Grilled Veggie Pizza

I felt like making pizza and wanted to try something different. I usually do pepperoni or proscuitto with arugula and goat cheese as my topping but with summer I was trying to find a lighter topping. I grilled the veggies in advance and then put them on the pizza. Grilling the veggies added a dimension of flavor, but if you're in a hurry you can skip that step.

Ingredients:
1 batch of pizza dough (recipe found here)
1/2 small red onion, sliced 1/3 inch thick
1 zucchini, sliced thinly
1 yello squash, sliced thinly
1 bell pepper
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup marinara or pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup cornmeal, for dough on pizza paddle
1/2 cup flour, for rolling dough

Directions:

1. Make your pizza dough and allow to rest throughout the day.

2. Slice up zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion. Preheat a grill to high heat and grill all veggies. (Leave bell pepper whole for grilling and cut into strips later. Use a foil basket to grill tomatoes).

3. Put your grilled and cut up veggies to the side.

4. Preheat an oven to as high as it will go. If you have a pizza stone put it in the oven to preheat with the oven.

5. Roll out pizza dough using a little flour so it doesn't stick to the door. Sprinkle corn meal on your pizza paddle and place the dough on the pizza paddle. Shake the pizza paddle back and forth to make sure the dough isn't sticking before putting on the toppings.

6. Make the pizza - put 3 tbs. of sauce on the pizza and spread out with a spoon. Top with a small sprinkle of cheese as a base layer. Top with your veggies, just sprinkle them around the pizza. Now top it with more cheese to seal in the veggies.

7. Once your oven is preheated, slide in the pizza carefully. Cook until the dough is crisp and the cheese is bubbling, about 5-7 minutes.

8. Take your pizza out carefully and slide it onto a cutting board. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then slice into pizza and serve!!

Stuffed Tomatoes Provencal

I was looking for a healthy side dish and stumbled upon this recipe for stuffed tomatoes. I love tomatoes, especially in summer when they're at their best. The herbs give it a very bright taste so it's good to pair this with a heavier meat. The only thing I didn't love about this dish is that I couldn't make it ahead. The bread crumbs got soggy after being in the tomato for too long so make the bread crumb filling earlier in the day if needed and then fill the tomatoes right before baking.

Ingredients:
6 ripe tomatoes (2 to 3 inches in diameter)
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced scallions (about 2 scallions)
1/4 cup minced basil
2 tbs. minced parsley
2 tsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup gruyere cheese
Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Cut the tops off of the tomatoes. Remove the core, taking out as little as possible. Remove some of the seeds and juice so the final dish isn't too soggy.

3. In a bowl combine bread crumbs, scallions, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic, and 1 tsp. salt.

4. Season the tomato cups with salt and pepper. With your hands, fill the cavities of the tomatoes and slightly mound the top with the bread crumb filling.

5. Place the tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes or tender.

6. Drizzle some olive oil on the tomatoes and then sprinkle with cheese. Bake for another 2 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and melted.

7. Remove from oven and serve hot or at room temperature.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

This was a great make ahead dish! You can make the cooking liquid in advance and then throw everything in the slow cooker the day of. This would be a great dish to make either on a busy day or as a satisfying weekend dinner. 
Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh ginger
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup cold water
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
(optional toppings: sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds)

Directions:

1. Add the chicken breasts to the bottom of your slow cooker in a single layer.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the garlic, onion, honey, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger, and black pepper until combined. Pour the mixture on top of the chicken breasts.

3. Cover slow cooker, and cook on high for 2-3 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily with a fork.

4. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon to a separate bowl and shred it using two forks. Transfer the remaining teriyaki sauce from the slow cooker to a medium saucepan.

5. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, whisk together the cold water and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved and no longer lumpy. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the teriyaki sauce mixture, and whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and let it boil for about 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and pour the sauce on top of the shredded chicken. Toss to combine.

6. Serve topped with scallions (green onions) and toasted sesame seeds if desired.

Orange County Fair Concessioner's Cup

Last week I was lucky enough to be a judge in the 2016 Orange County Fair Concessioner's Cup. I got to be on stage with a bunch of other foodies including mixologists, other food bloggers, and newspaper writers tasting some really delicious food.

The winner of the day was Tasti Burger's Chili Relleno Pretzel Burger. This was literally a burger patty with a chili relleno stuck inside of it! It had a ton of flavor and was really unique!

I got to try all kinds of food like Chicken Charlie's Bacon Wrapped Fried Chicken which was surprisingly better than I thought. I figured the bacon would make the dish too heavy but it actually gave it a really crunchy crust and the meat was still moist and succulent.

I also tasted what I thought was one of the best dishes of the day - the selfie snowcone. It was a mountain of cotton candy on top of a snow cone topped with lollipops, pixie sticks, and cereal pieces. The judges renamed it the kids bloody mary! Now of course, being the selfie snowcone, you got to take a selfie!!








There was a lot of competition for the best dish. I must have eaten over 100 entries! The key was to pace. Even when something was extra tasty I would only allow myself one bite. The event was a blast and I feel honored to be included as a judge!!

Caprese Zucchini Noodles

Now that it's summer, I've been trying to eat slightly healthier. I've had a spiralizer for a while now and only used it once or twice so I thought I would bring it out of retirement. It was actually a really fun tool to use and I can't wait to come up with more ideas of food I can spiralize.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. cooked chicken or 1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded
2 zucchinis, spiralized with largest noodle blade
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 lb. grape or cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 leaves of basil, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh mozzarella balls, sliced in half

Directions:

1. Spiralize zucchini into noodles following your spiralizer's directions.

2. Heat a pan over medium low heat and add 1 tbs. olive oil and the garlic. Saute for 30 seconds.

3. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, and crushed red pepper flakes to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cover pan. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the tomatoes soften and start to burst.

4. Add in the shredded chicken and cook for about 1 minute.

5. Add in the zucchini noodles, cheese, and basil and cook for 2 minutes. If you over cook the zucchini it will get soggy.

6. Pull off of the heat and serve right away. I topped mine with a little extra mozzarella cheese :)

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Fried Mashed Potato Balls

I had some left over mashed potatoes and stumbled on this recipe. What really got me was the fact that these are stuffed with cheese! You could definitely put your own flavor spin on these if you were serving a different type of cuisine. These were best eaten right when fried so you can form and bread them a little in advance and then fry them when people show up.

Ingredients:

2 cups Mashed Potatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1 sprig fresh basil, chopped

Dipping Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 head of garlic, roasted and peeled (rub garlic head with olive oil and salt, cover with foil, bake at 350 until garlic is tender and slightly browned, about 30 minutes)
salt and pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tbs. fresh chives

Directions:

1.Make the dipping sauce by combining all of the ingredients except the chives and mashing it together so the garlic cloves break up in the sour cream. Put in container you plan to serve dip in and top with chives. Place in fridge while you finish making dish.

2. Set up a breading station: one plate with all-purpose flour, a second plate with the eggs - whisked up, and a third plate with bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese. Put a pinch of salt on all three plates and stir with a fork to disperse.

3. Pull out your leftover mashed potatoes. Using an ice cream scoop or spoon make a small ball of mashed potatoes. You can make it as small or large as you like, I do a little smaller than a golf ball. Flatten the potatoes out in your hand. Add a tsp. of shredded mozzarella into the middle and close up the mashed potatoes around it. Repeat this step until you are out of mashed potatoes.

4. Heat up a saucepan of canola oil over medium heat until it reaches 350.

5. Take a mashed potato ball and place in the plate of flour. Move to coat and make sure to tap off any excess. Dip the ball into the plate of eggs. Move to coat and  make sure to remove any extra egg that drips off. Dip the ball in the plate of bread crumbs. Move to coat and make sure to tap off any excess.

6. Repeat the above step for all of the mashed potato balls. As you work on breading the balls you can start frying them.

7. Once the oil is hot, drop in 3-5 balls at a time into the pan. Make sure not to over crowd it. Fry for about 3 minutes until the balls are a nice golden brown. Remove to a plate with paper towels to drain excess fat. Season with salt while still hot.

8. Once all of the balls are fried and seasoned, place on a platter and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and basil. Serve warm with your garlic cream dipping sauce.

Skirt Steak with Charred Onion Salad

I wanted to try out this dish I found online because it had a lot of ingredients and flavor combos I don't normally use. I'm glad I tried it even though it wasn't my favorite dish I've made. If you're feeling adventurous, give it a try!


Ingredients:

2 medium Vidalia onions or other sweet onions (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 medium radishes, very thinly sliced (use a mandoline if you have one)
1 large bunch watercress, rinsed and dried
1 pound skirt steak


Directions:

1. Preheat a very large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it just begins to smoke.

2. While the pan is heating, slice the onions into 1/4-inch-thick rings and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper in a medium bowl. Add the onions to the skillet and cook, undisturbed, until they char slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until they are further charred and slightly softened but still crunchy, 3 to 4 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

3. Stir together the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the fish sauce in the medium bowl that the onions were in. Add the radishes, watercress, cilantro and cooked onions and toss until well coated. Allow the mixture to sit at least 5 minutes, so the juices from the onion combine with the dressing.

4. Wipe out the skillet the onions cooked in and return it to medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steak with 3/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper and put it into the hot skillet. Cook until well browned on one side, 3 to 4 minutes; flip and cook until medium rare, 3 to 4 minutes more. Transfer to a cutting board and allow the steak to rest for a few minutes, then slice thinly against the grain.

5. Divide the salad mixture among 4 bowls. Top each bowl with slices of steak.