If there’s one food a kid can’t resist, it’s pizza. of course, ordering pizza for two kids with different tastes can cost a small fortune, so making your own is much more budget friendly.  (I think these cost me a total of 6 dollars.)

On a normal day I would have simply made a batch of pizza dough, some marinara sauce and topped the pizza as desired. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to restock after the move and while I have flour, I have no yeast, nor did I have have the time to buy it and then make the dough. Luckily, my local bakery sells sweet French loaves for 97 cents each, and just one loaf is more than enough dinner for two growing boys.

The trick to this recipe isn’t so much what you use, but how you cook the “pizzas”.  Timing is critical if you want the bread to be crisp on the outside, soft and warm in the center and not soggy from the sauce. With just a little preparation and a touch of patience (difficult with two boys screaming “I’m Hungry! in your ear every ten seconds), you can have a wonderful meal in just a few minutes that will please kids of all ages.

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This post is really the tale of a pizza and a calzone who came from very humble roots but grew to be loved by all who knew them.  It’s a tale of hope, triumph and gluttony, a must read, for sure. The Pizza was of Asian descent, while the Calzone was a Southern Belle, but both shared a common bond, a bond that kept their lives on a similar course and eventually led them to the same inescapable fate…

I ate ‘em, and they were good!

Both of these dishes were made for the Daring Bakers Challenge. This month’s event was hosted be the incredible Rosa, of Rosa’s Yummy Yums, whom I really need to thank, because I’d never even considered making my own pizza dough before now and having done it, I’m afraid I’m a bit of an addict.  This is really good dough! (Dough recipe is at the end of this post.)

The first night I made pizza, but being the guy I am, I wasn’t gonna settle for just any ol’ sausage and pepperoni rig.  I had a couple packages of Korean style ribs in the freezer that were calling my name, and they got the loving for the evening.

I wish I could tell you exacly how I made the topping for that particular pizza.  Unfortunately I really was cooking by the seat of my pants, so I can just give a hint at the ingredients.  The beef was braised in a combination of chicken stock, water, soy, hoisin, sweet chili sauce, plum sauce, onion, garlic, honey, seasoned rice vinegar, lime juice and cilantro fro about six hours.  The “Pizza Sauce” was a mix of hoisin, soy sauce and black bean garlic paste. To. Die. For!

As for the calzone, well, I’ve got the whole scoop on that one.  read on after the jump for a step by step guide to making your own breakfast calzone, Southern Style!

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There are times when you just want something quick, simple and delicious. If that’s the case, this recipe isn’t going to let you down.  It packs a bit of Mediteranean flair in a slightly Italian-esque package that is just about as satisfying as it gets.  The real plus:  It’s fast, inexpensive and pretty darned good for you in the process!

I came up with this one day after watching Wolfgang Puck on Fine Living Network.  I was joking with my wife about his start in California making gourmet pizzas when I noticed that we still had a package of pizza crusts hanging out.  A quick rummage through the fridge yealded some goat cheese, greek vinnaigrette, spinach, mushrooms and a tiny bit of sour cream left over from some tacos we’d made earlier in the week.  While she went off to the office to do whatever it is that she does in there when I’m not looking, I dove into the kitchen and got my Wolfgang on.  It was time for Californian Pizza!

So, bad Austrian accent and all, I tossed this together.  In all it takes about 20 minutes to prepare, and costs very little to make, which also makes this a perfect candidate for the Frugal Fridays Blog Event. (I’m a day late, but hey, we’re not picky over there yet.)

I don’t have an exact cost on this recipe.  In fact, the components, if purchased just for this dish, are probably more than $10.00.  since only the pizza crusts and the cheese are used completely, the overall figure is undoubtedly less and if I had to make a guess, I’d put this in at about $8.00 in ingredients.

I made three mini-pizzas, but if you’re making this for a family, just go ahead and make it on a full-sized pizza crust.  You’ll be just fine for four people at about two slices each.

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If you’re looking for a meal that is cool, light and refreshing, look no further than this simple pizza. While it may sound odd for me to talk about cool meals in the wanting days of February, our part of the world has seen some pretty strange weather this winter, with temperatures ranging from the sunny and a bit over-warm 80′s, then dropping to a very crisp 24 degrees the very next day. It was on one of the warmer days that I decided something a little light was in order.

I used Alaskan smoked salmon for this dish that my wife had bought me as a Christmas gift. Unlike Nova Scotia smoked salmon, or Pacific Northwest “Jerked Style” salmon, this particular preparation leaves the consistency of the fish much like what you would find in a canned salmon. It would be a lot more attractive with slices of the other type, but aside from having slightly milder flavor than the hard cured varieties, this pizza was absolutely fantastic. (Enough so that I told my wife I needed to make it again for “testing” before I posted it here. I think she knew the truth, but she, as usual, let me think I was getting away with something. What you’re looking at is my second attempt, which was just as wonderful as the first.)

I got the original recipe for this pizza from Rachael Ray’s Food Network Recipe collection and modified it to suit my tastes from there, but her inspiration is almost definitely taken from the famous Wolfgang Puck, who introduced his version of this pizza to a hungry audience at Los Angeles California’s Spago in 1982, thus starting the gourmet pizza craze and making “California Cuisine” a term recognized worldwide.

It was great then, it’s great now, give it a go!

Do you have any great seafood pizza recipes? Care to share them with us? Leave a comment!

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