Pizza Party

We grew up in a busy household.  With four kids, all of whom were involved in sports, music lessons, clubs, etc., and two full-time working parents, you can imagine things got a little hectic once in a while!

But our mom was a real champ, and always made sure we had a healthy, home-cooked dinner on the table for us.  You can probably all understand, though, that by the end of the week she was pretty tired of thinking up of something for dinner.  So she started a tradition that made Friday night pizza night!  Obviously this idea was not met with any resistance from us kids, because lets be real- who doesn’t love pizza?

Of course, the pizza we had on these nights were of the store-bought variety since making pizza from scratch would kind of defeat the whole purpose of not having to cook that night, but that didn’t bother us one bit.  Heck, if our mom wanted us to eat pizza every Friday night we sure weren’t going to complain about it!

This tradition has continued over the years, and while we don’t have pizza every Friday, we still like to bring it back once in a while.  But we like to do it with a little bit of flair 😉

We consider ourselves pretty lucky because our family isn’t stuck on classic pepperoni and cheese- they like to get a little more adventurous with their pizza, which is much more fun for us!  So for our pizza night, we made not one, but two pizzas!

 

For the first of these two pizzas, we capitalized on our family’s love of Thai food, and made a Chicken Satay Pizza.

When we told our brothers what it was, they shrugged and said “We don’t know what ‘satay’ means, but it tastes like Thai food on a pizza!”. Well said, bros, well said.

This particular pizza is also a bit of a “rebel pizza”, because it breaks pizza rule #1: Cheese! This pizza has no cheese whatsoever. We know, we know, what’s a pizza without cheese? Normally, we’d agree, but you’re just going to have to trust us on this one – this pie doesn’t need it! In fact, we don’t think our brothers even noticed it was missing. 😉

Chicken Satay Pizza

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Makes: 1 large pizza (8-12 slices)

Ingredients:

1.5-2 lbs whole wheat pizza dough
1-2 tsp olive oil
1 large chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, sliced
parsley

1/3 c. all-natural (no salt or sugar added) peanut butter*
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp siracha (or other hot sauce)
1/4 c. water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray a large pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Roll out the pizza dough until it fits the size of the pan.  Brush with olive oil.

In a bowl, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice and siracha.  Stir until smooth.  Slowly add the water, stirring until the sauce becomes smooth and drippy.  Spoon about 2-3 tbsp of the sauce onto the pizza crust.  Top with chicken and vegetables.

Bake the pizza for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and drizzle with remaining sauce.  Return to the oven and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the bottom of the pizza is firm.  Top with parsley.

*You can use whatever peanut butter you have on hand, however it might change the consistency of the sauce a bit, and your sauce will probably taste a little sweeter.

———————————————————-

And now on to pizza #2: Caramelized Onion BBQ Chicken Pizza!

We really can’t say enough about this pizza!  It is a little more work than the satay pizza, but oh man it is 100% worth the effort!

In fact, this was probably the favourite of the two if you asked our brothers.  Us? We’re still on the fence, but that’s not really surprising, now is it? 😉

Caramelized Onion BBQ Chicken Pizza

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Makes: 1 large pizza (8-12 slices)

Ingredients:

1/2 large white onion
1.5 tbsp olive oil

1.5-2 lbs whole wheat pizza dough
1-2 tsp olive oil

1 large chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 c. extra-old cheddar cheese
Cilantro

1/2 c. diced pineapple
1/2 c. tomato paste
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce
4 drops liquid smoke
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp molasses
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat 1.5 tbsp olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat.  Slice the onion into thin strips and add to the pan.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 20-25 minutes, until the onions are browned.  Remove from heat and set aside.

While the onions are caramelizing, prepare your sauce.  Add all sauce ingredients (pineapple, tomato paste, etc.) to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray a large pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Roll the dough into a large circle to fit the pan.  Brush with a little olive oil.  Spread the sauce over the pizza, top with chicken, caramelized onions and cheese.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned and is firm on the bottom.  Top with cilantro.

—————————————————————-

As you can see, we didn’t include a recipe for pizza dough.  Truth is, we did in fact make our own dough, but it didn’t turn out exactly the way we wanted it to, so you’ll have to wait for the perfect whole wheat pizza crust 😉  For now, feast on pizza made with store-bought dough! It’s all about the toppings anyways, right?

 

So the question is… creamy, peanut-lime taste-of-Thailand?

 

Or sweet-and smokey back yard barbecue?

You decide.

~twosaucysisters

Meatless Monday: Kale

It’s back, and we can’t believe it’s already been a week since last week’s meatless Monday, jalepenos!

Seriously, last week just flew by! It went by so fast, in fact, that last night we all of the sudden remembered that the next day was Monday, and we hadn’t even thought about what we were going to make! Thankfully, we had kale on hand. 🙂

Sweet n’ Sour Tofu Crsipy Kale Role-Ups.
Try saying that 10X fast!

These fabulous little wraps are quick, easy, and oh-so-delicious! The kale and tofu gets all crispy, and the veggies soften slightly (tender crisp, you could say). Tonnes of sweet-and-sour flavour packed up with crispy colourful veggies – does it get any better?

The sweet and sour marinade is made of low sodium soy sauce, peach juice, and  ginger. You can use any fruit juice, really, you just may have to adjust for the sweetness level based on the sweetness of your fruit juice.

Served with a peanut sauce, because what’s sweet and sour tofu and veggies without a peanut sauce?

Good question.

Happy Meatless Monday, everyone! 🙂

Sweet n’ Sour Tofu Crispy Kale Roll-ups

Prep time: 45 + 15min
Cook time: 5-10min
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

For the tofu:

1/2 block firm tofu
2 tsbp low-sodium sow sauce
3 tbsp peach juice
1 tbsp water
1 tsp ground ginger
pepper, to taste

For the roll-ups:

10 large kale leaves
1 medium carrot, julienned
1/4 medium red bell pepper, julienned
1/2 c. shredded purple cabbage

For the Peanut Sauce:

2 tbsp all natural peanut butter
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1-3 tbsp water

Directions:

Press the tofu to squeeze out extra water for at least 15 min. Slice it into 1cm-wide strips. Combine all marinade ingredients in a plastic bag or container and allow to sit for at least 30min.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In the center of each kale leaf, place 2-3 tofu strips and top with the julienned veggies. Using string or strips of cheesecloth (what we had on hand!), tie the roll-up so it will stay together. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with left-over marinade.
Bake for 5-10min, until kale and tofu are crispy and veggies are tender-crisp.

For the peanut sauce:

Combine peanut butter, soy sauce and ginger in a bowl. Add water, a half-tablespoon at a time until you have reached desired consistency.

-twosaucysisters

Have you ever made kale-wraps before?