June 26, 2012

Mango Chicken Naan Pizza

makes 2 small pizzas

****adapted from Bev Cooks****

Ingredients

1 package (2 loaves) garlic or regular naan bread (I use Stonefire Naan from the deli section)

1/4 cup tomato sauce (pizza sauce or pasta sauce)

1 large (or 2 small) chicken breasts, diced

Red curry simmer sauce (I used Thai Kitchen’s 10 minute simmer sauce)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

3/4 cup frozen mango, diced (you can use fresh if available)

3/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a skillet over high heat on the stove. Bring about 1/3 of the jar of the Thai Kitchen Red Curry sauce to a boil, and add diced chicken. Stir occasionally until chicken is fully cooked. The sauce will mostly cook down, leaving the chicken looking glazed/coated in sauce. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

2. After cleaning the skillet, return to burner on low and add a drizzle of olive oil (about 1 tbsp). Cook sliced onions until caramelized. This process can take a while, so if you’re in a hurry, saute until softened and cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Place the naan loaves on a baking sheet. Spread the tomato sauce lightly across the top of each loaf, then add chopped ingredients (tomato, chicken, mango, and onions). Sprinkle with cheese.

4. Bake about 10-12 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is golden brown. Remove from oven and garnish with chopped cilantro.

5. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

What is your favorite “non-traditional” pizza topping?

One of the many things I love about pizza is the seemingly endless amount of variations you can create. Traditional pizza, deep dish pizza, breakfast pizza, dessert pizza: you name it, you can create it.

When I saw a recipe for Tandoori Chicken Naan Pizza over on Bev Cooks, I knew I had to try out my own variation. I liked the idea of an Indian-style pizza with both sweet and spicy flavors. So, I scrounged up some ingredients and got cooking!

Just look at those bright colors! They are always a good indicator of impending deliciousness. I tweaked the original recipe to use a pre-made curry sauce to cook the chicken, plus I added sliced tomatoes and a bit of tomato sauce, and kept it light on the cheese. I wanted to keep with the flavors of the inspiration, but adjust it a bit to my own style!

Using the naan bread as a pizza crust is a great option if you have chunkier or heavy toppings on a pizza, since the bread will support them and not get soggy. As you can see, I loaded up each of the two small pizzas: I wasn’t shy about it!

After a sprinkle of cheese and about 10 minutes in the oven, things start looking really great!

The final touch is to add some chopped cilantro on top of the naan pizzas after they come out of the oven. The herb gives the dish that extra kick to take them over the top. Plus, I love cilantro! I really recommend trying this concoction out if you’re interested in trying something new with your pizza: the sweet and savory mixture is a great flavor combination, and the preparation is pretty darn simple!

STONEFIRE QUICK PIZZAS

May 19, 2012

Ingredients:

1 package of Stonefire Naan

1/2 can pizza sauce (I used Dei Fratelli sauce without added Italian spices)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

10 slices Canadian bacon-chopped

1/2 fresh Jalapeno-finely diced

1/2 larger tomato – chopped

1/4 green pepper – chopped

3/4 cup sharp white cheddar cheese – shredded

Directions

1. Chop all vegetables and Canadian bacon

2. Take naan out of package and spread each one with tomato sauce and sprinkle with garlic powder

3. Top with the shredded cheese

4. Sprinkle with all toppings

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is semi crispy

I swear these are amazing! You especially need to try it with the sharp cheddar. Yum! I would definitely make these again using these Stonefire Naan, they were a great addition to this meal.

Recipe | Wild Mushroom & Potato Pizza on

Whole Grain Naan

There’s a little song by a band called Cinderella that’s called “Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone.” (Stop judging me for my encyclopedic knowledge of hair metal! Every rose has its thorn.) And when it comes to restaurants, my husband and I didn’t know how good we had it in Madison until we moved to Raleigh.

It’s not that Raleigh doesn’t have good restaurants–we’ve found a few. But it doesn’t seem like there are as many, or at least not as many with creative vegetarian offerings. And I find myself missing a lot of my favorites from Wisconsin. I’ve been trying to recreate some of these dishes myself, and I’ve had some hits and some misses. Despite this whole food blogging thing, I’m not very good at recreating foods I’ve tasted elsewhere–even when my recreation tastes good, it always misses the mark slightly when it comes to duplicating the original flavors.

This recipe is one of those recreations–it’s a combination of a potato and walnut puree pizza from one restaurant and a truffle oil and mushroom pizza from another restaurant. Rather than using traditional crust, I made this pizza using Stonefire Whole Grain Naan. I like making pizzas on naan when I don’t have the time to mess with dough–the key is to make sure any veggies you add to your pizza are cooked beforehand because you need to heat your naan at a lower temperature than you’d cook a pizza made with raw dough.

Like everything else I try to re-create, this Wild Mushroom & Potato Pizza isn’t exactly like the original potato and mushroom pizzas I modeled it after. But it’s pretty good in its own right–good enough that it’s become one of our favorites. (We’ve made it three times already!)

Disclosure: I received a sample of Stonefire Naan to use in this recipe.

Copyright 2011-12 OhMyVeggies. Recipes may not be republished without permission.

My Mom bought some eggplant from the farmer’s market last week and never cooked it. It looked as though they were about to kick the bucket so I searched for a recipe using ingredients I had in my kitchen. Bangan ka Bhurta is what I came up with. Bangan ka Bhurta is an Indian dish using eggplant and tomato. It’s supposed to have a consistency of mush and is best eaten with naan or roti. There are many varieties of what to use in your Bangan ka Bhurta so I just went with what I had and hoped for the best.

Eggplant, tomatoes, onion, olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, cilantro (not shown), and of course I had to throw in some Garlic Gold for more flavor.

I started by rinsing the eggplant under water and then broiling it for 5 minutes in the oven, flipping it over half way. Then I nuked it in the microwave for 6 minutes. Once it was cool enough to handle, I cut it in half and cut away the skin. While the eggplant was getting its radioactive rays, I sautéed a chopped onion in some olive oil. I added the chopped eggplant, tomatoes, salt and pepper, Garlic Gold, and cayenne pepper and cooked it till it looked like this…

Approximately 10-15 minutes.

Then I mashed it up to a mushy consistency.

It was flavorful with a slight kick…thanks to the cayenne pepper.

This was my first time cooking with eggplant and it wasn’t as scary as I had imagined. I’m looking forward to cooking with it again and using it in a different recipe.

We ate the Bangan ka Bhurta with some naan.

Shaina and Kimberly from Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads sent me some samples to try. Their naan is baked in the only commercial Tandoori Oven in the world. It’s made with fresh buttermilk and a clarified butter called Ghee. There are no additives, no artificial preservatives, and they only use natural ingredients. The naan is hand-stretched and are great to use with appetizers, dipping, wraps, Panini, and pizzas. There are 3 varieties… Original, Garlic, and Whole Grain.

I used the Garlic for the Bangan ka Bhurta. It was simple to heat up and really delicious. I enjoyed the smoky flavor which comes from the way it is baked in the Tandoori Oven. It’s cooked in extremely high heat which creates airy bubbles in the bread. This gives it a fun texture.

I loved using the flatbread naan and since it’s so versatile I’ll be using it to make many more tasty dishes. You can heat them up in the oven, the grill, or a gas stove top. Since they are perishable, it is recommended to eat them within a week unless you freeze them, which then they can stay frozen for up to 6 months.

Stonefire is also sponsoring a Cooking For Real Sweepstakes. Each week Stonefire will give out prizes from cookbooks to cookware. To enter the Cooking For Real Sweepstakes, visit Stonefire on Facebook and enter your email address. Good Luck!

(Disclosure)

Today is supposed to be my weekly weigh in but I have decided to quit them. I know that if I continue to eat healthy I will soon reach my goal weight. I’ve been too stressed and so frustrated about not losing the baby weight as quick as I had liked to but I’m concentrating on something that isn’t worth it. I have a beautiful baby to focus on. My body beat cancer and then miraculously created a healthy living being. I shouldn’t be so down on my body for being overweight or not in shape. I went through a lot in 2 years… Cancer, depression, pregnancy, losing a job…so it’s time I focused on happiness and letting go. It’s not easy being a full-time stay at home Mom… It’s hard, tiring, frustrating, emotional, draining…blah blah blah but I wouldn’t change it for all of the money in the world.
I thought I was 10 lbs away from happiness… Boy was I wrong.

Happiness is knowing that I have a beautiful son to watch grow up, many milestones to witness with him, and a lifetime of memories to make.

I’m now comfortable and happy in my skin… my “Mommy” skin.