Fun & Easy Grilled Pizza!

All Summer I have been telling Michael I wanted to try making grilled pizzas on his barbecue.  Each time I mentioned he gave me one of those ‘you want to do what?’ kind of looks.  Clearly he has no imagination. :)

We got off to a bit of a slow start on the grilling this year, but I have made an effort to come up with grill friendly meals at least once per weekend for the last few weeks and when I whipped up a batch of Pioneer Woman pizza dough for myself last week I knew that half of the recipe was destined to make a trip over to the man’s grill.

Two balls of dough = two pizzas.  His and hers to share!

I decided on one ‘normal’ pizza: tomato sauce, salami, sautéed mushrooms, garlic and onions, fresh oregano, mozzarella, parmesan and fresh tomatoes added on at the end.

And one ‘fancy’ pizza: brushed with olive oil, and topped with grilled peaches, prosciutto, herbed goat cheese, parmesan and fresh basil and a balsamic drizzle to finish. 

I took some tips from Janetha on how to actually cook these babies. 

- Get the BBQ up nice and hot…around 500 degrees.  Lay your dough right on the grill and cook until the top side starts to bubble.  Flip over, add your toppings to the already grilled side and continue cooking until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.

My tips for you…

- Have all of your toppings totally ready to rock before you even think about putting your dough on the grill.  It takes mere minutes for that first side to cook and you'll have no time for dilly-dallying once you flip it.

(We pre-grilled and sliced our peaches, pre-sautéed the mushrooms and onions, had the grated cheese ready, and laid everything we needed out on a tray beside the barbecue.)

- Either turn the flame off, or remove your dough from the grill while you add your toppings.  Turn it back on when you are ready to finish cooking.  This gives you the chance to actually get your cheese melted before your crust gets too toasted.

I rolled the dough maybe a scant too thin, but my favourite kind of crust is thin crust so it worked out perfectly for me.  More like a crispy flatbread.  You could totally make a bigger ball of dough and roll it thicker for a nice, chewy, doughier crust though.  In fact, we discussed doing that next time.

What surprised me was how much fun we had doing these!  It took a bit of organization to get the ingredients prepared, but once the dough hit the grill we just worked together at a mad dash and had the final products banged out in no time.

So much faster than baking pizza in the oven, and so much more fun.  I’d be inclined to make pizza like this any time.  Even in the rainy days of Winter.

Pizza Date

So I only made it one day making coffee at home.  What?  At least I took my travel mug to get my mocha misto instead of killing another tree. 

Breakfast seems to have gone by the weigh side these days…straight on til lunch!  Fresh West Coast shrimpies were just screaming to be turned into a quick spicy shrimp salad…

Mixed with green onions, orange pepper, mayo, sriracha, salt & pepper.  Served on top of a bigass salad consisting of red leaf lettuce, celery, carrots, tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil and lemon juice.

Carr’s crackers for scooping.

The leftovers were so few it seemed silly to save them.  Nom.

Afternoon sweet tooth (x five while I type this blog)…

Yesterday’s big wind managed to do some damage to my little patio garden.  :(  That shelf got knocked right over sending my planter of strawberries and mint into a sprawling mess.  Almost took out the rosemary in it’s collision too! 

Thankfully nothing was too damaged and I was able to scoop it all back together and discovered my first almost ripe strawberry in the process. :)

After work I introduced my friend Michael to Pizzeria Prima Strada.  It’s basically my mission to ensure everyone I meet knows about the yummiest pizza in town. 

After that mediocre cardboard-crusted pizza I ate yesterday I was pretty damn excited about my Rucola E Crudo tonight.  All other pizzerias have been ruined for me. 

Somehow this evening has totally gotten away from me.  Good thing hockey is coming to an end tomorrow (Gooooo Canucks!!) so I can start having my evenings back.  I’ve only been home for two days and it looks like a bomb went off in here. 

A girl needs her vacuuming time you know. Ya, it’s a real party ovah here.

Nervous Fan

Tick off another addition to the Starbucks mug collection.  When I tried to buy one on previous trips to Vancouver I either couldn’t find one or forgot completely. 

Coffee brewed at home like a good girl. 

Normal healthy breakfast with some of the most deeeelish grapes evah!

I was off to massage this afternoon and didn’t have time for lunch.  Just the rest of my breakfast banana and multiple handfuls of Ikea crack candy.  (x a bazillion)

After work it was time for Game 6.  Are you sick of my Canucks talk?  Don’t worry, one more game and it’ll all be over.

Wait.  ONE.MORE.GAME.  Yikes.  I’ve never been so nervous over sports in my life.  And I was once smashed in the face with a baseball so hard that I still have a gimpy scar on my tongue.  Baseballs make me nervous…

…Game 7 makes me pee in my pants a little.  Eeeeeeeek.

Tonight’s game was viewed in a super crowded sports pub/restaurant with a bunch of the girls (and one token boy).  Sliders was certainly hopping with extremely vocal and excited fans.

Too bad that by the time I got my pizza the game had slipped far enough that I thought I’d lose my appetite.  (hahahaha, as if that would ever happen!!)

It’s OK boys.  I really wanted you to win that cup at home anyway. 

Bring it home!!!

This and That

My entire grocery budget for this week is dedicated to potlucks for hockey game nights.  Whoooops.  So between game days I’m happily eating away at whatever is left in the fridge and pantry.

Last night’s dinner was supposed to be a recipe for you all, but what I got was a bowl of undercooked pasta with overcooked veggies and mediocre sauce.  Edible but not worth sharing the recipe…if you can call it that.

The crumbled pork sausage a la EdGe restaurant saved the meal.

Grapefruit Perrier is surprisingly deeeelish. 

Sitting on my deck this afternoon I looked up and saw this…a raccoon sleeping the day away on a big tree branch!  Crazy.

A sunny Friday calls for a night out!  Well, pizza and beer anyway. :)

Pizzeria Prima Strada – Diavola pizza, SaltSpring beer, pistachio gelato.

Gorgeous sliver of a moon tonight…

Looks like another sunny weekend is upon us.  Yay!

Fun Guy

I wasn’t really hungry for breakfast this morning.  WHAT?!  Ya, I said it.  I didn’t really feel like taking the time to make a smoothie I wasn’t overly interested in, so instead just snacked on yogurt.

When lunchtime rolled around Chibi and I went for a walk down to the park and back.  The blue skies have arrived in Victoria, but holy man is there still a chill in the air!  I decided to make hot breakfast for lunch.

Buh-bye lovely sunflower butter.  You will be missed.

Steel-cut oats cooked with water, vanilla soy milk, 1/2 banana and flax meal…topped with the rest of the banana, sunflower butter, honey drizzle and hulled hemp seeds.

Stoopy rules the skool.

Afternoon snack.  Two of the blandest kiwi ever.  Meh.

Dinner tonight was going to be leftover Moroccan Stew…but when my friend Mike (formerly known as Bachelor #1, now known as sarcastic pizza eating friend fiend) invited me out for Pizzeria Prima Strada how could I say no?

oooooooh yesssssss….Funghi with added pancetta.  Fancy mushrooms and bacon on cream sauce.  Wahoo!

We had a rule going in that we could only eat half of our pizzas…but we failed to make a rule about dessert…so neither of us had any reason to say no.  We split this daily dessert special…chocolately, walnutty, truffley, tarty thing.

Rich and deeeelish.  There might have been some red wine too.  But red wine is healthy so shhhhhhh. :)

We did dinner really early which actually worked out because I then had the rest of the evening to complete some errands I’ve been having trouble making time for.  Chibi and I even took a car ride to the burbs.

Nothing wrong with a random, tasty, productive Thursday!