Don’t those figs look pretty?
I could live on pizza. I’m one of those people who likes fancy thin crust pizzas & those gourmet flatbreads you find in the snobbiest wine bars in Manhattan. I also love a regular NY style slice covered in mushrooms. Oregano is always added on top. Always.
Last night I really wanted a quick & easy dinner, but I didn’t want to order takeout. Making pizza at home is the next best thing.
Here’s what I came up with.
Thin Crust Grilled Pizzas
Servings: 8 ● Points Plus: 5
Ingredients:
Pizza #1:
- 1/2 of Trader Joe’s wheat pizza dough
- 1/2-1 cup TJ’s roasted garlic marinara sauce
- 1 cup sauteed mushrooms
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- Oregano to taste
Pizza #2:
- 1/2 of Trader Joe’s wheat pizza dough
- 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Thai red curry simmer sauce
- 1/2 cup caramelized onions
- 4 fresh figs, sliced
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Directions:
1) Let the dough rest at room temperature for 20 minutes, while it’s resting pre-heat your grill to high. Reduce to medium before cooking.
2) Flour a surface, cut the dough in half, & roll into two squares. The squares should be large enough to give you 4 decent servings of pizza out of each. 8 total.
3) Spray each pizza with non-stick spray & grill over medium heat about 3 minutes. Remove from grill, spray the other side, and cook the other side. While the other side is cooking top each pizza with the toppings (use what you like). Top with cheese, lower the heat to low, and close the grill.
4) Check back in a few minutes to make sure the cheese is melted. Serve warm & gooey.
You can really do this however you want. Pizza is supposed to be fun comfort food so top it with whatever you’re in the mood for!
Sorry for the bad picture. It was the best I could do last night.
Frank & I grilled steaks for dinner last night. The peaches & avocados I stocked up on this week were staring at me from my fruit bowl so I decided that a grilled peach salad would be the perfect side. If you don’t grill fruit you really should start. It’s amazing what happens to fruit on the grill.
This salad is higher in points than another salad would be, but that’s because it has avocado, good olive oil, & steak in it. Totally worth the points if you ask me. I normally have about 13-15 points left for dinner so I didn’t mind using most of them on a kick ass salad. It also serves one person, but you can easily double the recipe for two.
Steak, Avocado, & Grilled Peach Salad
Servings: 1 ★ Points Plus: 11
Ingredients:
- 6 oz grilled NY shell steak
- Teriyaki sauce marinade
- 1/4 avocado, cubed (or 1 3/4 oz)
- 1 medium peach, sliced into chunks
- 1/2 cup corn kernels
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 1/2-2 cups shredded lettuce
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- 1 TB agave nectar
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 TB red wine vinegar
Directions:
1) Coat the steak with a little teriyaki sauce & grill the way you like it. I like medium-rare & cook it over high heat to get a good char.
2) Drizzle the peach chunks with the agave nectar & sprinkle with kosher salt. Grill towards the end of the steaks cooking time & be sure to get good grill marks on them (because they’re pretty).
3) Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl & top with the grilled peaches & steak.
4) Run around in delight because this salad tastes exactly like summer.
Frank & I didn’t have a barbecue last summer (our apartment complex didn’t allow them), but now that we’re in a house we have one, and I am in love with it. As much as I love cooking, I rarely venture out to the grill. This is going to change this summer. Our house gets freezing from our air conditioning, but I still don’t like using the oven too much during the summer months. Why heat up the house when I can be outside in the sunshine making dinner?
Frank started Bar review last week & was pretty much locked in our office all day & night last night. This meant I was on my own for making dinner. Normally he would do the grilling while I prepared everything else in the house. I am not gonna lie - I was semi afraid of turning on the barbecue. I don’t know why. He showed me how, and then I got busy. I didn’t do anything fancy. I grilled up some chicken with our favorite teriyaki sauce (Soy Vay!), but made the grill super hot so that the outside would get those awesome grill marks & caramelize quickly. The chicken was so good.
I made a quick brown fried rice to go with it. The recipe is below. How pretty does this chicken look? I’m excited to try all sorts of new things on the barbecue this summer. Grilled sweet potatoes are on the menu for this weekend.
What are your favorite things to throw on the grill?
Brown Fried Rice
Servings: 4 Points Plus: 7
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 2 TB sesame oil (I use dark)
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup diced carrots (I use frozen)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Directions:
1) In a wok or pan, heat the sesame oil over medium heat & saute the chopped onion & carrots until soft. Add the ginger & garlic & saute a few minutes. When the vegetables are soft, push to the side, add the egg & scramble. Break up the egg & mix with the vegetables.
2) Add the rice & soy sauce. Stir fry until all of the ingredients are combined. Turn the heat up to high & let the bottom of the rice get slightly crispy. Toss, repeat once. This gives you a few crispy pieces throughout the rice. Serve immediately!
*Note: I like to add peas & diced baby corn to the fried rice also. This is standard for most recipes. I left them out of this recipe because Frank doesn’t eat them. Adding them adds 1 points plus to the serving.
