Pizza and Calzone Nights

When I crave pizza, I prepare homemade dough and top it with gourmet ingredients. The result is a happy and satisfied family! I recently invented a Mexican pizza, which has hidden beans in it! The crust is made with whole wheat flour. The sauce is cannellini beans (but I have already tried with all varieties of beans and it works!!!), roasted red peppers, garlic, and a hint of chili powder (all mixed together in the mini-processor). The topping: grilled chicken, sliced tomatoes, kalamata olives, and mozzarella cheese. What a flavorful combination. Try it and let me know if you like it :)



                                   Mexican Beans Pizza



I invented this calzone to make use of our garden pesto. But you can certainly use store-bought pesto, which I use in winter (when our basil production disappears). I use the same pizza dough, but the steam inside the calzone makes the ingredients soft and juicy. Here, grilled chicken, prosciutto, pesto, and mozzarella are in such a good combination. Add to that some tomato and avocado slices and you will be crying for seconds!



Chicken, Pesto, and Prosciutto Calzone (1)





Chicken, Pesto, and Prosciutto Calzone (2)



In Chicago, you can find the famous Deep Dish Pizza. It is thick and unlike the Italian pizza (which has few ingredients on top), this one has plenty of things to create a juicy, thick topping. Here, I cooked homemade chicken sausage with zucchini, mushrooms, and tomatoes. I topped it with reduced fat cheddar cheese and it was marvellous. Later on, I freezed the leftover sauce and we ate the same pizzas after our road trip to San Antonio.



Chicago Deep Dish Pizza



The best pizza ever is my Four Cheese Pizza. When we went to Whole Foods in San Antonio, we selected some outstanding cheeses for this simple, yet flavorful pizza. The best combination is: Ricotta, Taleggio, Valdeon, and Parmegiano-Reggiano. You know me, I adore to try new cheeses. So, this time we tried Valdeon. It is a Spanish cheese, made of Pasteurized Cow's and Goat's Milk. It is a cousin of the blue cheese, but I found it much more interesting. Together with the taleggio, they are my new favorites!!!



Four Chesse Pizza (1)





Four Cheese Pizza (2)




Four Cheese Pizza (3)