Roasted Vegetable Stromboli

This post marks an important day for Baking & Eggs - my sweet, wonderful, fantastically generous husband bought me a fancy SLR camera for my birthday, which means that this post will be the last one with horribly lit photos! Now if only I can figure out exactly how to use it...

Yesterday I baked three loaves of banana bread and a batch of peanut butter and nutella cookies (be still my heart!), so when dinner time rolled around, I was ready for something packed with healthy veggies. I used what we had on hand and it was delicious! I love a meal that tastes great and lets me clean out the fridge! Andrew wasn't happy when he found out it didn't have any meat, but once he tasted it, he admitted he didn't miss the meat at all.

Also, I think you could easily mix up the veggies and cheeses a bit to fit your tastes (or to clean out the random bits of this and that in your fridge). I'd like to try it again with asparagus, broccoli and grape tomatoes with some goat cheese thrown in. Yum!

Roasted Vegetable Stromboli

a Baking and Eggs original

1 zucchini, sliced

1 yellow squash, sliced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 large white mushrooms, sliced

1/2 small yellow onion, chopped

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

pizza dough (homemade or store bought)

2 handfuls baby spinach

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1 tablespoon olive oil

pizza or spaghetti sauce, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, arrange zucchini, squash, bell pepper, mushrooms and onions on a baking sheet. Sprinkle seasoning, salt and pepper over top. Drizzle veggies in olive oil and mix with hands until all veggies are evenly coated. Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned. Keep oven preheated to 400 degrees.

Spray a second baking sheet with nonstick spray and lay the pizza dough out flat. Spread the vegetable down the long center of the dough. Top with the three cheeses. Wrap one side over the vegetables and cheese, followed by the second side. Pinch the ends together to close. Brush 1 tablespoon on olive oil over the top of the stromboli. Using a sharp knife make a few slits on the top to allow steam to escape while cooking.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the dough is puffed and lightly browned. Serve with pizza sauce on the side for dipping.

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Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

This was probably the most popular dish at Finley's birthday party and for good reason! These little puppies were delicious and so easy to make too! They're best fresh out of the oven but they're still pretty tasty when reheated. I'll definitely be making these again soon!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

adapted from Noble Pig

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 eggs

6 oz pepperoni slices, cut into quarters

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (optional)

pizza sauce, for serving (optional)

ranch dressing, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two 24-cup mini muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Whisk in milk and eggs until just combined. Fold in pepperoni, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide evenly between the two mini-muffin pans. Bake until puffed and golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil, if desired. Serve with warmed pizza sauce and/or ranch dressing.

*This makes 48 pizza puffs, so if you're not serving a crowd, you'll want to half the recipe.

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BBQ Chicken Calzone

Have you heard of Pinterest? One of my friends first told me about it a few weeks ago and I thought it sounded like another time-sucking website I needed to avoid. Of course, I chose not to and it's now my favorite place to play on the web. If the dishes don't get cleaned, the laundry doesn't get folded (or even washed), the floors don't get swept...it's all Pinterest's fault. Sad but true!

Pinterest is basically an online bulletin board where you can 'pin' pictures, recipes, ideas, quotes, etc. of things from anywhere on the internet. You can create different files - for example, I have boards for recipes, party ideas, fun activities to do with Finley, and ideas for home decor - so that all your online inspiration/ideas are organized. I love to be organized, especially since I find it so hard to be in real life:-) Anyway, all this gabbing about Pinterest has a point.

I made an upscale version of CPK's BBQ Chicken Pizza (with bacon, chicken, smoked gouda and caramelized onions) a few weeks ago, but the cheese I chose didn't melt well so the end result tasted fantastic but did not look pretty. When I was on Pinterest a few days ago I saw a tutorial about how to create a really good-looking calzone. And inspiration hit - I decided to turn my ugly duckling of a pizza into a beautiful calzone.

BBQ Chicken Stromboli

a Baking and Eggs original recipe

here's a link to the wrap tutorial, in case you'd like step by step pictures

3 slices bacon, preferably hickory smoked

1 red onion, sliced into thin rings

1 tube refrigerated french bread dough

1/4 -1/3 cup smoky barbecue sauce, depending on how saucy you like your pizza

1 chicken breast, cooked and diced (I used a breast from a rotisserie chicken)

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

7 oz smoked gouda cheese, shredded

Extra barbecue sauce, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook bacon until lightly browned and crisp. Remove bacon to paper towel-lined plate to cool. When cool, crumble bacon and set aside.

Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon drippings in the pan, lower heat to medium-low and add the onion. Stirring occasionally to keep onion from burning, cook until onion is soft and golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, spread out your dough onto a baking sheet - sides may hang off the sheet but that's okay. Orient the dough with the short side facing you and spread the BBQ sauce down the middle (vertical). Top with the chicken, crumbled bacon, caramelized onion, cilantro and cheese.

Now comes the fun part! Cut the dough on each side of the filling in 3/4-inch intervals - you want to have the same number of strips on each side. Start at the bottom, alternating sides, stretch the strip up and across the filling on a slight diagonal. Keep doing that until you reach the last strip.

Bake at 350 degrees until the dough is a light golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve with extra barbecue sauce, if desired!

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Fancy Three Cheese Pizza

I love just about all kinds of pizza - mostly because I absolutely adore cheese. But sometimes I get bored of the red sauce, so I set out to create a different kind of pizza - no sauce, lots of cheese, arugula for a peppery bite and a little prosciutto so I could tell my husband the pizza had meat on it.

I didn't want to skip the sauce altogether since the sauce adds a nice moisture to pizza, but I definitely wanted to forego a traditional tomato sauce. Instead I made an herbed olive oil early in the day so that flavors had time to marry, and combined that with a ricotta cheese to create a ooey-gooey, creamy cheesy sauce layer. It was reminiscent of an alfredo sauce pizza but a lot healthier - no cream or butter, and I actually used low-fat ricotta too.

A slice (or two of this pizza) and a glass of wine = heaven!

{the pizza}

{Finley approves! Please pardon her post-nap hair and I'm not sure why she's making a kissy face - but it's pretty darn cute!}

Fancy Three Cheese Pizza

a Baking and Eggs original

for the herb oil

4 T olive oil

2 cloves garlic

a pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you want it spicier)

2 T assorted fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary, basil, parsley and lemon thyme)

for the pizza

fresh pizza dough

2/3 c ricotta cheese (I used low-fat)

7-8 oz good quality mozzarella cheese

1/2 c grated or shredded parmesan cheese

4 thin slices prosciutto, chopped

2 c arugula

1/2 lemon

sea salt

Early in the day or even the night before, make the herb oil. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and assorted fresh herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the herbs are fragrant, about 3-4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Let cool and keep covered in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes prior to using it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a greased pizza sheet, stretch dough out. Brush dough with about 1 T of the herb oil. Bake until crust just starts to turn a light golden color, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl reserve 1 t of the herb oil. Combine the remaining herb oil and ricotta cheese in another bowl and stir well. Spread ricotta mixture over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the edges. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over ricotta and bake another 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and starts to brown in spots.

Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with prosciutto. Cut into slices. In a bowl, toss arugula with remaining 1 t herb oil, juice from 1/2 a lemon and a sprinkle of sea salt. Scatter dressed arugula over pizza and serve.

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Middle Eastern Pizza

I'm sure I'm not the only one watching The Next Food Network Star, right? Two weeks ago Penny (the Middle Eastern mama) made this pizza for one of their challenges. Now while I don't really agree with Penny's aggressive tactics on the show, I still wanted to give her recipe a try. You see my parents spent nine years living in the Middle East and as a consequence, we ate a lot of Middle Eastern food growing up. We ate hummus, couscous, tabbouleh, pita bread, falafel, and baba ghanoush way before it was cool/trendy to do so. I remember in high school wanting to hang out at my friend Jennie's house because her pantry was always stocked with normal things - goldfish, cookies, chips, etc. and she always wanted to come eat dinner at my house because we usually offered more unique fare.

Anyway, back to the pizza. I made this while we were staying with my parents. I must say, this pizza was a little more labor intensive than I usually like my pizza recipes to be, but it was a killer pizza. Definitely not your usual hum-drum pizza, that's for sure! And I almost felt healthy eating it since it had lots of veggies on it.

The recipe makes a lot of sauce and toppings - enough for two pizzas, even though the recipe only says it makes one pizza. I ended up using the leftover sauce and toppings over pasta for lunch and that was great too.

Middle Eastern Pizza

adapted from Penny Davidi as found in The Food Network magazine

for the sauce

2 T olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon, zested

1/4 t ground coriander

2 14.5-oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes

2-3 T tomato paste

salt and pepper

for the pizza

1 lb prepared pizza dough

5 T olive oil, divided

1 medium eggplant, diced

1 t roasted cumin

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

8 oz fresh buffalo mozzarella

1/4 c kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

3/4 c feta cheese, crumbled

fresh mint, torn, for garnish

For the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, lemon zest, ground coriander and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes and cook about 20 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook another 5 minutes, or until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool.

For the pizza: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle a little olive oil on a baking sheet and stretch dough to roughly fit the pan. Brush dough with a little more olive oil and bake until just barely golden, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cumin, season with salt and pepper, and cook until eggplant is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

In another skillet, heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat. Add red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Top the crust with 1 c of sauce, the mozzarella, eggplant, caramelized onion, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. Return to oven and cook until the cheese melts and the crust is golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Generously top pizza with mint, slice into pieces and serve.

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Bacon, Potato, Rosemary and Fontina Pizza

I'm always looking for different pizza recipes since I love to serve homemade pizza on the weekends. Nothing says weekend more than pizza, wine and a movie! Anyway, I digress. This pizza was great and such a change from traditional pizza. The name pretty much says it all, except it does leave out the best part - the arugula you put on top after cooking. I love the peppery bite of arugula and I thought it paired nicely with the pizza.

Here are a few thoughts about the recipe though:

1.) Next time, I'll cook the bacon beforehand so it's crisper and the pizza won't be as greasy.

2.) I didn't make my own dough and you don't have too either. Most pizza places will sell you a huge ball of their dough for only $1-2. Score!

3.) While fontina is a wonderful melting cheese, it can be a little pricy (mine was $5.50 and I used it all). Fontina is a mild cheese, so I think you could easily substitute shredded mozzarella for a fraction of the price without sacrificing flavor.

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Stuffed Pizza Rolls

This is one of our favorite comfort foods! We have spent many nights eating these while watching a movie and drinking wine. While these take a little more time to prepare than a pizza would, I just love these bite-size nibbles and think they're worth the extra effort. I've made them ahead of time (like during nap time) and then I popped them in the oven when Andrew got home from work.

You can stuff the pizza bites with any pizza toppings but we prefer good ole pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. We always use ranch dressing for our dipping sauce but marinara is good too. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/stuffed-pizza-rolls.html

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Greek Pizza

Simple and fast dinner! I usually have most of the ingredients in my fridge so with just a little chopping, I can have dinner in the oven in about 15 minutes. It's also a nice change from the regular red sauce pizza that you usually get. And it tastes good to boot!

Greek Pizza

1 chicken breast, cooked and sliced or shredded

store-bought pesto

pizza shells

artichoke hearts, chopped

sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

kalamata and/or green olives, chopped

assorted cheeses - feta, fresh mozzarella, parmesan - I usually just clean out the fridge and use

whatever nubs of cheese I have left-over from other recipes

Brush pizza shells liberally with pesto. Top with chicken, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and cheeses. Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Easy-peasy!

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