Creamy Garlic Margarita Pizza

I have something embarrassing to confess. Up until high school, I use to eat pizza like a complete weirdo. Whenever my mom would make her fantastic homemade pizza on Friday nights, I would scrape off all the cheese and toppings. Then I would eat the pizza crust alone with a fork, and follow by eating the cheesy toppings separately. I don't even know why I did it and when I stopped doing it, but I'm glad I did because pizza is so much better when all of it's components are combined together in pizza goodness!

Although, I do still eat pizza with a fork. Please don't judge me.

One of my favorite pizza's of all time is a classic margarita pizza. Nothing beats the simplicity of mozzarella, basil and tomatoes on a golden crispy pizza crust.

What makes this pizza extra special and out of this world is my creamy garlic sauce. My first job right out of high school was working at a pizza place and this sauce has stuck with me ever since. I love everything about this pizza, especially with the summer arriving bringing its fresh herbs and produce. 

Change up this weekends pizza night with a creamy, gourmet pizza that your family will absolutely love. You might even want to make two pizza's because it is that good! I bet you can't stop at two slices!

My Mom's Classic Pizza Crust

{Makes 1 Large Pizza}

-2 cups All Purpose Flour

-2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

-1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

-1 tbsp White Granulated Sugar

-1 packet Yeast

-3/4 cup Warm Water

-Olive Oil 

-Cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees (F) and then turn off the oven. This will create the perfect "warm environment" for the dough to rise. Combine all the ingredients (flour to warm water) in a mixer over medium-low speed until smooth and elastic. Place approximately 1 tsp of olive oil in the bottom of a glass bowl and coat the dough and bowl with the olive oil so that it doesn't stick to the sides as it rises in the oven. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the oven to rise for 1-2 hours. Once risen, sprinkle some cornmeal onto your countertop and roll the dough out to fit your pizza pan. 

Creamy Garlic Sauce

{Makes 1 cup Sauce}

-1 cup Ranch Dressing

-3 cloves Garlic (1-1/2 tsp minced)

-1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

Add all the ingredients to a small bowl and stir to combine. Spread on your pizza!

Creamy Garlic Margarita Pizza

{Makes 1 Large Pizza = 8 Slices}

-1 recipe of Mom's Classic Pizza Crust

-1 recipe of Creamy Garlic Sauce

-8 ounces grated Mozzarella Cheese

-6 fresh Basil Leaves-chiffonade

-1 Roma Tomato-thinly sliced

-Olive Oil (cooking spray)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (F). Arrange the prepared pizza crust on the baking pan and evenly spread the creamy garlic sauce leaving a border for crust. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over top the sauce, followed by arranging the thinly sliced tomatoes and chiffonade basil leaves.

Using a misto filled with olive oil, spray the crust with the olive oil. This will make the crust golden brown. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Once the pizza is done baking, switch the oven over to "broil" mode and let the cheese get bubbly and slightly burnt/browned from the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven and slice up into 8 equal slices.

Enjoy!

Perfectly Baked Bacon

Living in a small town with a small grocery store can be a challenge for a lover of food and food blogger. The produce at the grocery store is ah-mazing and fresh, but good luck finding specialty items! I've quickly learned how to become creative with ingredient substitutions and how to create my own ingredients on the fly.

For example, I made an awesome recipe from my Picky-Palate cookbook requiring a Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning packet. Apparently in Chester those little packets of seasoning don't exist, so I had to do some googling and searching to make it myself. Another example is marsala wine. I'm going to need to stock up on TONS of my favorite marsala cooking wine next time I go to the "big city" because that doesn't exist either. Sherry? yes. White wine? yes. Red wine? yes. Marsala? nope!

That's okay...I've got a list a mile long of my favorite things I need to get in Great Falls. It's a small price to pay for living in such a wonderful community and plus it challenges me and makes me get really creative in the kitchen.

Although pancetta and proscuitto may not be available, one thing that you can always count on is LOTS of bacon. There will never be a shortage of bacon in Chester because they have tons of it and in lots of different varieties. Personally, my favorite is the reduced-sodium smoky variety (just in case you were curious).

I always thought my Dad was the king of making bacon. He would always tell me "go low and slow" when pan-frying for the perfect bacon. Being very impatient and wanting bacon ASAP (who doesn't???), I always burned it and would somehow always get burned from the splattering grease. After years of burning bacon and myself, I discovered BAKING BACON!

Have you tried it before? 

It's ridiculously easy and no one gets burned! BONUS! The bacon turns out perfect EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It's revolutionary. You will never want to pan-fry bacon ever again once you bake your bacon.

Perfectly Baked Bacon
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (F). Place a wire (cooling) rack on top of a large baking sheet. Lay the slices of bacon on the wire rack. Once the oven is preheated, place the baking sheet with the bacon in the oven for 15-25 minutes (depending on bacon thickness and desired crispiness). After the bacon has reached its desired crispiness, remove the bacon with tongs to a plate with paper towels to remove excess grease.

Oh yeah, baby. Gimme some bacon. 

So now that you have some perfectly baked bacon, why not make the perfect BLT sandwich while you are at it?  All you gotta add is some toasted bread, lettuce, tomato and mayo to the mix for a simple and delicious sandwich that always hits the spot. 

I know this is a simple post with nothing too complex or fancy. But I wish someone had told me years ago about baking bacon. It could have saved me from a lot of grease burns! So I'm telling you now....bake your bacon!

Settling In

Slowly but surely, Dusty and I are settling into the adorable town of Chester. After 5 straight days of packing and eating out for every meal (the kitchen was packed up), we are thrilled to be in our new home. On Thursday, the movers showed up at 9:00 am to load up our tiny "hobbit hole" of an apartment with this giant thing...

Seriously?!?!? Really?!?!?

Was that necessary?

Our poor neighbors. There was no where for this humongous truck to park, so they had to block some driveways. Let's just say the truck had to get moved a few times to let out some angry neighbors : /

But hauling and loading only lasted about 1-1/2 hours because our apartment was small and ready to go. After that Dusty and I hit the road in our separate cars, following each other through miles and miles of farmland to head up north to our new home.

Once we got to Chester we were greeted by one of the hospital administrators and she handed us over the keys to the house we will renting. When I opened the door, this is what I was greeted with....

My dream kitchen!!!

If you don't recall, this was my previous kitchen....

Nasty! I couldn't wait to say good-bye to that dark-tiny area!

Since we have moved in, I have been spending a ridiculous amount of time in my dream kitchen. But can you blame me??? Overall, I am so excited to be living in Chester. Everyone so far has been incredibly friendly and welcoming. It's crazy, we have been doing more socializing in these past 4 days than we ever did in Billings for the 2 years we lived there and Dustin and I are absolutely loving it! 

On another note, today was Dusty's first day on the job. It was so nice that he was able to walk home for lunch and when he comes home tonight, the lucky guy is going to have his favorite brownies waiting for him!

Life is fantastic and exciting right now! I am so thankful to be joining such a wonderful farming community, as well as living closer to family and friends. I look forward to sharing even more recipes and my experiences of life here on the Hi-Line. 

Almost-Famous Caramel Sauce

If you are from my hometown or the Ravalli County area of Montana, then there is a 90% chance that you know what this recipe is.....

It's the recipe of the homemade caramel sauce from the local county fair and football concession stand at the high school football games!

I have always wanted this recipe and finally I have it! It's so ridiculously easy and instantly reminds me of all the fun times at my high school football games and the county fair. I was the weird kid at the fair that didn't go for the rides, I went for the food. Boy Scout elephant ears with butter and cinnamon/sugar, homemade orange julius drinks, ridiculously long hot dogs and this caramel sauce with sliced apples. Yummmmm. Good times. Good times.

I know this week I have been eating "real food" but this week is also a special celebration....it's Caramel Week! To celebrate all things sweet and creamy, me and my blogging buddies, the Theme Weavers, have come up with a weeks worth of seriously delicious and super creative ways to make, bake and use caramel! Get your sweet tooth ready for a ton of fantastic recipes involving caramel....you have been warned!

On the line up for the week of all things caramel includes....

~Monday~
{Comfortably Domestic} Crockpot Dulce de Leche
{Kvetchin' Kitchen} Caramel Apple Pie
{La Petite Pancake} Caramel Banana Bread Pudding

~Tuesday~
{Decadent Philistines Save the World} Salted Caramel Pork Loin with Shaved Brussel Sprout & Apple Salad
{Bakeaholic Mama} Chewy Milk Dud Brownies

~Wednesday~
{Inside NanaBread's Head} Chocolate Alfajores with Salted Vanilla Bean Caramels
{Comfortably Domestic} Alfajores Caramel Sandwich Cookies
{The Girly Girl Cooks} Almost Famous Caramel Sauce (this post!)
{Climbing Grier Mountain} Dulce de Leche Milkshakes with Caramel Drizzle

~Thursday~
{Tenaciously Yours} Popcorn Crunch Sundae
{Kvetchin' Kitchen} Red Wine Caramel Sauce

~Friday~
{Country Cleaver} Pear Caramel Mini Cheesecakes
{Munching in the Mitten} Caramel Cake

~Saturday~
{Comfortably Domestic} DIY Dulce de Leche Coffee Creamer 

Did I not warn you???? These ladies are my favorite and are so incredibly creative. Did you realize you could use caramel so many ways!?!?!

If you are looking for a great made-from-scratch recipe for caramel sauce, this is going to be your go-to recipe. Once you make this recipe, you can use it to make all the other wonderful recipes provided by the Theme Weavers, or you can just simply drizzle it over ice cream or enjoy it with sliced apples (my personal favorite)!

Almost-Famous Caramel Sauce

-1 cup Butter (2 sticks)
-1 cup Light Corn Syrup
-1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
-2 cups Brown Sugar
-1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk. Heat over medium-low heat and stir the ingredients until all is melted and blended together. Once incorporated, add in the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Continue stirring until the mixture begins to boil. When it begins to boil, let the mixture boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat.

Serve warm over ice cream or with sliced apples and ENJOY!
{Store the caramel sauce in an airtight container and it will keep for 3 weeks}

Eating "Real"

This past week I have been suffering from a massive head cold. It's been nasty and I've been living on the couch for the past few days. Besides being sick with this common cold, I haven't been feeling my best lately. Ever since we found out that we would be moving to a small town that is 90 miles to the nearest anything we have been eating out a lot trying to enjoy our favorite spots in town to dine before they would be a distant memory. I have a feeling that my recent poor eating habits have something to do with me becoming sick.

On Saturday, as I was laying on the couch with wads of tissue surrounding me, Vick's vapor rub under my nose, an ice pack on my nose and nasal spray clutched in my hand due to my massive nasal congestion, I decided to watch "Hungry for Change" on Netflix. If I had to watch another minute of the NFL draft I was going to go insane, so I thought this food documentary couldn't be any worse than 7 hours of NFL draft. What I didn't expect was how good the movie was going to be and how much it opened my eyes. It definitely got me thinking about my own health and what I'm putting into my body.

Just for curiosity sake I also checked out the "100 Days of Real Food" blog I had heard about a long time ago. I read a couple of her articles and started reading their journey of eating real food for 100 days. This all got me thinking and curious.....how would I feel if I cut out white sugar, white flour and white rice? What would it be like to cut out processed foods? 

I decided to experiment this week prior to Dusty's graduation on Friday/Saturday to see if I could cook and eat "real food." I wanted to see how the grocery bill would differ, if I would start feeling better and also, how would Dusty react. Would he still love my cooking???

So far and luckily, yes! Dusty didn't even know I was changing up our way of eating until I finally said something to him at dinner time. I swapped out whole-wheat tortillas instead of regular flour tortillas and he said my quesadillas were delicious. Score! Besides that, he has barely noticed any changes.

Also, the grocery bill was the exact same, if not a little bit less! 75% of our groceries were veggies/fruit which cuts down on grocery costs, so I was able to splurge and get wild caught fish and some organic produce. I was so proud of our cart when we were checking out. It felt really good!

Here is the menu I planned out for Sunday through Wednesday for this week....

~Sunday~
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Salad with organic goat cheese and homemade vinaigrette
Dinner: Broiled Tilapia with Tomato Caper Sauce with roasted broccoli and carrot fries

~Monday~
Breakfast: Plain Chobani Greek Yogurt with Honey & Blueberries
Lunch: Salad with goat cheese, hard boiled eggs and sliced apples
Dinner: Veggie Quesadillas

~Tuesday~
Breakfast: Cottage Cheese & Fresh Pineapple
Lunch: Leftover Quesadilla
Dinner:Chili Lime Shrimp Skewer with Butter Garlic Quinoa and creamy honey buttered corn (from Picky Palate Cookbook)

~Wednesday~
Breakfast: Plain Greek Yogurt w/Honey and Blueberry
Lunch: Salad with goat cheese, hard boiled eggs and sliced strawberries
Dinner: Smokey Spice Rubbed Grilled Salmon w/Black Bean/Corn Salad

Snacks: Banana, Carrots, Apples, Strawberries, and Watermelon

On Thursday through Sunday, Dusty's parents will be in town to attend/celebrate Dusty's graduation from his Master's program, so I didn't plan any further for the week. I gotta say, so far everything has been tasting great and I look forward to trying this more "hardcore" once we get settled up North after our big move.

Have you every tried eating "real food" or participated in the 100 days of real food challenge? Or even 10 days?

I'm curious and excited to see how my body is going to feel after sticking to it for a while!