Eggplant and Garlic Pizza

You know those recipes you have pinned forever and when you finally make them you’re like, why did I wait so long?! This was one of those.

My kids love pizza of all kinds – and I loved the idea of the eggplant – so this was a win all around for us. It was gobbled up in record time.

It is, admittedly, a bit more time consuming than the pizzas I normally make, but it was totally worth the extra effort. The eggplant and garlic combo on pizza is amazing. I can’t wait to make this with fresh-from-the-garden eggplant this summer!

EggplantGarlicPizza

Eggplant and Garlic Pizza
(slightly adapted from A Family Feast)
Makes 1 12″ pie

1/2 lb. pizza dough at room temp
1/2 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 tsp. salt + additional for sprinkling
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. pepper
Enough vegetable oil to fill a skillet 1/2″
1/3 cup pizza sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
3 cloves minced garlice
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
Olive oil, for drizzle

Lay eggplant slices in a single layer and salt liberally. Let sit for 30 minutes, then rinse.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 tsp. salt, and pepper. Coat each eggplant slice in the flour, shaking off excess.

Heat the vegetable oil in skillet. Fry the eggplant slices for three minutes, flipping once. Remove to a paper towel to drain.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll dough out into a 12-14″ circle.

Spread the sauce over the dough and top with 1/2 cup mozzarella. Sprinkle the garlic, basil and oregano over, then lay the eggplant slices on top. Top with remaining cheese. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for about 7 minutes, until the bottom of the crust is browned.

EggplantGarlicPizza

(Leftover) Turkey and Cranberry BBQ Sauce Pizza #ThanksgivingLeftovers

Leftover turkey + leftover cranberry sauce = pizza night, of course.

I’ve always preferred to reimagine my turkey leftovers into non-Thanksgiving fare – like Turkey Cranchiladas or Turkey and Chorizo Hash – and this pizza fits right in. The cranberry sauce gives you a slightly sweet, slightly tart edge to your barbecue sauce – and it pairs awesome with the turkey and cheese.

This is a great dish to make at the end of the weekend when your turkey and stuffing sandwiches are getting tired!

CranberryBBQPizza

(Leftover) Turkey and Cranberry BBQ Sauce Pizza
(slightly adapted from Recipe Runner)
Makes 1 12″ Pizza

1/2 lb. pizza dough
1/2 cup cranberry sauce
3 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
1 cup turkey, shredded
1 1/2 cups mozzarella
2 Tbsp. red onion, thinly sliced
Chopped cilantro, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Roll out the pizza dough and place on the prepared baking sheet.

In a small bowl, stir together the cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce and spread over the crust. Top with turkey, cheese, and red onion.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden.

Top with cilantro and serve.

Looking for more leftover ideas? I’ve teamed up with a bunch of great bloggers today to share lots of great ways to use up your leftovers:

Cranberry-Orange Brie Bites by Books n’ Cooks

Cranberry-Topped Baked Brie by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

(Leftover) Turkey and Cranberry BBQ Sauce Pizza by Kate’s Recipe Box

Prosciutto & Asiago Stuffed Mushrooms by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Spicy Turkey Quesadillas by Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Thanksgiving Leftover Empanadas by The Redhead Baker

Turkey Croquettes by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Turkey Gumbo by Palatable Pastime

Turkey Pot Pie by Making Miracles

Florida Strawberry Pecan Pizza #foodbloggers4fl

floridafb

Today, food bloggers are coming together to highlight groups that are helping with Irma relief. And we’re sharing some Florida food – because food is our love language.

I decided to go with something comforting and featuring a Florida staple – strawberries. There are more than 10,000 acres of strawberries growing in Florida! They’re the #2 grower in the country. What a better way to honor Florida than with Strawberries?

This pizza is like a taste of summer. With all fresh ingredients, this is an awesome showcase of Florida’s strawberries.

But, of course, Florida isn’t the only place that felt the effects of Irma. The list of charities below highlights groups helping out with Irma relief in Florida and throughout the Caribbean. If you’re planning to donate, these are all great options.

Volunteer Florida
Miami Diaper Bank
Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida
South Florida Wildlife Center
Heart of Florida United Way
All Faiths Food Bank
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
Fondos Unidos
Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands
St. John Community Foundation
Anguilla Beaches

StrawberryPizza

Florida Strawberry Pecan Pizza
(adapted from Fresh from Florida)
Makes 1 12″ pizza

1 cup fresh Florida strawberries, sliced
1/2 lb. pizza dough
2 Tbsp. balsamic glaze
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
2 Tbsp. chopped pecans
Fresh basil, julienned

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Roll out the dough into a 12″ circle. Spread the glaze evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the cheese over the glaze. Spread the sliced strawberries evenly over the top of the pizza. Sprinkle the pecans over.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden. Sprinkle with julienned basil and serve.


Greek Pizza

Today is Good Friday and the last installment of the Lenten dinner series for the year. And I saved the best for last.

One of our local pizza places makes a salad pizza – it’s basically a warm crust with a garden salad on top and it’s amazing. This is pretty much the Greek salad version of that. There’s something amazing about the contrast of the warm, melt-y feta against the cold crunch of the vegetables. Seriously, if you don’t already have dinner plans, you need to make this tonight.

In the interest of speeding things up (because I have zero patience on Friday nights), I used a pre-made pizza crust for this. You could also use your favorite pizza dough and just bake until the dough is golden brown – probably a few extra minutes.

GreekPizzaDone

Greek Pizza
(slightly adapted from Cooking Classy)
Makes 1 pizza

1 prepared pizza crust
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
4 oz. feta, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Whisk together the olive oil and garlic and brush over the prepared crush. Sprinkle the crust evenly with oregano, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Top evenly with mozzarella and then feta.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is golden. Immediately top with red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, olives, onion, and parsley and serve.

Cheeseburger Pizza

When I was pregnant with Jake, all I wanted to eat was pizza. I tried to shake it up by making as many different pizza-flavored dishes as I could find, but I’m pretty sure Mark was sick of pizza after first trimester.

This pregnancy, burgers have been the big hit. I joked with Mark early in the pregnancy that maybe it was a girl this time since I was craving something different – but I didn’t really expect to be right!

This pizza was one of my I’m-trying-to-pass-this-off-as-not-burgers-again meals. It was a huge hit here – and one we’ll make again even after the burger cravings are gone!

CheeseburgerPizza

Cheeseburger Pizza
(adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything)
Serves 4-6

1/2 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. pizza dough
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. dill relish
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Dill pickle slices for topping

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef and onion. Drain the grease and stir in the Worcestershire.
Roll out the pizza dough and bake for 8 minutes. While baking, whisk together the ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and relish.
Once pre-baked, remove the crust from the oven, spread the sauce over evenly, top with the ground beef, cheese and pickle slices. Return to the oven for an additional 6-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and the crust is golden-brown.

Guinness Pizza Dough

I never make it through Lent without doing one pizza Friday so it seems fitting to finish out this year’s Lenten meal series with a pizza. I originally started this series to get away from just ordering a pizza every Friday – it was a bad habit and something we’d do so often it didn’t feel like anything special. Things have really swung the other way – breaking out this Friday pizza was such a treat.

My go-to pizza recipe is on the plain side. It works perfect on the grill or paired with lots of toppings (which we usually load on) but falls a little short for a plain, oven-baked pie. I ran across this recipe when we still had a bottle of Guinness left from St. Patrick’s Day so it was meant to be. The beer adds just the right amount of flavor to this dough to make it perfect for a more plain pie.

GuinnessPizza

Guinness Pizza
(from Baked By Rachel)
Makes 1 12″ pizza

1/2 cup Guinness
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/4 tsp. granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil

In a small saucepan, heat the Guinness to 115F degrees. (I used a candy thermometer to keep track.) Stir in the yeast and sugar until dissolved and let stand for five minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour and salt. On low, mix in the Guinness, followed by the olive oil. Add additional olive oil or flour as needed to get a dough ball to form.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

To bake: spread into a 12″ circle, top as desired and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 425F degree oven.

Pulled Pork Pizza

So, you know how blogging around here was pretty slow around here towards the end of the year? I’m sure most people figured it was because of the baby but it was actually much more embarrassing – I filled up my hard drive. As in, I couldn’t put another thing on it without deleting something else. I quit taking pictures of things I was making because getting them onto the laptop was such a pain. (Well, I guess you could blame the baby – I’d filled it up with baby pictures…)

This was a pizza I made during that unintended blog break – and remade last week just so I could share it. I whipped it up to use up some leftovers and it turned out awesome – even my Mom, whom swears she hates spicy things, loved it.

And I finally bought a new computer so transferring pictures should be easy-peasy going forward.

PulledPorkPizza

Pulled Pork Pizza
(a Kate’s Recipe Box original)
Makes 1 12″ Pie

1 lb. pizza dough
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
1 Tbsp. chipotle Tabasco sauce
1 cup pulled pork
2 Tbsp. chopped red onion
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese

Roll out dough into a 12″ circle.

In a small bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce and chipotle tabasco sauce. Spread over the crust. Top with pulled pork, red onion and cheeses.

Bake at 425 until the crust is golden, about 20 minutes.