BBQ Cheeseburger Pizza

Photos courtesy of the Cooking Corner.

 We have been attempting to master the art of grilled pizza for years with only marginally edible success. They either seem to turn out charred or undercooked. Our last attempt had been a grilled pizza using leftover shrimp fajitas. The idea sounded marvelous, but there was so much moisture in the shrimp and veggies that I think it made the center soggy.

One of our friends recommended a thin almost cracker-type crust and another friend donated a pizza stone. Both of these tips helped immensely when we pulled off our best grilled pizza to date, a BBQ cheeseburger pizza that uses a mix of ketchup and BBQ as sauce. Using leftover burgers that were already cooked speeds the process up immensely. Good luck.

BBQ Cheeseburger Pizza

1 8-inch ultra thin pizza crust

1-1/2 quarter lb. cooked hamburger

1 green onion, sliced (optional)

Pizza ingredients.

1/2 cup shredded cheese

  (I used 1/4 cup sharp cheddar and 1/4 cup colby jack)

2 T. bacon bits

1/4 cup BBQ sauce of choice

1/4 cup ketchup

1 T. cornmeal

Place pizza stone (if using) on grill. Sprinkle with a dusting of cornmeal.

Close lid and heat grill on high (400) for 20 minutes. 

In small bowl mix BBQ sauce and ketchup, stirring well. 

Place crust on round pan or plate. Spread sauce over pizza thinly but reaching to edges. 

Place 2 burgers on cutting board and cut each in half. Take 3 of the halves and cut into

small chunks. Sprinkle evenly over pizza and then top with sliced onion if using, cheese and bacons bits.

Slide pizza onto grill or stone, lower lid and cook for 4-5 minutes checking bottom and edges carefully. May require 3 more minutes for cheese to melt.

Serves 2-3.

Pizza ready for the grill.

Vegetable Pizza

Vegetable Pizza
Jason Spindler, Attorney

    Many people these days are big on eating healthy. I'm just happy to have food and if it taste good all the better. But what if you can have healthy food that tastes good? Then you get the best of both. 

    I tried this veggie pizza at a fundraiser dinner and was so surprised at the flavor and texture. Even my hubby who is a complete carnivore thought this was really good.

Photo courtesy Taste of Home.

Vegetable Pizza

2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent rolls

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1(1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix

1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup chopped cauliflower

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup chopped green olives

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a baking sheet, and pinch together edges to form the pizza crust.

Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dry Ranch dressing.  Spread the mixture over the cooled crust.  Arrange broccoli, green bell pepper, olives, cauliflower, carrots and cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer. Chill for one hour, slice and serve.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Photo courtesy of the Cooking Corner.

     The newest flavor blitz seems to be chicken, bacon and ranch dressing. I see the combination stuffed in potatoes and on sandwiches at restaurants. For dinner one night I decided to use those toppings on a thin crust pizza. Often I'm afraid that I over do the toppings on homemade pizza, but since I used the new thin crust by Pillsbury, this wasn't a problem. It can withstand ample toppings and is easy to make. The crust spreads out big, so it can handle toppings in quantity. 
     The flavor combination of chicken, bacon and ranch worked together well, but I've increased the amounts for this pizza recipe. The hubby's comment was, "More meat."

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
1 Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup Taco Bell Kraft spicy ranch sauce
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup green (or red) bell peppers, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup onions, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll dough onto a large baking sheet. Spread ranch dressing over crust. Sprinkle with chicken, bacon, garlic, peppers and onions if using. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake until golden, about 15-17 minutes. Serves 4.

Pizza ready for oven.

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Taco Pizza

   My quest for football food continues and this time I'm taking on a Taco Pizza. One of the girls at work passed this recipe around the airwaves and I thought I'd give it a shot. It was very easy and I usually have these ingredients in stock. After all, tacos are common fare at my house.
   I knew the flavors would go over big with my crew, taco anything is usually a hit. The only trouble I had was with the crust. Doesn't that always seem to be the case with pizza dough? It's hard to get it just right as far as texture and crispiness.
   But individual preferences are many. Some like it thin, others thick and a few chewy. It's hard to nail that one just right. A friend of mine in the pizza business says home ovens can't get the temperature of commercial pizza (or brick) ovens (800 degrees), so it'll never be quite the same.
   Watch your crust and you'll be pleased with how easy and tasty this turns out for game day.

Taco Pizza
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1-10 oz. can refrigerated Pillsbury pizza dough
1-16 oz. can refried beans
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used colby and monterey jack cheese)
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes or salsa
1/4 cup sliced black olives (optional)
4 green onions, chopped (optional)

Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain grease. Add taco seasoning to meat and cook according to package directions.

Unroll pizza dough onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Let dough come to room temperature for 5 minutes. Press dough over bottom and up sides the of cookie sheet. Bake pizza dough for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven.

Place refried beans in a  bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Stir again and then spread beans evenly over the top of warm  crust. Top with the taco meat, sprinkle with cheese and then add  tomatoes or salsa, black olives and green onion.

Return to oven and bake another 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

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Gluten free pizza

A pizza with tomato sauce, cheese, tomatos, field mushrooms, onion etc. Português: Uma pizza de queijo feita em casa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   One of my friends from college has trouble with gluten, so he and his wife have researched, tested and tweeked recipes. This is how they make a pizza that's gluten free and tasty, too.

 Gluten free pizza
1 pound Johnsonville Mild Italian sausage
1 jar of Ragu Original Pizza sauce or Classico
Udi's Gluten free pizza crusts
onions and green peppers (optional)

 Brown the sausage and add onions and green peppers (if desired). Use both crust and put them on a baking pan and use half the sauce on each crust. (If you don't like a lot of sauce, use less.)

 Put the sausage mix on each crust and then add mushrooms and slices of tomato. Smother the top of both with mozzarella cheese or any other mixture of Italian cheese. 

Bake for at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and browns and the crust is nice.

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Breakfast Pizza

Photo courtesy Taste of Home

   It's great to have friends that share recipes. One of the guys at work was telling me how his wife made him a breakfast pizza that turned out really good. What a great idea!
   I really like the concept of using sausage gravy as the sauce and crescent rolls for the dough. As far as the toppings, my hubby would call this Pork-a-palooza breakfast pizza - you've got it all - bacon, ham and sausage, topped with a little green pepper and onion. What a way to start the day!

Sausage, Bacon and Ham Breakfast Pizza

1 pkg. crescent rolls (to cover 9x13 inch pan)

1/2 pound bulk sausage    

4 to 6 slices bacon

1 thick slice of ham, diced about (2 oz.)  

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste

2 T. butter

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

4 eggs, whisked with 2 T. milk

2 cups pizza cheese 

   Unroll crescent rolls and place on lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350° for three minutes. Remove from oven.

    Cook the sausage, but do not drain; stir in the flour and milk. Stir until thickened, season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool slightly and then pour over pre-baked crescent rolls.

   Clean pan and cook bacon until almost crisp, mix with the diced ham. Melt the butter and cook the diced peppers and onion until tender and then add the whisked eggs add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until desired doneness. Add the bacon and ham to this and spoon over the sausage gravy.

   Cover the entire pizza with the cheese and bake at 350 ° for 10 to 13 minutes or until crust is lightly browned at the edges and the cheese is completely melted.

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BLT Pizza

Photo courtesy Taste of Home.

   Everything goes better with bacon and that includes pizza. A friend mentioned the idea of a BLT pizza and I decided to give it a shot. I think she used mayo for the sauce, but I went with Ranch dressing since it's more of a fave at our house. I decided to use tomato chunks instead of slices for more of a flavor burst and that worked well. Because of the moisture in the tomatoes, I thought a thin crust might not be the way to go. It turned out good, even though the kids were a little skeptical. The general consensus - you can't have too much bacon. The last topping of lettuce is optional.


BLT pizza
1 pre-made pizza crust (needs to be a little thick and firm for tomatoes)
1 T. olive oil
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1 lb. bacon, cooked until almost done and still soft
1/3-/12 cup Ranch dressing
8 Roma tomatoes, cut in quarters and seeded
basil, 2 fresh leaves, sliced or 1/4 tsp. dried
oregano, 2 sprigs fresh, chopped or 1/2 tsp. dried
salt and pepper
4 oz. extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded lettuce

   Pizza is easiest if all ingredients are ready for use.
   Cook bacon until almost done, not crispy. Drain on paper towel until ready to use. Chop tomatoes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees with rack in center of oven. Place pizza crust on baking sheet or cookie tray (unless you don't mind risking a dirty oven and like the crust crispy). Brush olive oil over crust. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Pour Ranch dressing over pizza, smoothing to the edges. Add crumbled bacon and chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle basil, oregano, salt and pepper over all. Top with layer of cheese.
   Bake according to package directions. (Mine said reduce heat to 425 and bake for 7-10 minutes.) When pizza is done, sprinkle with a little lettuce and serve. Serves 2-3 depending on size of crust.

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Homemade Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza

Photo courtesy Taste of Home

Homemade pizza is one of those dishes that you can use what you have on hand in the kitchen for toppings, as long as you've got some sauce and cheese.  If you use a refrigerator crust the time saved is enormous and the cost is minimal. When you're busy, this is one of those perfect quick dinners if you add a side salad and the time is around 30 minutes (which is about the time it takes for delivery). It's also cheaper.

Homemade Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza
1/2 ground sausage
1/4 cup onion, sliced
1/8 cup green pepper, diced
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2-4 oz. can tomato sauce
1 refrigerator pizza dough (I used Pillsbury)
1-8 oz. pkg. pizza cheese
sprinkle of tomato/basil spice (or just basil)
2 dozen pepperoni
3 cloves roasted garlic, diced
1 tsp. olive oil

Brown sausage. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Saute' onion and pepper with a crushed red pepper, just until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425. Roll out pizza dough on sprayed 13x9x2 baking pan. Brush crust with olive oil. Layer tomato sauce, garlic, sausage, veggies, pepperoni, cheese and spices. Bake at 425 for 16 minutes for softer crust.

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Spicy Buffalo Blue Cheese Pizza

If you like Buffalo wings and blue cheese with a bit of kick, this is a good pizza variation to try. It's a combo of some of my favorite flavors and the crushed red pepper gives it just a hint of heat. One Friday night, before I'd had a chance to do grocery shopping, I came up with this combo out of what was left in the fridge - one pizza crust, a few chicken tenders, some leftover Alfredo sauce and fresh mozzarella. There's quite a bit of moisture in the mozzarella and wing sauce, so I recommend a thick crust or at least very firm crust for your pie. The flavors were surprisingly good - big and bold.

Spicy Buffalo Blue Cheese Pizza
1 pizza crust of choice
2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) or 4-5 chicken tenders, cut up in bite sized pieces
1/8 cup or 1/4 of small onion, chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup Alfredo sauce (Ranch dressing can be substituted)
1/4 cup Buffalo wing sauce
sprinkle of crushed red pepper
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
5 slices fresh mozzarella, torn into pieces

In 1 tablespoon of oil, saute chicken pieces just until they turn white, about ten minutes.  Add onions and garlic, simmer, covered, stirring often until chicken is done, about 15 minutes. Add wing sauce and simmer, covered 5-10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425. Spread Alfredo sauce on pizza crust. Add chicken pieces and sprinkle lightly with crushed red pepper. Layer mozzarella and sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles. Reduce heat on oven and bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or as crust directs. Makes 1 pizza.
Note - blue cheese will spread and melt into mozzarella, which is very moist, the color will be an ugly shade of green - but, if you like buffalo chicken and blue cheese, the taste will be great.

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Buffalo Chicken Pizza

One of my sons' favorite flavors is Buffalo - they always love an order of good wings. So when I ran across the idea of Buffalo chicken pizza, I thought this should go over well and it did. The only suggestion they gave was to use a better sauce. (I used the absolute cheapest hot sauce). This isn't hard to make and doesn't take many ingredients. The only variation is what kind of crust you use. So try our take on Friday night pizza.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
2 pizza crust (I used packaged, but ready made is fine)
4 small chicken breast cut into thin strips
1 t. olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 T. Soul Seasoning
sprinkle of kosher salt and pepper
1/4 cup hot sauce or wing sauce
1/2 cup Ranch dressing
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Slice chicken breasts into strips and sprinkle with Soul Seasoning and salt and pepper. Let stand a few minutes while preparing crust. Spray 2 pizza pans (or pie pans if making deep dish style).
In large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil. When hot, add chicken strips and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook 5 minutes more stirring. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain any excess liquid. Add hot sauce and cover. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then let stand off heat.
Preheat oven . Put pizza dough on pans. Spread layer of Ranch dressing over top of each crust. Spread half of chicken pieces over each crust. Sprinkle with generously with cheese.
Bake according to package directions 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.
Serves 4-6.

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Fruit Pizza

Really, doesn't this just sound great? Something finally that's slightly healthy and you can eat right out of your hand - everybody's favorite - pizza! This is a dish that can be used as a dessert or appetizer and would be perfect for a pot luck dinner. There's only a few ingredients and you can substitute what you have on hand just to make it easier.

Fruit Pizza
1 pkg. refrigerator sugar cookie roll
1-16 oz pkg. whipped cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 jar marachino cherries, drained
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1-2 sliced bananas
1 pt. strawberries, 2-3 sliced kiwi, or a dozen red grapes, optional

Soften cookie dough to room temperature. Spread dough on pizza pan and bake 7-10 minutes at 350. Let cool.
Mix cream cheese and sugar. Spread cream cheese mix onto cookie dough. Place fruit as desired on top. Slice and serve.

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Homemade Pizza Crust

Image via Wikipedia

When the economy went south and the budget got tighter, one of the first things to go away was eating out, even pizza delivery. Sometimes I miss those days. But after much experimenting, I found a recipe for homemade pizza crust that I really like - I'm just not sure it's tough enough for the grill. That will come later. But this is a quick and easy yeast bread recipe with very little rising time - just let it rest 10 minutes then bake for a bit and then top. We did this Labor Day topped with just BBQ and cheese - my meat eating sons loved it.


Pizza Crust
1 package (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 T. vegetable oil
1 t. sugar
1/4 t. salt
2-1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
Cornmeal
Pizza toppings

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil, sugar, and and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat well. Stir in enough four, a little at a time to make a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface, cover with dish towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425. Grease pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Knead dough for just a few minutes and then Roll into 13 inch circle. Build up edges of dough for a slight rim. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned. Add toppings and continue to bake 10-15 minutes more.
Tip - brush dough lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt or chopped garlic.

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