Homemade Pizza

homemade-pizza

 

How has life changed for you over the past couple of weeks? I know for the medical workers it has become busy, hectic, and a little scary, and for that, you are in my prayers.  For me, I’ve had my mother living with me since mid-March. Greg has worked from home more than ever, I did Walmart pickup for the first time ever this week, we watch church on Facebook, I meet with my youth group via Zoom, and I have been fishing twice in the past week for the first time in years! Life has slowed down, and I do not consider that all bad. I am finding joy in the TIME I have now, and it’s pretty sweet!
Before moving to the farm, pizza delivery was a weekly affair. However, it just doesn’t happen in the middle of the country! I’ve  tried many recipes, but when I found this fabulous recipe several years ago, I knew my search was over.  This is a perfect time to get the family involved and make homemade pizzas!
This recipe is almost as simple and picking up the phone to order a pizza, but the flavor is much better!  No kidding, it takes just a matter of minutes to mix up this dough using my heavy-duty Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook. Allow the mixture to rise for two hours. Then you are ready to prepare your homemade pizza or refrigerate the dough to use over the next 12 days. You will get about three 10-inch pizzas from this dough.
I have used stones and pans for baking, and I prefer a large, heavy-gauge baking sheet with sides. The sides will keep the oil from dripping in the oven, and a heavy-gauge pan holds enough heat to brown and crisp the crust nicely. This crust also doubles as a nice focaccia bread! (Recipe included.)
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 425 °F. Prepare this simple, no-cook sauce and measure and prepare all of your toppings in advance. Remove from the pan immediately and serve.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Olive Oil Dough for Homemade Pizza
 
Author:
 
Ingredients
  • 2¾ c. lukewarm water
  • 1½ tbsp. granulated yeast (2 packets)
  • 1½ tbsp. kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • ¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
  • 6½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
  1. Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
  2. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 12-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
  3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
  4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.
  5. To prepare the pizza: Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 425°F (or you could go up to 550°F).
  6. Prepare and measure all of the toppings, set aside.
  7. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a grapefruit-size piece. Dust the piece with flour and quickly shape it not a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
  8. Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin on a flour dusted wooden board to begin flattening. Once you gave flattened it to about 1-inch thick move to your pan and continue to flatter and shape with your fingertips. You may need to allow the rolled dough to relax for a few minutes to allow further shaping.
  9. Top with a small amount of sauce and spread, leaving ½-inch to 1-inch pizza sauce. Top with mozzarella and toppings of your choice.
  10. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the temperature used. Remove from oven when the pizza is evenly browned and cheese has melted.
  11. NOTES: You c
Notes
You can mix and store the dough in the same container if you prefer. You need a large food-grade container that holds about five quarts. If you double the recipe you will need a container that holds at least ten quarts. Sam's Club has a few good options. I have punched a hole in the lid of mine and use it specifically for my dough.

 
5.0 from 2 reviews
Pizza Sauce for Homemade Pizza
 
Author:
 
Ingredients
  • 1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 (6-oz.) cans tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbsp. dried oregano
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 tsp. sugar
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Store in refrigerator.
Notes
If you prefer a completely smooth consistency you pour the mixture into a blender and pulse several times.

Can be frozen.

 
5.0 from 2 reviews
Focaccia
 
Author:
 
Ingredients
  • Suggested toppings:
  • Onions and fresh rosemary
  • Cherry tomatoes, halved with chopped fresh basil.
  • Black olives and goat cheese.
Instructions
  1. Grease a baking sheet with a rim with olive oil, set aside. Preheat oven to 425°F, with an empty broiler pan on any shelf that won't interfere with the focaccia.
  2. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
  3. Flatter it to a ½-inch to ¾-inch thick using your fingertips with a minimal amount of additional flour. Please the dough on the greased baking sheet.
  4. Top dough with your desired toppings. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. You do not want to cover the whole surface with toppings or oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  5. Allow the focaccia to rest and rise for 20 minutes.
  6. After the focaccia has rested, place the cookie sheet on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into a broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the crust is medium brown. Be careful not to burn the toppings. The baking time will vary according to the focaccia's thickness.
  7. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Chicken Caprese Salad (Keto, Low-Carb, GF)

Chicken Caprese Salad

Breaking old habits is not an easy thing to do. Changing a lifetime of bad eating habits is undeniably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.  As good as I have been on this diet there have been times, recently, that I could see myself slipping back into my old habits. Keto is rather easy for me when I’m doing it as I should. However, when I am sneaking bites of cheesecake or rolls here and there the struggle returns.

Sugar is toxic to me. I now say that sugar is the root of all evil. Sugar is the devil. Just a little bit and my body, or maybe it’s just my mind, wants more. I recently saw this online, and I’m seriously thinking of framing it for my kitchen. Perhaps I need it tattooed on my hand! “YOU WON’T ALWAYS BE MOTIVATED. YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO BE DISCIPLINED.”

The first few months of keto I was motivated. More motivated than I have ever been about food.  Right now I am trying to learn discipline. It is not an easy thing to do for a gal that has never had a great deal of it with food. Oh sure, I have been on diets all my life, but as soon as the motivation wore off, I was right back to old habits. This time will be different.

I am up 2 pounds with a total loss now of 23 pounds. I jumped back on the keto train this week, and my goal is to learn discipline. Am I alone in this battle or are there others that can relate to me?

Here is one of my all-time favorite recipes. Chicken Caprese Salad is a recipe that Savannah shared with me during her first year of college. She was living with a couple of friends at school, and she would spend Sunday afternoons doing meal prep for the week. She is still great at meal prep, which is something I would love to do.

This salad is bursting with freshness and is terrific with chicken. It can be made with steak as well, but please adjust the macros.

Chicken Caprese Salad
 
Author:
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Dressing:
  • ¼ c. balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp. Swerve brown sugar replacement
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • Salad:
  • 12 oz. chicken tenders
  • 5 c. Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried
  • 1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
  • ½ c. mini fresh mozzarella balls
  • ¼ c fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
  • Salt and black pepper, to season
Instructions
  1. Whisk vinegar, oil, Swerve, garlic, dried basil and salt together to combine. Place uncooked chicken in a shallow dish; pour a small amount of dressing over chicken and toss around to coat. Reserve unused dressing for later.
  2. Heat grill or a small amount of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken until cooked through, set aside and allow to rest.
  3. Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella and chicken. Top with fresh basil. Drizzle with reserved dressing; season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve.
Notes
Nutritional Info:
Net Carbs: 6g.; Fat: 26 g.; Protein: 46 g; Calories: 452

 

Shrimp Verde Flatbread

Shrimp Verde Flatbread

Today’s recipe comes straight from Weight Watchers.  I was quite shocked when I first tried it. Who knew Weight Watchers had such awesome recipes?

I want to tell you a little story just as a testament to just how good this Shrimp Verde Flatbread is. Greg was out of town on business the night I made this for myself. Wes lives at the house, works during the day and works on his masters online at night. He is not the most daring person when it comes to his food. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and he is perfectly happy that way. Many times when Greg is traveling, Wes and I do our own thing for dinner. He will grill up something for himself while I make my own meal. Wes was in the kitchen when I took this flatbread out of the oven, so I asked him to try it. About the only thing he gets excited about it football, hunting, and fishing, so he didn’t say too much other than it was “pretty good.” Pretty good in this house means just okay. However, he went about his business and came up to me a little later wanting to know if I had the ingredients to make another Shrimp Verde Flatbread. I don’t know if I have described him well enough for you to know just how huge this was, but that speaks volumes!

The fresh sauce is really what makes this flatbread so wonderful. When making your flatbread, I have one little tip for you. If you have lime juice that separates from the sauce as you spoon it on your flatbread just leave it in the food processor. I made the mistake of pouring the juice left in the bottom of the food processor bowl onto mine, and it made those areas of the flatbread soggy. I did not do that to Wesley’s and his stayed crispy and delicious!

Shrimp Verde Flatbread
 
Author:
Serves: 1
 
Ingredients
  • 1 Flatout Light Original flatbread
  • 3 oz. cooked shrimp, peeled
  • ¼ c. part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • ¾ c. cilantro
  • 1 medium garlic clove
  • 1 small jalapeño, seeds and veins removed
  • 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375℉. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place flat-out on parchment and bake for two minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a food processor combine cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, and lime juice. Process until well blended and spreadable. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Spread the green sauce over the flatbread. Arrange cooked shrimp over the sauce and scatter with cheese.
  4. Bake at 375℉ for 4 minutes. Serve immediately.
  5. WW Freestyle Points = 4