Easy White Pizza & Caesar Salad with "Crusty" Croutons

It's Tuesday, ah my favorite day of the week. Seems like myself and our readers are getting serious. For the past 3 Tuesdays we always meet. Good thing I get a meal every time out of these dates. =D

So welcome, welcome, welcome back to our kitchen. Tonight is kinda a funky recipe but trust me it'll make you pretty jazzed. So what are we waiting for? Let's begin!

Around 10/11 months ago I woke up really early (as I always do) and needed something to watch since moving around too much would wake my sleeping hubby who works really hard and needed the extra Zzzz's. So I decided to surf the Food Network onDemand. I came across this show I had never seen before called 5 Ingredient Fix (Click on the name to take you to view her Food Network.com page) and the host was making these two things out of 5 ingredients. I thought "5 ingredient's and that's it?"....no way but she did and it looked hella yummy. So I grabbed my laptop and jotted down the menu at hand and here we are today. So what's this masterpiece she made? It's called "White Pizza" and "Caesar Salad With Crusty Croutons. Okie, now I can already see your heads shaking at the "white pizza" writing but before you start throwing tomatoes and demanding me to pull out the marinara sauce and pork products give the chef's a chance tonight to broaden your food horizons. Yes, that means letting go...even you. Yes you, in the back with your arms folded. This should be painless....well almost. ;p

So let's take a look at the list of items needed:

Easy White Pizza
Cook time: 30 mins.
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
* Garlic-flavored olive oil
* 1 (1-pound) ball frozen pizza dough, thawed and at room temperature
* 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
* 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano leaves, plus more for garnish

Directions

Special equipment: 14-inch round pizza pan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven.

Brush the pizza pan with oil. On a work surface, using your hands, press the pizza dough into a large flat disk and transfer it to the greased pan. Using your fingers, press the dough out until it has stretched to the perimeter of the pan. Create a dough "lip" around the outer edges of the pan. Brush the entire surface of the dough lightly with garlic oil and pierce the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, to prevent bubbling.

Evenly spread the mozzarella over the crust. Using 2 spoons, dollop teaspoon-sized mounds of ricotta evenly over the mozzarella. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and evenly sprinkle the chopped oregano over the top.

Bake in the lower third of the oven until the crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly and browning on top, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before garnishing with additional oregano and slicing into 8 pieces.

Cook's Note: Try buying fresh pizza dough from your local pizzeria; just be sure to let it sit out at room temperature for a few minutes, as warmer dough is easier to work with.







ANNNNDDDD here's the salad to go with it:




Caesar Salad with "Crusty" Croutons

Cook time: 10 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup garlic-flavored olive oil, divided, plus more as needed
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided, plus more as desired
* 4 ounces frozen pizza crust, thawed
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* 1 medium head romaine, chopped, rinsed, and dried
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Put 1/4 cup of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and heat until hot but not smoking. Add 1/4 cup of the cheese to a medium bowl and set aside.

Brush a work surface with a little oil and press the dough into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into thin strips, about 1/4-inch wide. When the oil is hot, using kitchen scissors, carefully hold the dough strips, 2 at a time, over the pan and snip off 1/4-inch pieces, letting them gently fall into the hot oil (this may take several batches). Shallow-fry the dough pieces, tossing frequently with a slotted spoon, Chinese strainer or tongs, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the croutons to the bowl with the cheese and toss to coat. Continue frying and dredging the dough in the cheese until all the dough is used.

When ready to serve, add the romaine to a large bowl, drizzle with lemon juice and add the remaining 1/4 cup oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste and toss well to evenly coat the lettuce. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and the croutons and toss well until combined.

Transfer to a serving platter and top with additional cheese, if desired.




Tid bits from us:
*We found this amazing pizza dough at of course Krogers (haha) and it's pretty on the money with authentic taste and freshness. Tiseo's Frozen Pizza Dough You can find it probably in any freezer section of any grocery store.

*We stuck to the direct recipe except with the "croutons" we make usually twice the amount because we're piggy's and LOVE to snack on them. Haha.

*You know those delicious little "croutons" you made from the pizza dough? Well try this out make some one day (while still hot) and toss them around in some cinnamon and sugar then grab yourself some vanilla ice cream and top it with those suckers....unbelievable dessert. No joke, try it! They taste like over sized cinnamon toast crunch.



*My dear ol' Geoff loves this and he's one of the people who had their arms folded. I secretly think he likes it for the dollops of ricotta on top of the dough. He's a ricotta lovah, and if he can't admit it I will for him.

*If you can't find garlic flavored olive oil or let's be real can't purchase it because we are all not Reese Witherspoon or Seth Rogan and we're all pinching those pennies because we're not apart of the case of Jersey Shore and get paid for falling down drunk then get yourself some vegetable oil and add some juice from the minced garlic you may have in the fridge, mix it up, and presto! garlic oil. I've done it and it works just as good. It's affordable and sometimes easier to make instead of searching high and low for this specialty oil.


We've made this more times than we can count so it's a real treat. Now, that wasn't to bad was it? Thought so! =C].
I knew once it started going it would uncross your arms and make you jazzed more than you knew. Yes, even you in the back!





Ma's Spot: This recipe shows that you don't have to go out and get good pizza. This pizza to me is better than any frozen pizza on the market. It's simple with such little toppings to it. The salad portion of the meal is light and not weighed down with overpowering dressing or tid bits of different things. So make a pizza night with your family and enjoy!



Aw, that's it guys. Seems like Tuesdays go by so fast. Well, you know the drill meet us here next Tuesday night for another tasty creation. What's in store for next week? Well...let's say I made the recipe up on my own and it involves chicken, spinach, and tomatoes. What in the good jolly hell does that mean? Come back in 7 days to find out!


Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma

Spaghetti Sauce Italiano with Thin Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Buona sera!
i lettori benvenuti di nuovo fedeli (Welcome back faithful readers). Okie, that's all I got. While I'm pretty good with lingo and how to phrase certain things another language is still rusty to me...BUT I am learning. =]
When we last left you and your mouths watering we were knee deep in delish apple maple turkey burgers. This week we decided to jump back into something a bit familiar with our family. An Italian feast is on the menu for tonight's blog entry. Throw on some Dean Martin, grab a nice glass of veno, and kick back to read about this amazing Italian affair.

Normally in our households we relish in Italian cooking, hey it's our heritage and if it ain't broke then why fix it? This time was no exception. While we have our secret family tomato sauce down cold we went down another path. This recipe comes to us from the "Better Homes and Garden's The Ultimate Slow Cooker" book. (Click on the name and it'll take you to it) You read right, slow cooker. No boo's please! Aw, come on slow cookers are amazing! You can get them at Walmart for around $20-$60 and it will become your best food friend on the planet. I love mine and I am no grand chef.

So what went into this grand Italian sauce?

Here's all you need to get you your feast:

Spaghetti sauce Italian
Prep: 25 mins.
Cook: 9 to 10 hours on low OR 4 1/2 to 5 hours on high
Makes: 8 servings

What you'll need:
1 pound lean ground beef
8 ounces bulk Italian sausage
1 28-ounce can diced tomato's, undrained
2 6-ounce cans tomato paste
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (8 ounces)
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
3/4 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 medium)
1/2 cup dry red wine or water
1/3 cup water
1 2.35-ounce can sliced pitted black olives, drained
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 gloves garlic, minced
8 cups hot cooked spaghetti (1 pound)
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)



1. In a large skillet cook ground beef and sausage over medium heat until brown. Drain off fat.

2. Place meat mixture into a 3 1/2 or 4 quart slow cooker. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms, onion, sweet green pepper, wine (or water), the water, olives, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, chili powder, black pepper, and garlic.

3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 9 to 10 hours OR on high-heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

4. Serve meat mixture over hot cooked spaghetti. If desired, sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese.



Now here's some side notes on how we made ours:
*We cut out the middle man and decided to buy minced garlic to use rather than chop the glove ourselves. If you can only find the clove then that works as well.
*No red wine in ours. While I'm a wino at heart I am only a Arbor Mist/fruity wine girl and somehow blackberry Merlot doesn't sound appetizing in this recipe. Although if you have red wine around and that is your wine of choice then I encourage you use it. Remember the rule of thumb though, never cook with wine you wouldn't drink.
*We used turkey Italian sausage but you can use regular italian sausage to your liking.

Hours went by and it was time to mangia!
So how did this one do? It was a magnifico treat. While I liked it and it was a bit sweeter than I was used to I wasn't a fan of all the meat in it. I'm not a big beef eater but the brilliant thing about this recipe is you add however much of this awesome sauce to however much pasta you like right before you dig on in. While I added more pasta and just a cup full of sauce my husband was happy as can be with all this meat on his plate. Excuse the t-rex that he is, he rarely gets real meat in our house. My Aunt Jane was impressed as well. So plain and simple? If you're looking for a dish to feed an army and isn't too expensive this is the way to go.




Ma's Spot: Once again we created a delicious dinner by using my favorite appliance in my kitchen. Although I have three of them it was time to pull out the big one. I have a few hints for you. I suggest you get Kroger brand chopped pitted olives as well as (as Dinah mentioned above) the minced garlic although I am a big fan of the real stuff minced garlic does the trick sometimes but please remember minced garlic in the jar is alot stronger than fresh. Another hint when you purchase the mushrooms do not buy the sliced ones cause they have a tendency to be brown around the edges. Get the whole mushrooms and get a piece of paper towel to wipe off the mushrooms of any dirt particles because if you rinse them in water it will absorb the water and it could make your dish more watery than intended. Also remember never put hamburger, ground turkey, or any kind of sausage into the slow cooker raw. It's never safe and always cook before layering into the slow cooker. Although chicken & steaks can go in raw without any worries. I enjoyed this sauce very much. The thought of Worcestershire sauce and sugar raised a big question mark with me. I seemed to enjoy it though. It would make my aunt Ann's Italian heart weep. It was my choice to use turkey Italian sausage although I always tell my daughter when you first do a recipe follow it word for word but I had to give my daughter a little lead way since read meat isn't really something she enjoys but the next time I find myself making this I will go back to the original recipe as it stands in the book. Making spaghetti sauce through the years has showed me that there really is no difference between using ground turkey and ground chuck.



That's it bloggers for this week's yummy creation. Join us next week as we dive into a 5 ingredient fix...what's that exactly? Gotta come back to find out!

Spoons and Spatula's,
~Dinah and Ma

Apple Maple Turkey Burgers with Maple-Honey Mustard Sauce & Garlic Fries

Goooooooooooood evening bloggers all around!
Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dinah and this is my blog with my ma. You can call her Pam.
We're on a mission, to enrich everyone's lives one recipe at a time. Once a week we cook together and may I say that we make some fabulous goodies together. On her end is the rich yummy foods that have been taught to her from the amazing Italian cooks in our family to me on the other end of the spectrum which is mainly sweets. I'm an aspiring baker so cooking with savory things isn't really my strong points so within this new blog I'm going to buff up on my culinary skills and we want to share really rich and great food for you and your family to enjoy. Whenever you are in your 20's and in college looking to use that slow cooker that your parents bought you but you've been using it to hold your plants. In your 30's and have extremely picky kiddo's who aren't the easiest to convince to eat something new. In your 40's and are working your tail off and simply don't have time to go to the market buy all these expensive ingredients, come home slave over a hot stove, then finally eat close to midnight with these dishes waiting for you the next day. In your 50's & beyond looking for a nice dinner for two with your significant other on date night this is the blog for you. We swear on our cooking rights that we will evaluate every recipe, give our results, taste them of course, and also give some idea's on how to spruce us said recipes. Join us here every Tuesday as we make, eat, and blog our food adventures. Okie, I must warn you we're no wasps. While we are open to all food lifestyles this is in no way a vegan blog or even an organic food blog. Those are fine and dandy but just not us.


Recipe 1:

Sandra Lee's Apple Maple Turkey Burgers with Maple-Dijon Sauce
Side dish: Garlic Fries

Ah, Sandra Lee. She's a fixture around the Bellas-Rhinehart household. While we love Sandy's food we more so love her for her um...*cough* drinks. She's quite the good time cocktail girl huh? I digress, this recipe (from seeing it on her show) seemed pretty tasty. What's not to love about turkey burger with all these interesting flavors paired together. Now if you're like my husband he was a bit iffy when I put the words syrup, apple, and turkey burger together but if you really think about it turkey is poultry and that's a type of meat and so is turkey breakfast sausage and those come in all types of maple, apple, honey, etc... so what's the real difference?

Starting out we fried the bacon which we would suggest having thick cut bacon cook until crisp (works better in the turkey mixture than jar bacon bits listed in her recipe) once bacon was finished ma chopped up the bacon with kitchen scissors. While I got to work on the sauce (which was super easy: 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon honey mustard, 2 tablespoons real maple syrup) ma was putting the turkey mixture together. Which consisted of 2 1/2 pounds of Jenni-O ground turkey, 1/4 cup cut up bacon, 1/2 cup chunky applesauce, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 2 tablespoons real maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon salt, & 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Once mixed ma formed them into patties. Ma took a piece of the paper towel and wiped each pan with bacon grease then placed the patties on the pan. We set the oven for 400 degrees (as we had our Kroger garlic fries cooking) and as soon as the fries became crisp out they came and in went those amazingly delicious smelling turkey burgers. The turkey burgers took about 20-30 minutes to get done (but you can monitor them to your preference) 5 minutes before they were fully cooked ma pulled out the pans and placed a nice slice of provolone cheese on each pattie. Now in Sandra's recipe she doesn't have a cheese placed on the items list but if cheese tickles your fancy then we suggest provolone. It adds a nice mild flavor with the turkey burgers. As time went on we got our plates together and our mouths watering to taste this delicious array of food. Now you can plate your burger however you choose, it's your dinner after all but we kept it simple. Actually the sauce was the grand master of the whole meal. Who knew a little mayo, honey mustard, and syrup could make such a fantastic little dollop of tastiness. Not just for the burger but my aunt discovered the amazingness with the fries and sauce together.

So, after all the food came together what did these food chicks think? It's a solid home run! What an amazing array of flavors that make these burgers taste like they were prepared at a ridiculously high priced restaurant in California. From the toasted buns to the simplicity of the garlic fries the whole meal came together and not a crumb was left even for the grinch to steal, better luck next time green man!



Ma's Spot: First off I'd like to say what an enjoyment this is to be doing this with my daughter. At first I thought the combination of maple syrup with apple sauce and turkey was strange but then it came together so beautifully for a wonderful tasty treat. I love the fact we didn't go to any fancy store to purchase the ingredients everything was from our local Krogers and was their brand. I felt toasting the buns was a little added touch that it needed and may I say just gently wiping the pan with bacon grease added that extra flavor as well. I also suggest that Kroger garlic fries are the best fries and a wonderful side dish to any meal including tonight's meal.

Here's the link to Sandra Lee's actual recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/apple-maple-turkey-burgers-with-maple-dijon-sauce-recipe/index.html

Join us next week for a little italiano feast!

So that's it, for blog entry number uno. Join us every Tuesday night and we'll welcome you into our kitchen and who knows maybe we'll beef up your recipe box a bit and fill your tummy with food, your mind with ideas, and create a nice family dinner.


Spoons and Spatula's,
~Dinah and Ma