Broccoli and Carrot Pizza

I am trying to branch out in my pizza making. I love cheese pizza so much that I usually just end up not putting anything else on it. But I was making this pizza as a side so I wanted to put some veggies on it. I got the idea from smitten kitchen, for her shaved asparagus pizza. But thanks to all of my not cooking last week, the asparagus went bad. So I used some broccoli instead. I have always liked steamed broccoli, so I've never really tried it any other way. I had thought about roasting broccoli before. But why mess with somethin that aint broke? After this pizza though, I think I will be trying some roasted broccoli. There was just a lot more flavor than steamed broccoli. I think that this pizza was a hit. The only problem that I had was that when I tried to put it in the oven a lot of the broccoli rolled off. I would definitely try to cut the pieces smaller next time.

Broccoli and Carrot Pizza

1 ball pizza dough
1-2 heads broccoli (crowns cut bite size, stalk peeled into strips)
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 Tbls olive oil
1 green onion
1 Tbls parsley
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Stretch out your pizza dough to a 12-in. round. In a bowl toss the broccoli and carrot with 1 Tbls olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the rest of the olive oil over the pizza dough. (Make sure your dough isn't going to stick before you start topping it). Add parmesan, mozzarella, and veggies. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle with green onion and parsley.

Served with Brats with smoked cheddar.

Mojitos

I haven't been forgetting to blog. I just actually haven't cooked anything in days, thanks to a plethora of leftovers I had built up and D's family taking us out for a couple dinners. And I still haven't cooked anything. I just made a drink. A pretty darn good drink though.

Having a half Cuban boyfriend, I pride myself on the fact that I was able to make a "prefect" mojito for him. I don't even like white rums, but I like this drink. Have I said before how I sound like a picky eater/drinker in this blog? I swear, I'm not. I'll eat anything, I just prefer some things over others. Anyways, I was tired of searching through the internet for a good mojito recipe. I used to work at a bar, and I knew I liked the mojitos there, so I tried my best to recreate that. I think it worked.


Mojitos

1/2 lime, sliced into wedges
2-3 sprigs mint
1 oz simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar, heat until dissolved)
2 oz white rum
splash club soda

Muddle the lime and mint leaves together in a shaker until the limes are all juiced. (You will be able to tell because juice will start splashing up. DO NOT get it in your eye. Trust me, it hurts. I had to make an extra drink just to make me feel better.) Add the simple syrup, white rum, and ice. Shake. Pour into glass, top with club soda.

Splash is pretty vague, I would guess it to be around 1/2 cup. But I'm not known for my judging abilities.

Drink Up!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I made this recipe from the book Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur. I like his books cause if you've had the dishes at the restaurant then you know what they're going to taste like. And he does a really good job of replicating the recipes. At least the ones I have tried have been pretty dead on. This was the lettuce wrap recipe from P.F. Chang's. It made a lot more than I thought it would. The recipe only used 2 chicken breasts and said it would serve 2 to 3 people as an appetizer. I thought it would serve the two of us for dinner, but with no leftovers. However, there was still almost half of the filling left. I had 2 wraps and D had 3, and I think we'll be able to get another 3 wraps out of it. The sauce that you pour over the filling can be made to fit your heat level. Well, we made what was called "hot" in the book, and it was more what I would call medium. It was a good heat, but if you want it really spicy go for more than "hot".

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2 chicken breasts
1 can water chestnuts, diced to pea size
2 green onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
(the recipe also called for mushrooms, but I left them out)
2 Tbls soy sauce
2 Tbls brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
3 Tbls vegetable oil
Maifun rick sticks (enough to fill the plate, I think I used about 1/3 of the package)
lettuce cups

Fry the rick sticks according to package directions and lay on the serving plate. Heat 2 Tbls oil in a wok to medium-high heat and cook the chicken all the way through (5-8 minutes on each side). Stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar. Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add the last Tbls of oil to the wok and stir-fry the chicken, water chestnuts, green onions, and garlic for a few minutes. Add the sauce. Plate on top of the fried rice sticks. For the lettuce cups, chop the stem off of a head of iceburg lettuce. Peel each leaf off without ripping it. This is your wrapper.

Special Sauce (make ahead)

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbls soy sauce
2 Tbls rice vinegar
2 Tbls ketchup
1 Tbls lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
chili garlic sauce
chinese hot mustard

Dissolve the sugar in the water (I had to use a little heat). Whisk in the soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, and sesame oil. For mild, add 1 tsp each chili garlic sauce and chinese hot mustard; for medium, use 2 tsp each; for hot, use 3 tsp each. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Spoon as much sauce as wanted into your lettuce cups.