That's Amore

M and I usually spend Saturday mornings running errands, actually running, golfing (M), and entertaining J.  All this activity leaves us pretty hungry.  So the past couple of weekends we have enjoyed spending Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, preparing a time consuming (but so worth it) carb-loaded dinner.  This Saturday was no exception and we decided to try something new- homemade pizza.  We did, however, stay around our comfort zone since most of the recipes I've posted are Italian, and M has become quite the bread pro.  I adapted the recipe found on the smitten kitchen blog and found many of her tips very helpful.   However, we'll keep tweaking our crust in hopes of obtaining that "Mellow Mushroom" quality.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water


• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast


• 1 teaspoon honey


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 cup wheat flour


• 1 cup all purpose flour

Whisk together water and yeast... then, add honey, salt and olive oil...



Mix in flour...



Turn out onto floured surface, knead for about 2 minutes. Form into ball...



Put in oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour and a half).  Turn out onto floured surface, gently push down, cover, and let rise for another 15 min.  Then, roll out dough...



Place on baking sheet (or pizza stone) covered in cornmeal.  Poke dough with a fork to prevent excessive bubbling.  Brush dough with garlic butter... Top with spinach alfredo sauce (recipe below)...



Then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, grilled and sliced chicken (marinade below), and then more cheese (you cannot over do the cheese)...



Bake in 500F oven for 7 to 10 minutes.  Mmmmmm....



This meal made possible by one of our trusty baby carriers...



Click below for spinach alfredo recipe and grilled chicken marinade...

Spinach Alfredo Sauce

• Melt 3 T of butter over med-high heat


• Add 1 tea of minced garlic (careful not to burn the garlic)


• Whisk in 2-3 T of flour, cook about a minute


• Stir in 2 cups of milk, continue to stir until sauce has thickened (add more milk if too thick)


• Stir in 1 cup of Italian blend cheese


• S&P, dash of nutmeg


• Mix in drained/defrosted frozen spinach- about 1/4 of a package

Simple Chicken Marinade

• 2 T white wine vinegar


• 2 T olive oil


• 1/2 tea dried thyme (fresh if you have it)


• 1 tea lemon juice


• 1 tea minced garlic


• S&P


• red pepper flakes