Spoonbread Pizza

I’m not sure what possessed me, but tonight I decided to try and make a polenta pizza dough.  Now bear in mind that since I was doing Nutrisystem its been a while since I’ve thoroughly reviewed my fridge and tonight found it quite lacking.  Several things I intended to put on the pizza had to be scrapped if their expiration date was any warning of their viability… I’m not sure what the greenage that ended up on the pizza was because it came in my Fresh Picks grab-bag and I had thought it was spinach until I saw the little spidery pinkish stalks it clung to.

I underestimated the stubbornness of the polenta.  To make the “crust” I ended up breaking it down and heating it in a pot with water, olive oil, milk, margarine, salt, pepper, garlic powder and other seasonings.  When it became mushy I added in some asiago cheese and some flour.  I then realized that this would never be a dough since I hadn’t added any eggs or anything that would hold it together.  So I decided to make it a “spoonbread” pizza!  I spooned the resultant mixture into a greased pan and covered it with asiago and browned the cheese in the oven.  I figured that every pizza needs a hard crust of some kind, so this one would be cheese!  When this came out it looked insanely delicious.  I kind of wish I had just stopped here…

Cheesy Spoonbread

After that cooled I added BBQ sauce, the freaky greens greens, and mozzerella.  Now I know y’all are thinking this isn’t very healthy.  I should have added some sort of chicken or turkey or something!  In fact, tomatoes or artichokes on this pizza would be amaaazing… but alas, my cupboards are bare *sniffle*

Finished Product!

If I did this recipe again, I would like to get a better brown crust on both sides of the polenta.

Fresh Picks Pizza No. 1

The past couple of months I began using this amazing produce service called Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks! Basically you can sign up to have a fresh picks box of locally grown, in-season produce delivered to your apartment weekly or bi-weekly for about $18. What I love most about this is that I never know what I’m going to get… only that its going to be fresh and delicious I’ve already tasted so many veggies that I normally would just pass by in the grocery store. For example, grilled turnips are delicious!

One of my favorite things to do each week is make a pizza when I get my fresh picks box. I’ve begun keeping frozen balls of pizza dough in my fridge for just this purpose all ready to roll out and top with nummy veg. This week I got kale, an heirloom tomato, what I think is thyme, and loads of green onions. I began by making an impromptu pesto out of the kale, thyme, and green onions and added garlic powder (since I ran out of garlic), sesame seeds, salt, pepper, and paprika. I chopped it all up and added the spices and a bit of olive oil to help the flavors meld.

I then roasted a chicken breast in the oven (350 degrees) while I tackled the heirloom tomato…. Question: how the heck are you supposed to tell when an heirloom tomato has gone bad?!?!!!! I’ve never really cut into one before and the outside looked like it had been patch-worked together a la Frankenstein. When I cut into it the inside was all mushy and brown, but didn’t smell or taste off. It was also incredibly juicy, a factor that later served to make my pizza somewhat soupy. I also prefer my tomato in slices rather than chunks, but this one made that impossible.

Frankenstein Heirloom Tomato

Frankenstein added to impromptu pesto!