pizza

Caramelized Onion, Brie and Blue Cheese Pizza

~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

I have been on the hunt for the best pizza dough recipe. The last time I made a Cooks Illustrated 24-hour-cold-rise dough recipe, and it was good but it was a bit of a process to make. This time I tried this recipe from Bon Appetit. [Dad, you would be proud!] This is by far the best home-made pizza crust I have ever had. Thin, chewy, crispy and tastes like REAL pizza crust.

I came across a recipe for a caramelized onion, Brie and gorgonzola tart made with puff pastry. I thought that sounded pretty damn good but even better on homemade pizza dough. So that is what I did and it was AMAZING! I am talking fancy-shmancy-top restaurant- style pizza.

*Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

Pizza dough

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups of sliced onions, sliced root-to-top in thin slices

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 oz chilled Brie cheese, rind removed and diced

2 oz crumbled blue cheese

1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

Directions

Heat pizza stone in a 500 degree oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile,Heat oil in a large deep pan on medium-high heat. Add onions and cook for about 10 minutes or until wilted and starting to brown. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook gently, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until richly caramelized. Add a little water if the onions look like they are starting to dry out. Cool.

Roll out pizza dough and measure to fit your pizza stone.

Take out the pizza stone, reduce oven to 450 and quickly put your pizza dough onto the stone. Sprinkle the onions all over your dough, dot with both cheeses and bake for 14-16 minutes.  Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and thyme. Let cool for a few minutes if you can wait, cut and enjoy!

Prepared to be wowed!

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Well it’s that time of year again….

football

 

Sundays are spent in front of the T.V. and  it looks like Seattle is going to make it worth our wild this year.

So in honor of our winning season I made some football food. Wings and pizza, can’t go wrong with either of those choices.

I made about 20 wings. Started off seasoning them with garlic salt, cumin, cayenne and ground black pepper.

I baked them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, then I hit them with the broiler for a few extra minutes to crispy up the skin.

I melted 1 Tbs. butter and 1/2 cup Franks extra hot sauce in a sauce pan over low heat until warmed through. Then you toss the wings with the sauce and voila! Baked chicken wings.

Easy breezy, and tasty too!

Pizza, up next!

Drinking in the Hills

~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

We spent a fun day visiting a couple of wineries this past Saturday. Our good friend Kristi drove from Arizona for a quick visit and we knew where we wanted to take her.

Cordiano Winery sits perfectly perched in the hills of San Pasqual Valley and the atmosphere is priceless. We sat, ate pizza, drank wine and watched Kaili walk around  and around making new friends, with humans and dogs. If you are ever in the neighborhood, stop in for a visit.

not everyone drinks wine at a winery

Kaili has gotten this walking thing down pretty well now. She likes to get a toy and then walk up and down the hallway with it in her hands babbling to herself. You can really see the confidence oozing and it wont be long before she is running. I tried to get her to walk her “puppy” down the hall but getting her to do what I want while the camera is out doesn’t work very well.