Fresh Figs!

Since we had an extended holiday weekend, we fixed something that wouldn't normally make an appearance on our weeknight menu unless a good amount of prep had been done in advance. Matt threw together our favorite pizza dough and we rounded up a variety of toppings that we had sitting in the fridge. We also harvested a zucchini from our garden just for the occassion!!

Although I recognize that the picture is beyond atrocious, I am sure you can vaguely make out my two new favorite pizza combinations: carmelized onion, fig, and goat cheese & zucchini and goat cheese. I happened to hit the jackpot with the Black Mission figs on my last shopping excursion at Meijer. They were inexpensive, ripe, and delicious. I simply sauteed them in a little butter and threw them on the pizza at the last minute. As for the zucchini, I also sauteed it so that it would be properly cooked as it doesn't spend a great amount of time on the grill. This will be a great way to use up all the zucchini coming our way!

This One is For My Homies

I could wax on poetic about how I love the renewal that Spring brings to Northern Michigan... warmer days, evenings spent on the porch, digging in the garden, but when it comes down to it what I really love is the new crop of goodies appearing at the markets and right in our backyard. This meal would not have been possible without the generosity of my good friend Sarah who graced us with two fat morel mushrooms to top our tasty pizzas. Pair that with some local asparagus fried in butter and you have heaven on homemade dough!

Grilled Pizza
1 recipe pizza dough
morels
asparagus
goat cheese
fresh mozzarella
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper

To be honest, this isn't really a recipe, but I will say that if you want to find success when grilling pizza, you must follow my friend Clay's words of wisdom. He grills one side of the dough (brushed with olive oil) for a couple minutes, removes the pizza from the grill to place toppings on the grilled side and then returns it to the grill to finish the cooking. You really can't go wrong when Clay is in your corner!

Barefoot Bloggers Pizza

Please check out this link to see the pizzas we made awhile back. Tara was kind enough to allow us to re-post since we had already made the recipe. Please know that these pizzas are fan-tastic and we have indeed made them several times since. They will NOT dissapoint!

Barefoot Bloggers Backtracking

*Please note: the last installment of Mother Week will be posted tomorrow*

It's time for another Barefoot recipe, but Matt and I were not looking forward to the Tuna Salad. We have tried tuna and had it prepared many different ways, but unless it comes out of the Starkist pouch, we are not interested. And then, like angels singing a sweet chorus, Tara announced the Barefoot Backtracking feature and the California Grilled Pizzas were a done deal. I have been pizza dough from scratch previously, but never achieved a result I was happy with until today. Ina's dough was easy with the help of my trusty Kitchen Aid, and unlike other dough I have made, went together and was ready to use in no time. We ended up using three of the dough balls for dinner and the remaining three went straight to the freezer. Since we used three, I chose toppings for one, Matt for the next, and both of us decided on the third. Here is the breakdown:

C's Pizza
-roasted garlic
-goat cheese
-mozzarella
-arugula tossed with a lemon/balsamic viniagrette

M's Pizza
-red sauce
-red pepper
-bacon
-mozzarella
-sharp cheddar


Both
-red sauce
-ham
-pineapple
-green pepper
-pepperoni
-mozzarella
-sharp cheddar

Ok, so we didn't really choose 8 of Ina's toppings, but this worked for the ingredients we had on hand. For once we didn't even have to make a run to the store, for which I'm sure Matt was thankful! I have poo-pooed homemade pizza for years, and until my friend Timm showed me the way and I found this dough recipe from Ina, my choices for pizza consisted of the Hut, and the occassional taste treat from our local brewery. However, now that my eyes have been opened, the possibilities are truly endless and I am sure the dough will be thawing in no time!