Pizza Making Party

Even when I plan ahead, I still manage to forget the squeezable pizza sauce for the kids and the extra bottle of fancy wine for the adults...because I was not going to let the kids spread on their own pizza sauce...and one does not throw a party without expensive wine (and enough of it).

Pizza For the Kids

prepackaged buttermilk biscuits

squeezable pizza sauce

pepperoni

canadian bacon

olives

pineapple

mozzarella cheese

Dessert Pizza

 (made mainly by the kids)

prepackage pizza dough

1/2 cup slivered almonds

3Tbl butter

1 sleeve graham crackers (crushed)

1/4 tsp sea salt

3 cups mini marshmallows

9 oz Hershey's chocolate bars, broken

(Original recipe called for chili powder and cayenne powder, and even though the adults loved it...the kids went thru a lot of water while eating dessert)

Bake pizza in 400 degree oven for 6 minutes.

Brown almonds.

Melt butter in skillet and cook graham crackers and salt for 2 minutes.

Top pizza with marshmallows and chocolate.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Top with almonds and graham cracker mixture.

Green Bean, Tomato & Chickpea Salad

(A little too much "fun" during the party, before I put together the salad, and I accidentally used the diced tomatoes I had chopped for the pizza in the salad...the pretty cherry tomatoes ended up on top of the pizza.  Lucky for us it all worked out!   I had to use frozen green beans because the fresh looked awful, but it worked out perfectly because the kids ate the extra 1/2 lb of green beans it made.)

1 1/2 lbs of green beans

3 Tbl lemon juice

2 Tbl EVOO

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup red onion, diced

1 can chickpeas

1/2 cup feta

2\3 cup Italian parsley

Steam green beans for 5 minutes and then rinse in cold water to stop cooking.

Whisk lemon juice and oil.

Stir in tomatoes, onion, and chickpeas.

Add feta and parsley.

Arrange green beans on serving platter and top with tomato mixture.

Grilled Rosemary Crusted Pizza

(Note to self...so much easier to just buy a ball of pizza dough...as opposed to making it yourself.  Love my kitchenaid...makes it so much easier...but why even bother with them mess!)

Dough Ball

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

Form dough into 4 9" rounds.

3/4 cup olive oil

6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 pound Italian sausages

2 yellow or red bell peppers, cored, lengthwise

1 large red onion, cut into1/2-inch thick wedges

Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Let vinaigrette stand 15 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate up to 2 hours.

Traeger medium heat. Arrange sausages, peppers and onion on baking sheet. Brush with some of vinaigrette. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill sausages until cooked through and peppers and onion until slightly charred, about 12 minutes for sausages and 8 minutes for peppers and onion. Transfer sausages and vegetables to cutting board. Cut sausages into 1/2-inch pieces and peppers into thin strips.

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups crumbled goat cheese

4 plum tomatoes, chopped

3/4 cup chopped green onion tops

Place 2 dough rounds on grill. Grill over medium heat until top of dough puffs and underside is crisp, about 3 minutes. Turn rounds over. Grill 1 minute. Transfer to baking sheet with well-grilled side up. This side of the dough becomes the surface that will hold the toppings.

Repeat with the remaining 2 dough rounds. Sprinkle each with 1/4 of mozzarella and Parmesan. Top each with 1/4 of sausage, peppers and onion, then with 1/4 of goat cheese, tomatoes and green onions. Drizzle each with 1 1/2 teaspoons vinaigrette.

Using large metal spatula, return 2 pizzas to grill. Grill until cheeses melt and dough is cooked through and browned, using tongs to rotate pizzas for Transfer to plates. Repeat grilling for remaining 2 pizzas.