Monday, November 23, 2009

Pizza & Salad



Been on hiatus for a few days. Thursday found us at Silver City Restaurant & Brewery to meet up with some friends for happy hour and drinks, followed by Friday night there for the tapping of their new Imperial Stout [gourmet burgers for $1.99 can't be beat], and Saturday night found us throwing together something that definitely needed improving on before it graces the internet.

So wanting to use the two thawed sausages in the fridge before they went bad, we decided homemade pizza would hit the spot. After battling the dough for nearly 45 minutes, I realized the pizza wouldn't be enough food for the both of us and put together a salad really quickly. Except, the pizza was more than enough, so there were leftovers galore.

  • 1 box Jiffy brand pizza dough
  • 5 slices Albertson's deli mozzarella
  • 2/3 cup cheddar/jack cheese
  • 1/4 container Ragu Homestyle pizza sauce
  • 2 Italian sausage, cut into small pieces
  • 7 slices Albertson's deli pepperoni
  • 1/8 cup butter
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 head of Iceberg lettuce (optional)
  • Albertson's garlice & cheese croutons (optional)
  • dressing (optional)
  • flour
  • cookie sheet/pizza pan
  • skillet
  • cooking spray
  • pastry brush
First things first, fry up the small pieces of Italian sausage in the skillet. No need to add grease, it makes enough of its own. Set aside once cooked. Prepare the rest of the ingredients: slice the pepperoni and mozzarella cheese to spreadable sizes. I like very small pieces on my pizza; it makes biting into it easier instead of having to drag more into your mouth than you bargained for.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Follow the directions of the box of pizza dough. I use the Jiffy brand all the time for pizza dough, but this time around, I had a hell of a time getting it to do anything right. It was too sticky and wouldn't spread out good enough on the tray despite using copious amounts of flour and cooking spray to coat my fingers so it wouldn't stick. If you use or find a different brand at the store, feel free to grab that one instead. Jiffy makes a good crust, even if it can be a hassle.

Spread out the dough on the cookie sheet/pizza tray and throw in the fully heated oven for just a few minutes to set it. While it's setting itself, put the 1/8 cup of butter and garlic powder into a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave for about a minute; give or take based on the power of the appliance. Mix well with the pastry brush and set aside. Pull out the pizza dough and coat the entire thing with the butter/garlic mix. Some people only like to do the outer edges, some do the whole thing. I think it adds a nice flavor to the whole crust, though it does make it slightly greasier.

Add all your favorite toppings. Sauce first, a thin layer of cheese, meats, veggies, etc., another thin layer of cheese to make sure everything stays on the dough, and back into the oven it goes.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, depending on how crispy/soft/burnt/etc. you like your pizza. Serve with a salad or on its own.

The grand total for this meal was $5.15. It was cut into 8 pieces and made for 2 big servings on top of having the salad. The price without the salad was $4.86. Not too bad for something so filling.

  • pizza dough 79¢
  • mozzarella 85¢
  • cheddar/jack 66¢
  • Ragu 42¢
  • Italian sausage 1.08$
  • pepperoni 98¢
  • butter 8¢
  • lettuce 19¢
  • croutons 10¢

1 comment:

  1. I, too, had an issue with the Jiffy pizza dough. I dunno if it was the water or what. Half a cup seems a bit much too me. I also don't understand why the pizza dough had to be covered & stored for 5 minutes somewhere warm (85 degrees at that!).

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