Beet-za Pizza!

Most people think of pizza being made from pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. I agree, that's pizza. But I think that pizza is so much more than that too.

One of my favourite pizzas is my Butternut Squash and Arugula Pizza  and it doesn't have any tomato sauce on it at all. In fact it has maple syrup on it! One of my other favourite pizzas is my Provençal Pizza and it's covered in pears and lavendar! 

If you think either of those pizzas sound like something you might be interested in tasting, keep on reading because this pizza is incredibly yummy too. It's my version of a pizza created on the Roasted Root, but done in an even more beet-y way to incorporate the earthy flavour of beet greens. 

Fungi Nights

If I had to eat one thing every single night of the week, I don't even have to think about what I would choose. I know it would be pizza. Pizza can be done in a million ways and not one of them are bad. Plus, almost every single pizza I've ever eaten contains cheese in some form and if you know me, you know how much I love cheese!

Today's pizza is my version of a fungi pizza. It's not a first date pizza because of all the roasted garlic and blue cheese, but it's certainly the pizza I'd choose to make for a 10th date. It's a real winner.

The Grilled Pizza Caper #Herbamare

I love pizza, but there are a few things I am not sure should ever be eaten on one and fish (besides the weirdly popular anchovies) is one of them. All that changed when I tried a smoked salmon flatbread at a restaurant though; it was amazing and seemed so easy to recreate at home.

All I did was grill up some pizza dough, top it with some herby cream cheese, smoked salmon, dressed baby kale, and crispy capers. It might sound like a lot of steps, but trust me, they are all small steps. I know you'll love this recipe.

One of my best tips is to use Sodium Free Herbamare when dressing your baby kale. There is a ton of sodium in capers so I try to cut back on it in the other parts of this dish as best I can. And using Sodium Free Herbamare is an easy way to do that.

Pizza Provençal

Pizza is one of the few foods that I love to gorge myself with. I could eat pizza until I literally burst. All that dripping cheese, hot tomato sauce, and toppings galore make me tingle with happiness. But I've just discovered a truly gourmet pizza that begs to be savoured in ways my typical Friday night pizza can't imagine. And it's easy enough to make at home. 

The recipe is from this month's Chatelaine magazine but since they only included a delicious pizza dough recipe and a handful of suggested topping, I like to think that my new favourite go to gourmet pizza is sort of my own. 

Read on for the recipe! 

Harry Potter Pumpkin Pasties and a Giveaway!

My post on Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes was so well received that I just had to create a second dish from my favourite movie franchise to share with everyone as a thank you! And if you read on past the recipe, there's a little giveaway opportunity at the end of this post too.

I absolutely love pie so choosing my second Harry Potter themed dish to share with you was incredibly easy. I always envisioned the Pumpkin Patsies sold on the Hogwart's Express as little Cornish Pasties style pies stuffed full of pumpkin. And if those pumpkin filled treats were good enough for Harry, I knew that they'd be perfect for me too.

I know they sound simple, but the magic created when these Pumpkin Pasties bake is truly amazing. But of course we all already knew that because they weren't featured in Harry Potter for nothing!

Sweet on Veggies

Lately I've seen quite a few pizza recipes that include squash and at first I really wasn't sure it would be that great an idea. I mean its a carb on a carb, right? But then I thought about it again. It's a carb on a carb!  And there's cheese! I love those things! 

So I came up with my own version of a Butternut Squash and Arugula Pizza that's as pretty as it is delicious. It even doubles as a light dinner or a perfect veggie appetizer. Really it can't be beat. 

A Really Batty Pie

I tricked you didn't I? I bet you thought that yesterday's post was a rip off. I mean, it's night before Halloween and I made a Spring Vegetable Soup? What's Halloween-y about that?

Well that was the trick and now for the treat. Today's post is going to make you smile like a kid heading out to trick or treat. It's one of my favourite Halloween meal traditions and something that I am going to continue to make for my family for years to come.

Heres a hint: It's something that kids love and it's something that's as much fun to make as it is to eat. Why it's pizza of course!

But as it's a Halloween tradition, it's not just any pizza. It's Pumpkin Pizza! And I've kicked it up a notch for you this year too. Read on to find out all my tricks.

Island Lunch

I love to pamper myself and dream I am in Hawaii with a little island meal, but most of Hawaiian lunches feel a little dull. There's Hawaiian pizza of course, but I've made that hundreds of times and it doesn't feel special anymore. There's a fruit salad... I'm not going to even try to make a point with that. And, since I am not going to make a pig underground, what else is there? 

Welcome to my BBQ Hawaiian Pizza Sandwich. This is a fresh take on island food and will make you happy. It's fun, made on the BBQ, the tomatoes turn into jam, and the ham turns into bacon. 

That's right, bacon ham. Read on to find out more!

Eat the Crust First

Do you remember Pizza Hut's cheese filled crust? Like many other people, I used to eat the crust first and be overwhelmed with cheese before I had even taken a bite of the cheese and veggie topped delight. 

This is a pizza that's going around the Internet right now. The crust is made from cauliflower and cheese and then most people top it with more cheese. 

I love cheese, but I don't think I could handle the cheese overload I used to love as a kid. So, my version has the cheese in the crust, but then I just topped it with tomato sauce and roasted veggies. Delicious!

Just read the recipe through before you start cooking your cauliflower. I misunderstood the recipe I originally tried and thought my cauliflower was supposed to be cooked before I started and that it didn't matter how I cooked it. 

It mattered. And boiling it made my cauliflower too wet. The crust still worked, but it took three times as long to cook!

Snack City

The "new" fad of cupcakes definitely has not escaped Victoria, BC. And while I love biting into a delicious cupcake unsure if the cake will be dense and moist, have a creamy filling, or if I will be heading back for a second serving of cupcake heaven, I agree with the majority of the population that the cupcake craze should be over. 

There is, however, one kind of cupcake that I had yet to try at any of the cupcake boutiques. (And, yes, I did just say cupcake boutiques...) That new cupcake is a pizza cupcake, complete with an edible pepperoni cupcake wrapper. 

When I thought up the idea for this cupcake, I knew we would be a match made in heaven. Especially because the cupcake is perfect for breakfast!

Snack Attack

Do you get the same cravings I get when three o'clock rolls around? You know it's the home stretch for heading home from work, but there's still enough time to think a snack would be a great idea? 

And are you also like me when I think to myself that, some days, that orange or container of carrot sticks just won't cut it? 

Well if you are, and I know you are, this post is for you. 

You get to feel healthy because there are veggies involved but this is a pizza muffin and that means it's going to taste like a not so good for you snack too!

Tag Team

This month was a bit of a tag team month for Luke's trip to the kitchen.

I don't mean that I helped Luke out in some way by chopping or cleaning. What I mean is that Luke loved a recipe I had found for some delicious Sesame Seed and Herb Buns, so he made the recipe his own.

He not only made the recipe easier and more "Luke friendly", but his take on it was yummy and something I would make again.

Let's start with mine. And I use the word mine very loosely because this recipe was from the July 2011 Bon Appetit magazine. (That's my favourite subscription, incase you haven't already guessed!)

'Twas the Night Before September

'Twas the night before September, when all through BC

People were full from eating, as far as the eye could see;

The dishes were done by Luke with care, 

In hopes that breakfast soon would be there...

Ok... So my rhymes are not as good as some people's are. I'll stop now before you get mad. 

Sometimes I play around and think I sound great with my rhymes for possible children's books, but my family always holds their ears in pain. And I don't want you to feel like that!

But back to the night before September, something exciting did happen to me on August 31. 

Drum roll please... 

New Kids On My BBQ

I don't think that I've met anyone that can honestly say that they've never eaten pizza. It's common, easy to pick up, and most importantly, it's delicious!

And if I had to pick from the list of tasty ingredients, the hot and drippy cheesy goodness, the crispy crusts, the mountains of meat and veggie, I really don't think I could.

Ok, maybe the cheese, but I do love it all!

And I've tried, and eagerly enjoyed, every kind imaginable. With the exception of anchovy covered pies, because those furry looking fish just aren't my cup of tea. 

However, there is one kind of pizza that I've never eaten, up until now that is! And that kind is BBQ pizza. 

It's really easy and combines my year-round love of pizza with my summer love of BBQing.

A Point of Pizzazz

Do your jazz fingers now because your hands are going to be busy mixing, kneading, chopping, and eating after you read this recipe for homemade pizza.

Pizza has got to be one of the best creations in the world because it has everything I could wish for, all in one perfect warm cheesy bite.

You have a crispy crust dressed with a yummy sauce, tons of veggies, drippy gooey cheese, and little bites of salty meat and olives. For me, that type of pizza is absolute perfection.

And if you want something different, go ahead and add or remove the toppings because the toppings aren't as important as a delicious perfect crust. I mean, in my opinion you need the cheese, but everything else is optional, kind of like how it seems like it's a personal opinion about who invented pizza.

Nobody can track who invented this delectable cuisine. Was it the Egyptians or did pizza originate in Greece or Italy?

What can be agreed on is that pizza was a peasants food because flour and water were inexpensive.

Also everyone agrees that originally the crust of the pizza served as an edible bread plate with the toppings as the meal. This kind of pizza could have looked much different from the kind we eat today though, because the toppings were whatever people had on hand.

Also it is agreed that the word pizza comes from the old Italian word "pizzo" that means "a point".

And just hearing about the word point makes me want to take the first little pointed bite of the yummy pie.

So let's not waste anymore time and get down to the dirty business of making the dough for the crust. Here's my favourite recipe.

Cooking with leftovers

I love using up every single last speck of food before it goes bad and needs to be thrown away. It's kind of like my own little competition. I am the only winner or the only loser and my only opponents are time and creativity.

Sometimes after cooking an enormous turkey I can get very discouraged. It's only myself and Luke and a turkey is a huge piece of meat to consume for just two people so there are always leftovers. 

Lots and lots of leftovers. 

So then I need to cook with the leftovers. I don't just like to serve slices of turkey and leftover sides every night either. My staple go tos are usually a turkey pot pie, turkey stir fry, or turkey a la king, but those can get boring after eating them every single time I cook a turkey. That's why my opponent is creativity. 

If I can't beat creativity, I get bored and post pone my cooking with turkey leftovers. So with the Real Women of Philadelphia contest, I put my thinking cap on and tried to think outside of the box for ways to try and use up those leftovers. 

Here are a few of my video entries for cooking with leftover turkey. I love calzones. I don't know who wouldn't. And my Philly Turkey Curry entry earned me a note from the judges too. Sarah Reynolds always makes us smile. We would like an invitation to dinner at her house. 

Well that made me smile too. It gave me more confidence to try and get creative. Hopefully you'll like my videos and try my dishes too.