Hatch Chile Pepperoni Pizza

Check it out: my first time making pizza from scratch! I've been wanting to dive into the pizza-making world for the longest time, but anyone who follows this blog regularly knows my oven is capricious on a good day, homicidal on its worst. The oven doesn't even go up to 500°F that is usually recommended. I even bought a Boboli pre-made crust as emergency backup, that's how much I feared this endeavor.

But I had to try this combination of toppings. I have heard so much about delicious green chile pizzas in New Mexico I knew that it was worth a try to create at home, even with zero pizza skills. With Hatch chile season going strong, it was a man-up moment.

Of course, I had a little bit of trepidation with the dough. I obviously did not use nearly enough flour, made the rookie mistake of not picking the dough up and loosening it after spreading and before applying toppings, and as a result my pizza stuck rather badly to the sheet and my nice thin round pizza ended up being thick and crumpled because I needed a spatula to pry it off onto the pizza stone.

Also, I don't have a pizza peel, or even an rimless baking sheet. In fact, I have one baking sheet to my name, and I'm pretty sure it's older than me. So I flipped it over and used the bottom to spread my dough out. Which in retrospect was a dumb idea, because the 1" sides made it elevated above the pizza stone and my dough crumpled even more when transferring because of it, and the toppings fell off a bit.

I possibly shouldn't go on and on about my lack of pizza-making skills on my own blog. I should pretend that I wanted my pizza to look rustically handmade/asymmetrical and I wanted my pizza to have a thick crust.

Whatever. It still tasted amazing, and both the Bro-chi and Mr. Mochi were very impressed with my first attempt. The pizza was gobbled up in seconds, and I plan on stealing a rimless from my mother to perfect my technique. Just goes to show you can make a great tasting pizza that isn't very pretty, so don't fret if yours doesn't look perfect. If you're serving guests, just pretend that's what you were going for.

Hapa Bubble Pizza

Back in May, I made Bubble Up Pizza, where refrigerated biscuit dough and jarred pasta sauce is used to make a delicious pull apart pizza dinner in a trice. Well, like all good recipes, I couldn't resist tinkering it a bit and sharing it with you.

Now I think most hapa things come about by chance. The spam musubi wasn't cleverly designed, but born of a need: to use this weird foreign meat in the most comfortable way Japanese Americans knew how, in a rice ball.

The same goes for this recipe. I wasn't looking for a clever hapa version of a classic, I just didn't have any pepperoni or basil. What I did have were some Japanese market ingredients, so a new twist on bubble pizza was born. Instead of pepperoni and basil, I used Japanese kurobuta sausages and fresh shiso from my patio. More info on kurobuta after the jump:

Lazy Dog Cafe: Dog Days of Summer

Lazy Dog Cafe was our first stop in our blog series focusing on dog friendly venues. My boyfriend heartily recommends Lazy Dog, he likes the variety of the menu as well as the big screens to watch his sports. He and his father go there for outings. 

I like the comfy Adirondack chairs for lounging outside with my dog, as well as their enthusiasm for my dog. Love me, love my dog. Fawn over how adorable my pooch is, even better.  But really, you can tell that the servers actually do like dogs, even remembering my dog's name when they returned to refill our drinks.

Bubble Up Pizza

I've been having a rough week. Since I haven't been doing much other than sleeping and working, cooking has not been a top priority. But my boyfriend and I have a new no fast food rule.

Fast food is great on occasion. I will never be one to bash a juicy delicious double double, or french fries. But it should be for ultra casual get-togethers with friends, not dinners with your significant other.  Its expensive both on the wallet and waistline.

And believe me, my wallet and waistline need all the help they can get!

To the rescue: cheap and easy no brainer foods for when I'm craving something horrible.