Homemade Garlic & Herb Pizza Dough

My four year old, Lily, has been watching me cook and bake since she was a baby and her interest in helping has finally been ignited. She wants to help stir and pour and, of course, taste test.

Kids are way more capable than we give them credit for, and the more we involve them in the kitchen the more they’re willing to try new foods. Lily loves helping out on Pizza Night. In fact, the whole family has a hand in Pizza night. I make the dough and prepare all the ingredients, my husband rolls out the dough and “makes” the pizza and Lily gets to help him by placing the pepperoni on (more go in her mouth than on the pizza but whatev) and then she helps sprinkle on the cheese. She’s always so proud of it when it’s done and we make sure to tell her how yummy it is!

Pizza night is an easy and fun way to get your whole family into the kitchen and cooking. If you don’t have time to make your own dough, most grocery stores sell frozen balls of dough in their freezer sections or you can use Naan or Greek pitas and everyone can make their own!



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Homemade Garlic & Herb Pizza Dough

1 1/2 c warm water (80-90˚F)
3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
3 3/4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp bread maker yeast for pizza (if not using a breadmaker use quick-rise)
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning or oregano

1. Add ingredients in the order they appear and mix on the dough setting of your breadmaker. If you don’t have a breadmaker, you can use a stand or hand mixer with dough hooks or a food processor with a dough blade (you will need to allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, punch it down and allow it to rise a second time).
2. Check the dough after about 5 minutes to see if it’s too wet or too dry. Add either flour or a bit of water to help with consistency. If you touch the dough and you get it stuck on your finger you need to add a bit of flour (1 tbsp at a time), if it isn’t forming into ball nicely, add a teeny bit of water.
3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and allow to rest under a tea towel for 5 minutes.
4. Roll dough out to size on a pizza stone or pizza sheet.
5. Bake for 8 minutes in a preheated 400˚F oven.
6. Remove and top with sauce and your favourite toppings.
7. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 16 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

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For a great homemade pizza sauce recipe packed with veggies your kids will never know are there, go here!

Mild Curry Chicken Pizza on Naan - The Gourmet Pregnancy

For our 2nd recipe from The Gourmet Pregnancy, we tried the Mild Curry Chicken Pizza on Naan for lunch. The recipe calls for you to pan sautée chicken breasts, but the night before I was making chicken breasts for the girls for dinner on the grill so I threw a few extra on for the pizza. It was excellent! I also cooked the pizzas on the grill (it was far too hot to turn on the oven!), as the toppings were already hot all it needed was 5 minutes on low for the cheese to melt and the naan to heat through.

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Mild Curry Chicken Pizza on Naan

1 tsp vegetable oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cloce garlic, minced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp mild indian red curry paste
4 pieces naan
1/2 c fresh spinach, finely chopped
3 1/2 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add chicken, browning one side for about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Flip chicken and add the onion and garlic and continue to cook until the other side is browned.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan and cut into thin slices then return to the pan to finish cooking.
5. In a small bowl, combine the tomato paste and curry paste. Spread on the naan.
6. Top the naan with the chicken & onion mixture, spinach and cheese.
7. Place on a baking sheet and broil for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
8. Sprinkle with the pepper and enjoy!

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Review: We all thought this was delicious. We wanted a light lunch as we had early dinner reservations and this was perfect. Phil and PJ loved the curry flavour and Jason was too busy eating for me to get anything more than a thumbs up out of him. I loved the chicken and onion and monterey jack combination. I also loved how quick and easy this recipe came together, the whole lunch took me about 15 minutes to make. We gave it a score of 4.5 cupcakes!
(It would have been a 5 but Jason never gives out a perfect score... he's weird!)

enjoy!

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce

Cooking for kids is never easy... or appreciated! I have a 13 month old and a 3 1/2 year old, so almost everything I make either ends up on the floor or is pushed away with declarations of "I don't like dat mommy!" Some days I want to cry, others I just shrug and say "well I guess you're gonna be hungry today then".

I'm sure every mom can agree that veggies, at one time or another, are the real battle. Whether it's the texture, the taste or merely the colour, kids seem to avoid veggies like I avoid 3-sided mirrors.

There are a few cookbooks out on the market about hiding fruits and veggies in sneaky ways to trick kids into eating them. I'm not cruel enough to hide spinach in a brownie (I love spinach but that particular combination gives me the dry heaves) but I am willing to sneak extra veggies into recipes where it seems fitting, like my homemade pizza sauce.

A variety of roasted veggies paired with garlic and tomato paste and then puréed until smooth makes a healthy, vitamin and nutrient rich sauce that your family will love, even if your pizza is a meat lovers!

Veggie Packed Pizza Sauce

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
1 c. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. sea salt (optional, but I find it helps to balance the sweetness of the tomato paste)
1 can tomato paste
1 c. crushed tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Roughly chop your veggies (no need to be fussy as it will all be puréed) and place in a large bowl.
2. Add garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil and mix to coat.
3. Spread veggies out on a cookie sheet and roast in a 450˚F oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove veggies from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add veggies to a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
6. Add tomato paste and crushed tomatoes to veggie purée and blend until smooth.
7. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Tip: I spread a generous amount of sauce onto a greek pita, top with a little bit of part skim mozzarella and pop it into a 350˚F oven for 10 minutes and my kids have a super fast and easy lunch that they gobble up with no food throwing or complaints!

enjoy!
Amanda