Homemade Pizza

My Homemade Pizza

• 1 pkg. pizza dough (found in bakery section of most grocery stores)
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella
• 8 oz. bag shredded mozzarella 
• 6 oz. container crumbled Feta cheese
• 1 tomato
• 1 cup (loosely piled) spinach
• 2 T corn meal
• 2 T melted butter
• 1 t. chopped/minced garlic
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)

1. Leave pizza dough out on counter for 2 to 3 hours. Make sure to cut bag open for dough to "breathe."
2. Once ready to begin, preheat oven to 400 F.
3. Knead dough (making sure all rings are off of fingers!). Stretch dough out uniformly into a disk. Continue stretching. Occasionally place disk over fist and let drape. Continue this process until desired size.
4. Coat pizza stone or non-stick pizza/baking tray with cornmeal. This will prevent sticking. Place dough onto coated pizza stone or non-stick pizza/baking tray.

5.  Melt butter with garlic. Brush onto pizza dough.

6.  Sprinkle salt and pepper (to taste) over dough.

7.  Layer dough with 7 oz. of shredded mozzarella.

8.  Place spinach on top of mozzarella.

9.  Add 2 to 3 oz. of Feta cheese to top of spinach.

10.  Slice tomato and add slices to top of pizza.

11.  Slice fresh mozzarella and add slices to top of pizza.

12.  Sprinkle remaining shredded mozzarella over top of pizza.

13.  Bake in 400 F oven for 20-25 minutes or until crust is desired color/texture.
14.  Slice with pizza slicer and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Ball

I really didn't feel like making dinner tonight so, I made a snack for dinner. Pete was excited when I told him that we were going to have Miso soup (from a package) and my "famous" cream cheese ball for dinner. (I figure it was healthy enough. It was certainly filling as we polished off the entire box of Triscuits!)  I had been planning on making the ball sometime this week after purchasing the needed ingredients yesterday. I should have looked at the recipe before shopping as I thought it called for only one block of cream cheese, not two. Good thing I had an 8 oz. container of cream cheese in the fridge! Too bad for my bagels later this week though.

Cream Cheese Ball

• 2  8 oz. packages cream cheese
• 1 small can crushed pineapple (drained)
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped red or yellow onion

Blend all ingredients and form into a ball.  Serve with crackers of your choice.

I added a little bit of garnish to my ball and served it on a bamboo cheese board.
Pete enjoying his dinner.