amazing study results coming right up….
Did you all catch that mind blowing news story this week? No, not that one, I am referring to the study that wanted to know what you would choose to eat if you could only eat one type of food. I immediately knew the answer before they announced it. PIZZA!! To clarify, a thin, hand tossed, or deep dish crust covered with a special sauce, your favorite toppings, and CHEESE. Melty ooey gooey cheese that connects all of your favorite ingredients. What’s not to love? Carnivores and herbivores are equally happy.
don’t all good stories end up being about pizza?
I started thinking about downsizing when Garrett and Maddie were finishing up college. There are not enough pages in my blog to cover all of the twists and turns of that story, but the story does end up being about pizza! To clarify, pizza was just part of the ending. I looked around my new little back yard and thought, what a great place to build an outdoor pizza oven!! And this was BEFORE I even knew about the results of that study!
Garrett and Maddie were not sure about this idea, but patiently listened to me anyway. Maddie even visited a fabulous gardening center with me that built particularly beautiful outdoor pizza ovens. Eventually I came to my senses and decided that our short Wisconsin outdoor season probably wasn’t the best environment for an outdoor oven. As an illustration of this point, today it is snowing in the middle of October.
early present time!
Flash forward to Mother’s Day of that year, and the moment my sweet Garrett walked in the front door with a BIG grin on his face. In his arms was a big box wrapped with pineapple paper. I instantly knew what that meant. A Williams Sonoma Mother’s Day! Even though it was Friday night, Garrett insisted that I open my present early. I immediately opened the box, and was thrilled to see a pizza maker! The perfect answer to my pizza party dreams!
inaugural pizza = peanutty nummyness
Garrett, Maddie, and I started planning our first pizza. Maddie quickly reminded me how much we all loved Thai pizza, so we decided that it would be our inaugural pie with our newest toy. Maddie started working on the spicy peanutty sauce. Garrett prepared the chicken. All that was left for me to do was grate the cheese, and chop the peppers and cilantro.
let the rolling and chopping begin!
We decided to use the fresh pizza dough that you can purchase at the grocery store. It was specifically made for this occasion! The best advice that I can share with you about making homemade pizza is this: Make sure that you have all of your ingredients chopped and ready to go. This includes grating your cheese. Maddie rolled out the dough and we started down the “make your best pizza in your kitchen” path. We felt it was easier to put the freshly formed dough directly on the blazing hot pizza stone, and then quickly add our sauce and toppings.
pizza dreams
The spicy peanutty sauce was the perfect first sauce to try. We smoothed the sauce on the dough, and then quickly dropped our chicken, chopped peppers, and grated cheese on top. Close the top of the machine and guess what? You have a crispy thin crust with pouffy rolled chewy edges in just a minute or two. How have we ever lived without this pizza maker? We removed the gorgeous pizza from the stone and sprinkled it with freshly chopped cilantro and bean sprouts. A dream that I hope you will enjoy in your own kitchen!
peppers in every color!
a pizza colored dahlia!
pizza with chicken, peppers, and spicy peanutty sauce
Who doesn’t love homemade pizza ? Especially when it is covered with chicken, chopped peppers and cilantro, CHEESE, and the perfect spicy peanutty sauce!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes per pie
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 5-6 eight inch pies 1x
- Category: main dish
- Method: oven
Ingredients
2 containers of fresh pizza dough ( usually available at your local grocery store or favorite pizza parlor)
Chopped chicken from 2 chicken breasts ( if you are in a hurry, you may grab a rotisserie chicken! )
3 red, yellow, or orange peppers
4 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
peanutty sauce:
2 TB balsamic vinegar
3 TB rice vinegar
3 TB chili paste
2/3 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup cream of coconut
4 TB sweet chili sauce
2 TB soy sauce
3 TB honey
2–3 TB freshly grated ginger
zest and juice from 1 lime
3 – three inch stalks of lemongrass chopped fine
freshly chopped cilantro and bean sprouts for the top
Instructions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees if using pizza stone, or alternatively heat up pizza maker
Chop chicken and peppers and set aside
Grate cheese and set aside
In a medium sized bowl mix all of the ingredients for spicy peanutty sauce
Roll out fresh dough to 8-9″ circle
Stack dough circles on a cutting board with pieces of parchment or wax paper between
Place dough on stone
Spread spicy peanutty sauce on dough
Top with chicken, peppers, and grated cheese
Cook until golden brown and cheese is melted
Remove from heat and sprinkle with cilantro and bean sprouts
Keywords: pizza cheese peppers chicken cilantro
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