Tag Archives: pizza

0825 BBQ Pizza and Corn Snack

We were both starving after work, so while Shane was hassled by a door-to-door salesperson about our choice in internet providers, I popped a BBQ chicken pizza from Trader Joe’s into the freezer and boiled a couple of ears of corn from the market. I don’t recall when I first learned that you could have a sauce other than a basic marinara on a pizza. It was probably after college, around the time that I returned to meat-eating, that I discovered the wonder of BBQ chicken pizza.

When you think about it, what’s not to like? Instead of the sweet-savoriness of marinara, you get the tangy-sweetness of the barbecue sauce. Sure, it won’t work with all the typical pizza toppings – but that’s not the point, is it? I suppose if you don’t go for sweet things on your pizza – ripe tomatoes, pineapple, Canadian bacon, caramelized onion – the idea of putting a richly sweet sauce under a layer of mozzarella or smoky gouda might sound gross. But me? I love it. I also love pesto pizza, pizza with alfredo, pizza with black bean sauce, and crispy pizza crusts dipped in ranch dressing. And to think that I used to not even like the marinara! How things have changed.

0726 Mushroom Tart, Sautéed Kale

I’ve always thought that the concept behind Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee was a strange idea. It feels like a throw-back to an era when processed food was glamorous – you don’t need to roast your own chicken or make your own gravy or biscuits or even chop your own vegetables to make chicken and dumplings! Just open a couple of packages!

On the other hand, I suppose this sort of show does make cooking more accessible for those who are intimidated by glossy food magazines and too-perfect tv chefs – and that’s a step in the right direction. I’ve read in a couple of places – and now can’t recall any of them specifically – our culture now fetishizes the chef (or the eater) while at the same time abandoning cooking ourselves. This NYT article from Michael Pollan is problematic but gets the point across – as a country, we are becoming morbidly obese on processed food while drooling over ridiculously complicated foods prepared on Top Chef or disgustingly huge portions on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. And I quote: “What can possibly be the appeal of watching Guy Fieri bite, masticate and swallow all this chow?”

In this context, anything that will get the average person cooking is a step in the right direction.

I mention all of this because tonight’s dinner would qualify as semi-homemade – an entree from the freezer with a side dish from the garden. While the Tarte aux Champignons (um, fancy thin-crust mushroom tart with Emmentaler and other cheeses) from Trader Joe’s heated up in the toaster oven, I washed, chopped, boiled, and sauteed a bunch of kale with onions and smoked paprika. While the kale could’ve used more paprika and/or garlic, it made an earthy counterpoint to the rich cheeses of the tart. I enjoyed it, but it was all a bit rich for Shane. A worthwhile experiment, though, and one that somewhat vindicates the semi-homemade style of cooking. Somewhat.

Recipe:
Sautéed Kale with Smoked Paprika from Bon Appetit

0714 Dinner at Jolly Pumpkin

My husband is the best. Did you know that? Because he is. Apologies to all of your husbands, but mine takes the cake. I had a super disappointing and frustrating day today – the sort requiring a straight line towards ice cream and a nap. I had planned to make dinner, but Shane convinced me to let him treat, so we pedded up to Jolly Pumpkin.

Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery
photo by brian cors

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned JP here before, but it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite places to eat out in Ann Arbor. The food and drink are consistently excellent, and we can usually enjoy both without breaking the bank. The founder of the brewery is vegan, and as a result the menu features exceptional vegetarian and vegan options – in fact, I don’t think I’ve had meat there yet, though I have enjoyed two delicious and filling tofu salads. Tonight we opted to split an appetizer and a pizza along with our drinks – a beer for Shane, and a lovely strawberry-balsamic cocktail for me.

Our appetizer was a trio of dips – hummus, edamame, and red pepper walnut – served in a perfect ratio to rustic pieces of flatbread. I particularly liked the simplicity of the hummus, which really allowed the flavor of the chickpeas to come through. Our truffle pizza arrived as we scooped up the last bites of dips – not a minute too soon. And oh, was it lovely.

photo by william couch

Three rich, salty, gooey cheeses covered a thin layer of creamed shiitake mushrooms, with a fresh bite of arugula and a drizzle of truffle oil on top. We both stopped after two pieces but looked longingly at the last two before finishing off the pie – far too big for just one person, but the right size for two to split. As Jamie Oliver would say, happy days.

0610 Food?

I really haven’t had time or energy to think about food this week. I’m sorry. I hope you haven’t been too concerned about our welfare. I’ve been tremendously thankful for convenience food this week, and for a husband who will run out to get pizza when I’m too brain dead to even decide on toppings. So thanks, Shane.

0602 Dinner at Vinology

Dinner at Vinology

Shane’s off to DC tomorrow, returning Monday night, and after he gets back, we’ll have houseguests for the better part of a week. I was in a terrible mood, so to combat that and also get some quality time in together, he suggested that we go on a date. We decided to check out Vinology’s happy hour specials: half price wine by the glass, $3 draft beer, $6 fancy flatbread, or 3 sliders for $5.

We both really like wine, but for a variety of reasons rarely drink it at home. As you might have noticed, Shane likes beer, and likes to explore pairing beer with food, so depending on what we’re eating, he’s likely to have something from his collection ready to go. I often want a glass of wine with dinner, but only a glass, so I’m unlikely to open a bottle just for me because it means that I’ll either drink more than I want, or it will sit in the fridge for a few days, by which time it’s lost a good bit of flavor.

I felt that Vinology’s menu made selecting a wine really accessible for a relative amateur – they use icons to indicate whether a wine is big, bubbly, luscious, crisp, etc in addition to sorting by type – so if you have an idea of what you like, you should be able to find at least a couple of appealing selections by the glass or by the bottle. Our server was very knowledgeable, and helped us both choose wines we loved – I wish I could remember exactly what I drank, but I know that one was a Garnacha from Catalunya, and the other was very earthy, with more than a hint of tobacco.

Vinology’s dinner menu is arranged around the different wine tasting profiles, which made it easy to find a select an entree that paired well with both of our wines. Another appealing thing about the menu is that you can get a half portions of many – if not most – entrees – which, in my experience, is usually more than enough food for me. Most of the half portions come in between $10-20, so tonight we split a half portion of the roasted venison (with spaetzle, braised cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, omg!) and the happy hour flatbread (sausage and pepperoni, but changes every day) for $22 total – a very reasonable price for a delicious dinner that totally filled us up.

I had been on the fence about going out tonight – bad mood, spending money, etc – but I’m awfully glad we did. I’m also excited to have found another affordable AND delicious happy hour option.

0528 Homemade Pizza

I’ve come to the conclusion that it is impossible to be unhappy on a moped – at least on a day like today, when the weather is perfect, the ‘ped is running beautifully, and maybe you even get to combine those two things with a spontaneous lunch date, resulting a really pretty perfect afternoon. On top of that, and with the help of a very nice listserv person, I finished the workday off by figuring out a tech problem that has been plaguing me for two months. Pizza was definitely in order.

We had a couple of pork sausages to use up, so I squeezed them out of their casings and browned the meat while the toaster oven heated up. I can’t tell you what a difference this toaster oven has made in our cooking! I mean, it’s not like we’re cooking totally different things than before, but having a device that heats up quickly and maintains a consistent temperature without also heating up the kitchen makes things like pizza on a warm evening much more feasible. I rolled the dough out into oddly shaped rectangles and pre-baked it for about 8 minutes, then topped it with a bit of concentrated tomato paste, a handful of sausage, and some mozzarella cheese. Along with an Oberon, it was a just-right kind of start to the long weekend.

0508 This Pizza is a Miracle

A miracle in a couple of senses. First, it’s a miracle that I got dinner on the table at all. I spent today digging channels for baseboards:

and holding 16′ boards in place while they were marked, drilled, and hung:

plus lots of other mucking about, digging, holding, and securing while participating in the Spirit of Hope hoophouse build in Detroit. What you don’t get from these pictures, though, is an accurate portrayal of the weather. It was cold. It was windy. It rained a lot. It also hailed. And then occasionally the sun would peek out and give us all hope. It was a physically challenging day, but the net result will be an extended growing season for the community garden allied with the kind folks at Spirit of Hope.

After delivering my carpoolers home, I went straight for the tub with a glass of bourbon, both very necessary to soothe and warm my sore muscles. So you can see how getting dinner on the table, much less a home-cooked dinner, much less one that had to be rolled out, was kind of a miracle.

The second miracle? How fantastic these pizzas tasted!

Asparagus, prosciutto, and goat cheese

Roasted red pepper, shallot, asparagus, and goat cheese

I had picked up a frozen ball of pizza dough at Plum earlier in the week, so tonight I split it in half, rolled it out, and pre-baked it at 450 for about 10 minutes. I was surprised by how much the dough puffed up – we tend to like a thinner crust, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it any thinner than this. Add the toppings, toss the pizza back in the oven for a few minutes, and dinner was on the table.

Shane fancied his up with balsamic crema and olive oil, while I didn’t even wait to sit down to start eating. So good! I’ve decided that we need to keep pizza dough in the freezer at all times if it means that a dinner like this can be made in a pinch.

0423 Food Kryptonite

pizza & beer, pt. 1, originally uploaded by "Cowboy" Ben Alman.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am pretty much powerless when certain foods are around. I can’t help myself. The best I can do is set a limit and stick to it, but there’s not a chance of avoiding the food altogether.

Pizza is one of those foods. Ice cream is another. There are very good reasons that we don’t usually keep either food in the house – but there’s not much you can do about the food that comes into the office.

Today my office had a party for our graduating student workers, which meant that two dozen pizzas and four dozen cupcakes spent the afternoon on the OTHER SIDE OF MY CUBICLE WALL. Cruel and unusual treatment, I tell you! I had two slices of vegetarian pizza and one cupcake – more than I had planned to eat, but definitely not as much as I wanted to eat. It was all tasty in a greasy, free kind of way – the pizza was laden with things I like, and the cupcake was Hostess-esque – full of flavor and regret. I hadn’t planned on walking home from work, but after all of that, it seemed like the only responsible choice.

0418 Pizza at Dark Horse

Dark Horse Brewery, originally uploaded by Ben B Miller.

Our first morning as man and wife started with breakfast in bed: bacon, coffee, and Law and Order – a new episode, even! If this is what married life is like, I’m awfully glad we’re giving it a try. Also please let the record show that our first dance as husband and wife took place at Dark Horse when Mike played This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) on the jukebox.

While we’re on the subject of Dark Horse, let me just say that the portabella pizza? Top notch. It took awhile to arrive on our table, but when it did, we dug in with gusto. Thin crispy crust, delicious cheese, and savory mushrooms and pesto – all good stuff. On a strictly aesthetic note, we also appreciated that the pizza was cut into squares – better for sharing and for pacing yourself while also enjoying a Double Crooked Tree or two. Not that any of us did that, of course. Nooo.

0413 Spontaneous Pizza

We had plans for dinner tonight – something healthy, no doubt – but when I got home from my run, I didn’t feel like cooking. Shane offered to cook – but I wanted pizza. That is precisely what I said: “I want pizza.” Shane was equally excited about pizza, and I had a coupon for a free za from the last time I gave blood, so pizza it was! I felt a little hypocritical picking up a pizza in my workout clothes, but I suppose one balances out the other? Either way, we enjoyed greasy slices of cheese and mushroom with a small arugula salad – a totally satisfying dinner.