Love Shack Larder: Pizza

Last week it was all about the tomatos...tomatoes... and regardless of how you say it...having them fresh this time of year is all that matters! We've been eating left-over roasted tomato n'pepper soup all week with grilled ham n'cheese sliders...yum!

Have you seen these new mini Sandwich Thins by Arnold? How cute are they...I ask you? AND then to top it all off...each one is only 50 calories...brilliant I tell you...just brilliant! {Please be advised that I'm not being compensated in any manner by Arnold...this is simply my humble opinion :}

So cute and it's really fun to use them to make your own minis with your favorite fillings...like we did here for our grilled ham n'cheese sliders :}

Continue reading "More...Tomatos...Tomatoes..." »

Works-For-Me-Wednesday

Today...what Works-For-Me is Trader Joe's "Ready to Go" Pizza Dough...

Photo Courtesy of PW Cooks

...Trader Joe's sells pizza dough in their deli/cheese refrigerated section, in either wheat or white for just ninety-nine cents! I couldn't wait to try it because I have thought for some time now about trying to make my own dough after reading this PW blog post. But every time I buy yeast at the store...I bring it home and put it in the cupboard and forget about it...and then by the time I am ready to try cooking with it...it has passed it's expiration date...anyone else out there who can relate?

Photo Courtesy of PW Cooks

So you can just imagine how excited I was the other day when I was checking out all the wonderful cheeses in the deli case at Trader Joe's and I saw these wonderful packages of Pizza Dough all ready to bring home and use...felt like I had won the lottery when I saw the price tag! Felt like shouting...WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER...but I didn't...I simply placed one soft, wonderful package in my cart and smiled all the way home :D

So today, I pulled the lovely dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for the required 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped and partially sauteed some chicken breast meat for my White Chicken Pesto pizza topping. Once the dough was at room temperature, I rolled out the crust, with my hands, onto my floured counters until it was as thin as we like it. Then I transfered the dough onto a baking sheet that I had sprinkled with corn meal...it makes the crust crunchy and sweet. Next, I spread a thin layer of Trader Joe's pesto and then top it with Trader Joe's mozzarella discs, organic spinach leaves, pine nuts, chicken, shredded parmesan cheese and chopped tomatoes...oh yeah!

Once it was all assembled...I cooked it at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese was all bubbly...yum!

DH could hardly wait for it to set so we could slice it...oh yeah! We ate it with some balsamic vinegar for dipping the crust in...oh yeah so good!

On another note...one that is related actually...today while eating our pizza, DH and I were catching up on some of my TITO'd shows...Dr. Oz in particular...and recently he had Chef Art Smith (remember, Oprah's wonderful Southern chef) ontalking about heart health. OMG...have you all seen Chef Art Smith lately...he has lost a lot of weight since I last saw him on Bravo's Top Chef Masters last year! AND guess what he eats to help manage his weight loss...Whole Wheat Pizza!

Oh Yeah...Trader Joe's Pizza Dough...Works-For-Me this Wednesday!