It's been a while...

Sorry it's been a while. I've been doing other things (taping, mudding, painting, shelving, making curtains...) but I have been cooking. A few delicious meals lately that I wanted to share. Probably not cooking tonight since we're on our way up to our parents' for my sister & brother's grad party tomorrow. But this should tie you over till I cook again Sunday or Monday.

So we made grilled pizza the other day. It was so delish. One of our fave restaurants here has a flatbread pizza that we love so I wanted to recreate it, but on the grill. I made my own pizza dough - so worth it, it's flaky and delicious and just yum. It's from one of my Italian cookbooks that I think I borrowed from my grandma and never gave back.... whoops.

Pizza Dough
1 tbsp dry yeast (it's one packet)
1.5 cups lukewarm water
3.5-4 cups flour (approx) - I used a little less than 4 cups
1 tbsp. sugar
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp. shortening (Crisco) - yea, I used butter

1. Add yeast to water. Stir after 10 minutes.
2. Add shortening to yeast mixture.
3. Add dry ingredients, saving out about 1/2 cup of flour. (I put in 3.5 cups and left out .5)
4. Place dough on floured board and knead for 5 minutes, using whatever you need of the reserved 1/2 cup of flour so dough is not sticky.
5. Place dough back in greased mixing bowl. Cover tightly with saran wrap and let rise till double in bulk - about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down and divide into four pieces. This makes four mini-pizzas - each piece rolls out into about half a cookie sheet.

Then, in my brilliant glory, I cut some goat cheese, scallions, and bacon for toppings. Hubster put some oil on the dough and dropped it on the grill while I cooked up chopped bacon on the stove inside. Hint: get the bacon that comes in those plastic containers and freeze it. It's so easy to take it frozen and chop it into tiny bits before cooking. And, it lasts longer.

Once the pizza was flipped, we spread goat cheese on top then added the cooked bacon & scallions. I was shopping quickly this week and accidentally got fig goat cheese instead of plain... I was worried, but it actually was delicious. A nice nutty flavor to counter the scallions and salty bacon. It's a great meal or a delicious appetizer. Whatever you prefer!

I'll share my asian inspired marinade another time... I am a self-proclaimed master of the asian cuisine.
Bon Appetit!