The Pizza Of The Gods- Greek Pesto Pizza

Sometimes when inspiration strikes it is a little 'Aha!' moment that makes you smile quietly to yourself and sometimes it hits you like a clap of thunder sent upon you straight from Thor himself. This pizza was one of them. It sprung from ingredients I already had and the knowledge that I had a little time before we had to eat. It turned into a little more of a focaccia bread, but I still think of it as a pizza. Other than picking off the mushrooms it was even devoured by my not-quite-two-year-old.

You know those people who freeze leftovers if there are large amounts but never end up using them because by the time they remember they are freezer burned? Yeah, I'm one of those people. A month or two ago I made a pesto sauce for some pasta and I had twice as much as I needed so I froze half, expecting to find it in 6 months time and have to toss it and the tupperware because I was too scared to open it. Much to my surprise I not only remembered it, but I came up with an ingenious use for it!

Pesto Sauce
(Unfortunately this is one of those recipes I do by taste so I don't really have proportions for you but just add ingredients until you get the consistency you prefer)
-Fresh basil leaves
-Olive oil
-Fresh garlic
-Parmesan cheese (the fresher the better)
-Roasted pine nuts

Put everything in the food processor and blend until creamy.

One thing in my kitchen I have learned to love and don't think I could live without at this point is my bread maker. They really are amazing inventions. All I have to do is throw the ingredients in, as haphazardly as I please, and come back when it has either turned it to dough or fully baked it. It's the perfect way to make pizza dough.

Pizza Dough
-1 2/3 cup warm water
-2 Tbs oil
-2 Tbs salt
-4 1/2 cups bread flour
-2 tsp yeast

Now for the assembly of one of the tastiest pizzas ever made!
-1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
-A handful of kalamata olives, sliced.
-3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
-The pesto sauce
-Feta cheese
-2/3 of the batch of pizza dough

Divide the pizza dough in two and form into circles and press into glass pie dishes. Spread the pesto sauce across the bottom of each pie. Spread the artichoke hearts in between the two pies, crushing them up with your fingers as much as you can to get it broken up as small as you can. Spread mushrooms and olives across them. Sprinkle feta cheese over the top. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 12-15 min. Cut, serve and enjoy the pizza of the Greek gods! :)

Vanilla Walnut Cupcakes With Buttercream Frosting And Bananas Foster

Sometimes the Food Network gets me in trouble. This is one of those times. One show I enjoy watching is Cupcake Wars. Three teams of professional cupcake makers battle to create pretty, tasty cupcakes for some form of large event. The final challenge is to create 1,000 cupcakes in two hours for said event. I enjoy watching it because of odd flavor combinations and the amazing things they can do with decorations.

On this particular day, they commented on how a particular vanilla cake was spoungy, moist and all around tasty. I don't have much experience making cupcakes, but anytime is a good time to start. So I decided to try to come up with my own different, tasty, cupcake. I remembered that I had some over ripe bananas. I then had the thought of carmelizing them in some form of alcohol and after a little research found that this was the start of bananas foster. An idea was born!

I started out with a very tasty sounding vanilla cake recipe.
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
5 tbs butter, cut into pieces
2/3 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (or very goarsly ground)

With a preheated oven, I combined the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In the stand mixer I combined the butter and sugar. Once mixed well I added the eggs and the vanilla and then the dry ingredients slowly. Add in the walnuts. Scoop the batter into the muffin trays already lined with cupcake liners. bake for about 20 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Next I found a great recipe for buttercream icing.
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

In the stand mixer cream the butter. Mix in the sugar and vanilla. Add milk until it reaches the desired consistency. You probably won't need that much milk, but have it ready in case you do. This comes from a recipe that I had to cut in fourths, considering the original recipe called for 8 cups of sugar and I figured that might be a little much for my small amount of cupcakes. Technically the recipe when cut would call for 1/8 cup, but most people don't have 1/8 cup measures.

Now for the finale!!
1/4 butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 1/2 tbs rum
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 bananas, peeled and cut into coins

In a deep skillet melt the butter. Add in rum, sugar and vanilla. When it starts to bubble add the bananas and cook until they are hot.

When all of the elements are cooled ice the cupcakes and let it set for a few minutes. Next add just a few pieces of banana on top of each cupcake. In my picture I hadn't waited long enough for things to cool so it was a little messy, but it was still mighty tasty!!