Artisan Grilled Pizza; Cheesecake "Pizza"; and the Last Goodbye (or was it?)

     This week was another two-grocery store hit.  Cub does not have the best cheese selection.  I know at one time they carried Manchego, but apparently those days are over.  I didn't find anything there that resembled "herb-laced cheddar type cheese".  For the triple-creme cheese, I picked up some Camembert.  Jeff thought for the cheddar, I should just use regular cheddar and sprinkle herbs over it.  I could do that, I supposed, but it seemed against the spirit of the game.  I would think about it. 

     I took Jeff with me to Cub.  Financially, that is always a mistake.  He always wants to buy everything labeled "shocker" whether we need it or not.  I think I had four things on my list, and we ended up spending $100.  It could be worse, I suppose.  We ended up buying several pounds of brats and froze them when we got home, so we would have them for when my friends from Wisconsin come (in August) for the weekend.  I guess it doesn't hurt to be prepared.  Maybe next week, we'll get the potato salad and the chips....  Do chips last that long?  Not in my house.  He had said before we went that I didn't need to buy the tomatoes I needed for the sauce, that surely by Thursday, we would have ripe tomatoes in our garden.  When we got there, though, he put a cluster of them into my cart.  It turned out that I needed them.  I only found one mostly ripe tomato in the garden.

     I went to Sam's Club to get the Manchego.  They are rearranging the Bloomington Sam's Club, and when I went to where I would normally get my cheeses, the bins were empty, and there were carts parked about with piles and piles of cheeses on them.  I asked an employee where I might find Manchego.  After explaining to him that it was a hard Spanish cheese sort of like cheddar.  He lead me to a cart full of cheese and said it might be on there somewhere.  I dug through it, and was successful, but along the way, I found a "herb and garlic cheese".  I snapped it up!  It would definitely fit the bill.  I now have enough cheese for the pizza with about four pounds to spare....  I am going to have the best sandwiches next week!

     When I got home from work on Wednesday, I was really tired.  I hadn't slept well all week, and it was really catching up with me.  That combined with the fact that we were on our fourth near-100º day made it difficult to remain upright.  The heat and humidity just sucks every ounce of motivation right out of me.  It was a good thing these recipes didn't seem terribly fussy.  I decided I didn't need to do any preparing for the dessert pizza - the ingredients (as I had interpreted them) just needed to be assembled, and dessert would be done.

     There really wasn't much to do for the Artisan Cheese Pizza either.  I had dough in the freezer for the crust.  I just had to pull that out to thaw.  I could slice the cheeses, but I didn't feel it was necessary to do that in advance either.  I decided to make the fresh tomato sauce and be done with it.  Without reading the recipe through, I started on the first ingredient: The tomatoes.  I was cutting the recipe in fourths, because I only needed a cup of sauce for my recipe (I always cut the pizza recipes in this book in half - we don't really need two of the same pizza).  Two tomatoes would turn out to be the cup and a half that I needed for my portion of the recipe.  Started the small dice.  I like cutting tomatoes.  I keep challenging myself to see if I can make the dice all the same size and shape.  It never turns out that way, but I sure like trying.  I spent about 20 minutes with my two tomatoes - slice in half, slice each half horizontally, slice perpendicularly, turn the tomato and cut it crosswise for perfect cubes.  I love my tomato knife.  It slides right through, all the way through, the tomato as if it had no substance at all.

     With that completed, I consulted the recipe again.  What is going to be done with these cute little pieces of 'mater?  Oh, they get salted and left in the refrigerator overnight.  Hmmm, nothing left to do then, but take a nap.  I gazed longingly out the window at my lonely hammock.  I wait impatiently 9 months out of the year for it to be warm and sunny, but with the heat index at 115º -120º, I think I will pass.  I did muster up the energy to clean up the dishes and mop the floor, so my guests' feet don't stick to it when they walk in. 

     Thursday morning, I placed my liquor order early, so I would have everything we needed for "drink-o-the-week".  I had the order entered at 8:15am.  One of the warehouse workers, as a personal favor (without any prompting by me), brought me my goodies at 10:30am.  I was set!  I kept thinking that I should put the bottles in my "magic bag" (the bag that goes with me everywhere, and appears to be magic, because whenever I need anything, it seems to be in the bag), so I wouldn't forget them.  But, I couldn't possibly forget them!  It's booze, after all - one of my favorite dishes.

     I got home and changed into cooler clothes and raced down to the kitchen to get started.  Glancing at my recipes that were spread across the counter, I wondered where I should start.  I was pretty parched at this time, so I was considering starting on the drink of the week, even though this is usually reserved for after the girls arrive.  I could at least get the ingredients lined up for the event.  Let's see... cognac and Cointreau.  Yep, just purchased that this morning...  I'll just go ... get ... it...   EEEK!  I left it under my desk at work!!  What now??  We would have to improvise.

     OK.  Nothing I can do about it now.  I can't even call Jeff to bring it home with him, because he wasn't coming home right away.  He had a big "guy" evening with his cop buddies at the shooting range.  Not really my thing, but it seems to make him really happy, and if he is happy, I am happy.

     I decided to start on dessert first.  I have realized (after many years) that it is best to start with the dessert pizza, because if the main course is made first, everyone starts eating that without me while I am still working on getting the dessert made or in the oven or whatever, so it is ready when we are done with our entree.  First of all, as I have done with the last couple of recipes, I decided to ditch the "sweet crust" for a traditional graham cracker pie crust.  I took the easy way out and bought a pre-made one.  Once I got it home, I realized I had all of these graham crackers in my cupboard that I should have used, since we don't really eat them....  Oh well.  Anyway, the pizza (I guess it really is just a pie now) went together quickly and easily, considering you just scoop the cheesecake filling into the crust, open a can of cherry goo & spread it over the cheesecake stuff, and sprinkle the top with white chocolate curls.  There was a slight problem loading the ready-to-eat cheesecake stuff into the crust.  When I tried to spread it around, it glommed onto the crust and adhered to it, even as I was spreading, so there was a little graham disintegration that nobody appeared to notice when it was served.  The curls were the most labor intensive part of the dish.  I had bought a bar of white chocolate (Ghiradelli, of course) and slid my potato peeler down the length of the side to get the curls.  The bar ended up with a big missing U-shape along the side, but I bit into it, and it still tasted fine...

     Just about the time I finished my pie, Pammy showed up.  She had walked over from Jennifer's house.  Apparently, she flew in to Eden Prairie from her house in Frederic, WI just for pizza night.  She really wanted to come, but didn't want to make the long drive.  Wow!  She really knows how to make a girl feel special!

     I explained the problem with the drink of the week.  I handed her the drink book and told her to pick something out for us for which we had the ingredients.   After running through a few lists, she closed the book and told me about this fantastic beverage that she had on one of her trips.  It was a key lime pie martini.  The bartender wouldn't give her the recipe, because it was their signature drink, but she thought she could replicate it.  Unfortunately, we didn't measure anything, or write anything down, so we will never be able to recreate it exactly.  She poured the shaker mostly full with vanilla vodka, splashed in some sweetened lime juice, and added a little cream.  On first taste, the drink was a little too creamy and not sweet enough, and it wasn't green.  She poured the drinks back into the shaker and asked for green food coloring.  I told her where it would be, if I had it.  She didn't find any, but she did find almond extract, which she thought would be good in there.  She added some of that and some simple syrup.  She re-shook it and re-poured.  It was delicious!  Slightly tart, slightly sweet, and a hint of creaminess.  The almond extract added a little depth to the drink, another dimension, a curve to the liminess of it...  Delicious! 

  While we sipped on those, I rolled out the dough.  I had taken it out of the freezer Wednesday night and put it into the fridge.  In the morning, I pulled it out of the fridge, so it would be pliable enough to roll out when I got home from work.  Then, I started working on the cheese.  We discussed (obviously without looking at the recipe) whether or not to include the rind of the Camembert.  We decided we should leave it in.  I cubed the Camembert, I sliced the Manchego, and sliced the herb/garlic cheese and put each in separate bowls to take to the grill.  I shredded the basil (I used much more than the recipe called for, because I am a fan of basil).  I think you can never have too much - it's like garlic in that way.  I put it into the strained and drained tomatoes from yesterday and added the freshly ground pepper.  Somebody give me a tortilla chip, I want to try this stuff!

     With all of my ingredients prepared and bowled up, we were ready to move to the grill.  We were graced with 86º weather and (relatively) low humidity, so we could probably keep our clothes dry if we were to stand out there and grill and later eat outside.  We loaded up the pizza paddle with the ingredients and were going to go outside, when Jennifer, Jonah, and Gracie showed up.  Gracie won her play-off game!  Woo hoo!  Cheers all around!

     Once we had properly welcomed the Liggetts, it was time to get serious.  Pam and my drinks were empty and Jennifer didn't have one yet.  I decided a simple gin martini may be in order.  I filled the shaker (mostly) with gin, tossed in a little sweetened lime juice, squeezed a couple of lemon wedges into it, shook, and poured.  I garnished each glass with a think slice of lemon.  It was beautiful and delicious. 

      We moved outside in a gaggle.  Jennifer helped me juggle dough, sauce, and cheeses; and Pam was the drink carrier.  We put the crust on the flamed side of the grill.  We shut the lid of the grill and tried our martinis.  A huge smile spread across Jennifer's face, and she said, "I like gin."  I do too.  That about says it all.

Me Enjoying My Gin in a Weird Crouched Position (she was supposed to take the pic from chest up, but apparently she missed)

     Once the crust had some nice grill marks on the down side (and a couple of burn marks, too), we flipped the crust onto the no-heat side of the grill and added the toppings.

     The only thing left to do was drink and wait for the browning!  That is what we did.  Unfortunately, a 9 year old and a 12 year old get really bored when three old ladies are sitting around shooting the ... (ahem!) I mean, drinking gin.  The kids were severely bored, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves, catching up, commiserating, and enjoying each other's company. 

     It was fabulous!   I reconsidered the decision to only make one pizza.  The kids had already eaten before Gracie's game, but once they saw the pizza, they wanted some, too.  It was creamy and crispy (slight too crispy in some places, as you can see).  The tomatoes were perfectly matched with the basil and contrasted the herb garlic and manchego cheeses to make the finished dish heavenly.  The only drawback was the fresh tomatoes were a little slick, and each bite shot a tomato out of the slice onto a belly, a toe, or a deck board.  I guess you can't have perfection without a couple of glitches.  We polished off the entire pizza, and then I reminded everyone that there was cheesecake.
     Jonah claims that he doesn't like cheesecake, but I have made cheesecake several times, and he has eaten every one without complaint and mostly with requests for seconds.  He said he would try it, but he really doesn't like cheesecake.  OK.  Whatever.  At this point, the mosquitoes decided it was dinner-time, too, and they attached us with viciousness, so we decided to have dessert inside.

     It was a huge hit with everyone.  Jonah even asked for seconds (he didn't get any, but it had to be asked, right?).  He had seen the pie in its container with the original plastic from the crust domed over the top and told Jennifer that I bought the pie.  As IF!  I worked long and hard on that pie, and I wasn't going to let some unnamed corporation take credit for it!  It is MY own home-made cheesecake thingee!  Don't forget it!

This is the Drink We Were Supposed to Have - Maybe Next Week?

Summer Fruit Pizza; Grilled Chicken & Pepper Pizza; Pinata

     As I have mentioned before, I am a creature of habit.  I get nervous when things are unfamiliar, out of order, or not preplanned.  Jennifer and Roger (my sister and brother-in-law) are remodeling their kitchen and dining room area.  Wednesday, their floors were being refinished.  Roger called me at 5 to 5, asking me what we (Jeff and I) were going to do for dinner.  Mom and Dad were coming down from Nisswa for a funeral, and, as always, they were going to stay at Jen & Roger's house.  Roger said that they would have to go out to eat, because they cannot cook anything in their house with no floor that they can step on.  Did Jeff and I want to come?  Well, of course we would want to come, but it was Wednesday, a.k.a. "pizza prep night".  What would I do about that? 

    I called Jeff. He was at the grocery store.  He had gone to the grocery store yesterday and discovered a good deal on our favorite sodas, but there was a limit.  So, he was back again on Wednesday, trying to soak up more deals.  He said that since he was at the grocery store, we should just have them over to our house.  His real thinking was, he could sneak away, more easily,  and do his own thing while we were all spending family time together.  He bought some preformed burgers, some all-beef hot dogs, and some Italian sausages, along with buns and requested that I make a pasta salad.

     Jennifer said she would bring a spinach salad and whatever else I wanted her to bring, but I didn't think

there needed to be anything else.  That's already a lot of food.  I took a deep breath and tried to shake the stress of the workday off and get into family enjoyment mood.  Hmmm, a little martini is the perfect foil!  I had just bought (on sale, of course) some new mixers.  There was a diet Pomegranate Ginger Ale.  I poured a splash of that into the bottom of the glass.  I had some grapefruit juice in the fridge that I poured into the shaker along with some (just a little, hardly any really, quite negligible amount) vodka.  Shake, shake, shake!  Shake that vod-ka.  Ah, now that is my favorite song.  Delicious and nutritious.  I am sure that all of the vitamin C and anti-oxidants from the pomegranate were going to course through my veins with special force and cure all that ails me.  Or, I was just going to relax a bit and not worry that Wednesday wasn't going to be what it was scheduled for.

Jeff's idea of cleaning off the table

     Jeff was the chef.  He cooked all of the meat products while I assembled the salad.  I had to sift through the refrigerator and cupboards to see what I could possibly use to make into a salad.  Pepper, onion, cheese, macaroni, new pepper from the garden (two of my first three Hungarian Wax (hot) peppers).  All of that could work.  I started boiling water for the pasta, while I chopped the veggies.  I needed some kind of goo for the pasta. . . .   I have no mayonnaise (Jeff has decided that if we stop eating mayonnaise, we will lose weight - it has been a couple of years now, and I think we have found other things to take up mayonnaise's void).  I have sour cream.  I have a jalapeno cilantro dip - I could throw that in there...

     Mom and Jen showed up, and I brought out the dip.  I offered it to them to taste, and the three of us ended up just finishing the dip on chips instead of progressing with any type of salad.  It was good, we couldn't help ourselves.  I had bought the dip mix on clearance at Cub.  I am a sucker for a mark-down.  I would definitely buy it again, if I could remember the name brand, and if I could figure out where to get it, now that Cub isn't carrying it.  Or, better yet, I could probably figure out a way to make my own.

     Anyway, as I was saying, I tossed the veggies together.  By this time, the noodles were done (the box says 6 minutes, and they weren't kidding!  They were slightly past perfect at 6½ minutes).  I could season some sour cream and throw it in there - maybe add a little unsweetened yogurt.  that sounded like a lot of effort and a lot of thinking on my part and a bit of scramble through the spice cupboard.  Then I remembered that I had just bought Vidalia Onion salad dressing at Sam's Club (it is hit or miss when you go there - sometimes they carry it, sometimes they don't, so you HAVE to buy it when you see it.  I poured a little of that over the veggies and macaroni.  I added some cheddar cheese, and VOILA!  Insty-salad.

    We had a lovely dinner.  The burgers were good, and the macaroni salad seemed to be a hit.  I, of course, made way too much, so there was plenty left over for our lunches the next day.  Jennifer's spinach salad was delicious, too.  She had blue cheese crumbles and walnuts in there and had made a balsamic vinegrette that we passed around at the table.

     Once everyone had left, I started on the "preps".  I started with the recipe for the Grilled Chicken & Pepper pizza.  First things first:  the crust.  I poured all of the crust ingredients into my Kitchen Aide with the dough hook installed and let it do its thing.  I hadn't read the ingredient list before-hand, so I was amazed that I actually had everything:  I even had semolina flour.  It stirred up a little dry, so I ended up adding liquid to the dough. 

     Along with my other mental disorders, I have an issue with throwing things away.  I don't think that I have reached hoarder status, but as far as food goes, I make sure I save everything that could possibly be used for something.  Milk is one of those items.  I frequently buy milk for various reasons, and Jeff and I don't drink it, and we don't really eat cereal any more (we should- we both like it... ).  So, when I buy milk, regardless of the size of the milk, some of it invariably goes bad.  I have discovered that this is a great additive for breads and crusts.  It gives them an almost sourdough flavor and it makes something that should have been thrown away into something useful.  The rest of my family has this issue with Ziploc bags - they are continually washing them out and reusing them, which (in my opinion) totally contradicts the reason you buy them - so you can store food and throw away the wrapper - but I digress...  Anyway, I added some sour milk to the dough to up the moisture content and make it hold together.  As with all of the crust recipes in this book, I divided it into four heaps and froze three of them.  The fourth heap went into the refrigerator for tomorrow;s crust.  Hopefully, I would remember to take it out of the fridge before I went to work on Thursday, so it is flabby and able to be rolled out when I come home.

     The sauce was the slow-simmered sauce.  It makes a whole mess of sauce, so I freeze a bunch of that, too, when I make it.  There was one lonely container of sauce left in the freezer, so I threw that into the fridge.

     I had been thawing what I thought was two chicken breasts for the mesquite smoked chicken the recipe called for.  I do not have a smoker, and I didn't buy mesquite chips to put into my grill - which I could have and should have - I would really be interested in trying it all, but I felt like going to that extreme wasn't really a weeknight recipe.  Instead, I had mesquite seasoning.  I thought it would work.  I originally thought that I would grill the chicken, but since my guests hadn't left until 9ish, I thought it would be easier and faster if I broiled it.  So, after the fam was gone, I opened my package of chicken breasts.  It turned out to be ONE chicken breast!  It was roughly a two-pound chicken breast.  I think this girl was a triple D if not bigger!  I sprinkled my mesquite seasoning onto both sides of the chicken.  The oven was set on broil at 500º.  I had to lower my top rack to fit the pan and the chicken breast in there without having the chicken breast touch the oven coils.  Normally, when I broil chicken, it is about 4 minutes per side.  I set the timer for 4 minutes, and it wasn't even close to be flipped.  I put it in for another 4 minutes, and the outside of the chicken looked good, but it was still jiggly.  I flipped it anyway, and set the timer for another 4 minutes.  It still was very jiggly, so I put it in again for another 4 minutes.  It still wasn't quite firm, but I don't like to cook chicken all the way through if I am going to put it on a pizza and re-cook it, especially if it is breast-meat, because it will get dried out and chewy if you cook it too much.  I took it out and let it cool.

     I, then, read through the recipe for the Summer Fruit Pizza.  It called for the "Sweet Crust" that I have made numerous times before and have had a hit-or-miss (mostly miss) experience with, so I had purchased a pie crust dough.  Yes, I know it is a cardinal sin to do that, since the ingredients are cheap, and the process is supposedly so easy, that there is no reason to spend extra money for the pre-made version, but I was gun-shy after my last attempt AND, I do work every day and every little bit of help (like pre-made crusts) can be a boon.  So, crust is covered, I don't need to work on that.  Then I read the rest of the recipe.  Place the sliced fruit onto the crust, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake.  Easy as pie....  There really wasn't anything I NEEDED to do in advance.  The Liggetts weren't going to show up until after 6, and Pam could help me before they got there.  So, once the giant chicken breast cools, I think I can go to bed. 

     I was hoping that my mom would stay after the funeral on Thursday and join us for pizza night, but I guess she had pressing engagements back at home (Nisswa, MN).  She was definitely missed.

     I raced home after work.  I had hoped to skip lunch and come home early, but I don't know what I was thinking....  I always skip lunch, and I still don't get to go home early, so why did I think today would be different?  Oh well, the world was built on hope, right?

     I emptied the dishwasher from yesterday's dinner party.  That was about all I had time for before Pammy arrived. 

     She offered to start working on today's food, and I set her on slicing the fruit:  peaches, nectarines, plums, and cherries.  She started with the peaches and nectarines.  We debated a little about peeling first, but since the recipe didn't mention it, we figured that we didn't need to.  She figured that one nectarine or one peach was about all we needed for a half a cup of sliced fruit.  For the plums, which I was working on, it appeared that one and a half plums was the magic half a cup measurement.  We sampled a little of each "extra" fruit.  The peaches were fantastic, no complaints about that.  the nectarines were very yummy and flavorful, but they were a little gritty.  Not sure what causes that.  The plums were a little less flavorful.  The darker red plums seemed to have a little more flavor, but still nothing powerful  I am not sure if that is because we tasted the peaches and nectarines first, and they have a stronger flavor, or if they just really weren't that great.  Oh well.  We have what we have, and we are going to use it.

    I unrolled the purchased crust and put it into a deep disk pizza pan.  It fit in there with a little lip around the edge.  I had considered using a pie plate for the dessert "pizza", but I was afraid there was going to be too much fruit to fit in there.  On hindsight, I think that may have improved things a bit.  I was able to use my cherry-pitter again, which is all kinds of fun!  Again, I was simply amazed at how easy it was and how perfect the cherries came out.

     Jennifer and her family showed up and brought a Ham and Pineapple Pizza from Pappa Murphy's.  It is one of the kids' favorites.  That may be the wrong phrasing:  the kids really like it, and so does Jeff.  He actually commented that this IS his favorite pizza.  I asked him to reconsider that if he wanted to ever to have home-made pizza again.  He said that he meant out of the store-bought pizzas, that was his favorite....  Sure, under pressure, people will say whatever gets them their goods .... 

     The fruit pizza, after the recommended time on the recipe, still didn't appear to be done.  What was it,exactly, that we were looking for, anyway?  I was hoping for a crispy crust, at least around the edges.  I wasn't sure how that was going to work, since I substituted the original recipe's "sweet crust" for a pie crust.  Maybe I should have baked it first, because it still seemed white and pasty after the recommended 10 minutes.  We put it in for more time.  We upped the temperature of the oven, and we put in the Ham and Pineapple pizza. 

     We had commissioned Pammy to make the drink of the week.  It was called Pinata.  I am not sure how you are supposed to pronounce that, but reading it in my head, it sounds like the toy you hand on a string and let little kids whack on until candy spills out.  I wondered if that meant that the drink was so potent that we might become pinatas at the end of the night.

     We debated a bit about whether to use real lime juice or the stuff that comes in a bottle.  Pam had the ultimate deciding power, since she was barkeep this evening.  She decided that we needed slices of lime at least for the garnish, so she would slice off a few (at least three for us ladies), and squeeze some into the drink, and if that didn't cover the recommended amount of lime, she finished off the measurement with the bottled stuff.  It was a gorgeous drink.  It was refreshing, not to tart, not too sweet.  Jennifer and I decided that since the end result didn't have an overly banana flavor that perhaps the banana was just there to add sweetness and combat the tartness of the lime.  Whatever it was, we could have had bowls-full of the stuff.  Wait!  I think we may have.

     Once the drinks were formulated, it was time to heat up the grill.   I was a little hesitant about leaving the party to go outside for the grilling portion of the evening.  It was warm, but it was a little dreary, and it was threatening to rain.  I piled up a cookie sheet with the diced chicken, the cheeses, the sauce, and the crust.  This went with a spoon for spreading the sauce and the paddle for removing the finished pizza.  Jennifer volunteered to follow me out.  I reiterated that the pizzas in the oven still needed to be watched over, so Pam and Roger would tend to them.  Jennifer was gracious enough to grab my drink for me.  She is a saint, isn't she?

     Once we were outside and enjoyed a little bit of the impending humidity, we quickly finished our drinks. The grill was on and warming up, and we were just waiting for the proper moment to put on the crust.  We had both sides of the grill on with burners running.  We were hoping that all of the crud that had built up on the grill prior to this moment was burning itself off, and that the grates were warming up to put a nice char pattern on the crust once we deposited it.  Just standing there, thought, our drinks had evaporated.   Being the resourceful girl scout that Jennifer was, she had her phone with her and was able to text the bar wench and ask for another shaker-full of drink.  There was no immediate response, but then, as I was looking through the window into the kitchen, I saw Pammy approaching the back door with the shaker.  Hallelujah!  We are saved!  She was laughing when she came out of the house.  She said she made another shaker-full and was going to surprise the two of us with a refill, but she thought she should check her phone first and saw the text.  Jennifer and I tried to get her to empty the whole shaker into our glasses, but she wanted to have a refill too.  And WE thought it was just for US!  I guess not.

     Pam had taken the dessert pizza out of the oven along with the Ham and Pineapple pizza.  The Ham and Pineapple Pizza was a little brown on top.  It looked beautiful.  She brought it outside, and the decision was made.  Regardless of what the sky looked like, we would eat outside until the downpour.  It was our first outdoor pizza night of 2011.

      The grilled pizza wasn't quite ready yet.  Jen and I thought it would be much better if the cheese would brown.  However, we weren't sure if that was possible, since it was on the grill.  Jennifer, who has been without a kitchen and cooking several meals on her grill assured me that it was possible if we would stop lifting the lid to peek at the progress.  I believed her (sort of) and decided to leave it go for a while.  Ohmygosh!   She was right.  It browned up nicely while I was eating the ham and pineapple pizza. 

     The chicken wasn't as mesquite-y as I had hoped, and, of course, I didn't splurge for the mesquite chips to add to the grill while grilling the assembled pizza.  The mesquite was barley detectable.  The flavor was great anyway, though.  The chicken had stayed moist, there was more than enough cheese to bind everything together, and the peppers were the perfect touch of sweetness to compliment the other ingredients.  The sauce was part of a batch that I used Pammy's habanero salt for the salt it called for, so there was also a subtle building heat with every bite.  It was lovely.

     Once we had eaten more than enough of each of our shares of the chicken pizza and the ham and pineapple pizza, we remembered that there was the dessert pizza.  We brought it out and started serving it up.  Roger refused to try it.  Pam, Jen, Jeff, and I each had a small piece to start.  At first, I was really disappointed, because the crust didn't seem like it ever set up, which it didn't.  However, the flavor of the fruits combined totally overshadowed that fact.  I was really glad that we didn't use the sweet crust, disappointed in the result of the pie crust, but overall overwhelmed by the great flavor of the resulting dish.  I can't believe that just those few ingredients would have made that fabulous flavor!  The crust was a little soggy.  I think that if I had pre-baked the crust, it would have been too fabulous for us to stand it.

Raspberry Tea Pizzas; Ham and Cheese Calzones; Fruit Salad; Impromtu Pizza; Key Lime Half Pudding Cake; Plank Walker



     I thought it was my lucky day: One of the scheduled pizzas was a raspberry tea cake, and raspberries were on sale at Cub.  Only one problem:  They were out of them when I went, but I got a killer deal on chicken (99¢/lb).  I usually limit myself to one grocery trip a week, but I went again on Wednesday to check for raspberries, and get another load of boneless, skinless chicken breasts before Cub realized they were mismarked.  Apparently, Jeff had the same idea, because he came home with 6 more packages.        I had just cleared some working space on the counters, and he came home with more chicken and decided to vacuum-pack them in two-breast packages for the freezer.  After elbowing each other for a bit (I can't wait for a new kitchen!), we each claimed our space and got our rhythm going.



     I read the recipe list, and checked the freezer for any pre-made sweet crusts.  I didn't find any, and since this was the last recipe in the book that would use a sweet crust, I didn't want to make another batch.  We haven't been overly fond of the crust anyway.  I thought about making a pie crust, but I had tried that for an earlier pizza and failed after three attempts, so I was a little gun shy.  I was thinking about making some kind of cookie dough, but I wasn't sure how that would go.  I thought about the title of the recipe, and it says it is a raspberry tea pizza, which made me think of tea cakes.  I pulled out my trusty Pillsbury cookbook, which is my back-up for any recipe...  It has the basics, and several variations of everything.  I looked in the index, and Lo! and Behold!  There was a recipe for Swedish Tea Cakes!  What could go better with almond paste, raspberries and chocolate than a little cake made of almonds and butter and vanilla?  It was perfect.



      Unfortunately, I didn't have enough almonds to make both the almond paste and the tea cakes with 100% almonds (even though I was planning on cutting the recipe in half); so for the cakes, I used 3/4 cup of almonds and 1/4 cup hazelnuts.  The dough came together a bit crumbly.  I pressed it together, like you would a pie crust, if you are talented enough to be able to make one (don't try to make a pie crust in the Vitamix - you get glue...).  I was going to plop them onto the cookie sheet and flatten them out into little 2½" disks, but then I started thinking about the toppings...  Almond paste, raspberries, and chocolate.  What would keep those fillings from rolling off the disks before I got the tray into the oven.  I decided a muffin tin might be the solution!  I lined them with cupcake liners (I knew I would need those eventually!  I am so glad I bought them 15 years ago) then pressed the balls of dough into them and up the sides to form a sort of cup.



    Next order of business was to make the almond paste.  I do not have powdered sugar, so I ground up regular sugar in my coffee grinder until it was about the same texture and used that.  I threw the almonds and the sugar into the Vitamix and let it go.  I added the simple syrup with the almond extract while the motor was running, and it all folded in on itself until it flowed into an almond whirlpool.  I think it became more of a liquid or sauce than a paste.  Also, my sugar trick didn't work as well as I felt it should have - it was a little gritty yet. 

     I then assembled the desserts.  I was thinking I would cook them that night, so as to have less to do tomorrow, but I was worried about what would happen to the raspberries if cooked, then left to sit for 24 hours.  So, I decided to assemble and refrigerate.



I made some with blueberries, because Jeff has an adverse reaction to certain fruits with small seeds, and I didn't want him to feel left out.  I also made some free form pizzettes, just to see how it would have worked.

I then tin-foiled them all and put them in the refrigerator for the next day.

     What should I do next to make my day easier tomorrow?  I started thinking about my guests:  Pam was coming with her friend Sarah.  Jennifer and Roger and kids were coming, but I didn't really know when or who all was going to eat, and my former roommate Patrick and his girlfriend Karen were going to be joining us as well.  Since I hadn't asked anyone to bring anything I was thinking that I would have to make an impromptu pizza.  I dug through the freezer and found an herb crust dough.  I pulled that out along with a basic crust for the Ham and Cheese Calzones.  It was late, so I decided that was enough for one day.  Time for dinner, a drink, and a little wind-down time in front of the t.v.

    Oh, but wait!  I need to take the ham out of the freezer for the Ham and Cheese Calzones, so I can cut it up tomorrow.  I looked in the freezer in the kitchen.  There isn't any ham in there.  I looked in the freezer downstairs to no avail.  I ventured outside to the freezer in the garage and was unsuccessful there as well.  I debated using the left over pork roast from Pam's Pig Roast Party, but my darling husband volunteered to go the grocery store for me the next day and assured me that he would be able to get it to me before I needed to start right after work.

     My Thursday work day was so hectic, I didn't have time to breathe.  I listened to my cell phone voicemail on my way to my car after work, and heard my beloved's voice, informing me that he couldn't get away from the store to buy the ham.  Now what?  The next message was from Pam:  She was at the grocery store, and did I need her to get anything for me?  My savior!  I checked the time stamp on the message: it was 4:05 and here it was 5:20.  Was it possible that she was still there, or hadn't gone quite yet??  I called her up, and asked.  YES!  She was still in the parking lot, and being the wonderful, giving sister that she is, she said she would go back in and get me ham.





What Pammy looks like after I've had a cocktail.



     She showed up shortly after I got home, and started in on her salad.  It was called a fruit salad, but we both agreed that it was more like a salad with fruit in it.  She said she has been saving all kinds of recipes that she has cut out of magazines and newspapers (haven't we all?), and keeps thinking that she is going to get around to them someday.  She decided that today was a good start.   This was quite delicious!  Just the right amount of tang and sweetness.  We debated about how much lettuce to use, because the recipe calls for one head of Romaine, and Pammy had Romaine Hearts.  We decided on two.  On retrospect, we should have used all three that came in the bag.  But, it will be nice for me to have free lettuce for the week to go with my soon-coming bounty from the garden!                                                                    



  I decided to start on rolling out my dough for the calzones.  What I had thawed was a very small amount of dough.  I was wondering how I might stretch it out, so that each person could have at least one of the finished product.  It was painful.  I divided the dough into 12 pieces.  Each piece was a little larger than my thumb.  How was I going to be able to fill these with cheese and ham and fry them into something edible?  Thank goodness dough is stretchy and forgiving.  I rolled out about two of those, and decided I was done with this game.  Pam to the rescue again!  She volunteered to roll out the rest of the pieces.

     Meanwhile, Sarah showed up.  I set her up to work on opening the wine while Pam and I worked on the calzones (if you could call them that - they were more like gourmet pizza rolls) and other items we were in the middle of.  I started working on mixing the cheeses, and, once the wine was poured and we were properly hydrated, Sarah helped by cutting up the elusive ham. 



Sarah



     She cut up more than I needed, so I used the rest for the impromptu pizza.  For that, I rolled out the dough, poured on some leftover spaghetti sauce from earlier in the week into which I mixed a couple of spoonfuls of chopped garlic.  Then, I spread on the extra ham.  I dug out the leftover grilled chicken we had for dinner on Tuesday night and put that on it.  Jennifer had sent a red pepper over with Pam, so I put that on there, as well.  A couple more stirs of the refrigerator contents, and I got out some shredded Swiss and some shredded mozzarella.  Viola!  Insty-impromptu pizza!

    When Pam was at the grocery store and had gone back inside to get some ham, she was cornered by the sample-givers (I don't think it was very tough for them to get her attention).  She tried everything that they had to offer, then fell victim to the trap of the tastee....  She felt obligated now to purchase one of the items she had sampled.  She settled on the sausage calzone (how appropriate), and brought that over as an auxiliary appetizer.  Once the calzone was done baking, and Pam cut it into 6 pieces for us to nibble on while we were getting everything else prepared.

     Now Karen and Patrick had arrived, along with my husband (separately, but almost simultaneously).  Jeff and Patrick disappeared outside to compare their toys.  We just traded two jet skis for a black '89 Corvette, and Patrick has a black '72 Corvette.  We thought that they were going to go for a ride, so we were debating eating their portions of the calzone.  We heard the car start, and the engine rev up.  Then, we didn't hear it any more.  There was another sound outside, so Pam peeked out the window to discover, they never left on an adventure, they were just sitting in the car, pushing buttons. 

     At this point, I decided it was time to start frying the mini-calzones.  Pam had already filled them with the ham and cheese I had combined and made them into beautiful little fry-able packets.  I started throwing them into the oil that had been heating in my fryer for the past 20 minutes.  She must have put a really good seal on them, because they puffed up and floated on top of the oil, which meant that only one side was getting fried.  I had to flip them.  Since my fryer is so small, I had to do them in batches of three.  I wanted them all to be done at the same time, so I threw the finished batches onto a pizza stone in the oven that had just started warming up to the temperature we set it for the Raspberry pizzas.  I had the oil set at 375º (the highest temperature my fryer will allow), and I still couldn't get a browning action.  I decided to pull them anyway and throw them onto the preheated pizza stone.

     Once everyone was gathered and ready to eat salad and pizzettes, I popped the impromptu pizza into the oven.



Impromtu Pizza



Ham & Cheese Pizzettes

     Even though they were sort of blonde, the pizzettes had a nice crisp exterior and a gooey middle.  Some of the cheese in some of them had leaked out, but there was still enough remaining in the pocket to make a tasty snack.  I was really wishing that there were more of these.  There were only enough for each of us to have one!  It was a tragedy!

     The raspberry pizzas took longer to bake than I had expected, but they were well worth the wait.  The crust was light - a cross between a cookie and a scone and delicrious and could have stood on its own, but it didn't have to today.  The almond "paste" had cooked out its grittiness and pumped up the almond flavor of the tea cake, while holding the raspberries firm to the cake.  The tart raspberries cut the thickness of the crust and the paste for perfect balance.  The white chocolate was completely lost in all of the almond flavor, but it really wasn't missed.  (By the way, the free form ones didn't do so well:  All of the "paste" ran off of the crust and became one with the pan, and gluing the cookies to the pan).

     Our drink of the week was called Plank Walker.  It was Johnnie Red, sweet vermouth, and green chartreuse (the recipe called for yellow chartreuse, but I had green, and how many chartreuses does one household need anyway (the correct answer is none)).  It was thick and sweet with undertones of moss and black licorice.  It wasn't a hit with any of us that tried it (Sarah wasn't drinking, Jeff believes scotch should never be mixed, Patrick wasn't interested, and Jen and Roger got there after we decided that the drink wasn't a great hit).  Karen and I decided that the flavor wasn't terrible, it was just a little strong.  We tried adding soda to dilute it a bit.  That helped, but it still wasn't a favorite.  Far be it for us to pour it out, though.  We all finished our beverages like troupers.

     For round two, I thought maybe we should tred on ground we already knew.  Sarah had posed the question:  What is your favorite "go-to" drink.  Mine is usually a straight up vodka martini with a twist of lime or a gin & tonic, depending on what the weather is like.  Pam said hers was a chambord martini.  Sarah asked Pam what she usually puts in hers...  Pam said "what do you mean?  I just order it, and it comes already made!".  I started thinking about chambord martinis and thought that was a perfect little treat to round out the evening.  I mixed vodka (filled the shaker 3/4 full of vodka), a splash of Chambord, and a dribble of Van der Humm (tangerine liqueur).  A couple of those, and all was right with the world again!

     What is your favorite "go-to" drink?





The Aftermath