Homemade Ham & Pineapple Pizza

Okay, so I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this on my blog, but pizza is my favorite food in the world. I don’t care if that makes me a 12 year old. I love it for many reasons, including, but not limited to:

1. It covers all four food groups.
2. It brings ham and pineapple together in my mouth.
3. It's just as good leftover as it is fresh.
4. It's covered in cheese.

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that, until recently, I’ve never made a pizza from scratch... Unless you count pita-pizzas, in which case I’ve made hundreds!

Anyhow, I decided to rectify this blasphemous situation and so I bought myself a pizza stone, peel and assorted pizza making ingredients. I went to town on them and succeeded brilliantly. With brilliant forethought I made 2 LARGE Pizzas and therefore got to eat a whole ton of it. (Don’t worry, I worked it off at bootcamp!) Below is the recipe for homemade pizza sauce and homemade pizza dough…

 

Super Flavorful Homemade Pizza Sauce (original recipe here)

1 can tomato paste

6 oz warm water

3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

6 cloves crushed garlic

2 packets of Splenda (or a couple tsp of white sugar)

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp marjoram

½ tsp basil

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp dried red pepper flakes

Salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine ingredients together. Make sure to crush oregano, marjoram and basin in your band first, which releases the flavor.
2. Let pizza sauce sit for at least 30 minutes so the flavors can marry.

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough (original recipe here)

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

2 tsp white sugar

Directions

1.  Dissolve yeast in a bowl with warm water. Let stand 10 minutes.
2. Combine all other ingredients and mix until a still dough has formed. Cover and let rise about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. On a floured surface, knead dough until it’s no longer sticky.
5. Use your hands to press the dough out into a circle big enough to fit your pizza stone, or use a rolling pin.
6. Top with sauce, then ham, then pineapple and then mozzarella cheese (or whatever delicious pizza toppings you like).
7. ENJOY your pizza goodness.

Spectacular Spaghetti Squash with Garlic Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I went through a phase of eating way too much squash and got all squashed out. I am back on the squishy squash train and have a delightful recipe to share with you!

First, some quick facts... Did you know spaghetti squash only has 31 calories and 7 grams of carbs per 100 grams? Compare that to pasta at 374 calories and 75 grams of carbs!

It's also super easy to make and doesn't have a super squashy taste to it! Forgive me for the annoyingly long name but I couldn't come up with anything shorter!  Now, here's my recipe...

Spectacular Spaghetti Squash with Garlic Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
1 coil garlic sausage
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 white onion
1 red bell pepper
1 cup white mushrooms
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 jar roasted red pepper tomato sauce
Seasonings to taste - I used salt, pepper, oregano, basil and cayenne

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds.
3. Place skin side up on tinfoil lined baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile in a frying pan, cook sliced sausage until nicely browned.
5. In a large pot, heat a couple tablespoons of oil and add chopped onion and garlic. 
6. Once garlic sausage is done add that to the pot as well.
7. Then add mushrooms, tomatoes and red pepper, letting them soften before adding pasta sauce.
8. Add spices in to taste.
9. When squash is done, let it cool slightly and then use a fork to scrape the squash to make the 'noodles'. You can add the pasta sauce directly to the squash for a cute presentation, or scoop it out into a bowl.
10. Top with some grated cheese and fresh basil and enjoy!