Fig Pizza with Prosciutto, Caramelized Onions, and Goat Cheese

 David came home with a jar of whole, preserved figs last week.  I've never used them before, so I hit the internet to see what recipes would pop up.  I saw one for a pork roast, but we just finished off these pork chops...so I didn't want to put more on the table.  I'd seen recipes for fig pizza before, and decided to try it, since it would be simple, and I could have a cheese/pepperoni option for the kids.

So I made this over the weekend, and I'm tellin' you...it was delicious.  The only part that was time consuming were the onions.  I probably cooked 'em for about an hour.  Caramelized onions can't be rushed...but they are so worth it if you've got the time.  And if you don't have whole, preserved figs, fig preserves are a fine substitute. 

Fig Pizza with Prosciutto, Caramelized Onions, and Goat Cheese

One recipe homemade pizza dough, or 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough (we like the "thin" crust)

2 medium or one large red onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

About 16 small preserved whole figs (roughly chopped), or about 1/2 cup fig preserves

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme

2 ounces fresh goat cheese

3 ounces prosciutto, torn into pieces

In a medium skillet over low heat, heat the olive oil.  Add the red onion and cook slowly, stirring frequently for 45 minutes to one hour, or until the onions are almost dry, and deep purplish/brown in color. (Regular white/yellow onions work well too).  If you don't that much time, just cook them for as long as you can.  Set aside.  

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 400.  If you're using a homemade dough, spread it out and prebake it for 5 minutes.  Do the same thing if you're using a premade, refrigerated dough.  

Spread the chopped figs/fig preserves over the crust.  It may not look like it's enough, but you don't want this to be overly sweet.  Sprinkle with a touch of salt and pepper, and the thyme.  Scatter the prosciutto over the spices.  Then distribute the onions over the top, and dot with pieces of goat cheese.  

Return the pizza to the oven, and back for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is deep golden brown.  The goat cheese will get very soft, but will not melt completely.  

Slice and serve immediately.  

 David, Rebecca, and I practically inhaled this.  I made another pizza (cheese and pepperoni) for the rest of the kids.  I will say one thing...this is a "dry" pizza, meaning there's no sauce at all.  You may prefer it as an appetizer instead of the main course.  Next time I make it, I'll reduce some balsamic vinegar to use as a base sauce.  (Just take 2 cups of balsamic vinegar and simmer until reduced by at least half, and is the consistency of maple syrup).  I think that, along with a touch more thyme and pepper, will be a nice compliment to the salty prosciutto and tangy goat cheese.  

This would a perfect treat to make for a cocktail party, ladies night out, or just for a quiet night in. :-).  Everyone loves pizza...and it's a nice change from your usual tomato-cheese combination. 

Hope you're enjoying your summer.  God bless your table tonight!

PS...You may have noticed I'm not posting as many pictures as I usually do.  I really love taking pictures of every step, but I just don't have the time these days.  It's tricky trying to hold the camera while a baby is tugging/fussing/crying at your knees too. So for now, less pictures, but hopefully plenty of details regarding each recipe so you won't miss a thing. ;-)

Greek Pizza

I was digging through the fridge yesterday, trying to see if I could use up a bunch of leftovers for dinner. I really couldn't come up with anything grand, but after seeing the container of artichoke hearts, I thought, "Hey, I can make a pizza!" However, I knew the kids wouldn't like a Greek-style pizza. They only like cheese or pepperoni. So a pizza with artichoke hearts, red onion, black olives, diced chicken, and tomatoes would send them running for the hills. They were perfectly happy with scrambled eggs and hash browns, except for my little foodie, Rebecca. She was actually jealous because she wanted pizza, but I wanted to save the rest of it for David (he is never home in time to eat with us). Luckily she LOVES hash browns, and eggs so that eased her mind. :-)

Sure enough, when David got home, he ate the rest of the pizza, half of it to be exact. I'd already eaten the other half. ;-)

Greek Style Pizza

1 refrigerated pizza dough, or 1 homemade pizza dough

4 tablespoons pizza sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese

2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup black/green olives, sliced

1/2 cup artichoke hearts, diced small

1 cup diced chicken

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the pizza dough out to the edges. Bake for 5 minutes and set aside. You'll want to do this with a premade dough or homemade dough.

Once the dough has prebaked, spread the pizza sauce over the crust. Top with the mozzarella cheese and diced chicken.

Sprinkle over the cheese and chicken.

Next up...the tomatoes and red onion. Man...I'm getting hungry!

Then toss on the artichoke and black olives.

Lastly, scatter over the feta cheese and oregano.

In hindsight, I would have liked to drizzle over just a touch of olive oil. But I got distracted by a little baby tugging at my pant leg. She found me in the kitchen, where she proceeded to wail for her dinner. Bless her heart. :-) And heck, you can put the toppings on in any order you want...it really doesn't matter.

Put the pizza back in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before digging in.

I love the combination of salty and sweet. The olives and feta are tangy and briny, while the tomatoes and onions are sweet. I recommend not overloading the pizza with the feta and olives...otherwise, it will just be too salty.

Make this for the more appreciative members of your household...or make a cheese pizza on the side for the kiddos. Feel free to add green olives or fresh spinach...you should always make a pizza to your liking.

God bless your table tonight!

Grilled Zucchini Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

Hi everyone!  Here's yet another recipe that involves the grill.  I cannot say enough about grilling or roasting veggies.  They just taste so much better; all the natural sugars caramelize, and you get a hint of smokey flavor, which my hubby loves.  I used to steam all our fresh vegetables until I started roasting our from-the-garden green beans, and wow...they were such a hit.  I haven't used our vegetable steamer in probably 2 years.  It's sitting in my closet, waiting for it's chance to be donated to Goodwill. 

Anyone want it?  Just kidding. 

So, if you are not into zucchini, substitute yellow squash, bell peppers, whatever you fancy.  Goat cheese not your thing?  Toss on some mozzarella or fontina...I'll never know.  As you'll see, this recipe is figure-friendly, thanks to a light hand on the cheese, and a homemade, whole wheat crust.  And of course, you can make plain cheese pizza for all the picky eaters in your house (I don't have any of those you know ;-).

Grilled Zucchini Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese

1 recipe homemade whole wheat pizza dough or store bought dough

2 small or one medium zucchini, cut in half, and sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 teaspoon lemon dill seasoning blend

salt and black pepper

Olive oil for drizzling

1/2 cup prepared pizza sauce

1 roasted red pepper, thinly sliced

3 ounces fresh, crumbled goat cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil or oregano

Heat your outdoor grill or indoor grill pan over medium heat.  I used my indoor grill pan, and wanted to make sure the zucchini didn't stick, so I threw everything into a bag--the zucchini, lemon juice and zest, the lemon-dill seasoning and the olive oil.  Give it all a good shake to distribute the olive oil and seasonings. 

Grill for 3-5 minutes on both sides until the zucchini is lightly marked and tender,but not falling apart.  Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Divide your pizza dough into 8 equal pieces.  (I decided to make slightly larger pizzas this time, and made 6 individual pizzas instead of 8.  At this point, if you don't need all the dough, you may freeze some for later or use it right away). 

I started off making 4 cheese pizzas for the kids.  Anytime we have pizza in our house, it's inhaled!  Just stretch the dough out, spread with pizza sauce, cheese, and a sprinkling of dried basil or oregano.  Pretty easy, right?  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. 

Now let's make the pizzas for the grown-up taste buds.  Take 2 portions of dough and gently spread it out into a round shape, about 8 inches across.  Placed on a lightly greased baking sheet (or use a silpat mat if you have one).  

 Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and spread on some of the pizza sauce.  Lay on about 6 slices of the zucchini--you might have to trim them a bit so they'll fit on the dough.   Next up...the roasted red pepper.  I cheated and bought a jar of roasted red peppers. ;-).  But sometimes a jar is cheaper than buying them fresh.  6-8 slices of pepper ought to do it. 

 

Place little crumbles of goat cheese, all around...don't go too crazy with it...

And sprinkle with the dried basil.  I used Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle...I just love this stuff.  But I know not everyone has it, or can get it.  Dried basil is a fine substitute. ;-)

This just begged for a close-up.  Divine veggie goodness...I can't wait to eat you up!

Now your little pizza is ready for the oven.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes, rotating once halfway through the baking time.  The crust should be a light golden brown, and the goat cheese will be very soft. 

It's that pretty?  A perfect way to eat your veggies and have your pizza too! 

Let stand for about 5 minutes, cut into 4 slices, and serve.

I didn't get a pic of the finished cheese pizzas, sorry.  David and I were too busy devoring our dinner, and the kids of course were busy eating too.  I didn't want to snatch their plate away to try and get a picture!

Hope you are able to get out there and grill a little more.  It's still so hot here...we'll surely be able to cook outside for a few more weeks (many a couple of months!). 

God bless your table tonight!

Slumber Party Fun

Our sweet Rebecca turns eight next week, and she decided to start celebrating early with a slumber party.  I told her fine...as long as the guest list was small, 'cause we all know little girls are very capable of chatting and giggling in the dark until the wee hours of morning.  Frankly, I do require a decent amount of sleep...six hours is minimal for me. 

So earlier this week, Rebecca and I planned out our menu.  She wanted to make:

Homemade Pizza

I used store-bought pizza dough and sauce, and topped it with cheese, pepperoni, and one had pineapple and ham for the grownups. :-)  It went so fast, I didn't get any pics, sorry. 

Mini peanut butter kisss cookies

Little milkshakes in dixie cups

Oh, and a movie with popcorn later on.  All-rightly I told her...I can handle that. 

The mini dessert ideas came from an Amercian Girl cookbook she got for Christmas.  All I did for the cookies was make Bakerella's peanut butter cookie dough, rolled them into marble-sized balls, and top them with a single chocolate chip instead of a Hershey's kiss.  I fired up the blender and made the milkshakes, using plain white dixie cups and coffee stirrers for straws.  Everyone was full...and happy. 

Here's all the girls at the table (and Gabriel too) 

And here's my kitchen afterwards...but it was fun making a mess!

 The next morning, David made waffles, eggs, and sausage, but none of the girls ate any breakfast...but I had a yummy waffle with cinammon sugar and whipped cream...delightful! 

At any rate, the party was a success.  Rebecca was very, very happy, and that means Momma was happy too.

Excuse me while I (yawn) go take a nap!

God bless your table tonight!

White Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Shrimp

About 2 weeks ago, pizza dough was on sale, $1.25 each if you bought 5.  Plus an additional $3.00 off  if you bought 10.  Even though I don't mind making pizza dough from scratch...you really can't beat $1.25 for refridgerated dough.  So I've been scheming and dreaming of new pizza recipes.

Well...shrimp was on sale this past week too...16-20 count for $5.99/lb.  That means there's 16-20 shrimp per pound.  The higher the count, the smaller the shrimp; the smaller the count, the bigger the shrimp.  I don't like itty-bitty shrimp, so I really stock up when decent sized shrimp is on sale.  I only now have run out of the shrimp I bought up during Lent this past spring.  I think if you really want to eat well and healthy in a recession, you can...but you have to pay attention and buy pricer proteins (like seafood) when they're on special.  And using it on pizza (or with pasta) is a great way to make it stretch.

The kids love plain cheese pizza...I know...boring if you're an adult, right?  Rebecca's favorite toppings are Canadian bacon and pineapple...which is also my favorite combination.  David loves a real meaty pizza...sausage, ham, pepperoni, with red onions.  But I wanted to make a white pizza this time...which is usually made with either an alfredo-type sauce, or no sauce at all. 

Roasting the garlic doesn't make the garlic flavor stronger...it actually makes it very mellow, buttery, almost caramel-like.  If you don't like the smell of roasted garlic in every room of your house...this is not the recipe for you.  But I'm telling you right now...you're missing out ;-). 

White Pizza with Shrimp and Roasted Garlic

1 head garlic

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed, and patted dry

salt and black pepper

1 tube refridgerated pizza dough (I like Philsbury's thin crust)
2 tablespoons cornmeal

1/3 cup prepared alfredo sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning blend

We're going to roast the garlic first.  This is the easiest thing in the world! 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Remove as much of the thin, papery skin, but don't peel the individual cloves, or pull them apart. 

Now use a small, sharp knife to cut off the tips off each clove.  Just turn the head on its side and cut off a bit of all the cloves in the middle.  There's a ring of cloves around the outside of the bulb, so you'll have to do those individually.  Place a small sheet of aluminum foil under the garlic.  Then pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the garlic, making sure to get a bit into each the clove. 

Now wrap up the garlic bulb and place it in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the garlic is completely soft. 

Let the garlic cool while you cook the shrimp.


Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet.  Make sure the shrimp are very dry.  Any residual water will make the shrimp "stew" instead of getting a nice sear.  Season them with salt and pepper on both sides.

Now sear the shrimp for just 2 minutes on both sides.  We don't want to cook the shrimp completely...a tad under done is fine.  They'll finish cooking in the oven once we add them to our pizza.

Remove to a cutting board and let cool for just a minute.  Cut the shrimp into bite-sized pieces if they were on the larger side like mine.  I think pizza toppings should be small-ish so it's easier to eat. 

The garlic should be cool enough to handle now.  Use your fingers to gently squeeze out all the roasted garlic from the cloves.  Cutting each clove with a small knife may help, but I didn't bother.  Then mash the garlic with a fork...it's so soft, it's like buttah people! 

Preaheat the oven again to 400 degrees (or whatever your dough directions say).  Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray, and then sprinkle with the cornmeal.  Roll out the dough and press it to the edges, or as much as you can.  Spread with the roasted garlic, and then the alfredo sauce.   Sorry I didn't take a picture until this point...I was feeding the kids their pizza and making the ours (the grownups) at the same time.  The garlic will be a VERY thin layer, but you should have enough to cover the dough. 

Now sprinkle on the cheese...

then the shrimp...

And then the pasta sprinkle...now that I'm on Penzey's mailing list, (and a regular customer) we got a voucher in the mail for a FREE jar of this stuff...and it's awesome on homemade pizza.  An italian spice blend, some dried basil, or oregano would be fine too. 

Bake the pizza for 13-15 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and the crust is nice  and crispy on the edges. 

Let stand for a few minutes before serving.

This pizza was AWESOME.  The roasted garlic added a wonderful, creamy, mild flavor...you could tell it was garlic, but it was a deep, nutty, buttery taste.  After doing more research on the internet, I can't wait to use roasted garlic with pasta, bread,  homemade hummus, mashed potatoes, blended with cream cheese, soups, veggies...yum! 


Allrecipes.com always has good recipes, so click here if you want more ideas.  Let me know if you try any...I'll be trying some myself! 

God bless your table tonight!