An Cooking

I created this recipe inspired by a pizza I ate at a local eatery while attending a conference in the San Francisco Bay Area...

Servings: (6 to 8)
Prep: 20 mins. |
Baking: 25 mins. total + rising time

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS:

***Dough:
1-1/2 cups warm water
½ teaspoon sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more in other steps
1 teaspoon cornmeal

***Sauce:
1 lb. ground moose/venison/beef/buffalo/chicken/turkey burger
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chilies, undrained
1 cup of picante salsa (or make this: Homemade Mexican Salsa)

***Toppings:
1 (14.5 oz.) can of refried beans
1 (2.25 oz.) can of sliced black olives
2 cups of mexican-blend cheese, shredded

***Garnish options:
1 roma tomato, de-seeded and chopped
1 cup shredded lettuce
¼ cup mexican blend cheese, shredded
1 green onion, finely sliced
2 tablespoons nacho cheese chips, finely crumbled
taco sauce

METHOD:

***Prepare the dough:
In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine warm water, sugar and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes until yeast blooms. Add flour, kosher salt, and olive oil. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes, just until the dough is smooth elastic. Spray a medium-size bowl with oil, and place the ball of dough in it, rubbing it around in oil, and then flip over and cover with a clean towel. Place bowl of dough in a warm place until it has doubled in volume, about 1 hr., and place dough on floured surface and roll out into a 12” round, building up the outer edge slightly. Transfer to an oiled pizza pan that has been slightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Brush the entire top and outer edge of unbaked crust with olive oil. Par-bake the crust in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside.

***Prepare the sauce:
Meanwhile, heat a medium-size skillet over medium heat, add the moose/venison burger, onion and saute until burger is browned. Add the garlic, and taco seasoning. Stir in the diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chilies, and picante salsa, and then simmer until sauce is reduced and mixture thickens, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature before spreading on pizza crust.

***Prepare the toppings:
Spread with a spatula the refried beans over crust. Ladle the sauce evenly over the pizza to within ½” of edge. Sprinkle with the sliced black olives, and shredded mexican-blend cheese. Place pizza on middle rack in oven, and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Remove and sprinkle with garnish ingredients in the order listed - Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How wonderful it is to wake up to toast spread with your very own homemade rhubarb n strawberry jam on those cold winter days...

Yields: [6 (1/2-pint) jars]
Prep: 15 mins. |
Cook: 20 mins.

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

5 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped into small chunks
1 lb. bag of frozen strawberries, thawed, and chopped
3 cups granulated sugar (or splenda)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (3 oz. package) strawberry flavored jello (use sugar-free if you like)

METHOD

Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water for 10 minutes, cooling to dry on a clean towel.

In a large stockpot, stir together the freshly chopped rhubarb and sugar. Cover, and let stand overnight.

The next morning, add the chopped strawberries to the stockpot with the rhubarb and sugar, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring constantly, until the rhubarb is soft. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and dry jello mix to dissolve.

Transfer hot jam to sterile jars, and to process so you can store in pantry (versus refrigerator or freezer) place the sealed jars of jam into a boiling water bath, and processed for 10 minutes; doing so in batches if need be. - Enjoy!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~