Where has March gone?

No I haven't been not making pizzas, I just have not been updating for the whole long, warm, then snowy month of March. We came up with some good pizzas. Lemme fill you in.....

The first week of March I made a roasted red pepper pizza with feta and half kalamata olives. It was one of the top pizza so far. I roasted the peppers myself, and used the same sauce and crust recipes as I always do.. it was even really good cold the next day for lunch.

I know many people are not fans of brussels sprouts, nor am I. However, they have been totally redeemed by my friend Chad. He sautees them with olive oil (the original recipe called for bacon, but they're vegetarian). (I sauteed them with bacon grease I have on reserve in my fridge.) Then adds sriracha hotsauce and some lime juice, and then roasts them in the oven until perfectly cooked. Mine didn't turn out as wonderful as his, but still good nonetheless. I then threw them on a pizza with red sauce. Pretty good, but the next day's leftovers, not so good.

I know I've made just a plain ol' four cheese pizza previously, but I haven't made just a one cheese pizza. (well, actually I have, but it was the fried pizza crust one). So simple, so easy. Needless to say, this one was delicious. Same crust and red sauce recipes.

The last week of March I made a pineapple "chutney" topped pizza. I used some pineapple, yellow onion, and some cherry tomatoes, mixed it all together and threw it on top of some red sauce and topped it off with my salty favorite: feta. Todd was a big fan of this one, he loves pineapple, and especially when it's mixed in with other ingredients. It was really good, though.

So this week I made strombolis, and was in a rush to get to Todd's work with them so we could eat dinner together on his break (how lovely is that?). I was about half way there when I realized I forgot my satchel that contained my CAMERA. So no stromboli pictures.

I made some red sauce, thawed a package of frozen chopped spinach, waited for my pizza dough to rise while squeezing out the spinach. Crumbled some feta. Cut up some kalamata olives and sliced some yellow cherry tomatoes. I formed the dough then layered one half with sauce, spinach, feta, olives, and tomatoes, mozzarella, and then another layer of sauce. Baked at 425 until a nice golden brown.

I've made them before, but these two were a pretty good concoction. Try it!

sweet potato/feta/caramelized red onions with red sauce

i had one lonely little sweet potato waiting patiently in the cupboard for awhile, so i decided to thinly slice it up and put it on a pizza. added a little feta, mozzarella, and some caramelized onions into the mix and dinner was ready.

i was a little worried that the potatoes wouldn't cook all the way, but if you slice them thin enough, they turn out perfectly cooked.

european pizza, beer crust pizza, and black bean pizza

cabin fever is here. perhaps i should be making a lot of pizzas but for some reason i haven't been. not to say that i've been slacking. just a little unmotivated and updating this blog.

i made a pizza with my nephews while visiting in germany. they helped me make the sauce and dough, and put the cheese on top. what helpful little guys they were. my brother said it was the best pizza they've had since they've moved over there. since my supplies of topping were limited, and the kids (and even my brother) are a tad on the picky side, i just made a couple of pizzas; one with half pepperoni and half cheese. and the second with mushroom, olives, and red peppers. yes, repeats, but i'm counting it as a week because we were over seas.

we loved spending time with my brother and his family, if only we could have stayed longer.

the week after we returned home from our european adventure i made a beer crust cheese pizza. with a mixture of tomato and this summer's pesto. pretty good tasting. the crust turned out sweeter than usual but still good. good to have a different tasting crust. the recipe was off of martha stewart's website found here.

this past week's recipe was inspired by my dearest friend ashlee gene. a cornmeal crust, with black beans, tomatoes, salsa verde, cheese, and topped with avocado and fresh squeeze lime juice. be sure that you place the avocado slices on the pizza after it's done baking. mmmmmm mm....so good. it would have been even better with some cilantro but i had none. we had plenty of leftovers and todd and i both tried it cold, and it was still good.

16th and 17th pizzas

last week we had my parents over for some pizzas. and i actually made this recipe ... the one that i have been meaning to make since i started this endeavor. it was really good! the recipe made enough for three pizzas and i just threw the leftover dough in the freezer.

my folks really like shrimp pizza. so i made one for them (with a quarter of it pepperoni) and then made a mushroom and green/red pepper pizza...half of it with olives.

both were delicious, and we seriously enjoy sharing meals with our families....even though they complain our house is too cold.

this week's pizza was roasted potatoes and caramelized red onions with a white sauce and feta cheese. a tad on the dry side but still pretty tastey. i think it would have been better with a red sauce.

i made everything from scratch, always forgetting how easy a white sauce is to make: butter, garlic, half and half, and parmesan cheese, and a little bit of flour to thicken.

lying in bed i thought of drizzling with balsamic vinegar after the pizza was baked. that probably would have given it more moisture.

this sunday we are off to europe to see what it's all about (i've never been there, todd has a couple of times); and to see my dearest brother and his family! so we'll be finding a pizza place and substituting that for the one or both weeks. bon voyage!

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.