Spinach and Artichoke Pizza

Husb and I were wanting to spice up our homemade pizza night and decided to go with a nod to spinach and artichoke dip. This turned out just as delicious as it sounds.  This time we took advantage of the grocery store bagged dough.

Spinach and Artichoke Pizza

Ingredients:

1 pizza dough, par baked until just starting to lightly brown
olive oil
1 5- 6oz package of fresh baby spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion or large shallot, fine diced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
3 oz cream cheese
4 oz mozzarella pearls (or fresh mozzarella cut into small cubes)

Preheat oven to 425.

Heat up a large skillet over medium. Pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom and add the onion and garlic. Saute 2-3 minutes until softened and fragrant. Add the spinach and artichokes and stir to coat in the oil. Cook until wilted, stirring often, 3-4 minutes.

Drizzle par baked crust with olive oil and spread the spinach and artichoke mixture on the top. Pinch off pieces of cream cheese and distribute evenly along with the mozzarella cheese.

Place on a pizza stone or baking sheet and cook around 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted.

Baked Ziti

Ooey gooey cheesy pasta. Nothing to not like about this recipe. Roasted red bell peppers and fresh mozzarella set this dish apart. Buff it up (or make vegetarian by replacing the sausage) even more by adding mushrooms and spinach. Add the mushrooms in with the onion while cooking and add thawed and drained frozen spinach with the cheeses.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
1 lb sweet italian sausage
28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 14oz can petite diced tomatoes with juice
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ziti pasta, cooked to box instructions minus 1 minute cook time
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 16oz container whole ricotta
1 8oz package fresh mozzarella pearls (pictured below)
1 egg
1 jar roasted red bell peppers, drained and chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Heat the butter in a deep skillet on medium. Add onion and garlic and cook until transparent.

Add the sausage and cook until well browned. Drain a little, but not all, of the fat off.

Add the tomatoes, herbs, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer while the pasta is cooking. Preheat oven to 350

Combine the parmesan, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, bell pepper, and egg in a large bowl.

Rinse off pasta in cool water to slow cooking.

Toss pasta and cheeses.

Add 4 cups approximately of the tomato sauce to the pasta and combine.

In a deep lasagna or 9x13 pan, ladle a little of the sauce onto the bottom. Just enough to lightly coat.

Spoon half the pasta into the pan. Spoon half the remaining sauce on top. Repeat. Sprinkle mozzarella on top.

Cook 30 minutes until bubbling. Top with herbs and let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.


Example of the mozzarella I used. Its in the special cheese section

Pizza Stuffed Monkey Bread

Regular sweet monkey bread is addicting enough but warping it into a savory dish elevates it to a new level. You can use biscuit dough or premade pizza dough as the base. I prefer to use the Boule Bread recipe from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. You can stuff it with any pizza ingredients. I must stress that the miracle ingredient is fresh mozzarella.
Omit pepperoni to make vegetarian!

Pizza Stuffed Monkey Bread

Bread:
6 1/2 cups flour
2 pkgs yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
3 cups room temp water

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
dash of:
oregano
basil
parsley

Dipping butter:
1.5 sticks butter, melted
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil

Stuffing ideas:
Red Bell Pepper, fine diced
Pepperoni
FRESH mozzarella, cubed
Italian sausage, browned and drained
Mushrooms, diced

Cheddar and parmesan for topping, if desired


Mix all the bread ingredients together with your hands. No kneading, no mixer. Just mush until well mixed. Cover and let rise 2-4 hours. This is a very moist and sticky dough

Rip off a golf ball sized piece and pull it into a flat round. Stuff with ingredients. For ours, I placed a slice of pepperoni on it and topped with a few pieces of cheese and peppers, and covered with another piece of pepperoni. Then pinch it closed.

Dip the pieces in herbed butter. Place in a bundt pan or angel food cake pan. Layer with cheeses.

Top with any extra toppings.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so, until well browned.

While baking, combine sauce ingredients and simmer until time to serve

Herb Crust Veggie Pizza or Calzone

This has become a staple in our house. The dough is chewy and flavorful and is ready to use right after mixing! The toppings are obviously endless, but this is what we did today.

Trust me. FRESH mozzarella.

Dough:


~1 cup warm water
~1/4 cup milk
~1 1/2 tsp sugar
~1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) dry active yeast
~3 cup flour
~1 tsp salt
~2-3 tbsp of dried herbs, IE oregano, basil, and parsley
~ 2 tbs garlic powder

Cornmeal for dusting

Toppings:

Pizza sauce (recipe below)
FRESH mozzarella. (This makes ALL the difference)
Veggies, we used green, yellow, and red bell pepper slices, thin asparagus, and mushrooms
Garlic salt

Proof the yeast in the water, sugar, and milk for 10 minutes.

Combine with flour, salt, and seasonings in a mixer bowl and mix with dough hook on med until starting to come together, then lower speed to "2". Once dough has become one large ball, let machine knead for about 5 minutes.

Put on floured surface and divide in half. You can either make two 10-12" pizzas, or place in ziplock bag with all air removed and store in fridge for one week. I am sure you can freeze it as well.

Roll out to about 1/4" thick.

If you have a pizza peel (paddle) and baking stone:

Place cornmeal on pizza peel and place dough on it. Put toppings on and slide into a 500 degree preheated oven onto the baking stone. Cook 12-17 minutes or until its as brown and crispy as you'd like


If you just have a baking sheet:

Preheat oven to 450. Dust sheet with cornmeal and put dough on top. Pre bake dough in the oven for 7 minutes. Dough will poof up.

Remove from oven and push down on the bubbles a little. Put toppings on and return to oven for 10+ minutes

Calzones:

Place toppings (minus sauce) on one half of the dough, leaving about 1 inch of free dough around the side. Pull opposite side over and pinch together and roll up. Brush with melted butter and cook until golden brown. 12-17 minutes (or more if you don't use a stone)



Pizza Sauce:

1 6oz can tomato paste
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp minced onion
1 tbsp balsamic
2 garlic cloves, minced

Mix together and simmer until ready to serve. Add a little water if its too thick.