Mediterranean White Pizza

Brandon has fallen in love with the Alexander the Greek pizza from Chanello's, a local pizza chain here in Virginia.  It's a Mediterranean style white pizza with, among other things, calamata olives and feta cheese.  It's delicious.  This time, instead of ordering out, I decided to make my own.

You will need: 

fresh pizza dough (1 ball = 1 pizza)

olive oil

minced garlic (I got a jar of it, rather than mincing my own)

fresh basil

 fresh spinach

shredded mozzarella

chopped roma tomatoes (1 per pizza)

chopped calamata olives

chopped white onion

feta cheese, crumbled

I didn't measure anything out, I just kind of gauged by what looked right. If any of these ingredients don't sound good to you, don't put it on the pizza!  I skipped the onion, though it was more by accident than by design.  Just remember, the more ingredients you have to put on it, the less of each you will need.

Preheat oven to 375°F and get your pizza dough thinned out and spread on your pan.  (I wasn't sure whether to oil my pan or not, so I did one with and one with out.  The pizza came easily off of the un-oiled pan, but stuck to the oiled one.)  Mix olive oil, basil, and garlic in a small dish and use your fingers to spread it out on the prepared pizza dough as the "sauce".  Grab a handful of the spinach, break it up a bit, and sprinkle it on.  Add the mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, onion and feta.  (Brandon had me add more mozzarella on top, after that photo was taken.)  Bake at 375°F for 25 or 30 minutes, or until cheese just begins to brown and the crust is golden.  (I let my first one over-brown, and then I took the second one out a bit too soon.)

Let it cool a bit after you take it out, and enjoy!

Sirloin Steak Dianne

I've been going to allrecipes.com for a lot of recipes lately.  Most recently, we tried the sirloin steak Dianne and easy delicious asparagus.

Now, the asparagus recipe was just as delicious as the title promised, but Dianne must really fancy complex recipes.  It was delicious, but it was definitely not easy.

See?  We had to set it on fire.  To make matters worse, I made the triple mistakes of not reading the whole recipe thoroughly, not ensuring that I had all the necessary ingredients, and not doing any prep work.  If Brandon hadn't been there to help me pull it together, it would have been a disaster.  But he was there, he did help me, and we were able toput together a darn good dinner.  One day, we would like to do it again, but with all the right ingredients, and with all the prep work done ahead of time.

Lemon Icebox Pie

 This is a family favorite, and has been a standard at every family gathering for as long as can remember.  I craved it the whole time I was pregnant with Elora, but I didn't have a blender at the time so my mom made one for me when we were home for Christmas that year. 


8oz block cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

½ c lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 ready-made graham cracker crust

Cut the cream cheese into small blocks.  In an electric blender, blend cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth.  Pour mixture evenly into graham cracker crust, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.  Serve plain, or top with fruit.

If you like, you can substitute lime juice for the lemon.  I don't think it's nearly as good that way, but I seem to be the only one who feels that way.  :)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

 This is a recipe that I've made up as I went after Thanksgiving several years ago.  It's a good way to use up left overs.  A rotisserie cooked chicken from the grocery store or a crock-pot-cooked chicken works really well for this.  I'll serve the chicken for dinner one night, then clean the left-overs off the bones and use those in my pot pie the next night.  If you have any suggestions on how to improve this recipe, please share them in the comments!!!!

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper to taste
2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
1/2 of a whole chicken, cooked, picked off the bones, and cut into small pieces*
sm can corn, drained
sm can mixed peas & carrots, drained
1 box Pillsbury frozen rolled pie crusts, thawed (2 crusts)

Pre heat your oven to 350°F.  Make the gravy:  Melt butter, sprinkled with salt and pepper, in a large sauce pan over med-low to medium heat.  Add flour and stir with a whisk until well mixed.  Add broth a little at a time as the gravy thickens, stirring frequently with the whisk.  When the gravy has reached the desired consistency, reduce heat to low and stir in the chicken and vegetables. 

Line a 9" glass pie plate with the first pie crust, pressing the crust all the way into the plate.   Pour the filling into the crust, and place the second crust over the top.  Tuck or trim the edges, and press together with the tines of a fork.  Cut 2 or 3 slits in the middle to allow the pie to vent.

Bake in the center of the oven for 60 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.  If the edges brown too quickly, cover them with foil after 20 or 30 minutes.  It isn't a bad idea to place a cookie sheet under the pie to catch nay drips; it's easier to wash the cookie sheet than to scrub out the oven.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Mexican Pizza

2 Boboli pizza crusts

1 can re-fried beans, divided

1 small can corn, drained and divided

1 lb lean ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

small onion (optional)

1 or 2 jalapeno peppers (optional)

2 lbs Mexican blend shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Brown the ground beef, drain, and prepare according to the instructions on the taco seasoning envelope.  (If desired, chop the onion and peppers and add them to the beef with the seasoning.)  Set aside.  While beef simmers, spread 1/2 of the re-fried beans on each of the 2 pre-baked pizza crusts; it's the "sauce" for the pizza.  Do the same with the corn, using a fork to make sure it's evenly distributed. Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over the corn.  When the sauce on the meat has reduced sufficiently, divide it between the two pizzas as well.  Top with desired amount of shredded cheese.  (You don't have to use the full 2 pounds; if you do, the pizzas will be very cheesy.  Any more then 2 pounds is just overkill.)  Place first pizza on a pizza pan or stone, and back at 350° for 30 minutes, or until cheese is well melted and just starting to brown.  Remove, and cool for 5 minutes before serving.  Repeat with the second pizza.


Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and/or pickled jalapenos.  Enjoy!