The Sleepover Solution: Build Your Own Pizza Bar

The giggling still echoes in my ears.  Four thirteen-year-old girls can make a lot of noise.  And apparently require almost no sleep.  In any case I know one thing:  A key element of a successful sleepover is the food.  The build your own pizza bar is one we’ve done a couple times and it’s always a rousing success.  Not only is it delicious, but it’s also a fun activity for the kids, no matter what age they are.

While this is perfect kid food, I’ve been known to do this with my grown up friends too.  Everybody gets just what they like, and it’s great if you have a group that includes vegetarians, or others on a special diet.  I love to use the little ciabatta rolls, or a french baguette cut into pieces. If you have gluten-free or low-carb folks in your group you can use gluten free buns, stuff toppings in a pepper half or toss with salad greens for a pizza salad.

We followed up with Frost Your Own Cupcakes for dessert. Yum!

Our masterpieces!

Build Your Own Pizzas

Ciabatta rolls or French baguette, cut into 3-4″ pieces.
Pizza sauce
Pesto (I like to offer an alternative to tomato sauce in case of allergies, etc.)
Mozzarella
Assorted pizza toppings of your choice.  We used:
Banana pepper rings
Sliced red & yellow peppers
Pepperoni
Olives

The pizza bar. It can be simple or elaborate. Basic or gourmet. It’s up to you!

Put all the ingredients out, make sure you have plenty of utensils for spreading and scooping ingredients.  Have everybody wash their hands first and then make their own pizzas.  Preheat the oven to 400˚.  Lay out a baking sheet or two on which to place the finished masterpieces.  I always recommend they put some sort of marker on their pizzas so they will know which ones are theirs, or just remember where they put it.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starting to brown on top.  Remove from oven and let cool a minute or so.  Clear out while the hungry horde descends.

 

Farmer’s Market Pita Pizza

I almost forgot to go to Farmer’s Market this weekend.  At the last minute, I remembered I had no veggies in my fridge, and if it wasn’t the market, it was a trip to the grocery store instead.  I chose the market.  I arrived with only a few minutes to spare, in fact some of the vendors were already breaking down their booths.  So I embarked on what surely was the quickest, most efficient farmers marketing I have ever done, rushing through and grabbing a few goodies here and there without giving it too much thought.  It was actually a lot of fun, and I ended up with an armful of random items that somehow go really well together.  Plus I scored a gorgeous flower bouquet, greatly discounted.  I’d like to think it was because I was looking especially fetching that day, but truth is, he probably just wanted to go home.  Maybe both.

Farmer’s market goodies! Gorgeous flowers, new potatoes, goat cheese, beets, dill, carrots, sweet onions, raspberries and look at those beautiful tomatoes!

So for dinner, obviously I couldn’t wait to dip into my treasure trove of goodies.  I had a couple things left from my last trip to the market that needed to get used up – some pita bread and Italian salami.  Combined with some of fresh goat cheese and freaking amazing tomatoes from this trip, plus some basil from my garden, I had myself a pizza to die for.

My beautiful pizza!

Farmer’s Market Pita Pizza

1 greek pita or flatbread
1 small to medium size tomato, sliced
fresh basil
olive oil
goat cheese
dry salami

Drizzle the pita with a tiny bit of olive oil.  Arrange tomatoes over the top to cover the surface.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Scatter salami and basil over the top and dot with blobs of goat cheese.  Add another little drizzle of olive oil.

Building the perfect pizza. You really don’t even need to cook it if you don’t want to.

Broil for 5 minutes or so until the cheese is melty and the crust is browned around the edges.  Cut into wedges and eat!

 

Mini Polenta Pizzas

Polenta is one of those ingredients I forget about.  That is, until I have some and then I think, “oh yeah, I love this stuff!”.  There are two ways I really like it: one is cooked creamy, like rice or grits (although oddly, I don’t like grits), preferably loaded with some sort of creamy cheese.  The other way I love it is when it is set up solid, and then fried so it’s a little crispy on the outside.

To fry polenta, you can make it yourself and then cook it in a pan to set up solid, then cut it into pieces and pan-fry it.  Or, if you are rather lazy like me, you can buy it pre-made in a tube!  Now, usually food in a tube grosses me out, but this stuff is pretty good, without much in the way of added ingredients.  Simply remove it from the tube and slice it up into disks.  Fry or bake to your heart’s content or use it in whatever recipe strikes your fancy.

In this case, I was in the mood for pizza.  But I’m trying to eat more healthy, and also trying to cut down on gluten-heavy foods since they seem to love my hips (and why wouldn’t they?).  So the idea for using polenta disks instead of crust was born.  Since I had just broken in my new food processor by making the first batch of pesto out of my garden, I decided on pesto instead of red sauce and with a couple of fresh veggies and stretchy cheese…voila!  Pizza in a quickie, fairly healthy, bite-size form. Can I just say, I’m somewhat of a genius?

Mini Polenta Pizzas

Mini Polenta Pizzas

1 tube of pre-made polenta
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
1/2 cup basil pesto (store bought or homemade)
Fresh garden or vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
Zucchini, sliced in disks or diced
Mozzarella cheese, shredded or thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400˚.  Slice polenta into disks, about 1/2 inch thick.  Lay on a baking sheet and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Take out of the oven and smear tops with pesto.

Mmmm….pesto!

Build your pizza with your favorite toppings.  We used fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced zucchini and mozzarella cheese.

Fresh and beautiful toppings

Pop back into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and starting to brown in spots.  Remove from oven and let it sit for just a few minutes.  If you eat them when they are really hot, you’ll need a fork.  If you wait a little bit you can pick them up.  Up to you!  One tube of polenta yields about 10 mini pizzas.

Right out of the oven. And those crunchy cheese bits on the pan all got eaten too!

Pizza Quiche

One of our favorite meals, especially when we have friends over, is the “build your own” pizza.  We get ciabatta rolls or french bread and all sorts of yummy toppings and create delicious masterpieces.  It’s always a hit.  But that’s not what this post is about.  Mostly because the four tween girls who were building pizzas distracted me so I didn’t get any pictures.  But you get the idea.  This post is about leftovers.

After the pizza party, I had bits and pieces of pizza toppings to use for…something.  And so pizza quiche was born.  Obviously, you could change this up with whatever toppings YOU like on a pizza, but this combo was particularly tasty.

Pizza Quiche

Pizza Quiche

1 pie crust (I prefer Pillsbury fresh pie crust, found in the dairy case)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup pepperoni
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 cup sweet bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup mild banana pepper rings
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425˚.  Unroll pie crust and press into a pie pan (I usually dust the bottom with a little flour to prevent sticking).  Crimp edges around the pan and trim off any extra dough.  In a bowl whisk together eggs, half & half, and salt & pepper.  In the pie pan, layer the pepperoni and veggies.  Top with cheese.  Pour egg mixture over the top.  Carefully set it in the preheated oven.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Turn oven temperature down to 375˚ and cook another 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and LET IT SIT FOR 10 MINUTES.  If you don’t let it sit it won’t set up and it will be a mess on a plate instead of a pretty wedge.  I have learned this the hard way.  Cut into wedges and enjoy hot, cold or in between.

 

Project Veggie: Day 24 – French Bread Pesto Pizza

Whoever said there is no such thing as bad pizza or bad sex was clearly an idiot. I’ve had horrible pizza. As for the sex…well, this isn’t that kind of blog.

I think most delivery pizza is pretty gross. Mostly because I prefer mine right out of the oven, with a decent crust, gooey, melty, crunchy, and so hot it burns the roof of your mouth if you eat it too fast. By the time you get a pizza delivered to your door, it may be okay, but it’s not going to be hot and crunchy. It will more likely be a little soggy, and lot greasy and while adequate and even tasty, not anything like what you would get at your neighborhood pizza parlor made to order. And not as good as you could make at home.

I occasionally make or buy dough for pizza crust, but my favorite (and fastest) way to make pizza at home is to use french bread. I like the crunchy baguettes, split in half and then chopped into hand held portions. Simple, fresh ingredients are my favorite toppings. You can buy decent canned sauce at the store, but more often I just use fresh pesto or chopped tomatoes, or both. These are fun for kids or company since you can easily do a “build your own” pizza bar. Set out a variety of toppings, let everybody make their masterpiece, put them all on a cookie sheet and bake.

French Bread Pesto Pizza

French Bread Pesto Pizza

French or sourdough baguette
Pesto
Mozzarella – shredded or cut into small chunks
Grape tomatoes, chopped
Black olives, chopped
Banana peppers

Spread pesto on the french bread, top with tomatoes, cheese and other toppings. Bake at 400˚ for 10 minutes or so.