day moving, it usually starts here! Does yours? 🙂

My day starts here!

It’s always good to start the day with laughter, don’t you think?

After a morning with coffee, reading emails, rubbing ears and scratching bellies, and responding to comments on my blog, I get dressed and ready to face the day. Today there is a pizza in the future, and some clean up of pots in my garden. I do have to stop to check out the newly bloomed flowers.

A lovely daffodil brightens the day!

Camillia

Today I will be working on some potted plants that need some spring cleaning! Feel free to follow along!

Hanging pot needs to be cleaned up

So does the lemon balm

So let’s start with the lemon balm…

Starting out with the lemon balm

Midway through

Now there is that lovely plant!

The smell of lemon balm fills the air!

On to the next!

Starting to clean the hanging pot

It’s looking better!

Check out the plants!

Notice how small the plants are? By mid-summer this pot will be flowing down the sides and loaded with blooms!

I am hungry…On to the pizza!

Pizza dough awaiting toppings

Toppings in order of them being added to this crust: a brushing of olive oil; chopped garlic, followed by basil and oregano; sliced tomatoes; mozzarella, and asiago, romano and peccorino cheeses; pepperoni, toscano salame, sausage and fresh sliced mushrooms; mozzarella and cheddar. And pizza is ready!

Pizza is ready!

Now I am off for a nap! Be sure to check out some of the other posts for this challenge by clicking here!

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

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Carne Asada on a Pizza?

I am always wracking my brain thinking of new things to make that I can share with you my dear readers. I think about how I can successfully combine the flavors that I love to create something new and a bit different. My husband gets to test the recipes and thankfully he is honest with me as to whether or not the new dish is good or not so good. Last night I got the thumbs up on my newest creation: Carne Asada Pizza! This pizza with a twist came out really good and was easy to make!

Preview

And, instead of using sauce I used the heirloom salsa that I made! Let’s go check it out!

Ingredients
Dough for one pizza
Corn Meal
3 big slices of meat for Carne Asada (Our grocery store has meat especially sliced for this)
Cumin
2 limes
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of dried oregano mixed with 1 tsp of cumin
Salsa – homemade or store bought is good too
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar
1/2 cup grated mozzarella

Work the pizza dough out until it is big enough to cover your pizza stone, or baking pan. Sprinkle your stone or pan with corn meal and cover with the dough, stretching the edges so that the dough covers the stone.

A fancy edge added to the pizza dough

Let this rest for about an hour. As the dough rests, take out the salsa and using about two cups place it in a strainer to remove the juices.

Draining salsa

While the dough is resting take the meat, one slice at a time and sprinkle with cumin, squeeze on some lime juice and rub into the meat. Turn and do the same on the back side. Do this with all the meat.

Carne Asada meat with cumin and lime

I do this in a glass pan as the acid from the lime juice will react negatively with aluminum. Let this sit until the hour is up on the dough.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the dough for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let this cool. Keep the oven on. While this is cooling down, take the meat and cut into cubes.

Cut the meat into chunks

When the dough is cool, paint the surface with the olive oil, and then sprinkle with the oregano cumin mixture. Using the paint brush, go over the herbs and spread them evenly over the dough.

Olive oil and herbs added to the dough

Next, spread the salsa over the dough spreading it evenly.

Salsa instead of sauce

Cover this with about 2/3 of the cheese. Top this with the Carne Asada.

A layer of cheese then the carne asada

Cover with the remaining cheese.

Top with remaining cheese and bake

Place this in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese gets bubbly and a bit browned.

Pizza right out of the oven

Remove from the oven and let this sit for a couple of minutes, then slice and serve!

Care for a bite?

Serve with a good light beer!

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All Weather Pizza

We have been having a mixed bag of weather. Rain, sunshine, hail, thunder, lightning, and now snow! What could be better on a cold spring evening than a pizza? Again, this pizza does not use sauce but tomatoes in its place!

Ingredients
Pizza dough
Extra virgin olive oil
4 medium tomatoes, sliced thin
1 1/2 tsp basil leaves
1 1/2 tsp oregano leaves
3 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
Mozzarella, cheddar and asiago to your liking
Pepperoni
Hard salami
Mushrooms
Chopped tomatoes, from the tops and bottoms of the tomatoes
black olives

Tomatoes sliced for the pizza

These tomatoes are not too bad for this time of year. Summer time tomatoes are best, but these will do!

Lay out your crust then let it rest. Turn the oven on to 425 degrees. When the oven is hot, place the pizza dough in the oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then brush on the olive oil, lay out the sliced tomatoes, and add your herbs and the garlic.

Add the herbs and garlic

Top this with 2/3 of the cheese. Follow this with the pepperoni, salami, tomatoes, mushrooms and olives.

Add the toppings

Follow this with the remainder of the cheese. Then place this in the oven,

Pizza is in the oven

and set the timer for about 10 minutes. Check the crust to see how it is doing. I had to add another five minutes to the timer.

Pizza right out of the oven!

Let the pizza sit for about 5 minutes, then slice it up!

Pizza is served!

Serve this up with a hearty red wine or an ice cold beer!

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Pizza with a Twist!

I love pizza! Of all the foods out there I can eat pizza every day, as well as Chinese and Mexican foods. Oh and Italian too! I was inspired to try making this myself after having a pizza like this from a little place that was in San Carlos, CA called Cheshire. This pizza uses tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. Are you ready for some pizza!

Would you like some pizza?

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

Ingredients
Pizza Dough, I use a pre-made dough in this recipe
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Basil and Oregano, dried
1 huge ripe tomato
5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Prosciutto – You can buy this in a thick slice, or some brands offer this already chopped
Black Olives
Capers
Parsley flakes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take your pizza stone, brush it with a bit of non-stick cooking spray. Then spread out the dough to the edges.

Spread out the pizza dough

Brush on EVOO and sprinkle with basil and oregano

Top with most of the cheese

Follow with tomato slices

Next sprinkle with finely chopped garlic

Next is the prosciutto

Add the olives

Follow with capers

Add remaining cheese

Put this into the oven and bake until the bottom side of the crust is browned, about 12 – 18 minutes.

Pizza right out of the oven!

Remove from the oven and let this sit for a minute or two, if you can, then slice and serve!

Dinner is served!

I hope that you enjoy this as much as we did.  This is a 2 – 4 serving pizza, depending on whether you want to share it!

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Pizza Mia!

I could live on Pizza!  It is one of my most favorite foods.  Who doesn’t love all that gooey cheese? But pizza did not start out with all that gooey cheese!

Pizza has been around for a long time, and what we call pizza today is not the pizza of the past! Pizza is actually Greek in origin. Ancient Greeks used to cover their bread with oil, herbs and cheese. The name Pizza is derived from the Latin word “pinsere” which means to press. The Romans had their version too. They called it “placenta.” This pizza was made of dough covered with cheese, honey and bay leaves.

What we eat today comes from Naples. This pizza, called a Neapolitan pie added tomatoes to the cheese about 1889. The Pizza Margherita was named after the Queen of Italy who was presented with a pizza resembling the Italian flag. This pizza was made with tomatoes for the red color in the flag, mozzarella for the white and basil for the green! This is still a popular pizza today!

Around the world everyone has their own style pizza. In Australia the pizza is made with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and bacon and eggs. Mmmm…breakfast pizza! Indian pizza includes tandori chicken and paneer. Korean pizza includes sweet potatoes, shrimp and crab. In Brazil they use bananas, pineapple and chocolate as toppings.

The best pizza I have ever had was in New York City. There is just something about New York pizza that is different from anywhere else that I have eaten pizza. In New York City you can buy pizza by the slice and then follow it up with my other favorite: Italian ice! Raspberry is my favorite flavor of that sweet dessert.

My all time favorite pizza is pepperoni, sausage, mushroom and extra cheese. What is yours? Do you make your own pizza? What do you top yours with? Please share this with me as I think making pizza will be coming as a future blog! And, one with some unusual ingredients!

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