Chicken Parmigiana Pizza

It is Junk Food Friday!  The night for goo, crunch and decadent YUM!  I have yet to go to the store this week so I needed to assess and come up with an idea with what I had on hand.  I had chopped chicken leftover from last night that I could use for my protein.  I pulled some staples from the pantry and the fridge and visited my friend Rachael's website!  I swear Rachael Ray has more ideas on combinations to top a pizza!
I have making homemade pizza dough down pat.  Feel free to use frozen dough or boxed dough.  Whatever you are most comfortable doing.  I want to share with you the pizza dough I have used for 35 years.  Very easy, incredibly inexpensive and tastes fresh baked! I encourage you to try it at least once.

Pizza Crust-hang on to this one, I use it all the time!
printable recipe

1 c. lukewarm water
1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp. bread yeast)
2 tsp. sugar
1 T. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. flour

Place water, yeast, sugar, oil and salt in a bowl. (I actually use a glass measuring cup to mix it in, I hate to do dishes).
Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix with a fork.  When it starts to pull together, mix and knead with your hands.  You will feel it begin to change consistency.  It will be sticky.  Knead into a ball.  Place the ball of dough in a buttered bowl.  Cover with a towel and allow to rise.  I put my warmer burner on today to set the bowl on.  My kitchen was cold.

When the dough doubles in size, about 20 minutes, punch down and allow to rise a second time. (sorry I forgot to take photos of the dough steps, it was a multi-tasking afternoon)
Preheat oven to 425°

Spread a little cornmeal on a sheet pan or pizza stone.  Stretch you dough into the desired shape.
Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 10 minutes.

Top with your choice of toppings and bake 20 minutes more.

Chicken Parmigiana Pizza
printable recipe

1 Prepared Pizza Crust
Pizza Sauce-because this was a pantry put together, I used a jar of sauce.  We have an amazing Italian store in our area that has grown their grocery business from a small neighborhood market to nationally recognized products.  Look for the Delallo's brand..so delicious!
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 T. minced onion
2 tsp. olive oil.
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
Dried Italian Seasoning
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
3/4 c. grated parmesan
(I would have used a half of a cup chopped green pepper had I had one on hand!)

Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil.

Stir in the crushed red pepper. Add the chicken and mushrooms and heat through.

Spread sauce on partially cooked pizza dough (see above).

Spread on onion, garlic, chicken and mushroom mixture.

Sprinkle with Seasoning.
Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425°

We kicked back with our pizza and a great bottle of Merlot. There was little clean up and the meal was a great start to a casual weekend!
This finishes month one, 11 to go!  I hope you have enjoyed, and perhaps have been inspired to try your hand at something new!

Easy Chicken Pot Roast

My mind set is back in the cold weather mode. I wanted hot, comfort food! I bought a magazine in the supermarket while I was down south.  It intrigued me because of the title.  'Taste of the South: Our Annual Cast Iron Issue'.  I love cast iron.  I have several pieces of antique cast iron from my mom's kitchen as well as my husband's grandmother.  Food cooked in cast iron is comforting and tasty.  It truly is food made with love.  There is nothing new wave or trendy about cast iron cooking.  It is pure homemade honest cooking!  I had every intention of using an old black dutch oven for this recipe; however, I did not want to stuff the ingredients in the size I had.  I used my new large enamel cast iron dutch oven today.  I like to think of it as my 'pass down' cookware for future generations! I tweaked this recipe to suit the ingredients I had on hand.

Easy Chicken Pot Roast
printable recipe

1 (4-5 lb.) whole chicken
8 cloves of garlic smashed
1 onion large chopped
1 (8 oz.) pkg of mushrooms
5 Red potatoes chunked
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 lemon halved
2 c. dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.  Remove and discard giblets from the chicken.  Remove excess fat.  rinse and pat dry.
Place chicken in large dutch oven.  Surround with vegetables. Squeeze the lemons over the chicken.  Place the halves in the vegetables.

*Just as a note:  Recipes using garlic call for it minced, chopped, sliced, or whole.  Each style imparts its own flavor.  This recipe called for it smashed.  It roasts the garlic and lets is ooze into the sauce.  If left whole, I find it offers a slight garlic flavor; smashed gives the sauce more body, but not overwhelming.

Add the sprigs of rosemary.
Pour over the 2 c. of wine.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and bake until tender and falling apart. About 3 hours.

Sorry for the bad plate photo!  I didn't realize until after dinner the photo was in the shadows.  This was melt in your mouth chicken.  It was soft and buttery tasting.  The lemon shined through, with just a hint of garlic.  The potatoes were creamy and soaked up the rich sauce.  My favorite were the hearty mushrooms.  This was a rustic, simple chicken.  Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate.  Quick to put together and very inexpensive to make in the middle of the week.  Don't hesitate to buy whole chickens when they are on sale; they are truly the easiest thing to prepare in a variety of ways.

I served with steamed broccoli -which by the way, I used a steam in the bag frozen broccoli, name brand that was on sale, totally disgusting!  I was surprised.  I have used them before as a quick side.  No quality control and I actually threw the whole bag away after the first bite :(  I may email the company to give my feedback!

Flamingo Margarita

Well, I traveled home today.  I am sure all of you know how tiresome it is to plod through the airport, wait in uncomfortable chairs, and then squeeze into a crowded plane.  Thank goodness the flight itself is only 3 hours.  But, the day was long, I am back in the cold, and all I want to do is relax.  I did make something we have not eaten yet in 2014, however, it is not very exciting and I will not insult you by explaining a lowly Tuna Melt.  It was tasty, fast, cheaper than fast food!  So, it skirts the rules of my challenge!

I will share a recipe we finished off our night with last night.  After a wonderful week in Florida with my sister and her family; we made dynamite margaritas to say farewell to our visit.  You could use this simple recipe with any fresh fruit.  We chose strawberries because they were in season and oh, so, delicious!

Flamingo Margarita

2 oz. Sweet & Sour Mix
2 oz. Tequila
5 oz. of chopped fresh fruit
Ice

Whiz all in a blender and sing:      But there's booze in the blender, and soon it will render that frozen concoction that helps me hang on.    Well we really didn't sing, but we were all thinking it!

Tropical Fruit Salad with Honey

In honor of my last night in Paradise, I wanted to go all out tropical fun!  I can say with confidence I love that my sisters live in the south; and that they love that I can cook!  It was a week of family, food and fun, along with enough margaritas that I was able to put out of my mind that tomorrow I return home to the tundra :(. Keep in mind I walked to the yard and picked the majority of this fresh salad!

Tropical Fruit Salad with Honey

3/4 c. Sweet coconut flakes
2 T.  Honey
Juice of 1 lime
1 T. mint cut in a chiffonade
1 mango chopped
1/2 chopped pineapple
2 sliced kiwis
1 banana sliced
1 c. Sliced strawberries

Spread the coconut in a baking pan.  Toast in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes until golden brown.

In a small bowl whisk the lime juice and honey.  Add the mint.

Toss all together, pour yourself a margarita and kick off your flip flops!

Grilled Snapper, grilled sweet potatoes and a sweet stone crab claw, satisfied the Parrot Head in me!

Grilled Balsamic-Marinated Steaks with a Balsamic Sauce

Yes, yes, I know we don't usually eat much red meat.  However, being away and having a sister that supports her local 4-H, I was tempted with a freezer full of magnificent cuts of farm raised, organic beef.  What an amazing difference in taste!  And, it goes without saying I want to take advantage of grilling in January as much as possible!!!

We spent the day outdoors and decided to complete the day with dinner outdoors to enjoy the picture perfect weather.  Having such prime steaks at my disposal I chose this recipe from the Food Network Kitchens and the sauce is from Emeril Lagasse 'New New Orleans Cooking'.

Grilled Balsamic-Marinated Steaks with a Balsamic Sauce
printable recipe

Marinade
1 c. balsamic vinegar
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. minced garlic
2 tsp. crushed red pepper
Salt and Pepper

Emeril's Essence (this recipe is available online if you prefer not to buy it prepackaged)

Mix all together except the Essence.  Place steaks and marinade in ziplock bags and allow to marinate for up to 2 hours at room temperature.

Preheat grill to medium heat.
Remove steaks from marinade and season both sides with Emeril's Essence.
Place the steaks on the grill and cook for 6 minutes on the first side.  Turn the steaks over and brush with the Balsamic Sauce (recipe below).  Continue to cook for 6 minutes for medium rare, longer if you prefer.

Sauce
2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 c. diced red onion
1 T. sliced garlic
1 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. light brown sugar
1/2 c. dry red wine (I was drinking a great label Merlot (cupcake) and used it.  Perfect!
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 T. tomato paste
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
black pepper

In a saucepan heat the oil.  Saute the garlic and onion until soft.  Add the balsamic vinegar and the brown sugar.  Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes to reduce.  Add the wine.  Heat to a boil, turn down a tad and allow to reduce till about half.

Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the rosemary.  You can opt to make your sauce smooth at this point with an immersion blender.  It was getting late so I left ours chunky.

I served with some grilled potatoes and simply dressed carrots.  The carrots were steamed and tossed in butter, honey, black pepper and orange juice-which btw I went out and plucked off the tree!!

This was a hit.  It is easy for all of us to grill a great steak, especially if the meat is high quality.  But, the rave reviews this sauce got, it is well worth it to 'kick it up a notch'......ok, ok I know a little corny, but it was an Emeril recipe!

Tom's Smoked Brisket

A few weeks ago I intended to do a smoked brisket for friends.  The weather did not cooperate so I needed to adapt and come up with a recipe to do in the oven.  This weekend I was able to use my original recipe. We smoked a brisket for 9 hours to perfection!  The smoke ring was pink and inviting.  An afternoon spent with beer, family and smoking a brisket was a great way to spend a Sunday!  The recipe is courtesy of The Neeley's.

Tom's Smoked Brisket

Rub

3/4 c. papika

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 T. garlic salt

1 T. celery salt

1/2 T. black pepper

1/2 T. lemon pepper

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. thyme

1 trimmed brisket about 6 lbs.

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and blend.  Sprinkle all over both sides of the beef and rub into the beef.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. 

Preheat a smoker or grill to 250° using charcoal and hickory.

Using indirect heat, cook for 4 hours.  Flip the brisket and cook for an additional 4 hours until your internal temperature reaches 160°.  

After 3 hours, mop with the BBQ sauce of your choice.

Wrap in foil for an hour until internal temperature reaches 190°.

So good!  I served with coleslaw and the pasta salad from yesterday.

 Dessert almost stole the show.  My niece made Pap's Italian Fruity Cake.  The variety of fresh fruit over an angel food cake with pineapple, berries, kiwi and more, was delicious.  (Upon request I will share via email, because I have yet to get a copy!)

Great night.  I guess this finishes brisket for the year-once in the oven, once on the smoker.  Stuck with my challenge of no repeats.  So good bye brisket until 2015!

Garden Pasta Salad

Today was a sandwich and salad day.  The kind of day that you are not sure what time you will be eating and you simply want to play the day by ear.  So I put together a fresh pasta salad in the morning, gathered some sandwich fixings and let the day go where it took me!

Garden Pasta Salad

A variety of chopped fresh veges.  I am a freak about balancing colors so I like to make sure I have lots of color to add to a salad.  I used:

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 small zucchini

mushrooms

purple onion

celery

cherry tomatoes

1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese.

1 box. cooked Pasta.  Use bite size pasta with some shape to hold the dressing.  I chose Farfalle (bow tie).

Dressing: 

Makes enough for a 1 lb. box of pasta

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. Italian Season

1 T. tomato paste

2 T. red wine vinegar

1/3 c. olive oil

Black pepper to taste

Whisk all together.

 Pour over cooked pasta and vegetables.  

This is one of those salad recipes you can do a few things with.  Today we had with sandwiches.  I have used it as a side with a piece of grilled salmon, a skewer of grilled shrimp or a Parmesan crusted chicken.  I am happy I planned a morning put together-the day got busy and by no means wanted to come home to having to cook dinner.  After a fun Saturday out and about, it only involved opening the fridge!

Caprese Burgers

We had friends over tonight.  I wanted to do burgers, but, I wanted them to be party worthy.  This burger recipe is a twist on a Caprese salad.  I took the idea from a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe.  Turned out perfect for a casual dinner party with a gourmet flair!


Caprese Burgers
printable recipe

For the burger:

2 1/2 lb. ground chuck
1 c. shredded Parmesan
1 c. pesto
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
8-10 1/4" slices of fresh mozzarella

Form into 8-10 patties.  Grill for 5 minutes.  Turn over, place the mozzarella on top and cook for 5 more minutes (or however done you like your burger!)

For the Pesto Mayonaisse

1/2 c. Mayonnaise
Pesto (don't hesitate to use a store bought jar! It is good for this recipe.)

Assemble

On either Foccacia buns or Ciabatta buns, place 1 T. of pesto mayo on the bottom bun.  Place burger with melted cheese next.  Top with a slice of tomato.  Drizzle with Balsamic vinegar.

I paired this with some fresh grilled corn and various adult beverages.  I didn't miss my junk food Friday at all this week!