Pesto Pizza

I apologize, but I can't stop talking about my garden.  It is gorgeous and overflowing.  And whenever I am out working in my garden, I can't stop the "OMG, I am actually good at this" train of thought in my head.  My basil was overflowing, so I had to cut it all down and whip up a batch of pesto.  (I also saved a small amount of my basil, in order to make basil cocktails.  All for the sake of this blog, of course.  See what I do for my readers.)

Pesto

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese

Directions

1.  Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. 

2.  Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

3.  If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.  (I freeze mine in an ice-cube tray.)

The possibilities of pesto are endless.....pasta, pesto grilled cheese, pesto chicken, pesto sandwich spread, and my favorite....pesto pizza!

Pesto Pizza

• pizza crust (cauliflower pizza crust, no knead-focaccia, or store-bought premade crust)
• pesto
• fresh grated mozzarella cheese (you must buy a chunk of mozz and grate it yourself.  No pre-shredded, please!)
• sliced tomatoes

1.  Prepare your crust.

2.  Slather crust with pesto.

3.  Top with cheese.

4.  Arrange sliced tomatoes.

5.  Bake according to the directions based on your crust.

Crust, slathered with pesto.  Resist temptation to lick the crust.  

Load up with cheese.  Shove handfuls of cheese in your mouth and then yell at the minis when they try to do the same.

Layer with gorgeous tomatoes from your garden.  Don't have a garden?  Go to a farmer's market.  Don't put crappy store-bought tomatoes on this pizza.

Bake to perfection.

Now I am a girl that is known for being to pack away the food.  Seriously.  I could have eaten this entire pizza myself.  But, I am a selfless mother that remembers to feed my minis, so I did share.  Next time, I'm making two.

A sufficient dinner

Are you looking for a super fancy menu plan that you can use next time you have super important people over for dinner?  Fantastic!  I suggest you look here, here, and here.  Are you looking for a quick dinner you can make ahead of time that your minis will actually eat?  Keep reading.

I want to first say, I realize this is not the healthiest dinner you can feed your minis.  I get lots of emails each day and my favorites are the ones that say, "Heids McGhee, that recipe you posted is deplorable.  How dare you recommend that recipe to your readers?  How can you call yourself a nutrition blogger when you are blogging about trash"  

Well, sheesh.  The reality of my life is every single meal I serve my family isn't perfect.  And, this meal is one of those imperfect recipes.  It's not super healthy, but I am desperate this week.  And we all know that with desperation comes a lowering of standards.  So, this is me lowering my standards.  I found a recipe for pizza puffs a while back.  I love this concept and have plans to rework the recipe to "healthify" it.  But, for now, I prepared it pretty much as written.  

Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

• 3/4 cup flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
• '\4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup) 
• 2 oz mini turkey pepperoni, (about 1/2 cup)
• 4 oz low-fat sausage, cooked and crumbled  (I left this out and added green and black olives instead)
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce (I had frozen bags in the freezer)

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 375°. 
2.  Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. 
3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, sausage and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.
4.  Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

I served my pizza puffs with crispy edamame and fruit salad.  


Crispy Edamame

• 1 (12 ounce) package frozen shelled edamame (green soybeans)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place the edamame into a colander and rinse under cold water to thaw. Drain.
2. Spread the edamame beans into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle cheese over the top and season with salt and pepper
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is crispy and golden, about 15 minutes.

Don't make the mistake I did and buy edamame in the shell.  You will have to defrost the edamame and de-shell them. 

As you can imagine, that is a very tedious process.

My minis love edamame.  When I put this edamame on the table, they asked, "why did you make fancy edamame?"  I discovered tonight, my picky minis don't like fancy edamame.

For dessert, we had frozen chocolate bananas.  Slice bananas.  Freeze slices.  Dip frozen bananas in dark chocolate.  Sprinkle with toppings (I used walnuts on some, sea salt on others).

Dinner tonight was not delish.  It was sufficient.  Some nights, sufficient is success.  

Pizza night

Last night for dinner we had BLT's and fruit salad.  Now, I'm not going to share my BLT recipe with you because it's really simple.  Toast.  Bacon.  Lettuce.  Tomato.  Go crazy and skip the mayo and smear on some smashed avocado.  Easiest dinner ever.

When I was fryin' up the bacon, my middle mini came running up the stairs and said, "Mom, it smells like bacon in here.  Are you making bacon?  You are?  You are really making bacon?  Guys, guess what?!?  She is really making bacon.  We have the best mom ever."  Expect to see more bacon recipes from me in the near future.

Clearly, my minis love bacon.  In fact, they love it so much that Mr. McGhee convinced them to act like dogs and do tricks for bacon rewards.

They even wear shirts proclaiming their love for bacon.

Since the BLTs were such a hit, I decided to try another kid-friendly dinner for tonight, pizza.  However, we gave up processed food and I do not know how to make a pizza crust, so I found myself sort of in a bind.  And then I remembered seeing a recipe for cauliflower crust pizza that I found intriguing.  I was super excited when I read the recipe and realized that it called for ricing cauliflower because Mr. McGhee just got me this for my birthday.....

This food processor is totally bitchin'.  I have been wanting a food processor for years and this baby was worth.the.wait.  So, I was more than happy to fire her up today to rice me some cauliflower.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

• 1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower  (4 pulses in my processor, but who's bragging?)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (10 seconds and I had a brick of mozzarella shredded into 3 cups)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• olive oil (optional)
• pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*

To rice the cauliflower:
1.  Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. 
2.  Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don't have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater.  Then, send your hubby a link to my blog and tell him that Mr. McGhee already did all the research, all he has to do is buy the processor). 


Cooking Directions
1.  Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.


To Make the Pizza Crust:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.2.  In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower (you will have lots of leftovers), egg and mozzarella.
3.  Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir.
4.  Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.5.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.*

To answer your question, yes, that crust tastes as good as it looks.  I snuck a taste, I couldn't help it!  Tonight, we will top it with pizza sauce, cheese, and green olive on the mini's pizza and pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, and veggies on the adult's pizza.  I plan on serving it with side salad.

Here is the pizza sauce recipe I made.  This is a VERY basic pizza sauce, but I thought it would be perfect with the cauliflower crust.

Pizza sauce

• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 (29 oz) can tomato puree
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomato
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1. In a large saucepan, saute garlic in oil until tender. 
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. 
3. Bring to a boil. 
4. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness. 

I am hoping that there isn't massive disappointment at the dinner table tonight when the minis realize there is not any bacon being served.   


COMING BACK HERE TO EDIT:  Oh My.  Delish.  This pizza crust was amazing.  The minis LOVED it. They had no clue that it was made of caulflower.  My oldest mini commented that it tasted different than some pizza crusts, and he thought it was from the italian spice.  My tiny mini ate FOUR pieces.  A total victory!