Easy Summer Fare

We had a pretty low-key food weekend but spent a lot of great time with friends and family.

Saturday night we had good friends over, one of whom is a vegetarian. Although she is the easiest vegetarian I've ever known regarding culinary restrictions (e.g. she'll eat an egg cooked in the same pan as bacon) I try to be considerate of her food choices when planning a menu. So, we had pizza. Not only is it an easy meal for a veg-head, but its a crowd pleaser with the toddler. Cece ate her entire pizza!

I whipped up some pizza dough and laid out a variety of ingredients. I use a blend of whole wheat flour and regular all purpose flour in the dough to make it a wee bit healthier than normal. Our friends have a big garden and were kind enough to bring over some tomatoes and peppers, which we sliced up. My friend also brought some of her luscious oven dried cherry tomatoes which were soooo good (I'm hoping a recipe will make a guest appearance on this blog)!

Everyone got to make their own pizzas and Clint popped them on the grill. The result was a nice, crisp pizza with fresh toppings and a hint of smoky flavor. I also put together a tangy vinegar slaw since I happened to have a head of cabbage in the crisper.The slaw held up so well (and made so much) that I took the rest to a cookout at my mother-in-laws the next afternoon. It is a great slaw to take to cookouts or other pitch-ins because there is no dairy in the recipe to make it go bad in the heat.

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients

• 1 C All Purpose Flour (+ more All purpose flour as is needed to make the dough manageable)
• 3/4 C W. Wheat Flour
• 2 1/4 tsp (or 1 1/4 oz package) quick rising yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 C very warm water
  
• 1 Tbl olive oil
• Handful of chopped fresh rosemary and oregano
• Ground pepper

Directions

• Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, herbs and fresh cracked pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a chopping blade.
• Place the top of the processor on. Start the blade and add the water and oil to the flour through the chute (I have no idea what the technical name of this thing is called) until a soft dough forms.
• Add more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, as is necessary to make the dough not overly sticky.
• Remove and shape the dough into a ball
• Place into an oiled bowl, and turn so the oiled surface is on top.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size , about 30 minutes
• Divide the dough to make individual pizzas, or keep intact for 1 really large pizza.
• Roll out on a lightly floured surface, transfer to a baking sheet and pinch up a raised edge
  

Tips and Tricks:

• When cooking pizzas on the grill, cook one side first, remove, flip over, place the toppings on the cooked side, then place the pizza back on the grill and cook until the bottom is nice and crisp. This way your crust will get cooked without burning and your toppings will all melt together nicely.
• If cooking pizzas in the oven, preheat the oven to 500, bake 15-20 minutes until crust is lightly browned.
  
• Don't go crazy with the toppings. An overloaded pizza doesn't cook well.

Apple-Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized green cabbage, cored and chopped fine
• Salt
• 2-3 Granny Smith Apples (yellow or light green), peeled, cored and cut small
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 C Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 C Sugar
• 1/3 C Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tbl Dijon Mustard
• heavy dash of red pepper flakes

Directions:

• Toss cabbage with 1 1/2 tsp of salt in a colander set in a bowl. Let set 1 hour
• Rinse cabbage with cold water, drain and dry with paper towels
• Place cabbage in a large bowl with apple and green onions, tossing with your hands to mix
• Bring rest of ingredients to boil in a saucepan.
  
• Pour mixture over the cabbage and toss to coat
• Cover and refrigerate at last 1 hour, but as long as 1 day, before serving
• If refrigerated for 2+ hours, let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.