Friday Night.....Pizza!

Friday night is pizza night around here. Tonight I made our Acorn Squash Pizza. YUMMY! Living in New York it is hard to top the pizza you can get at the pizza parlor. But, yes I said but, I think I have mastered a pizza recipe that we LOVE in our home.  I thought I would share. I will follow with a recipe but I feel like I have to say, try it before you judge. It sounds like an odd combination, but it is sooooo good together!! So good!

I originally got this idea off Food Network at some point, maybe Giada. But I have seen it other places too. Our adapted recipe...

Acorn Squash Pizza

1 Acorn Squash peeled and cut up into small pieces

1 onion, sliced thin

2 Tbls Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbls Maple Syrup, or Agave nectar, honey, something to sweeten it up.

Salt and pepper

Toss together and lay out on a cookie sheet in a single layer for roasting. Roast in 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes. Or until soft and golden.

1 pizza dough rolled out

1 cup mozzerella cheese sprinkled on dough

1/2 to 1 cup blue cheese sprinkled on top of mozzerella

Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is golden.

Timing is tricky, you can do it all at the same time in the oven together *, it might just take a little longer.

Cook both until golden. Doing it together makes them ready at the same time, so you can enjoy it hot!

Arugula!!!!

You could toss it with a little Olive Oil if you like, I usually don't. Throw this on the top right before you serve it and ENJOY!!!

Once you do this a couple times it is easy. And Yummy! Did I already say that?

Okay, so Mae won't eat the other pizza so I make a small personal pizza for her. I end up freezing single portions of sauce because I have learned. Kyra does eat the other pizza, and tonight she didn't even eat the "regular" pizza. So most of us devour the Acorn Squash pizza!

*note: for those of you who don't know we have a double oven so making 2 pizzas is a lot easier. Don't get envious, they are original from the house and kind of dangerous (hot on the outside) but on a night like this they sure do come in handy! Don't know what I will do if we ever decide to redo our kitchen, I might have to get rid of the convenience :(

summertime....

It is truly summer when we have BLT's for dinner. This is the first true garden BLT of our summer. Tomatoes have been scarce due to blight this year. We still have plenty of lettuce but I picked up my CSA share today and received a bag of Arugula, yes Arugula. Bliss on a BLT, oh do I love arugula! Believe me when I say this has been a savored meal. Who knows how many BLT's we will have this summer, hopefully many more! And the cucumber salad, it reminds me of my Grandma Deike. who always had Cucumber Salad in the summer, I will include the recipe. Every summer we would go to the Duck Lake cabin, no scratch that, every chance we got we would go to Grandma Deike's cabin. So many memories, so many memories. Cucumber Salad is just one of them...

My meal of weakness. BLT, Cucumber Salad and of course Potato Chips. I say over and over I would probably be a vegetarian if it weren't for bacon, and mostly this dinner! Did I mention weakness?! I have a follower...

Kyra definitely gets a badge for the "Clean Plate Club" tonight!

And what would summer be without a plate of tomatoes to just to have!!!

Is it possible to be nostalgic for summer already?!

Cucumber Salad

4 cups Cucumbers sliced thin

3 teaspoons coarse salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill

fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss sliced cucumbers and salt in colander, let strain for 30 to 60 minutes.

In small bowl mix remaining ingredients.

Combine cucumbers and sour cream mix and serve.

From Garden to Table

I feel like our garden is a little neglected these days. When I walk out there it feels like there is nothing much I can do. I feel like we are still waiting for "the big harvest." We have been harvesting pretty consistantly but I was still feeling the lack of sustanibility until the other night. I made a great dinner right from the garden. Okay, so I added a few necessary items from the cupboard, but ooooh it was all so good together!

Today's Garden Pasta:
1 lb pasta of your choice (I had some tortellini and macroni)
1 tomato
3 cups basil
1 small zuchinni
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
olive oil
salt
pepper
Cut up all ingredients, place in bowl sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss. Serve.
We also had a lot of leftovers, it made a great cold pasta salad. I couldn't get enough!

I don't know why, but I didn't take a picture of the final product. Guess I'll have to do it again :)
Still putting zuchinni in everything and....
Tomatoes are coming!!!