Ever wonder what two food loving gals who write about their favorite recipes every week would eat if they got together? Okay, maybe not, but seriously, it is an interesting thing. When food writers and bloggers get together, what do they eat? And when they aren’t blogging, how do they eat?

Last year, when I spoke at BlogHer Boston, I joined a group of food bloggers for a lovely dinner at Legal Seafood in Burlington, Mass. I had a lovely salad – Tortilla, Apple and Goat Cheese With Chopped Avocado and Shrimp. It was delicious. What was more interesting though, was seeing how everyone else ate. Sorry, I am not going to spill their eating habits though …

But me? I love desserts, particularly ones that involve moist cake and creamy frostings. I drink a lot of water, but have a serious Diet Coke addiction that I try to control. I love martinis and gin and tonics, but am more likely to order a glass of red wine — pinot noir or merlot, usually.

So what did Cate and I eat for dinner when I spent the weekend at her house? Pizza. But not just any pizza – a fab Pesto Shrimp Scampi Pizza. Cate devised the recipe on the fly — and it was amazing.

It started with some shrimp scampi. She whipped up the recipe so quick, using help from a Giada De Laurentiis cookbook, that I didn’t even have a second to ask her how to deshell shrimp (yes, it’s true — I have no clue how to do it).

The only thing I contributed to the pizza was rolling out the dough. With a cup, per Cate’s style (turns out that it really does work fabulously) — I can’t take credit for anything else.

It’s always interesting to see how other people cook. When it comes to making pizza, I am a toss toppings on and go sort of girl. Not Cate. She was very precise in arranging the shrimp on the crust. It was impressive, to say the least. And it ensured that every bite had a little bit of everything.

As for the final step? Cambozola cheese. It was a truly ingenious thing to trade in the typical mozzarella for the zesty, creamy Cambozola. So, so good.

Now, you need to head over to Sweetnicks to read about Cate’s take on her mouthwatering pizza.

Oh, the things I could say about pizza. It’s a family favorite around here. Will’s and Paige’s eyes light up when they see a pizza box. Heck, sometimes Will even requests pizza (the answer isn’t always yes, though). In any case, it’s something we enjoy together.

When I was planning this week’s meals, I realized that the extra chicken from our grilled chicken would be fantastic on a fresh mozzarella pizza. Onto the meal plan it went, and I set about to make it last night. When Will and Paige saw this pizza cooking on a pizza stone in the oven, there were shouts of sheer joy. I swear.

Usually I make pizza crust from scratch. I have two go-to recipes –one for a perfect thin crust and a cheese infused pan pizza crust that is wonderfully flakey. But this time, I went for speed, using a premade dough from my local grocery store. It’s a good substitute in a pinch.

The fresh mozzarella comes from a Norwalk, Conn., bakery and is handpulled. If you’ve ever used fresh mozzarella on a pizza, you know that it can make it watery. The secret to preventing that though is to drain the mozzarella on paper towel before using it. It only takes 5-10 minutes to get the cheese significantly less watery.

For the sauce, I have recently discovered Muir Glen’s Pizza Sauce. It’s got a good balance of herbs and flavors — not bland, but not overwhelming either.

As for the chicken, it’s leftovers from the other night when I broke down the chicken successfully. The basil comes from my garden. I tear it into strips by hand. So yes, this was pretty local.

Anyway, the result was a wonderfully crispy, thin crust pizza with a good amount of flavor infused throughout. The kids devoured it. Shawn and I did too. Total hit all around. We ate this with a nice green salad, tossed with blueberries and blue cheese. Mmm…

What’s your secret for a good homemade pizza?

Chicken Basil Pizza
serves 4

corn meal
1 pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
pizza sauce (amount varies — I use about 1/3 cup on a 12″ pizza)
fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/4 inch discs and drained on paper towel
grilled chicken, cut into strips
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
olive oil
kosher salt

Preheat a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven for at least 25 minutes.

On a pizza peel, sprinkle corn meal all over. Stretch the pizza dough by hand into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. If the pizza dough is tacky, dust it with flour before handling. Once stretched to a round and thin circle, place it on the corn meal-topped pizza peel. Poke the dough liberally, all over, with a fork — piercing it.

Spread the pizza sauce around the dough, getting close the the edge. Top with the fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle with basil and chicken. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt

Slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, until browned. Use the pizza peel to remove it from the oven. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

• My favorite basic thin crust pizza dough @ Sarah’s Cucina Bella
• Whole Wheat Pizza Dough @ Eating Well
• Garlic Herb Pizza Dough @ What’s in {Your} Oven
• Parmesan Pizza Dough @ TriniGourmet

I love – LOVE – the ease of food that can do double duty. For instance, a roasted chicken like the one mentioned on the Everyday Food blog today can be Sunday dinner, Monday chicken tacos, Tuesday chicken and rice and Wednesday chicken salad. Talk about a blessing for a busy, harried mom — or any uber busy person.

That’s why I love this beef recipe. It doesn’t take long to throw together and it can feed a family of four for three meals. It’s adapted from a cookbook that I’ve had for several years, but rarely used, called Better Food for Kids. My version makes it a bit fresher and more to my style/taste.

Since you use it in different dishes, we didn’t get bored eating ground beef three times in a week. Will and Paige gobbled up the shepherd’s pie and devoured the beefy calzone that I made with this (see below for directions). And the bolognese was a huge hit too.

The recipe makes three cups of beef — three dinners worth. Now, I know, you are wondering how you can stretch three one-cup portions into three full meals for a family. Right? Actually, it’s pretty simple. Just forget the notion that protein needs to be the biggest thing on your plate. Toss that idea completely out.

Done? Okay.

Now, get used to the idea of using more vegetables and some good carbs too. It’s all about keeping meals well-rounded. A trip around the food pyramid, if you will.

So what can you do with this beef?

• Shepherd’s Pie: Mix one cup basic beef with two cups al dente vegetables in a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes (garlic mashed, preferably). Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown very lightly.
• Beefy Calzone for Four: Stretch one prepared pizza dough into a large rectangle. Spread one cup of cheese along the center length of the rectangle. Top with a single layer of sliced tomatoes (down the center only) and one cup of beef, then a second layer of 1 cup of beef. Cook in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
• Bolognese Sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine one can of tomato paste with 1/2 cup of water and two large tomatoes, diced. Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Add one cup of basic beef. Heat through. Serve over pasta with a salad.

Beyond these ideas, you could make beef quesadillas or burritos, serve it with rice and lots of peppers and onions, make sloppy joes . . . the possibilities are only limited with your imagination.

Enjoy!

Basic Beef
yields 3 cups
adapted from Better Food for Kids

1 lb lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1 large tomato, diced
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef. At the same time, combine the garlic and onion in a food processor and process until chopped to a fine and uniform chop. Add to the beef and cook until the beef is browned. Pour off any excess fat.

Add tomatoes, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper to the beef mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Knowing that my husband would be working tonight, I decided pizza would be our dinner of choice. At first I was just going to order a pie from our favorite place here in town, but then at work I started thinking about how easy it is to make. Even the dough is a cinch in the Breadman. So, after my doctor’s appointment today, I came home and threw the ingredients into the bread machine. I was reading through my go-to pizza dough book, The Best Pizza is Made At Home (which I have previously written about here and here), when I noticed that this recipe actually makes enough for two 10-inch pizzas. So, I made sure to separate the dough and refrigerate one portions – yea for an easy dinner later.

Unfortunately, there were a few minor disasters on the way to the table. For one, the pizza stone developed this bizarre burnt section (it had appeared clean when I put it in there) leading me to believe that someone forgot to wash it last time. That’s the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense. Anyway, now I will be replacing that.

Onward and upward, I decided to use a nonstick baking sheet instead. No problem. Except that I let the pizza cook for about 5 minutes too long (Will was in the bath!) and it burned a bit on one side. Fortunately, it wasn’t ruined, just overcooked. And Will still enjoyed it.

To cook this pizza, top as desired and cook for 12-18 minutes in an oven preheated to 500 degrees. Let cool slightly before cutting.

2/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a bread machine in the order listed. Set to dough (or pizza dough, if you have it) cycle. When it’s complete, divide and mold into pies. Freeze any unused dough.

At one point when we were dating we wanted to try whole wheat pizza dough but couldn’t find any premade to try. Enter The Best Pizza Is Made At Home. Of course, I made it once or twice (actually, the husband-then boyfriend- never even tried it) and then grew tired of it. The book was resigned to the bookcase to gather dust.

Years passed. We got married. We had a baby. I quit my job to stay home for awhile with Will (aforementioned baby) and freelance. Of course, money was tight. Really, really tight. Then I started cooking more (it saves so much money). And then I began digging through my library, trying whatever I could so that we could have a variety of homemade goodness.

That’s when The Best Pizza Is Made At Home reentered my attention. It costs only a few dollars to make pizza at home as opposed to $10 or more for a good pie around here . . . The result was a number of great pies, some of which were dished about here (yes, bad pun).

The parmean crust is among my very favorites. The deep dish is flaky and good. And of course the plain crust is great too. I am still looking forward to using a number of the other recipes – like the herb dough.

The point? If you love pizza and love to cook and want to cook pizza, then get this book because it is filled with a wealth of wonderful variations on pizza dough.

Using the Breadman made the process so much easier. If you decide to do this, then be sure to allow enough time to make the dough and let it rise twice. The kneading and first rising in the Breadman took about 1 1/2 hours. The second rising was another 30 minutes. Plus it takes 20-30 minutes to cook. Obviously, this isn’t a quick dinner.

To cook my pizza, I have an older model pizza oven. I’ve looked online for a new one, since ours is starting to show signs of age and found afew models. I am not sure if I want a new pizza oven though or just a pizza stone. The jury is still out on that. I might buy a pizza stone to have and see how it goes in terms of usage before I decide.

If you are interested in a home pizza oven, here are a two links to ones I’ve located and am considering. I do not endorse any of these products, as I have never used them, so please be aware that I cannot atest to their functionality. This one is most similar to the one that I own. This one looks quite interesting as well. I wonder how the openness of it would work and if it would take longer to cook as a result.

Anyway, I like the taste of homemade dough better than the stuff you can pick up in your local supermarket deli or bakery. But then, I like most things I create myself at home. It’s just a me thing.

With a deep dish pizza, according to The Best Pizza is Made at Home by Donna Rathmell German “Layer ingrediants in this order: cheese, meats, sauce, vegetables and seasonings. Leave a 1/2-inch border around the rim of the pizza.”

Here is the recipe for the dough I used.

Pizza is one of those foods that I just love. When I lived in Arizona briefly, that was the one thing that I missed most: good New York style pizza. Back then, I didn’t know much about making it and didn’t try. But these days, I know better and can work a dough with the best of them.

Sorry, there isn’t any exact accompanying recipe for this post.