Another tasty pizza

Ingredients

• Chicken sausage
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Kalamata olives
• Mozzarella cheese
• Homemade pizza sauce
• Homemade pizza dough

Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Pizza

Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Pizza

Ingredients

• Beano’s Classical White Pizza Sauce with Oregano (2 tablespoons)
• Sonoma Creamery Organic 5 Year Cheddar Cheese (.25 lb)
• Steamed broccoli (1/2 cup)
• Red pepper flakes (1 teaspoon)
• Homemade pizza dough

Most couples plan a romantic date out the first time they hire a non-family babysitter, but my husband and I opted to visit Wegmans to shop for pizza ingredients. We sampled a couple of organic cheeses and landed on an aged cheddar cheese from Sonoma Creamery in California. When you purchase such a rich cheese you don’t want to take away its intensity by adding too many toppings so the combination of white pizza sauce, broccoli, and a dash of red pepper flakes was the perfect combination. After pre-baking the dough, the cheese melted nicely at 450 degrees for 8 minutes.

Valentine’s Day Pizza

Four Cheese Pizza Recipe

Four Cheese Pizza

Ingredients

• BelGioioso Freshly Shredded Four Cheeses: Asiago, Fontina, Parmesan, and Provolone
• Homemade pizza sause
• Homemade pizza dough

It’s been almost two years since I made a four cheese pizza, and one year since I’ve eaten real dairy cheese. What a simple pizza recipe! The cheese combination was strong but tasty and went well with my homemade pizza sauce. I was so excited to eat my first real cheese pizza after a year without, that I only let the dough rise for 30 minutes when it really needs at least an hour. When it baked the crust didn’t get as fluffy as it usually does. Despite the slightly dry, flat crust it was a good pizza.

Dairy-Free Autumn Pizza

Dairy-Free Autumn Pizza

• Applegate Organic Chicken & Apple Sausage
• Roasted acorn squash
• Roasted garlic
• Sautéed mushrooms and onions
• Teese Mozzarella Vegan Cheese
• Homemade pizza sauce
• Homemade pizza dough

Notes: I would never have imagined making a dairy-free pizza a year ago, but since I found out my daughter has a dairy allergy I’ve adopted a completely dairy-free diet. My pizza dough doesn’t contain dairy, but if you’ve being reading my blog for long you know I love cheese. Recently, I’ve started to experiment with dairy-free cheese. Non-dairy cheese will never compare to a fresh block of soft-ripened cheese, but I’ve come to appreciate the subtle flavors in vegan cheese. However, what made this pizza special was the roasted acorn squash. Combined with chicken and apple sausage, my dairy-free autumn pizza tasted like fall.

If you’ve had a good experience with a dairy-free cheese, please let me know because I am open to suggestions.

Vegan Veggie Pizza Recipe

Vegan Veggie Pizza

Ingredients

• Sweet red pepper (from the Ithaca Farmers’ Market)
• Zucchini (from my mom’s garden)
• Red onion
• Teese Mozzarella Vegan Cheese
• Go Veggie Grated Parmesan Cheese (Vegan)
• Homemade pizza sauce
• Homemade pizza dough

Notes: Tonight’s pizza was an experiment on two fronts. First, it was my first time making pizza in a gas oven. And second, I used vegan cheese for the first time. I pre-baked the dough on a pizza stone for five minutes at 480 degrees. Then I topped the pizza with organic veggies and vegan cheese. I was worried the crust might get too crispy before the cheese could melt, but after ten minutes the crust was ready and the cheese was bubbling. My vegan veggie pizza was delicious. I am happy with my new gas oven and plan to experiment with some other vegan pizza recipes so check back soon!

Chicken Fajita Pizza Recipe

Chicken Fajita Pizza

Ingredients

• Grilled chicken (shredded)
• Sautéed red onions
• Mozzarella cheese
• Homemade pizza sauce mixed with salsa
• Homemade pizza dough

Notes: Chicken fajita pizza is one of my staples. The difference between this version and one I posted a couple years ago is that the chicken for this pizza was cooked on the grill and I used mozzarella cheese rather than cheddar cheese.

Deep Dish Pizza Recipe

Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients:

• Italian sausage
• Sauteed onion
• Sauteed banana pepper
• Sauteed jalapeno pepper
• Steamed broccoli
• Fresh mozzarella cheese
• Marinara sauce
• Deep dish pizza dough

Note: I can’t really describe how awesome this pizza was. We couldn’t stop eating it. A special thanks to Matt for the cast iron skillet!

Zucchini, Mushroom, Pepper, Spinach Pizza Recipe

Zucchini, Mushroom, Pepper, Spinach Pizza

Ingredients

• Zucchini
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Baby bell peppers
• Baby spinach
• Mozzarella cheese
• Marinara sauce
• Homemade pizza dough

Notes: I made this pizza for my Aunt Bev when she was visiting from Australia. She wanted a healthy pizza and that’s just what she got. It was light, summery, and fresh.

Squash Parmesan Pizza

Squash Parmesan Pizza

Ingredients

• Breaded yellow squash (egg, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Homemade pizza sauce
• Homemade pizza dough

Notes: Throughout my pizza adventures I’ve tried chicken parmesan and eggplant parmesan as pizza toppings. I prepared this pizza the same way. First, I cut the squash into bite sized pieces. Next I dipped the pieces in an egg wash, then in bread crumbs mixed with parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. I then baked the squash until it became crispy on both sides. I pre-baked the dough, spread on a thin layer of pizza sauce, sprinkled on mozzarella cheese and added the squash parmesan.