Vegetable Pizza

Lately I've been making this vegetable pizza for us. My hubby and I really like this pizza and are usually the only ones who will eat it. I used my recipe for Tony's Pizza Dough here on this blog. Instead of using a marinara-type pizza sauce, I used ranch dressing instead. You could even use a alfredo sauce or a basil-pesto sauce (from Costco) too. The types of vegetables you use are endless. I layer spinach leaves over the sauce before adding the other vegetables.

Vegetable Pizza

1 batch of pizza dough
Choice of sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Vegetables: spinach, mushrooms, olives, zucchini, summer squash, onions, bell peppers, canned artichokes and tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Roll out part of the dough into a 12-14 inch circle. Spread sauce over dough, add spinach leaves, sprinkle about a 1/2 cup of cheese over the spinach, then top with desired vegetables and saving tomatoes till last. Sprinkle more cheese over vegetables. Add tomatoes last and arrange in a nice decorative pattern on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is a nice golden brown. Remove, cool slightly, slice and serve.

Other pizza ideas:
BBQ chicken: BBQ sauce, pre-cooked chicken, mozzarella cheese, purple onion
Marguerita: Basil-pesto sauce, mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil
Hawaiian: Marinara sauce, sliced canadian bacon, fresh pineapple chunks

A MUCH better Pizza Dough

I know...not much of a pizza picture, huh? Well, I'm sorry but we couldn't help ourselves. This was last of our pizza and then I realized that I hadn't taken a picture. This picture is actually more to show you two of the products we use to create our homemade pizzas. Plus, to announce I've discovered an all-new pizza dough just recently that has become our family favorite. And there's no way I can take credit for this recipe, so I will leave the name as it is and give credit to it's rightful owner, Tony. Yo, Tony...I don't know who you are, but I love your pizza dough, man! It beat out Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe previously posted on this blog. Sorry Giada, love your Italian cooking, but Tony's got'ya by a landslide on this one.

I would recommend a mixer with a dough hook. You will need it with this recipe. The recipe seems kind of time consuming, but it really is worth it in the end. Plus, it makes (2) 14" pizzas from one batch of dough. And you do need to add the amount of salt listed. It's dough for pizzas, not cinnamon rolls.

Tony's Pizza Dough

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (90 to 100 degrees)
1 cup cold water
1 tbls. sugar
1 tbls. salt
2 tbls. olive oil
5 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, with a fork, stir yeast into warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl with a dough hook attached to electric stand mixer, add the 5 1/4 cups flour and turn on mixer to a slow speed. Slowly add the cold water, sugar, salt and oil until crumbly. Add in the yeast mixture and continue on the slow speed until flour mixture pulls together into a ball. Add an extra 2 tbls. of flour if it appears sticky. Or 2 tbls. of water if the dough appears dry. Let the mixer knead the dough for 10-12 minutes.

Lightly flour countertop and remove dough from bowl. Knead dough into a nice, smooth ball. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. About 1 hour up to 10 hours. If making ahead, place in the fridge until ready to use.

Divide dough in half, and roll each section out into 14 inches. Pick up and place on pizza pan and reform to the pan. Add toppings. Bake in a preheated 400 F degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Or until dough is lightly browned and no longer doughy. Slice into pieces and ENJOY! Yum!

Bubble Pizza

Some of you may have seen this recipe before. I've always known it to be called Bubble Pizza. It involves the cheap refrigerated biscuits in a can, spaghetti sauce, cheese and all your favorite pizza toppings. It's very easy to assemble and you can get your kids involved in the process. If my youngest can help me, then it must be a very simple recipe. She quartered my biscuits using a pizza cutter and helped me add the toppings. I forgot to get a picture of what the pizza looks like on the inside. But it looks very like a bunch of bubbles smooshed together in a box and sliced in half. (If you can picture that in your head.) I like to serve this with a side salad too.



Bubble Pizza

2-3 cans of refrigerated biscuits
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. of ground beef or sausage, browned and drained
1 pkg. of shredded mozzarella cheese
Any favorite pizza toppings: pepperoni, bell peppers,
olives, mushrooms, onions, etc...

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

Prepare any pizza toppings: slice, dice, chop veggies, etc... and set aside.

Remove biscuits from can and cut each biscuit into quarters. Place them a medium sized mixing bowl. Poor spaghetti sauce over biscuits and toss to coat. Add sauce until the biscuits are no longer sticking together. Pour into a 9 x 13" baking dish. Top with ground meat, toppings and cheese. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.