Pizza on the Grill!

Ahh spring is FINALLY here!! Along with the random bursts of amazingly nice weather we've had here in Baltimore recently, you know how I know when springtime has officially graced us with its presence? When asparagus starts popping up at the farmers' market (marking the start of the growing season, yesss!) and I have the sudden urge to be outside and grill everything. Both of these things hit me at once last weekend when I bought my first bunch of asparagus at the market and then had a spontaneous barbeque with my roommates on a gorgeous warm evening - amazing! I decided to try something that I had only ever seen Bobby Flay do on the Food Network and never tried myself, and that is: cook a pizza right on the grill! Who knew you could just oil up the dough, throw it right on the grill, cook for a few minutes on each side and then top with your favorite pizza toppings? So easy and brings pizza to a whole new level of deliciousness. I cheated a bit and used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough and just kept my toppings simple and seasonal with mozzarella cheese and local mushrooms, scallions and asparagus. What could be better than sitting outside on a gorgeous spring night, grilling some food and sipping some cocktails with friends?

ASPARAGUS AND MUSHROOM PIZZA ON THE GRILL

Ingredients
Whole wheat pizza dough (store bought or make your own!)
Olive oil and a bit of flour for rolling out the dough
1 can of crushed organic tomatoes (or pizza sauce)
Shredded organic mozzarella cheese
Mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced thinly
Asparagus, washed and chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
Salt/pepper and other herbs (basil, oregano)

Directions
1. Turn the grill on to medium-high.
2. Gather the sauce and cheese, and prepare your toppings so they are ready to go.
3. Roll out the dough using some flour until it's pretty thin; brush top side with some olive oil.
4. Throw it right on the grill with the oiled side down. Brush the top side with oil.
5. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the bottom has some nice golden brown grill marks, then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. It's easiest to take the dough off the grill really quickly at this point to throw on your sauce, cheese and toppings. Once everything is on, put the pizza back on the grill and cook until the cheese is nice and brown and bubbly.
7. Carefully slide it off the grill, slice it up, serve it up, grab yourself a beer or cocktail and enjoy!

 

Meatless Monday- Homemade Broccoli & Cheese Pizza

Happy Meatless Monday everyone and hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving holiday with your friends and families. I know I sure did- so much good food and so many wonderful people! I have so much to be thankful for!

With some extra time during this (too short) break, I decided to make an entire pizza from scratch. Daunting, I know.  We all love pizza, but how many of us actually make it ourselves at home anymore? Even when I try to make pizza at home, I usually cheat and buy pre-made dough from Trader Joe's or the grocery store because I've always been afraid of making my own dough. Pre-made dough really does make things so much easier, but I just had to try making dough from scratch at least once while I had some extra time on my hands. And let me tell you- homemade dough makes SUCH a huge difference in the pizza! So tasty!

I found a really easy dough recipe from a random food blog called Fabulous Foods that gives really great step-by-step instructions, whether you are doing it by hand or in a food processor or bread machine. I didn't take any pictures of my dough-making extravaganza, so I'll have to refer you to their website for the recipe; but I can say that it was a really fun process and it just took a little bit of time out of one morning to make, which was definitely worth the final product. I also substituted white whole wheat flour because that's what I had on hand, but I'd actually prefer using regular 100% whole wheat flour. Any type of flour will work, but why not try to get as much nutritional bang for your buck by using whole wheat flour in the crust??

For the toppings, I tried to load up on the veggies and local/sustainable products as much as possible. I used broccoli, onions and garlic I bought from the farmers' market that morning; I used organic canned tomatoes and paste for the sauce; and I used a combination of local Muenster and Colby Jack cheese. It turned out as a delicious ooey-gooey tasty mess that I urge you all to try and get creative with toppings! Pizza really is a great way to load up on the veggies, while also indulging with the cheese :-) yum!

HOMEMADE BROCCOLI & CHEESE PIZZA! 

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (store-bought works, but try homemade! I used this recipe from Fabulous Foods)

1 can of organic diced tomatoes

2 tblsp tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, diced

1 head of broccoli, chopped (about 1.5 cups)

1 cup cheese (get creative!

Salt/pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Lightly grease cookie sheet or pizza pan and roll out pizza dough thinly.

3. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork and bake for about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes and tomato paste to make a pizza sauce. Add some salt and pepper and other herbs, if you wish. Put aside. 

5. Cook the garlic and onions in pan on med-high heat with a little bit of olive oil until softened. Add in the broccoli and cook for an additional minute or two. 

5. Pull the dough out of the oven and flip it over. Top with tomato sauce mixture and spread evenly to the edges with a spoon or spatula

6. Top with cheese. 

7. Spread the broccoli, onions and garlic evenly all over the pizza. 

8. Put back into the oven and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, with the last minute or two on Broil until the cheese in bubbly and slightly golden brown.  

9. Cut into squares and serve! ENJOY!