The Best Thing I Ever Made - Pizza

This week I had to find the best pizza I ever made, and I cannot recommend this pizza enough. I am sharing the recipe for Caramelized Shallot and Blue Cheese Pizza. Doesn't that just sound amazing?

Well, take a look at the finished product...



Here is a close up of all the oniony cheesy goodness



It has been a long time since I made this so I think I need to make this my next carb and dairy splurge. I hope you all give it a try!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate - Pizza

I have to preface this entry by saying that I have not had pizza in New York City, Chicago or Italy, but the very best pizza I have ever had was in Amsterdam. My husband and I went there on our honeymoon in 2008 and we fell in love with this pizza place.



Prior to our honeymoon, my husband had been to the Netherlands and Belgium several times with his family as his Dad worked for KLM and other travel related companies. He always raved about how good the pizza was. I wondered how much better can it be, really?

Well the first time this was placed in front of me I figured it out pretty quick.



We just got plain cheese every time because you do not need to have anything else on the pizza when all the ingredients are fresh and delicious. They make the pizza right in front of you in this tiny little restaurant off of Dam Square. I am really excited to post this entry because we just booked another trip to the Netherlands for the fall. The pizza is on my list of things to do the DAY we arrive.

What is the best pizza you ever ate?

Easy Portobello Pizzas

This recipe is so simple you have to wonder, why didn't I think of that? If you did already, you are a step ahead of me! This is so easy and so good I guarantee success. How can I guarantee it? I used the hubby-meter. He tried it, and he even admitted that it was 'not that bad'. He didn't eat the meal with me, but there is hope that the next time I make it, he may.




The first thing to do is preheat your oven to 400 degrees, I used my toaster oven and it turned out great. Now we can gather our ingredients.




Mushroom caps.




Cheese.




Jarred pizza sauce. If you make your own, all the better.




I use a spoon to scoop out all the membrane on the under side of the mushroom cap and I cut off the excess stem.




You are left with something that looks like this. Put it on a foil lined cookie sheet and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out of the oven and crank it up to Broil.




Now you can get your pizza toppings. I am using some amazing fresh basil from my Aerogarden.




And some onions. I used my mezzaluna to chop up the toppings. Once those are in order it is time to assemble.




Spread some sauce on the mushrooms, as much or as little as you would like.




Add some cheese and your toppings. The hubby was having some nachos with black olives so I snagged a few of those for one of my mini-pizzas. Put the pizzas in the oven on broil for about 3 minutes, keep an eye on them. When they look melty and delicious, pull them out and enjoy.




The mushroom 'crust' is so tasty you will not miss the carb filled traditional crust at all. I will be making these a lot in the future with different toppings and sauces.

I'd like to thank all of you guys again for the wonderful comments and emails I have been getting lately. I would also like to thank all of you that click the "stumble it" button to help others find their way to my site. I appreciate each and every one of you who spend a few minutes of your day reading this blog and making sure I don't have to Dine Alone.

Cold Vegetable Pizza from Cooking For 2 Magazine

I know a lot of people try and guess which of the meals the hubby might have actually ate or tried. This is one of the ones he tried and said that the next time I made it he would have some!




I have been making a couple of things with those refrigerator crescent rolls lately so I will feature those this week. I think that Sandra Lee from the food network is a tad wacky but she does have a pretty good message, use some of the convenience items from the store. SOME. I will come to your house and smack your hand if you buy that pre-minced garlic nonsense in the jar or, god forbid, those plastic citrus shaped juice dispensers. Ok, enough ranting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.




I was excited to find they have a reduced fat version of these since I had a few recipes to try with them.




spread it out on a cookie sheet and use your fingers to squish together all the perforations and to make a little crust around the edge. pop it in the oven and lets prep the rest of the ingredients.




grab some cream cheese and mayo, and whatever vegetable toppings you want. This is a great way to use up leftover veggies.




I chopped up black olive, red pepper and green onions.




get your dough out of the oven and on to a cooling rack. I overcooked my dough a little so keep an eye on yours!




You really can't go wrong with something that has cream cheese and mayo smeared all over it.




Get the cream cheese and mayo in a bowl with some dill.




If you actually wait for your cream cheese to soften and cool this step is a lot easier, but I have no patience for something like that!




spread the mixture on the dough.




sprinkle it with a little bit of cheesy goodness.




spread your toppings on and then say good bye for a while...




Goodbye!! (yes I rant and rave about YOU guys not using plastic butter, but do you think I can get the hubby to listen?? no way. plastic butter right next to a can of plastic nacho cheese.)




After it has chilled you are ready to eat!!




This would make a delicious appetizer as well, just cut it into nice bite sized triangles. I loved this and so did the hubby, so give it a try!

Spicy Chicken Pasta

I want to say thanks for all the great feedback on the pizza. A couple of you have even made it already so that makes me so happy and is really humbling! I do hope you all love it as much as I did.

I am such a sucker for pasta. It is so easy to make in a single serving size and it is just delicious. This recipe is not too spicy but has a really great flavor to it. It does include tomatoes, which are causing people to hit the panic button these days, but they are cooked and there are lots and lots of tomatoes out there that are perfectly safe to eat. If you are still uncomfortable grab a can of diced tomatoes, drain them and you are ready to rock!




Your recipe comes from Everyday Food. It calls for Penne, but I didn't have any so I substituted. First thing to do is get some water boiling for the pasta!




This doesn't have many ingredients so go gather them all up. You need some chicken, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, a tomato, a lemon and some pasta. (the hubby's BLT is in the making behind the red pepper) Spinach didn't manage to make it in the photo because I simply forgot about it until I needed to add it!




Cut the chicken into small cubes so that they cook up nice and fast.




Dice your tomato, or grab your can and drain it off.




Juice your lemon into something and fish out the seeds, or use a strainer to catch them. Set this aside for now.




I used Gemelli pasta because it is cute and it was on sale. Get it in the pan and get it boiling.




Reserve some pasta water to help make the sauce. I always do this toward the end of the cooking because I usually forget and pour all the water down the drain. In the last few minutes of cooking, drop in the chicken.




While that cooks get out some spinach. This looks like a lot but it will cook down a LOT. Drain the pasta and chicken and return to the pot.




So get your tomatoes, tomato paste and red pepper flakes in with the pasta.




Give it a good stir.




Drop in the spinach and just continue to stir until it wilts down as much as you would like. When its all combined add in the lemon juice.




Plate it up and enjoy!




I promise this tastes as good as it looks.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!

Caramelized Shallot and Blue Cheese Pizza

I found this recipe on the 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook. This was so good I can't even tell you how much I loved it.

Ingredients
2 medium onions
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 pizza thin crust
1/4 cup roasted garlic puree
4 ounces of blue cheese
2 Tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (drained if packed in oil)

Thinly slice onions and place in a heatproof dish. Dot with butter; add vinegar and brown sugar. Bake onions, covered with foil, for approximately 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Stir and continue cooking until brown and caramelized. Can be made 2 days ahead -- just cover and chill. When ready to use, bring to room temperature.

Spread garlic puree over unbaked crust. Cover with caramelized onions and bake at 450 degrees for about 13 minutes. Add crumbled blue cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, and cook until cheese has melted, about 3 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.




First thing to do is get your oven going at 350 degrees. Thinly slice up some shallots or onion.




Grab some real butter.




put some small cubes of butter on top of the onion in an oven proof dish.




you will want to add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a little bit of brown sugar.




It is ready to go into the oven, but wait, someone else is going in with it!




We are going to roast some garlic also. Roasted garlic is one of my most favorite things in the world. I can eat it like candy.




To make it, just cut off the top of the head.




grab a piece of aluminum foil and put the head in it and make a bowl out of the foil. pour some olive oil over the top of the head and then seal it up!




You will end up with a lovely little garlic tent. Put the onions and the garlic in the oven for about 45 minutes.




Your house is going to be smelling FABULOUS so its going to be a great test of will power as you wait to make your pizza. Finally when you get close roll out your dough, or grab one of these premade pizza crusts.




Pull your garlic out of the oven and admire the fragrance and remember you cannot actually marry it.




The onions looked pretty darn tasty as well. Once those are out, get the oven cranking up to 425 degrees.




Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, (I was so impatient I popped mine in the freezer to get this process moving) just squeeze all the cloves out of the head into a bowl.




You will want to puree the garlic using a mortar and pestle or the back of a spoon because licking the blade of your food processor is dangerous. Don't think I am kidding, I ate every last remaining drop of that roasted garlic.




Once you have it all smashed you can spread it on the pizza dough.




Layer on the onions and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes.




Spread on the delicious blue cheese.




Get it back in the oven for just a few minutes to melt the cheese. You do not need much at all, there is already so much flavor on this pizza!




I cannot tell you how amazing this turned out. I wish you could even just smell it through the computer.




I hope you give this one a try and love it as much as I did.