Heirloom Tomato Pizza

I used the 365 Everyday Organic Original Pizza crust from Whole Foods.  Lightly brush the pizza crust with olive oil.  Sprinkle with 2 chopped cloves of garlic. Add your toppings:

 

- 1.5 sliced and halved heirloom tomatoes
- 2 slices of La Quercia Prosciutto Americano
- 4 ounces of Celebrity International Honey Goat Cheese
- 9 of the small fresh mozzarella balls, slice into thirds
- Approximately 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano
- 3 chopped purple basil leaves
- Chopped fresh basil leaves, approximately 5 leaves
- A few turns of a pepper mill

 

Cook on 400 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned

 

This meal was rated 3.5 asparagus spears

Roasted Beet Salad with Honey Goat Cheese

Roasted Beets

Prepare the beets by washing and trimining off the ends off.

Place the trimmed beets in a roasting pan with a little water. Cover with aluminum foil and cook on 425 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.  Let the beets cool a bit and then you can easily remove the skin.

Slice the beets and garnish with some crumbles of honey goat cheese and chopped fresh oregano.

Greek Chicken and Grilled Vegetables

The inspiration for last night’s meal was a Greek salad; however I knew my husband would want something more substantial for dinner, so the end result was the following menu.

Greek Chicken
Grilled Summer Vegetables
Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous
Red Leaf Lettuce with a Red Wine Vinaigrette, Feta, Sliced Cucumbers and Kalamata Olives

Greek Chicken

In a shallow baking dish, salt and pepper two boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Drizzle the chicken with Grapeseed oil and the juice of one lemon. Season with ½ tablespoon of chopped fresh Greek oregano leaves and ¼ tablespoon fresh summer savory leaves. Top with slices of lemon.  Bake on 350 degrees. 

Grilled Vegetables

You can really use any vegetables you have on hand. I used 2 mini red, yellow and orange bell peppers, 2 baby eggplants, 1 zucchini, 1 summer squash, a couple of scallions, and several cherry tomatoes.  To prepare the vegetables:

·         Halve and seed the peppers

·         Cut the tops off the eggplant, zucchini and squash and then slice lengthwise

·         Keep scallions and tomatoes whole

·         Drizzle all of the vegetables lightly with olive oil. Salt and pepper.

I cooked my vegetables using a grill pan on the top of the stove.   It’s important to have the stove at a pretty high heat so that you can get the grill marks. Last night I decided to chop the vegetables into cubes however you can also nicely display the vegetables on a platter in the larger pieces that you grilled.

As far as the couscous goes I used the Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous that cooks in 5 minutes. It’s quick and easy!

The salad is where I fit in the remaining ingredients from Greek Salad that I enjoy so much, Feta Cheese and Kalamata olives.  I made the vinaigrette by mixing 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard with 1-2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.  As I was whisking together the vinegar and mustard, I added Grapeseed oil until I had the consistency I was looking for.  I seasoned it with a dash of salt, fresh cracked pepper and some thyme.  I don’t like an over abundance of dressing on my salad, unfortunately last night I added too much since I was in a hurry. If time would have allowed I would have preferred to grill the vegetables and the chicken on the charcoal grill to get the additional flavor.

This meal was rated 3 asparagus spears

Basil and Oregano

I had quite a bit of basil and oregano left from our first bushel; the only thing that came to mind to use it up was homemade pizza night! This of course is not a very original menu idea, especially for a Friday night but it's quick and easy!

Menu
Chicken Pesto Pizza
Italian Sausage and Fire Roasted Tomato Pizza

Chicken Pesto Pizza

To make the pesto sauce I followed the Barefoot Contessa's Pesto Recipe found on foodnetwork.com. This recipe yields 4 cups which is way more than you need for this so I cut the recipe in half.

Toppings

I used 1 large boneless chicken breast and seasoned it with sea salt, fresh ground pepper and some Montreal Steak seasoning.  I also chopped about a tablespoon of fresh oregano.  To prepare the chicken, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with 1/4 of diced red onion in a saute pan. (I would suggest increasing the red onion to 1/3 cup as I wasn't completely happy with the chicken to onion ratio).  Add the chicken to the same pan and brown on either side.  Remove onion and reserve once the they have softened. Continue to cook chicken until it is cooked thoroughly.  Once the chicken is done, dice into small bite size pieces and let cool.  I also sliced 3 roma tomatoes and had about 4oz of goat cheese and 2 tablespoons shredded of Parmigiano Reggiano on hand.

Preparing the Pizza
For the crust I used 365 Everyday Value Organic Pizza Crust from Whole Foods.  Cover the crust liberally with the prepared pesto sauce.  I used about half of the pesto sauce on this pizza (approximately 1 cup). Season with a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper.  Add the diced chicken and the cooked red onion.  The next layer is the slices of roma tomatoes. Crumble the goat cheese and sprinkle the shredded Parmigiano Reggiano.  Chop some fresh parsley and fresh oregano and sprinkle to the top of the pizza for color.  Cook at 400 degrees for approximately 12 minutes.

Italian Sausage and Fire-Roasted Tomato Pizza

The Italian sausage I used was something we purchased from Lemon Tree Grocer in Downers Grove. It's their Italian sausage with giardiniera and mozzarella. I removed the sausage from the casing and browned it.

I also used the 365 Everyday Value Organic Pizza Crust for this pizza.  Lightly coat the crust with a little olive oil and sprinkle with minced garlic (approximately 2 large cloves).  I also added a bit of the pesto sauce from prior recipe and spread it out on the crust.  I would say I only used about a tablespoon on this pizza.  Add a 14.5 oz can of Muir Glen Organic Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes. Be cautious with how much tomato juice gets on the crust as you don't want the crust to get soggy. The next layer should be the Italian Sausage.  Let it cool some before adding it so that you can crumble it into some smaller pieces as you are layering it onto the crust.  Sprinkle with some chopped oregano leaves and thyme leaves.  Add 1 1/4 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese and a few small dollops of the pesto sauce to the top.  Finish the pizza with a couple leaves of chopped fresh basil and oregano.  This pizza also cooks at 400 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or until the cheese is browned.

My food critic rated the pizzas individually.

The Chicken Pesto Pizza was rated 3.5 asparagus spears

The Italian Sausage and Fire Roasted Tomato Pizza was rated 4 asparagus spears