Sage Scented Sweet Potato Pizza

Recipe name: Sage Scented Sweet Potato Pizza
Source: no idea
Servings: 3-4
Cookbook date: October 1

Ingredients
2 cups sliced sweet potatoes
1 cup sliced onion
1 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper to taste
refrigerated pizza dough
2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup colby-jack cheese

Spray an aluminum foil-lined pan with cooking spray. Arrange sweet potatoes and onion on a pan; Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with sage. Roast at 426 10-15 minutes (until almost tender); cool to room temperature. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray a 12 inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Spread dough on the pan. Sprinkle dough with garlic. Arrange potato mixture on dough and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake pizza until crust is browned.

This pizza recipe isn't quite as speedy as I like, due to having to cook the sweet potatoes, let the cool, and then cook the entire pizza afterwards. However, you will most definitely be surprised by how delicious this is! Sage isn't the type of spice that I usually give center stage to in a recipe, so I was concerned that the pizza would taste weird at best. And the taste was different, but very tasty. We forgot to take a picture; sorry!

meatball marinara pita pocket

Recipe name: Meatball marinara pita pocket
Source: Meet Me in the Kitchen
Servings: 4


Meatball Marinara Pita Pocket

12 lean turkey meatballs with Italian seasoning

1 jar marinara sauce

1-15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

4-6 pitas, cut in half

shredded mozzarella cheese

Place sauce and beans in blender and puree. Put sauce into a large skillet and add meatballs and zucchini. Heat until warm over medium heat. Cut meatballs in half (makes it easier to eat). Open a pita half and spoon a few meatball halves and sauce into the pita. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and serve.


So this recipe didn't turn out well, but it is mostly my fault (big surprise).
First, I didn't use turkey meatballs (couldn't find them). We rarely eat ground beef, to the point where we don't really like the taste anymore. So that part of the dish was not so good. Second, I don't like zucchini, but I thought I could trick myself into liking it because the zucchini bits are so small. But there's no fooling me, people! Still, the recipe idea is really cool and if you either like meatballs made from ground beef or can find/make turkey meatballs AND you like zucchini, give this a try, because it did come together quickly.

The only reason I decided to post this dish at all is because I thought the idea of putting pasta sauce and cannellini beans together in the food process was pure genius. I thought the pasta sauce with the beans tasted terrific, and I will add beans to my sauce the next time we do spaghetti. We typically eat meatless spaghetti, but the meal is usually disappointing and a bit on the puny side. Now I can add some protein on the cheap!

Italian Beef Patties with Balsamic Cream Sauce

Recipe name: Italian beef patties with balsamic cream sauce
Source: Recipe Zaar
Servings: 4-6
Cookbook date: August 20

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground round
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• salt & fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together beef, cheese, egg yolks, salt and pepper and form into 6 patties.
2. Heat 2 tbls butter in a heavy skillet over medium high heat, brown patties on both sides, reduce heat to medium and cook until juices are pink.
3. Remove patties and cover with foil.
4. Add oil, 1 tbls butter and onion to the pan and cook over medium heat until onion is golden brown.
5. Add cream and vinegar and cook on low 2 minutes.
6. Pour sauce over beef patties and serve

The debate over balsamic vinegar continues and I fear that I ended up on the losing side this time. Let me say as one aside that I didn't add quite as much vinegar as it called for. That being said, the sauce with the vinegar turned out great. The tanginess from the vinegar went great with the burger.

I followed the recipe almost to the T, with the only change being reducing the amount of vinegar and using the George Foreman instead of a pan. As I said the sauce was great but what really did it for me was how the cheese was slightly burnt on the outside of the patty. I'm not talking black burnt but ultra crisp burnt, the way cheese gets when you overcook it. Think of the cheese on the outside of a nice loaf of cheese bread. We crisped the buns too because that is just how we roll. The leftovers were great. This is definitely a keeper.

Pizza Margherita

Recipe name: Pizza Margherita
Source: Inspired by Cook's Encyclopedia of 30 Minute Cooking
Servings:2-3
Cookbook date: August 16

1 pizza crust, about 10-12 inches in diameter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chunky tomato sauce
5 oz mozzarella cheese
2 ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
6-8 fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
ground black pepper

Tim here. Let me start by saying that the only thing that I used from the recipe above was the picture of the pizza for inspiration. To start with, I didn't have a pre-made pizza crust (all out at Kroger) but one of those pizzas in a bag that you can get in the baking aisle of the grocery store. So I basically just followed the directions on the bag.

I tried to get fancy and preheat the pizza stone and then place the pizza on it. I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is what I put on the pizza. For the sauce I used some spicy spaghetti sauce, very tasty. I then layered some shredded mozzarella. On top of that I put a bit of green onions we had that were about to go bad. Why? Because as Tiffany says "We are in a recession and we already bought them and don't want them to go to waste." I also placed some halved cherry tomatoes and topped the whole thing off with some basil and some more cheese.

The pizza stone and oven was preheated to 425. The back of the bag for the pizza crust had directions for using the pizza stone. It suggested using a wooden paddle to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone and I was all like, "I don't need a paddle, I can improvise. I'm a smart guy". I was feeling pretty smug with my system. I had placed the pizza on top of some parchment paper that had been layered with corn meal. The plan was to roll the pizza off the parchment paper onto the stone.

I hadn't counted on the pizza sticking to the parchment paper. I ended up using a spatula to get the pizza off the parchment paper and by that point the pizza was in pieces. I thought for sure my Italian genes would get me through on this one. Oh well. The good news is that even though I messed it up it still tasted great. I guess even I can't miss up bread, cheese and tomatoes :)

too much of a good thing: lasagna casserole

Recipe name: crockpot lasagna casserole
Source: cookingcache.com
Servings: 8
Cookbook date: July 10
Date prepared:

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes, in thick tomato puree
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb bow-tie pasta or fettucine, freshly cooked
1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed to remove excess moisture
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, onion and garlic, stirring often to break up lumps, until the meat loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Tilt the pan to drain off excess fat, then transfer the beef mixture to a 3.5-qt slow cooker.

Add the tomatoes with their puree, the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and pepper, stirring to break up the tomatoes with the side of a spoon. Cover and slow cook for 7 to 8 hours on low.

Skim the fat from the surface of the meat sauce. Stir in the cooked pasta, spinach, and ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, and slow cook for 5 more minutes.

Like (almost) always, we used ground turkey for this recipe. Believe it or not, that is the only thing I changed about the recipe (except the name, which was originally ravioli casserole, but there's no ravioli in this dish!).

Aside from the Italian seasoning being a bit too strong, this was a B+ meal. It was filling, it was tasty, and it has spinach in it so you can pretend that it is good for you. We really did enjoy it... until the 4th time we were each eating it. By that point, we hated it. The recipe itself didn't state how many servings this made, and frankly, I just wasn't thinking about it when I made it. If you have a large family or are going to a potluck and need a main dish, this is a good way to go. If there are only 2 or 3 of you in your family, you've been warned that you'll be eating this for days.

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Garlic Chicken Pizza

Recipe name: Garlic Chicken Pizza
Source: Cooking Light Magazine
Servings: 4
Cookbook date: May 26
Date prepared: June 7


2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
4 Cloves Garlic Minced
1 Prepared Pizza Crusts
1 1/2 cups Cooked Chicken Breasts
1 cups Plum Tomatoes
1 cup Mushrooms
3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 Feta Cheese
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Cup Green Onions


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first three ingredients. Place crust on backing sheet or pizza stone; brush vinegar mixture over crust. Top with chicken, tomato and mushrooms; sprinkle with cheeses and green onions. Bake for 15 mins or until the cheese melts.

Tim here. Ok first with the substitutes. As noted previously, neither of us like mushrooms so they were cut out of the recipe. I didn't have any plum tomatoes so I had to used canned diced tomatoes. I think the plum tomatoes would have been a little bit sweeter and acidic which would have added more flavor to the dish. Other than that the recipe was kept pretty much the same.

We are a house divided over this dish. I didn't really care for the dish but Tiffany really liked it. You may be asking yourself, "What's not to like? It's pizza, one of my favorite foods, uses tons of cheese and is both simple and fresh." For me it all boils down to one thing, the red wine vinegar. This has been a long time coming and god knows I've tried. For the past six years I've tried recipes with red wine vinegar and dismissed my dislike. "It was the onions I didn't like, not the vinegar." "Its not really that bad, you can hardly taste the red wine vinegar." Well no more.

I don't like red wine vinegar.

There, I said it. There isn't a redeeming thing about it. I don't like the vinegar taste. I don't like the acidic red wine taste and I especially don't like those two things together. That being said, if you like the stuff you may actually enjoy the dish. What do you think Tiffany?

Tim, you are out of your mind. This dish is a tasty treat for weary travelers coming back home from Meadville, PA, land of really crappy food (no offense intended, Allegheny College, but your campus dining is truly awful). After having 4 days of bland, bleached, frozen and canned institutional junk this pizza was divine, vinegar and all. If you don't mind the taste of red wine vinegar, please give this a try and let me know what you think. I suppose it is possible that my taste buds were so desperate for some flavor that they were too quick to offer up their praises, but I don't think that's the case. Try it, Mikey...you'll like it.


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