Grilled Mushroom and Sausage Pizza

Last Thursday my world looked like this, buried in seven inches of snow.  Pretty yes, messy yes, yes.  It's odd how we look forward (sometimes) to getting a nice snowfall; we prepare, load up on food and in our case, beer and wine and then once it's fallen, we get extreme cabin fever because we know we can't go anywhere.  We're trapped at home; I know, it's pathetic.

This week, we're having a heatwave!  So it's time to take advantage of sitting out on the deck, listening to may favorite tunes on Pandora, drinking wine and grilling!

1 lb. of pizza dough, room temperature
1 lb. brats, hot dog size, I used Johnsonville's New Orleans brats
1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced
1/2 poblano pepper, thinly sliced
1 - 8 ounce jar sun dried tomato pesto
1/2 lb. sliced baby bella mushrooms
3/4 lb. Fontina cheese, thinly sliced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt and Pepper

Roll out the dough to the size pizza(s) you want.  Brush the dough with a light coating of EVOO and season with salt and pepper on both sides.

Place the sliced mushrooms, poblano peppers and red onions in a bowl, drizzle with EVOO, season with salt and pepper.  Toss the vegetables to coat evenly.

Heat up the grill to medium-high, place the brats on the grill and place the vegetables in a grill-safe mesh bowl and place on the grill.  Check the brats and the vegetables frequently, turn the brats and toss the vegetables.

 Once the brats and vegetables are cooked, remove from the grill and set aside.  Spray the grill with non-stick cooking spray and place the pizza dough on the grill.  Grill covered for approximately 3 to 4 minutes.  Once the dough just starts to brown and get a little stiff, flip it, close the lid and grill it for another 3 minutes on the other side.  Remove the pizza crust from the grill to a flat surface, like a baking sheet.

Coat the pizza crust with a thin layer of sun dried tomato pesto.  Slice up the brats and place over the pesto,  Sprinkle the grilled veggies over the pizza.

Place the sliced Fontina cheese all over.  Put the pizza back on the grill and close the lid.  Grill the pizza for about 5 - 7 minutes, until the cheese is perfectly melted.

The finished product.  Go enjoy this little tease of Spring!


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Pizza!

My youngest daughter Kaitlin, sat me down one evening last week. She told me she missed the meals I used to make all the time for dinner. She asked me to start incorporating some of her favorites into my weekly rotation.

I missed some of the meals I used to make for them too. They used to help in the preparation in a lot of these meals. Pizza is one such dish. I don't have any pictures of either of the homegirlz making their pizzas. They made me promise not to take any pictures of them and I had to honor their request. We had a blast making pizzas Friday night.

A couple of fun things about making pizza at home is you are only limited by your imagination and everyone can make their pizza their way; there's no right or wrong.

I've posted this dough recipe before when I made Garlic Knots

This is a very easy and delicious pizza dough recipe.

Pizza Dough -

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)1 envelope active dry yeast1 teaspoon honey2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon salt, yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling the baking sheet

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 1 tablespoon oil, stirring to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until the dough is smooth but still slightly sticky. You may not need all of the flour.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large mixing bowl with remaining olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/4 hours.

This makes dough for 1 (15-inch) pizza.

We made a standard red sauce pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, bell pepper and red onion.

Lauren, my oldest daughter said, "Mom, you HAVE to make these everyday for us to eat!".

These are some of the ingredients I like on a pizza.




Brush the pizza dough with extra virgin olive oil. Spread roasted garlic Alfredo sauce on the pizza in lieu of red pizza sauce. This pizza was garnished with 1/2 cup thawed frozen spinach, 4 or 5 cloves of smashed garlic, sliced red onions, sliced orange bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and feta cheese flavored with tomato and basil. YUM!!!!



Lightly grease pizza pan and sprinkle pan lightly with corn meal. Bake at 425 degrees for approximately 15 minutes.

I do want to eat this every day!