Not Pizza Again! Changing up Pizza Night with a New Take on Pizza {Recipe: Greek Pizza}

When I was growing up Pizza was a rare treat for the family. There a couple of local family owned restaurants that made outstanding pizzas that my parents liked to go to. One place in particular made a pizza with a sourdough crust that was out-of-this world! (One day I would like to try my hand at sourdough pizza crust, but I digress.) Pizza Hut and Shakey's were around, but my family never went to these places. Now that I have kids it seems that pizza is served constantly. It's served at birthday parties, school parties, get togethers, and so on... It is a cheap way to feed a lot of kids. I am certainly guilty of taking advantage of the $6.99 HOT-N-READY Pizzas at Little Caesars when I have a house full of hungry teenagers.

The problem with pizza being served so often is that everyone gets tired of it. So, when we make homemade pizza we often try non-traditional pizza toppings. This Greek Pizza is one of our favorites! (Another favorite is Taco Pizza, which is the same crust topped with refried beans, taco meat, shredded lettuce, cheese, chopped tomatoes, crushed nacho chips, and drizzled with taco sauce.) It is fairly quick, easy and delicious!

Greek Pizza

For Pizza Dough:

Recipe is adapted from The Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe from http://www.chef-in-training.com/perfect-pizza-dough-recipe/

Ingredients

1 cup warm water
1/2 tablespoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour. divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Instructions

1. Mix warm water and yeast and let sit 5 minutes until yeast proofs. 
2. Add 1 1/4 cups flour with proofed yeast and mix well in mixer with dough attachment or hook.
3 Add additional 1 1/4 cups flour and salt, knead until smooth. Form dough into a ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 10-20 minutes. 
4. Using a pizza peel or a large pan with no rim (I use a cookie sheet that has no rim on one side and it works well), place parchment paper cut into approximately a 16" round onto the peel. Brush it with one tablespoon olive oil. Set aside. 
5. Preheat oven to 450°F. with pizza stone or steel in the oven. 
6. Remove dough from bowl, although add more flour, a little at a time, if dough if too sticky. A tablespoon or two should do it. 
7. Place dough in the center of the prepared pizza peel. Press dough out with your fingertips 
toward the edge of the parchment to form a nice round pizza crust. You can also roll the dough out, but I like the unevenness you get from pressing the dough out with your fingers.   
8. Brush the top of the dough with the other tablespoon of olive oil. 
9. For Greek pizza: sprinkle the dough with some oregano, then slide the prepared pizza dough onto the heated pizza stone or steal and bake for 6-10 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Keep a careful eye on the crust, the oven is very hot, so the dough can burn quickly. Note: this is a great basic pizza dough recipe, so you can also use it to top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake accordingly. It usually takes about 15-18 minutes for a topped pizza dough to bake.

Greek Pizza Toppings

For Meat Topping:

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey
3/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice 
salt to taste (I use about 1/2 teaspoon)
Olive oil, if not using Crock-Pot method

Instructions

This ground turkey can be prepared one of two ways:  1. Heat a large frying pad with one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add ground turkey to pan and cook until brown. Then add the seasonings and simmer for about 10-15 minutes low heat. OR 
2. Place ground turkey into a 5 1/2 quart Crock Pot with all of the seasonings, cook oil high for 1-2 hours, remove lid, crumble the turkey meat and stir. Return lid and cook for another hour or until the meat is completely cooked. 

Another option for meat for the pizza is chicken. For chicken: 1. Preheat oven to 400F.  2. Take all of the seasonings listed for the ground turkey and mix. 3. Rub 2 chicken breast with olive oil, sprinkle with the seasoning mix, place on a baking sheet. 4. Bake the chicken breasts for 10 minutes or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one of the breasts reads at least 165°F.  5. After removing the chicken from the oven, let it rest for about 5 minutes, then dice. 

Vegetable Toppings:

3/4-1 cup of each of the following vegetables diced in roughly the same size:
Grape tomatoes
Cucumber,
Red onion
Avocado, optional (I don't always use, especially if I know there will be leftovers. The avocado turns brown and does not look very appetizing.)
Kalamata olives or black olives, sliced (I serve these separately and leave it up to the individual to put on their pizza. Not everyone in our family is a fan of olives.)

Crumbled Feta Cheese

Quick and Easy Tzatziki Sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely grated cucumber, that has been peeled
1-2 cloves of garlic (Keep in mind that garlic gets stronger the longer this sauce is stored.)
1/2-1 tablespoon of fresh dill, optional (I don't care for dill, so I leave it out.)
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. 

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready for use. 

To assemble the pizza:

1. Top baked pizza crust with meat of choice. 
2. Distribute all of the vegetables over the meat evenly.
3. Crumble the feta cheese over the vegetables. 
4. Drizzle tzatziki sauce over the entire pizza and finish with fresh ground pepper, if desired. 

Makes one 14"pizza.

Enjoy!

Magically Delicious Ice Cream {Recipe: Lucky Charms Cereal Milk Ice Cream}

Sugared Cereals are somewhat of a forbidden fruit in our family. My mother would only purchase it if she had a coupon. Of course that was just something she would say to appease my brother, sister and I to keep us from constantly asking her for them. Once in a while she would come up with a coupon and buy us a box of the coveted cereal.

I have managed to buy even fewer boxes of sugared cereal than my mother. My kids never got the coupon excuse because, in general, I do not save coupons. I learned long ago that most coupon are for items I do not use or need, and for items I do use it takes more time to hunt them out than what they are worth. The time I would spend trying to find these coupons is worth more than the dollar or two I would save.

The one exception, until now, I have for these cereals is traveling. If the hotel we are staying at has them at a breakfast bar, the kids choose them if they wish. Also, when the kids were little,  they liked to get the individual size boxes of sugared cereals to snack on without milk while traveling in the car.

Then while traveling to NYC this past winter, we visited a place called Momofuku Milk Bar. We tried their Cereal Milk Ice Cream with Cornflake Crunch. The entire family loved it! So when trying to think of some treat to make for the kids for St. Patrick's Day, and taking inspiration from the Milk Bar, I came up with Lucky Charms Cereal Milk Ice Cream. This is one of the best ice creams I have ever made! In fact it is so good my son wanted to learn to make it so he would know how to when he goes off too college (which will be in a few short years-too soon for me). So we wound up making two batches of it this weekend.

So, in addition to having sugared cereals while traveling, I will be purchasing a box every St. Patrick's Day from now on.

Lucky Charms Cereal Milk Ice Cream

Cornflake Crunch is an excellent topping for this ice cream. It provides just the right amount of salty sweetness, The recipe for Cornflake Crunch can be found in the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook by Christina Tosi.

1 cup Lucky Charms Cereal Milk*, well chilled
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 scant teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and salt with the cereal milk. Whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a one quart electric ice cream freezer. Process according to your ice cream maker's instructions. In general, process in the ice cream freezer until thickened, about 20-25 minutes. The ice cream will be soft and creamy. Put into an air tight quart-size container, place in the freezer and let the ice cream "ripen" for at least 2 hours. 

* For Lucky Charms Cereal Milk:  Pour 2 1/2 cups Lucky Charms Cereal into medium sized bowl, then pour 1 1/2 cups whole milk over the cereal. Set a smaller bowl on top of the cereal mixture to force the cereal down into the milk. Steep the cereal in the milk for about 20 minutes. Using a medium mesh strainer, strain the milk into another bowl; cover and chill. This may make just a bit more milk than needed for the ice cream, you can just drink it or add it to coffee.:)

Enjoy!

We Are a Blended Community {Recipe: Vegan Dulce de Leche Banana Bread}

My family and I are part of a blended community of vegans, vegetarians, nut free, and dairy free eaters. The only special diet we don't have is gluten free, although this recipe could easily be adapted for that as well. This recipe is delicious no matter what diet you follow.

Family and friends seem to tire of the same old banana bread. Years ago one of the kids' friends actually cried when I served regular banana bread as a snack. It was clear that I was not the only one who tried to use up bananas in banana bread in this little guys circle. Since then, I have made all different kinds of banana bread. This is the latest banana bread recipe I have tried. It is a good one!

Not too long ago I came across a recipe for dulce de leche banana bread on Pinterest. I had a can of sweetened condensed coconut milk in the pantry and thought I would try and make vegan dulce de leche out of it and use it in the bread. Of course if I was going to go that far, I should make the whole bread vegan. It turned out delicious. In fact, I don't think it lasted 24 hours in our house. Vegans and non-vegans loved it!

Vegan Dulce de Leche Banana Bread

This recipe is adapted from; http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2017/01/dulce-de-leche-banana-bread/

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
1/2 cup white flour 
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup almond milk (or non-dairy milk of choice)
6 tablespoons non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, melted and slightly cooled
Vegan egg substitute to equal 1 egg (I use 3 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon milled flax seed)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium bananas, mashed
3 tablespoons vegan dulce de leche**

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8.5x4.5 loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Stir together the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture. 

3. Add milk, shortening, egg substitute, and vanilla; stir until combined. Stir in the bananas. 

4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, and spread evenly

5. Dollop the dulce de leche on top of the batter. Using a thin knife, swirl the dulce de leche into the batter. 

6. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

7. Cool bread in pan on a wire rack for 10 minuted. Remove bread from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. 

*Using all whole wheat pastry flour or all white flour would work too, I just had one cup of whole wheat pastry flour on hand when I made this. 

Vegan Slow Cooker Dulce de Leche

**Instructions for slow cooker vegan dulce de leche:
1. Pour sweetened condensed coconut milk into a small canning jar or two (depending on how big your slow cooker is) to at least 1/2" below the rim(s). Tightly secure lid to the jar(s).
2. Place jar(s) into the slow cooker or Crock-Pot and cover with water, making sure the water goes at least an inch above the top of the jar(s). 
3. Cook the sweetened condensed coconut milk on low for 10-13 hours (mine took 13 hours to get a nice caramel color). 

The dulce de leche is very liquid when it first comes out of the slow cooker and it may be a bit darker at the bottom of the jar(s). Just give the jar(s) a good shake to distribute the darker caramel and refrigerate. The dulce de leche will firm up when chilled. 

Enjoy!