Saturday, November 7, 2015

Skillet Pizza Tutorial


You've probably all seen the video for skillet pizza that was on Facebook awhile ago.  Who doesn't love pizza!?  After watching the video like 10 times to get the recipe I was brave enough to attempt it.  It was immediately a hit, even with the trial and error. The original recipe called for two different kinds of flour, all purpose and self rising.  Being on a tight budget and having a small kitchen I did some research to see if I really needed two types of flour.  Low and behold, you don't!  You can totally make your own self rising flour!  Can I get a whoop whoop!?  
Here is the original recipe:
Stovetop Pizza
1/2c self rising flour
1/2 c plain flour
2/3 c Luke warm water
pinch of salt
1 rounded tsp dried yeast
1 tsp honey
mix together in skillet, add sauce, toppings, and cheese
Cook medium for 5 mins covered
cook for 10-15 mins uncovered.
*I want to say the cooking details were a bit fuzzy so these may not be correct.

The first couple of times I made this I made my own self rising flour:
1c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

My first word of advice it that you NEED to use a non stick skillet.  I tried a cast iron and stainless steel pan and it was NOT pretty.  Secondly, making the self rising flour in another container stunk.  It was messy and it dirtied more dishes.  So my wheels started turning... How can I do this without that step?

So here it is... Since I hate scrolling through posts to see the list of ingredients here it is up top!

MangoMomma's Skillet pizza!

1tsp oil
1c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp rounded salt
1/2 tsp rounded dried yeast
1/2 tsp mounded baking powder
1 T honey
2/3c water

pizza sauce
1c cheese
toppings of choice

First, I put some olive oil in the skillet, it's probably not needed, but I feel better with it.

Then, I add a cup of all purpose flour. We made the mistake of trying to make this healthier and used whole wheat flour.  That was a big mistake, it must be all purpose flour.  We prefer the taste of some unbleached all purpose flour.

Add a rounded 1/2 tsp of salt.

Add a rounded 1/2 tsp of dried yeast.

Add a mounded 1/2 tsp of baking powder.  Sorry for the nonscientific measuring.  There really is some wiggle room.  Note I am using my 1/2 tsp measuring spoon, translation, only one measuring spoon to wash!

Add honey, I totally eye ball this one.  Have you ever tried measuring honey in a measuring spoon and then dumping it out?  Yeah, it doesn't happen!  The original recipe said 1 tsp, but really I use more like 1-2 Tb, ha!  We have a sweet tooth in my family, what can I saw.

Finally add 2/3 c water.

Mix...

And mix!

And mix some more!

Form into a circle.

Add sauce!

Add cheese.  I make a plain cheese one for my girls.

Cover with foil.

Turn burner on, keep it low.  I usually put mine on 3 or 2.5.  You don't want to burn the bottom of the crust before it's done and the cheese melts, so air on the side of caution and us a low setting.

I set my timer for 20 minutes.  A plain cheese pizza takes about 20 minutes to finish cooking.

I run my spatula carefully around the edge.

Very carefully you can check the bottom to see if it's browned yet.  Here it needs a few more minutes.

About 3 minutes later here it is nice and browned.

Once it's cooked I slide it out onto a dinner plate. I recently started keeping this cheese pizza in a warm microwave.

I then rinse the pan out with cold water to get crust pieces out and to cool in off.  I wipe it out with my flannel reusable paper towels I made, you can use paper towels or a dish rag, whatever you use in your house. 

I repeat the steps for the crust :)


For my husband and I, I make a barbecue chicken pizza.  It is amazing!!! I mix barbecue sauce (our favorite it Sweet Baby Ray's Hawaiian) and some regular pizza sauce. 

Add some canned chicken.

Add pineapple.  I just use a fruit cup. 

Diced green pepper and sweet onion. We now add bacon to the mix, heaven!


CHEESE!


Cover with foil and cook.  Again keep it low.  This pizza takes about twice as long to cook.  I usually set the timer for 30-35 minutes and check on it.  But seriously, it takes about 40 minutes to cook with all the toppings, but it's so worth it! 

Here's dinner!  We seriously eat this about once a week, it's an absolute favorite. I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours does. 

Here is a variation I made one day for lunch.  Holy Moly it was good!  I made garlic butter for the sauce.  Topped it with sliced tomatoes, green pepper, bacon, and string cheese that I pulled apart.  A gourmet pizza with odds and ends laying around the house, amazing!


Friday, September 25, 2015

On the first day of First Grade













Yes, I do take a ton of pictures.  Just in case you were wondering.

We won!

I just thought I'd make a quick blog about how reading paid off in a big way for my family this summer.  We frequent our local library for their children'e programming.  It really is quality programming and it's free!  Well, paid for by tax dollars, but I digress. This summer they did a bingo game with activities to do as a family and once you completed your 4 you turned it in for a drawing.  Low and behold we won!!! What did we win!?  A family membership to the zoo!  How awesome is that!  It had been years since we went, my 2 year old had never been.  Here are "some" pictures for you to enjoy!






We had just watched The Wiz so the girls were singing "Ease On Down the Road". It was hilarious!















Posing as Spiderman, of course!






















Passed out!