Jiffy Crust Update

So, I made my second box of Jiffy crust pizza today for lunch.

The crust was much better this time. Here's what I did differently:

1. Made the crust at the edges thicker
2. Put butter, garlic, and parsley on the edges
3. Baked it for two minutes less than the directions said

It was much, much better!

Jiffy Pizza Crust

At $0.84 a box, Jiffy Pizza Crust mix is quite a bargain.

Also, it's really easy to make.

And my pizza was quite good. I just kept it simple, with pepperonis and mozzerella, and pasta sauce from a jar.

But the crust probably cost eighty-four cents for a reason.

Where there were toppings, it was good.

Where there were not, it was not.

It basically tasted like stale saltine crackers on the edges.

Next time, I will be trying something different. I think I will brush my crust with butter and herbs and garlic and parmesan before I bake it. Because I don't love stale saltine. It's not a great flavor.

Grilled pizza

So when I went off to school all sorts of things changed around my house.  Especially food things... like wheat berries.

Usually my family forgets that these things are new so when I come home for a visit and I have no idea what they're talking about they're all, "But we do this all time!  We always do this!"

Right.

One such new concoction is the grilled pizza.  Its actually way yum.  You make a pizza crust like normal (or buy one thats already made... buts thats just lame) and throw it straight onto a hot barbeque grill.  After about three minutes, pull it off, flip it over and add sauce and toppings to the cooked side.  Then just pop it back on the grill and cook it for another five minutes.  It is seriously the best!  And it cooks faster than normal pizza, which means you get that goodness in your stomach just that much faster.

Famous Family Crust recipe:

Pizza Crust

1 pkg. or 2 Tab yeast               2 ½ cup flour
1 cup warm water                     1 tsp. sugar
2 Tab. veg oil                           1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast and add other ingredients.  Beat vigorously.  Let rest.
Put in pan and let set a while.


Happy grilling!

Pizza Potatoes

So, it is currently dinner time here, and I am happily devouring my latest culinary creation. And may I say, this one is quite good.

I only blog about food creations that are good.

The icky ones are not good subject matter.

Anyway, as you can probably gather from the post's title, the success I have stumbled across has been named "Pizza Potatoes". Note: the icky ones don't get named, either. Just cataloged: that icky thing with the fish, etc.

So, here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 450 farenheit
2. Thinly slice (1/4 inch) a couple of potatoes
3. Toss in a bowl with enough vegetable oil to coat, parmesan cheese, parsley, and a little basil or oregano
4. Lay potatoes out in a single layer on foil-lined baking sheets
5. Spread tomato sauce over potato slices
6. Top with whatever strikes your fancy! Cut your toppings up smaller than you would for a full sized pizza. I used chopped up pepperoni and bacon and then smothered the whole thing with mozzarella. Yum
7. Bake for 10 minutes or so. Watch closely towards the end so the cheese doesn't burn up- mine was a close call!

Anyway, these turned out really well. If you don't want to slice your potatoes as thinly, just bake them for 5 minutes or so before you add the sauce and toppings, so that you don't burn the top, then remove, top, and bake for the remaining 10 minutes.

And now, I've got to go- the rest of my potatoes are on my baking sheet in the kitchen, and I want seconds!

Pizza pockets?

Even though I am an avid pizza lover, and aspire to be like my fellow pizzafiers here on this blog, sometimes I just don't have money to fork out at Papa John's.
Today I dedicate this post to Hot Pockets. The cheaper, lamer and slightly horrible alternative. This also includes the 'Lean Pockets' that I have come more acquainted with since realizing this honey got her some hips.

All I really have to say is do not buy the chicken and cheese flavour Lean Pockets. The cheese is awfully, awfully fake and rubbery- kind of like that cheese you buy in plastic sheets. Also, there is just way too much of it in the first place.

Stick to the pepperoni flavour or the chicken and broccoli. They are almost worth heating up.

Shake Well

When it comes to large national chains, I am a great advocate of Papa John's for my pizzas. It's not usually super greasy, and the crust is good. But I'll admit: the #1 reason I order my pizzas from Papa John's is because of the garlic dipping sauce.

I usually tack on an extra sauce cup to my order (only an additional $0.49!) so that I can use it on the leftovers when I reheat them. Speaking of, they totally didn't put in my extra sauce last time I ordered. Hmm.

Now, in light of this admission, you will understand how distressed I was to realize that the Special Sauce was no longer working its magic in quite the same way. I would devour my slice of pizza as quickly as possible to get to the crusty end, open that little cup of golden goodness, dip, and bite in to my crust, just waiting for the fabulous flavor sensation we all know and love to hit me... and it wouldn't come. In place of the decadence I dreamed of, I experienced a salty, watered down shadow of flavor that never even came close to my hopes and dreams.

Well, I wasn't going to give up on the flavors of my childhood so quickly. That taste of the sleepovers and birthday parties of my past beckoned, longing to be recaptured. And I was on a mission; the quest for garlic-y goodness!

I tried chilling my sauce. This brought back some of the visual thickness I remembered, but the flavor was still missing, and the hot-cold contrast was no good.

I tried heating my sauce. Bad idea. Just led to a messy microwave.

I tried using the sauce first thing, as soon as it got to me. This meant I had to cut my crusts off to eat before I'd even gotten through the first slice. I felt like a horrible person, desecrating a slice of pizza in that manner, and was still met with no results.

I finally concluded that something must have changed. This simply was not the same sauce I had grown up with. It couldn't be. But, for old time's sake, I conceded when my sister proposed we order Papa John's. After all, she's been out of the country for a year and a half, and had missed it. And lo and behold, a marvel occurred!

After eating through a slice worth of supreme pizza, which was really very good, Bri picked up a little container of that sauce. She shook it vigorously for a moment, pulled back the lid, and dipped in her crust. Then, she took a bite and said "Oh, yum. I've missed this sauce!"

Well, I looked in that little sauce cup, and it looked right. I smelled it, and it smelled right. Hesitantly, I dipped in my own pizza crust, bit in to it, and it tasted right! We had a second cup, so I mimicked her motions only to find that this sauce tasted right, too. And then it hit me. What a revelation!

Turns out, they're not kidding when they put "Shake well before opening" on the container.

Review: Pizza of Perfectitude

In response to apparently a lot of complaints about quality, Domino's has launched their new pizza crust, sauce, and... toppings. (Begging the question, what the heck were they using before?)  According to their marketing department, the new pizza basically kicks the trash of PJ's and the Hut.

So last night C and I tried the new Domino's pizza.

I admit.  Loved it!

It passed the pre-bite aroma test, which, for the un-initiated, means smelling the length of the slice like a stogie, or a glass of merlot.  After weighing the bouquet, comes the fun part--digging in.

They discovered just the right balance of sauce and crust (although no one ever puts on enough cheese for my taste).  There's just a little bit of a kick in their new sauce recipe, more like red and less like jalepeno.  The crust had just a hint of parmesan, which is perfect for me.  Thats the thing with parmesan--too much and you're in danger of the nose getting all irritated and such, but with just enough you have a sharp contrast to the smooth melt-y mozzarella that makes my mouth water.

Its a do-again.