Grilled Pizza

This was my first attempt to make grilled pizza. It turned out amazing. 

Grilling the pizza dough gave it that crisp "brick oven" flavor.

    

 

Grilled Chicken Pizza

I use Mark Bittman's pizza dough recipe from his cookbook "How to Cook Everything"
 

Homemade pizza dough and toppings all ready:

Cut up grilled chicken

Chopped green & red peppers

Sliced black olives

Chopped red onion

Pepperoni

 

First I preheated the grill on high

 

Then I turned down the heat to med-high and wiped the grates with a paper towel dipped in olive oil.

 



 

Then I slid the pizza dough onto the hot grill, shut the lid and allowed it to cook for 2 minutes.

 

After the bottom looked done, I took it off the grill and flipped it over on a pizza pan.

 

Then I took it inside and topped it:

 

First, a drizzle of olive oil spread around,

then pizza sauce.

 

Next, cheese

 

Then the rest of the toppings

 

Then, I lowered the heat on the grill to med-low and cooked it another few minutes until the cheese & toppings were cooked.

 

My pizza dough recipe makes two pizzas, so here is my other pizza crust.

I made it a little thicker than the first one and it came out perfect.

 

Pizza crust after cooking first side on the grill.

 

Then I repeated the same steps as the first pizza: flipped it over, rubbed with olive oil and topped with sauce, cheese and toppings.

Then back on the grill until done.



 

Delicious grilled chicken pizza that tasted absolutely amazing.

 

Adam's 23rd Birthday Cake

This year I was in town for my brother's birthday and asked him what kind of cake he would like. He told me he wanted an extra special cake that he's wanted for a long time.

Here's how he explained it: an oreo crust on the bottom, then a layer of oreo cream cheese filling, a layer of a giant chocolate chip cookie, then a layer of strawberry jam and finally a layer of brownies. For frosting, he wanted a chocolate fudge frosting (I made a whipped chocolate ganache frosting.)

A lot of people asked me how I would possibly make this cake for him, so I took pictures of the extravaganza to show how I did it. I was in a mad rush for time so I don't have pictures of every step, but most of them.

First I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough.

 

Spread it in a pizza pan and baked at 375F for 20 minutes until done. 

 

 Ta Da

 

Then I used the rim of a 9" springform pan to cut out the center of the cookie.

 

I cut the rest of the cookie pizza into bars.

 

I baked a batch of homemade brownies in a 9" round cake pan and baked it for about 40 minutes until the center was cooked through.

Not the most flattering picture below, but it's the only one I have.

 

 

 

 

The strawberry filling:

I simmered chopped strawberries with a little bit of water, lemon juice and sugar.

Then added cornstarch to thicken.

 

 

Now for the ganache frosting. I chopped up 70% dark chocolate.

 

 Added chocolate chips.

Heated whipping cream on the stove and poured it over the chocolate.

Stirred until the chocolate was all melted and thick.

I didn't get a picture of the final ganache but it was a thick, dark chocolate mixture.

Then I put it in the fridge to cool so I could whip it.

While the ganache was cooling, I made the oreo cream cheese filling.

First I made a cream cheese frosting,

 

then added 3/4 cup crushed oreos

thoroughly mixed the oreos into the cream cheese frosting. 

Assembly of the cake:

 

First I had a layer of the oreo crust. I crushed 24 oreos and added 1/4 cup melted butter and pressed into the springform pan. I forgot to take a picture though.

 

Next, I spread the oreo cream cheese frosting onto the oreo crust.

 

Then I placed the chocolate chip cookie into the springform pan on top of the oreo filling.

 

Next, I spread the strawberry filling over the cookie layer.

 

 

Then I placed the 9" round brownie on top of the strawberry filling.



 

 

After whipping the ganache until it turned fluffy & light brown, I started frosting the cake.

Unfortunately, the brownie layer hadn't cooled fully and the chocolate ganache started melting!

I had the cake in & out of the freezer to keep the frosting from melting completely and managed to finished decorating the cake. Before I delivered the cake to my brother, the ganache on top of the cake had melted evenly all over and actually looked very pretty.

 

So here's my sloppily frosted chocolate cake before I did piping.

 

After piping the rest of the chocolate ganache

 

Then I chopped a bunch of oreos in half and decorated the top of the cake with them.

 

Ta da!

 

My brother said it was awesome and that he went into a sugar coma afterwards, but it was so good.

I was happy he could finally have this dream cake that he's wanted for so long, and he had an amazing birthday with his friends & family. :)

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

This is a recipe for grilled chicken fajitas. I originally got it from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, but I changed it a bit and I prefer to grill this meal rather than cooking on the stove.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb chicken breasts (sliced in half lengthwise)

2 onions, sliced

2 peppers, halved (I used mini sweet peppers this time)

First I marinate the chicken for an hour or two.

Here's the recipe for the marinade:

1/4 cup liquid - half lime juice, half water

2 scallions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbs cilantro

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

These are the sweet peppers I used this time.  

Two onions, halved

These are the extras: salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce

After marinating the chicken for an hour or two, I grill it.

Then I add the peppers & onions.

After I take the food off of the grill, I cut the chicken, onion & peppers into strips. Then serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce.

Other extras: avocado, guacamole, beans, rice (or spanish rice), pico de gallo

If you want to eat a healthier version, you could make a fajita salad instead of using a tortilla, or just eat the chicken, peppers & onions which is very yummy all by itself.

Today's Diet Dinner

My parents lent me their camera since mine isn't working, so I'm able to continue posting about my diet! I was able to snap some pictures of dinner tonight. I grilled some chicken fajitas for my friends (I'll do a separate post about that), and I made myself some grilled chicken too while following my diet program. The chicken has a marinade with fresh cilantro, cumin, fresh garlic, minced onion, etc.

Grilled chicken with grilled green peppers & onions...

...and for dessert I had a peach.