fifteenth week of pizzas!

fifteen weeks of pizza creations! and we are still going strong. the holiday brings all of our friends back to the fox valley. it's a week we alway look forward to immensely. what not a better way than to show them our love than making a few pizzas for them...

i ended up making three pizzas, though the last one i forgot to snap a picture of before it was snatched up and eaten.

1st one in the oven was a tomato and basil pizza with mozzarella

2nd one in was a mushroom, feta, kalamata olive, artichoke heart, and tomato

3rd was pepperoni with mushrooms (sadly, no picture...sigh).

all of them were exceptionally flavorful...though i should have added sliced garlic to the tomato and basil pizza, but remembered after the pizza was cooked. the mediterranean themed pizza was the hit of the night. perfect crust, excellent ratio of flavors. i think it was consumed the fastest.

a wonderful first holiday season was had by the vandenbergs in our new home. we hope to make this a tradition of pizza over christmas time.

traditional pizza

after doing a little research on pizzas, i discovered the original way pizzas were created. little personal sized crusts, fried in a hot pan for a couple of seconds on each side, then topped with sauce and mozzarella and baked until the cheese is melted. absolutely delicious. so simple and tastey. we even had one left over that i ate the next day for dinner.

not the best...

early last week i made a late night pizza (i had a late lunch). i started making the dough just after nine pm and didn't eat 'til after ten. it felt weird, but i was hungry, and decided to make a pizza while i had the opportunity.

i sauteed (just for a couple of minutes) up some broccoli, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and red peppers. then mixed some pesto that i had made this summer in with my red sauce. this was the tastiest part of the pizza. for some reason, my taste buds don't really care for sun-dried tomatoes. in the end, i ended up picking off most of them. but i will try them again, just not on a pizza. i also sliced some fresh garlic and added to the top of the pizza so that it gets cooked perfectly...

using fresh mozzarella, i put the pizza together and baked at 425. the pictures make it look delicious; however, i didn't particularly care for this pizza.

cream cheese pear and brown sugar glazed bacon with feta pizza

wowwy, i think we have a winner this week. my wonderful and ever thoughtful friend, sarah boss of my hart photocopied me a recipe. I woke up to find it on our dinning room table. i was so excited about the combination of flavors i had to make it for dinner.

i tweaked the recipe a little bit by making my own crust, and using red onions instead of green onions...but basically this is the recipe. it also called for pecans but we opted out, as neither of us care for that nut.

i made a crust and baked it by itself...then...

place 6 strips of bacon on some aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet

1/4 c packed brown sugar and a pinch 'er two of cayenne pepper

mix those two together and generously cover the bacon and bake at 400 until crispy

meanwhile take 8 0z of cream cheese and let it soften a bit, chop up some onions and mix with the cream cheese, sprinkle with some fresh ground black pepper

slice up a pear

after the crust has baked, spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the crust

crumble the bacon and put on pizza

add the pear slices

and top off with wonderful feta

bake 'til the pizza is just slightly browned and the pears are cooked.

you will never be the same, i promise.

thank you dear sarah, i will make this for you, i SWEAR.

a tasty little treat...

our roommate inspired me to make a taco pizza, and rather than he beat me to the punch, i made one before he could make one for us. and i didn't even share it with him. (hahahaha, evil, i know.) i browned about a pound of hamburger and added a full packet of taco seasoning. meanwhile, i made the crust as per usual, and baked it all by its lonesome in the oven.

i cut up some tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, and shredded some local cheddar cheese. sliced a deliciously ripe avocado.

i patiently waited for the crust to bake to perfection, and took it out of the oven. i layered the hamburger, cheese, tomatoes, green peppers, and the chopped spinach and threw it back in the oven.

after the cheese got a little melty and the spinach wilted, i pulled it out of the oven and topped the pizza off with the sliced avocado and a few dollops of sour cream, and cut away!

it was pretty good, todd gave it a 9 outta 10. leftovers weren't as delicious (i ate them cold).