Tricolor Salad Pizzas

The Recipe

Courtesy of: Food Network Magazine - January/February 2014 Issue

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese
3/4 lb store-bought whole-wheat pizza dough, at room temperature
1 tbsp cornmeal
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
Freshly ground pepper
1 small head radicchio
2 heads endive
1 cup grape tomatoes
4 cups baby arugula
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. Finely grate the parmesan and thinly slice the mozzarella. Cut the pizza dough into 4 pieces. Sprinkle a work surface with the cornmeal and use a rolling pin and/or your hands to stretch each piece of dough into a rectangle, about 5 by 11 inches; place 2 rectangles on each baking sheet.

Brush the dough with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, then distribute 4 tablespoon-size dollops of the ricotta onto each rectangle. Scatter with the mozzarella slices, then sprinkle evenly with the grated parmesan and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bake until the cheese is melted and the dough is browned, about 12 minutes.

While the pizzas are cooking, thinly slice the radicchio and endive and halve the tomatoes. Toss in a large bowl with the arugula, the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Top each pizza with about 1.5 cups salad. Serve immediately.

Tips/Tweaks

Keeping it Healthy

Instead of buying fresh mozzarella, we buy Sargento's reduced fat shredded mozzarella. It tastes just as great and is a little more healthy for you. Also, instead of using all olive oil, we use walnut oil.

Slight Changes

Joshua is a sucker for warmed tomatoes, so he preferred to put the tomatoes on the pizza before baking.

Tips

If you are wondering where to find the pizza dough, or what to use, for you local folks - we use Festival brand whole-wheat pizza dough, which you can find in the bakery. This makes the recipe extremely easy to make. Otherwise, making a quick pizza dough is not that difficult either. Just don't use the pop-n-fresh dough.

Review

We made this recipe twice in one week - that's right, TWICE! It is in the Food Network magazine issue about light cooking, so it's wonderful to be able to eat a pizza that is somewhat good for you! This recipe is very simple and extremely delicious, and I'm sure it's now a staple in our typical recipes to refer to.

Red Velvet Puppy Chow

The Recipe 

Courtesy of: www.yourcupofcake.com

5 cup Rice Chex cereal

3/4 cups white chocolate melts or chips

1/4 cups chocolate melts or chips

2 oz cream cheese, room temp

1.5 tbsp milk

1 cup Red Velvet Cake mix

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Valentines colored M&M's or other candies

Heart sprinkles for extra decoration and cute-ness

 

Measure out the Rice Chex cereal and place into a large bowl. Place cake mix and powdered sugar into a large plastic bag or tupperware with a lid.

 

Melt chocolates together in the microwave or on the stove top. Careful not to burn and stir until smooth. 

 

 

Stir in cream cheese and milk (the chocolate will get thicker, but it's okay.

 

 

Pour chocolate over Rice Chex cereal and stir until coated. 

 

 

Dump cereal into the bag or tupperware with powdered sugar and cake mix. Shake, shake, shake until coated.

 

 

Dump onto a cookie sheet and let cool.

 

 

Mix with extra colorful candies and serve! Note that because of the cream cheese, keep in the fridge if you won't be eating them that day. You can also omit the cream cheese all together if you wish...if you do that, you don't need the milk either! 

Review

The Valentine's Day twist on a classic recipe is perfect for a winter snack. It didn't turn out as pink as the picture on the website, but it tastes great! We will be making this in the future for parties or just for us around the holiday!