Flatbread Pizzas

So, you remember that time I said I wanted to make flatbread pizzas and made breakfast pizzas instead?

Well, now Hubby and I have done both.

This was an experiment of teamwork with Hubby and I deciding on the best ingredients, and my, oh, my was it a tasty experiment indeed. We may or may not have made a second round of these the day after, too.

I am craving another just writing this.

Let's get down to it (before I start to drool):

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: ~25 minutes

Makes: 2 mini-pizzas

Ingredients:

2 flatbreads
1/3 jar of butternut squash pasta sauce
2 tablespoons parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons shredded smoked gouda
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup black olives
1/4 cup grape tomatoes

Directions:

1. Start with yo' flatbreads.

These are plain Panera flatbreads.

Grab your sauce.

Did you know butternut squash pasta sauce was a thing? I didn't until I ran into it at the store. It actually doesn't taste like squash at all, and reminds me very strongly of a sweeter version of a blush or pink sauce.

P.S., has anyone ever thought about how weird the phrase "ran into it" is? I mean, I didn't actually run head-first into this jar, I just saw it at the store.

Sorry. Idioms amuse and confuse me.

Spread the sauce evenly over both flatbreads, leaving a little room for a "crust".

2. Then, the cheeses.

First, parmesan right on top of the sauce.

Then, mozzarella, because pizza is not pizza without mozzarella.

And finally, that delicious and addictive thing called smoked gouda.

We used this sparingly because smoked gouda can have a very potent flavor that can overpower other ingredients. With a gentle hand, though, the flavor is grand! Especially with the butternut squash sauce...

...My mouth is starting to water again. We'd better move on.

3. Slice up your onions however you like. We did a small chop rather than slices.

Slice up your black olives thinly.

Unless you don't like olives, in which case leave them out. If you must.

Slice your tomatoes thinly as well.

Hubby did almost all of this one, which is good, because I would not have been as patient with those tomatoes as he was. He got 7 or 8 slices out of each tiny tomato!

Sprinkle all of those onto your pizza.

The tomatoes...

Onions...

And black olives.

I read something from chef Alex Guarnaschelli the other day which I will paraphrase as, "Place your toppings strategically, imagining every bite."

Oh, we imagined it, alright.

Throw those in the oven.

Bake at 375-degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or a little longer if you like a little extra crunch on your cheese.

And then...Mmm.

Use a pizza cutter to slice into manageable pieces. This size flatbread does well in either 6 or 8 slices, depending on the size you want.

Here's the first one.

If your cheese looks like this, you know you've done it right.

Oh, my.

I may or may not have taken a bite of that piece immediately after this photo, because I just had to see if it tasted as good as it looked.

But I'll never admit it.

...Err.

Onto pizza number two!

Looks like we weren't quite strategic enough on that one end piece!

Oh, well.

The rest was just right. One more stringy cheese shot for y'all, because, well, cheese.

Enjoy!

Herbed Twice Baked Potatoes

Oh my goodness, this is the third post in a week, and the second recipe! It's a Christmas miracle!

...I guess it's a little late in the season for that.

Oh, well. It still looks like a Christmas movie outside our windows with all the fluffy snow. I guess it counts!

Hubby and I are doing only homemade meals for the next two weeks, which means no  prepackaged meals and no eating out. I am hoping it will inspire me to cook for almost every meal! (Lunches will always be leftovers since we both have full-time jobs.)

Tuesday we went through a bunch of my cookbooks and my old recipes and picked out several to do in the near future. Wednesday I was feeling 100% uninspired to do any kind of thinking so I looked at the list and settled on twice baked potatoes. The ones on the list were different than these, but the basic idea was still there!

These are somewhat inspired by the twice-baked potatoes from one of my vegetarian cookbooks, but I'm pretty sure it's just called Vegetarian so I can't find a link to it online.

Onward!

P.S., if you are on a New Years Resolution diet, you should probably leave now. These aren't for you. Unless you like cheat days! In which case, welcome.

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hours

Yields: 16 potato halves

Ingredients:

8 small potatoes, whole
~1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
1/4-1/2 teaspoon poultry herbs, fresh (rosemary, thyme and sage)

1. Start with your potatoes. If you left them alone too long like I did, they make look like this.

That's okay! Just break off the little sprouts. Good as new. You can also cut out any bruises, etc.

2. Scrub the heck out of your potatoes with a potato brush. (Bridal shower gift from my friend Lisa!) Or have your hubby scrub the heck out of them, like I did.

Potatoes grow in the dirt, and they generally still have dirt all over them when you purchase them. (Unless you grow your own in which case you are very well versed in how much dirt is on them. More power to you!) You wouldn't have known that if I didn't tell you, right?

Prick each potato several times with a fork.

Grab some salt.

And rub it into the potato skins.

A teeny-tiny bit goes a long way, here, and adds a ton of flavor! I was never a huge fan of baked potatoes when I was little because I didn't like the skins, but with the little bit o' salt, they actually taste just fine on their own.

3. Set your potatoes onto a cookie sheet.

But wait! says someone in the back. There are nine potatoes! The recipe says 8!

Why yes, savvy reader, there are nine. There will also be fifteen halves at the end.

How is this possible?

Maybe someday you can master the Art of Potato Mutilation like I have, and you, too, can toss or snack on the unusable pieces! Maybe. If you're lucky. It really is a skill. In my defense, the chunks missing were intentional due to bruising and such.

Anyway.

4. Bake these suckers at 375 degrees F for about an hour, until the potatoes are soft. If they're not soft all the way through, pop them back in. Don't be stubborn like I did and use mostly-cooked potatoes because you don't feel like waiting.

5. While those are in there, let's get started on what we'll combine with the potatoes when they come out.

Start with your sour cream.

Change the background for your photo so it doesn't look like you're cooking this, and add in the soy milk and mix until smooth.

Then the butter. Softened would be a good idea. Don't be like me and add it in a little block like this.

6. Chop your onions.

Mince your garlic.

In a sprayed or nonstick skillet, sauté those until they are tender and slightly starting to caramelize.

Add in your minced herbs, which are actually sold in my grocery store as "poultry herbs" in a three-pack.

7. Pour the onion mix into the sour cream mix.

Mix it all up.

Add another little pinch of salt, and set aside.

8. Once your potatoes are ready, pull them out and slice them in half lengthwise.

Scoop out the potato guts to leave a potato shell.

I think everyone has a specific way of doing this, so do it however the heck you'd like, but this is how I do it: Use an oven mitt to hold them, since they're hot. Cut into the flesh near the right side with your spoon, angling toward the center.

Then into the end.

Then the left side.

And pop it out! Gently scrape out any extras.

If you're too rough on the potatoes, the skin will break and then you won't have a proper shell anymore. (Trust me, I know.)

Add the potato flesh to the sour cream mixture as you go. Do the same for all of the potatoes.

9. Once all of the potatoes have been scooped out, use a potato masher or a fork to combine them.

If the mix seems a little dry, add a little more soy milk.

10. Grab one of your potato shells. Also grab a large spoonful of the mix.

Plop that into your shell.

Rinse and repeat for all the potatoes!

(But don't actually rinse, because that would be gross.)

I tend to fill my shells shallowly at first so that I know for sure I will have enough leftovers to give each shell a heaping amount of filling.

11. And now, the twice-baked part: Put them back in for another 30-45 minutes or until the top is just starting to darken.

Tada!

So cute!

These are especially great with little salt potatoes, because they're almost bite-sized. I just used the potatoes we had on hand.

Enjoy!