Breakfast Pizza

Ummmm, it’s the end of May. How did this happen?

It’s been nearly a month since my last blog post. A MONTH! I didn’t intend to take a break, but May happened, that’s what.

My beautiful state decided it would thaw out this month. It was a loooooong winter. I bet you can agree if you’ve been following my posts and listening to (or is it reading about?) me gripe about it. But I survived my first South Dakota winter! I scooped boat loads of snow. I rocked a down, to-the-calf-length coat with a fur-lined hood on a daily basis. I endured frozen nose hairs walking through the grocery store parking lot. And I lived to tell the tale.

So what has May been like?

I can see my grass, my beautiful green grass. My neighborhood trees are covered with pink and white blossoms. Grape hyacinths and tulips are blooming everywhere. The sun rises before 6:00 and sets after 9:00, which means long, glorious days. Temperatures are perfect. My biggest dilemma is deciding whether or not to wear a sweatshirt on our evening walk. I know. Life problems.

May has been incredible.

So what has my family been up to? This month we traveled to Nebraska twice. The first visit was for a high school graduation. I used to babysit the graduate, and her family is great friends of my family. I seriously can’t believe I’m old enough that kids I babysat are now adults. So weird. And if that’s not weird enough, the second trip to Nebraska was spent reconnecting with my old classmates at our 10-year reunion. We met at a townie bar in our county, and I had so much fun. And yes, we did talk about how impossible it seemed that 10 years has passed since receiving our diplomas from good ol’ Fillmore Central High School.

On Mother’s Day, we welcomed a black lab puppy, Ruby Mae, to the family. Ruby is a great addition; we all love her. She is growing before our eyes, and the boys are learning to deal with a rapidly changing puppy. She enjoys running with (chasing now) Garrison, and she and Kase share an interest in sidewalk chalk, although I’m certain for different reasons. We are so thankful she is a well-behaved puppy. She still has her puppy-ness, but overall she is a calm girl who loves a good belly rub and wants nothing more than to sit on your feet/lap/wherever on your body she can. She’s going to be a great family dog.

Now that’s it finally spring, we have enjoyed many outings to our neighborhood parks. We have visited a local lake and had a picnic. So pretty. We have explored our town’s walking trails. They are perfect for a little boy who now has a big-boy bike and wants to practice his new skills.

But enough about us. How about this pizza? You already know about my family’s love of pizza. I’ve had this Breakfast Pizza in my blog-pocket for some time now, and it would be selfish not to share it.

This pizza has amazing flavor. Between the sausage, green chiles and cream cheese, it’s simply irresistible. So irresistible that we can polish off this bad boy in one sitting. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. And know that I won’t judge you if you do the same.

My favorite sausage, medium-spiced ground pork sausage, is sold by the pound. What I like to do is fry all the sausage, just as I cook ground beef, and drain the excess grease. I freeze half the sausage, and I use the other (warm) half for the pizza. The next time I get a craving for this pizza, all I need to do is thaw the sausage. So easy, and it is definitely a time-saving method.

I will try to post regularly again. I’ve been cooking and baking some great things, and I need to share them with you. I also have an idea for a blogging series that is just too fun and so me. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Stay tuned!

Breakfast Pizza
Ashley’s Recipe Box

Recipe for your favorite pizza dough (for a 12-14 inch pizza)
1/2 pound pork sausage, any spice level
1 cup frozen hash browns, thawed
4 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes
4 oz. can diced green chiles, drained
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/8 tsp. ground pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. In a large pan, cook the sausage and drain. On a pizza pan or baking sheet, top the pizza dough with sausage. Sprinkle the dough with hash browns and green chiles. Place cream cheese cubes evenly over hash browns. Top with the shredded cheese. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the pizza. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese and eggs are browned on top. Makes one 12-14 inch pizza.

BLT Pizza

Ok, I’m thinking warm thoughts here. And I’m thinking reeeeeally hard. Summer. Oh, summer.

Winter storm Walda has decided to rear her ugly head. When I went to bed last night, I could see my yard. Like, all of it. The grass was even beginning to green. We planted asparagus in our garden on Sunday. And then…

I woke up to sleet/snow pelting our windows and over an inch of the white stuff on the ground. The boys and I about got leveled this morning walking through the grocery store parking lot on our quest to get milk. And those thick, frosted sugar cookies. We definitely needed those. Garrison, my three-year-old, told me so. I’m sure you can agree with him that cookies are a necessity.

We’re expected to get 14 inches of snow. 14! It’s spring. It’s April. I’m over it.

Enter, BLT Pizza. It’s summer on a plate, and it’s delicious. And it’s perfect for telling a winter storm, who shall remain nameless from here on out, to take a hike.

You already know about my family’s love of pizza when I shared with you my Simple Pizza Dough recipe. Pizza is such a fun food, and I love that the end result is whatever you want it to be. My tastes and mood drive how much of each ingredient I put on the dough.

You can use whatever pizza dough you prefer. Slather the dough with your favorite ranch dressing. Then layer the bacon pieces and Colby jack cheese on top and bake it until bubbly and nicely browned. Pretty easy so far.

After the pizza is out of the oven, top it with chopped, leafy greens and diced tomatoes. Sprinkle on grated Parmesan cheese. Still easy, right?

Then close your eyes, take a bite, and imagine it’s 80 degrees outside. Yelling at the chaos out the window is completely optional. I might or might not be speaking from experience.

BLT Pizza
Ashley’s recipe box

Recipe for your favorite pizza dough (for a 12-14 inch pizza)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of your favorite ranch dressing
8-10 strips of bacon, cooked and in pieces
1 cup cup shredded Colby jack cheese
1 cup to 1-1/2 cups chopped lettuce
2 medium Roma tomatoes, seeds removed and diced
Grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 425F degrees. Top the pizza dough with ranch dressing. Layer bacon and cheese on top of the dressing. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is slightly browned.

Remove from the oven and top with lettuce and tomatoes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Makes one 12-14 inch pizza.

Simple Pizza Dough

What would life be without pizza? Pretty sad. Pitiful, really.

Our weekly menu would feel empty.

Nathan and I would have to find a new Valentine’s Day dinner tradition.

And the Husker football game experience wouldn’t be the same.

You see, we have pizza every week at our house. Every year since we’ve been married, Nathan and I have celebrated Valentine’s Day with a heart-shaped pizza for dinner. And Valentino’s pizza and Memorial Stadium just go together. Trust. They do.

Oh, and I need to add the fact that we honeymooned for eight days in New York City. And we had pizza at least once a day for all eight days. But we just ate a lot of food on that trip. It was the best. We still talk about it, six years later.

Who needs a vacation? Me. Me!

I haven’t met a pizza I didn’t like. Ok, well unless it has anchovies. Surely I’m not the only one who has an anchovy aversion?

Pizza is one of those foods that allows anyone, regardless of cooking ability, to be creative in the kitchen. I’m a fan of traditional toppings like pepperoni, mushrooms, and mozzarella, but I also love unique-and-becoming-quite-popular toppings like cream cheese, cheddar cheese and bacon. And let’s talk about sauce for a minute. Red sauce, white sauce, ranch (what?!), no sauce. There are so many possibilities.

But I’m ahead of myself.

Before we can even discuss kinds of pizza, we need to get down to the basics. To where it all begins. The dough.

I’ve had my fair share of packaged pizza dough. The just-add-water kind, the just-add-toppings kind, the let-it-thaw kind (by the way, I’ve heard that Trader Joe’s has a great frozen pizza dough), and the homemade kind. While the convenience dough is truly that—convenient—homemade pizza dough, if you can swing it, is just so worth it.

I’ve been making this pizza dough for years, and it’s never failed me. The original recipe made two pizzas, so I scaled it back so there is only enough dough for one pizza. I found that we don’t need that much pizza at once. I mean, I do need that much pizza, but my skinny jeans tell me I don’t. If it’s there, I would eat it. So we pair our pizza with salad. I feel much better about myself when we do that.

 

I will tell you that before I started making this dough, I hadn’t cooked with yeast. I think partly because my mom never did (so that's all I knew), and I think partly because I was a bit afraid of it. I mean, it’s yeast. It’s got to have special powers to make dough rise, right? And it must be temperamental? Not to fa-reak you out, but yeast is a living organism. It needs a warm, moist place and food to grow. The science nerd in me told me I had to share that fact with you. Did you know my undergraduate degree is in food science? Food fascinates me.

I’m so glad I got over my fear. I now buy yeast by the jar. And if you fear baking with yeast, get over it. I say that with love, of course.

This dough is soft yet sturdy. It holds toppings really well, and it bakes nicely. And if you couldn’t tell, this is a thin crust pizza dough. It’s just all around awesome. I think if you try it, you’ll agree.

And stay tuned. I’ll post the recipe for that mouth-watering pizza soon. And many more in the coming weeks. Dough!

Simple Pizza Dough
Adapted from: Emeril Lagasse

1/2 cup warm (105-115 degrees F) water
3/4 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4 tsp. salt
1-1/8 tsp. active dry yeast
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine water, oil, and salt. Sprinkle yeast on top, and stir well to proof. After 5 minutes, add 3/4 cup flour and mix thoroughly with a stand mixer and a paddle attachment. Add enough remaining flour, slowly, so that the dough is only slightly tacky. Lightly flour a surface and knead dough for 5 minutes, adding enough flour, as necessary, to form an elastic, smooth dough. The dough should not be tacky. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a bowl, and transfer the dough to the bowl, turning it to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a fist, punch the dough down gently and transfer it to a lightly floured pizza pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Using hands shape the dough to the desired size, keeping the dough about 1/4-inch thick. Top with toppings. Brush crust with olive oil, if desired. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on toppings. Makes one 12-14-inch pizza.