Spinach and Turkey Pizza

This spinach and turkey pizza was amazing!  I made sure to roll out the pizza dough as thin as possible and it turned out nice and crisp.  You could make your own pizza dough (homemade pizza dough recipe link here)  or use store bought.  It is actually not too hard to make your own pizza dough, and I like to double the recipe so I can always have one batch in the freezer.  If you freeze the dough, just let it defrost in the fridge the night before you need it.  Anyway, this spinach and turkey pizza was great because of the fresh spinach.  If you want to make it vegetarian, just omit the ground turkey.  What is so great about making pizza is you can use whatever toppings you have at home, that's exactly how I came up with this recipe.  Enjoy!

Spinach and Turkey Pizza

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 batch of pizza dough (recipe here)

10 ounces fresh spinach

4 ounces ground turkey

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 ounces cream cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1 roma tomato, sliced

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

non-stick cooking spray

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Drizzle a little olive oil onto a baking sheet.

For the spinach

In a large pan, over medium-low heat, add about a tablespoon of olive oil and garlic.  Saute garlic for about a minute.  Stir in spinach.

Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until spinach is wilted.  Stir in cream cheese, salt, and pepper.  Cook for another minute and let spinach mixture cool.

For the turkey

In a skillet, over medium heat, spray with non-stick cooking spray, and add onion and ground turkey.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until turkey is cooked through and no longer pink.

For the pizza

Roll out pizza dough on a floured surface with a rolling pin.  Place rolled out dough onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Drizzle a little olive oil onto the pizza dough.

Spread the spinach mixture over the dough. 

 

Top with turkey mixture.

 

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese. 

 

Top with tomato slices. 

 

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

 

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is crisp and lightly browned.

Tomato Pie

I have never made a tomato pie before but I have had one once and it was delicious.  I came across Paula Deen's tomato pie recipe from her food network show, Paula's Home Cooking.  I altered her recipe using what I had at home.  I would probably use shredded mozzarella cheese next time instead of the fresh bocconcini mozzarella, because it made the pie more watery.  You should make sure you drain the tomatoes really well too.  Paula's recipe also said to remove the skin from the tomatoes, but I just left them on since I don't mind it.  You could also caramelize the onions if you have time to do that.  I love the combination flavors of tomatoes and basil and each bite of pie was cheesy.  At first I was skeptical, but then I ate a second piece of pie!   Yup, it was that good.  Enjoy!

Tomato Pie

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) prebaked pie shell (I used a frozen pie shell.)

4 tomatoes, sliced

½ onion, diced

¼ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped  (8 to 10 leaves)

1 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced (I used 2 bocconcini mozzarella balls.)

¾ cup mayonnaise (I used Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise.)

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  I prebaked a frozen pie shell for 9 minutes.  (Follow directions on the package.)

Place tomato slices in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with some salt.  Allow liquids to drain for about 10 minutes.

 

In a small bowl, combine the shredded cheese and mayonnaise together.

 

Layer the tomatoes slices, onion, and basil in the prebaked pie shell.  Layer the mozzarella slices between the tomato layers.

Spread mayonnaise mixture on top of the tomatoes.  Sprinkle with some black pepper and salt if desired.

Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

Best serve warm and cut into slices.  

 The pie got more watery due to the fresh mozzarella cheese ... oops, but it still tasted good!

 My second slice of pie ... as you can see, I used the same plate from my first slice :)

Breakfast Burritos

On a weekday morning, I am usually rushing to get out the door and I never have time to eat breakfast at home.  I already try to pack my lunch (if I have dinner leftovers) and I usually bring my coffee to work in my travel mug or I might stop at Starbucks if I don't have time to make it.  The Starbucks is so convenient at work and I try not to go too often but I do have a "gold" card there with my name on it :P  However, I am usually hungry in the mornings when I get to my office, so I might eat a granola bar or sometimes if I remember to pack some cereal.  But those are not a filling breakfast, and I wanted something easy and simple too.  These breakfast burritos are filling and its easy to make a big batch of these!  After I made them, I let them cool and wrap each one in foil.  I put them in a plastic freezer bag and now I can just take one to work and reheat in the  microwave whenever I want. 

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

3 bell peppers, diced

3 potatoes, shredded (You can use premade shredded potatoes or shred your own like me.)

8 eggs

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon parsley, dried (You may use fresh.)

1 pound bacon, cooked and diced (I just cooked the bacon in the microwave.)

large flour tortillas (burrito sized)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a mixture of mexican and mozzarella/provolone.)

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons oil (I used vegetable oil.)

Directions

Heat a large skillet with about 2 tablespoons oil.  Add in diced onion and bell peppers.  Cook until soft for a few minutes. 

 

Next, add in shredded potatoes.  You may need to add in an additional tablespoon of oil if it starts getting dry.  Cook until browned.

 

In a bowl, beat the 8 eggs and add milk, also add in salt and pepper to taste.

Pour in the beaten egg mixture to the skillet with the onions, peppers and potatoes.  

Stir until eggs are set and cooked.  Add in diced bacon and stir into egg mixture.

Meanwhile, warm tortillas according to package directions.

Spoon egg mixture down center of tortillas.  Sprinkle with cheese.   Fold tortilla into a burrito.

 Enjoy!  I was able to make 9 burritos ... you could make more if you want to use smaller tortillas.