Pizza Bliss

Farmer's Market Fabulous Pizza
(yeah, I didn't really know what to call it)

My new favorite easy (cheat) pizza crust: Pillsbury Bread dough. Or any bread dough. It makes the perfect crust. Bake at 350 for 5-6 minutes BEFORE you put any toppings on.

While that's baking, spend a minute admiring these beauties. They may not be the prettiest on the outside, but when the juice is dribbling down your chin and you sigh with bliss, you won't care about pretty.

1/2 a white onion, sliced thinly, 1 long green pepper thingie (or whatever sweeter pepper you prefer), sliced or diced. 2 Tbspns of oil, 1 tsp sugar, sizzle for a minute or two, then reduce heat and let them simmer while you do everything else.

The whole reason I was in the mood for pizza? I wanted to try a cream cheese type sauce. I've never had one, but I've heard of them.. I had about 1/3 cup cream cheese sitting around, mixed with fresh minced garlic, 1/2 cup sour cream, and my favorite secret weapon of the summer: Tabasco's Chipotle Pepper Sauce, about 3-4 tspns, according to your taste.

Toppings: those caramelized onions and peppers, one tomato, thinly sliced and seeds/pulpy stuff removed, some good quality deli-sliced meat, and mozzarella cheese. This was a random-avoid-going-to-the-store-for-any-ingredients pizza, but it WORKED.

Bake at 400 for about 12 minutes. See that crust? Just the right blend of crispy and chewy.

This was a LOT of cheese, very rich. Could have made it with much less (or no) cheese on top, for a healthier (healthy-ish) take.

The cream cheese sauce with the smoky chipotle flavor, and hot tomato, other veggies. . . It was SO good. Another Farmer's Market success (all the veggies were FM).

Farmer's Market Pizza

1 can refrigerated bread dough

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 onion

1 green or red sweet pepper

2 tsp. sugar

2 Tbs oil

1 tomato

4-6 oz. thin (deli) sliced, good quality ham (or turkey)

mozzarella cheese, if desired

Preheat oven to 350. Bake crust for 5 minutes. Chop and slice veggies (brown onions and peppers if desired, w/sugar). Slice ham into strips. Food process garlic, add cream cheese and sour cream and Tabasco. Spread on crust. Add toppings and cheese. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes, until bubbly. Let stand for a few minutes before slicing.

Making up for lost time

My farmer's market attendance has been more miss than hit this summer. Until the last week or two. Prepare yourself for some homemade lovely this week.

Whole wheat French Toast with a twist

Start with some leftover bread.
They make whole wheat french bread now, it was really good!

Couple of eggs, splash of vanilla, few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I saw this little jar of goodness sitting in my cabinet. My friend threw it in my bag when I ordered some Pampered Chef from her. So I threw in a few table spoons of this too, just to see what happened.

This happened. Non-stick skillet (this one is also PC, but whatever). Just a smidgen lower than "Medium" heat, let it take it's time getting cooked through, it's some THICK bread. And it IS worth the wait.

I also lightly browned some really good deli ham. I don't keep bacon on hand and this needed just a bit of protein (other than the eggs-ha!) for my taste. Also, I'm a syrup person. So use syrup, powdered sugar, fruit, or whatever you prefer, to top.

French bread french toast
1/2 a loaf of french bread
2-4 eggs, depending on egg size
splash (2-3 Tbl spoons) milk
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbl spoons mocha hazelnut sprinkles
butter (even though I was using a non-stick skillet, I used a small pat for each piece)
Toppings of choice