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One of the things that helps keep me sane with my busy schedule is planning our weekly menu. To some people it seems kind of weird but once you get into the groove of it, I find menu planning to be a lifesaver. We know in advance what we’re going to eat each night so we don’t have to spend 30 minutes each night opening and closing the freezer or pantry trying to decide what to eat.
Fridays are made doubly easy because it’s the same every week. Pizza.
Pizza is the one thing I allow us to have all the time. I’m strange in that I don’t want to be eating repeats during a given month. We might have pasta with tomato sauce twice, but only if I can’t come up with something more creative. At the end of the week, though, I love having pizza as our go-to. I make a bowl of dough when I get off work, prep toppings, and by the time 5 rolls around, we just need to have fun assembling.
But since we have pizza a lot, it was a bit hard to come up with a plan for Project Food Blog Round 5: Pizza.
At first I was determined to make pizza cones, something I had tried back in March but didn’t have success with.
Unfortunately, no success again. I just couldn’t get the dough pre-cooked enough to not be soggy in the final product.
I moved on, and somehow immediately thought of the leftover barbecue beef in the fridge. Because we bought a side of a cow, we always seem to have a lot of beef around, and a roast sure does make a lot of barbecue. And then of course I thought about all the fresh produce right now – oddly enough we’re still getting summer lovin’ from the eggplant and tomato plants.
These two-bite pizzas are perfect for appetizers or a light lunch. Or maybe as midnight snacks. Or as breakfast. However you do.
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Ingredients
- 4 ounces diced roasted Hatch peppers
- 1/2 tbsp flour
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 polenta chub, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1/2 cup leftover barbecue beef, I used the recipe from Simply in Season
- Crumbled goat cheese
Instructions
- Preheat broiler.
- In a saucepan, heat peppers until starting to sizzle a little, then stir in flour until all mixed in. Slowly stir in broth. Heat on medium low, stirring occasionally, while preparing the rest.
- Spray a large frying pan with nonstick spray and heat over medium. Cook polenta slices for 3-5 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove to a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
- Spread a small amount of sauce onto each polenta slice, then top with barbecue beef and goat cheese. Pop under broiler for about 3 minutes, until heated through.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.
Garden Pizzas
1 eggplant, sliced into rounds
2 ounces pesto sauce
1 tomato, diced
Shredded mozzarella
Preheat broiler.
In a dry cast-iron pan (preferably grill pan) sear the eggplant for about 2 minutes on each side. Remove to parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Spread a layer of pesto on each round, then top with chopped tomato and shredded mozzarella.
Put under the broiler until heated through and the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes.
The tangy goat cheese plays off nicely with the hatch pepper sauce, and I love the meatiness of the eggplant. Plus this pizza combination is perfect to serve to others, because you can please both the carnivores and vegetarians. And no fussy yeast required.
About Megan
I learned how to cook by exploring seasonal ingredients, and you can too! Meal time shouldn’t be stressful or complicated, and with fresh ingredients and easy methods, Iโm here to help you enjoy the time spent in the kitchen.ย Read moreโฆ
Brilliant idea using eggplant for a pizza base!
Fabulous little pizza bites Megan. I had too many ideas for this post too hence my little bites. Can you imagine if we got together and had a pizza party? I especially love your beef topping on the corn one!! Good luck – hopefully we care both packing our coolers together!!!!
I’d be all about those garden pizzas. They’d make awesome starters or snacks for guests. I’d probably stack them and eat them as a meal, too.
Now…let me see if I got this right: you bought a side of beef? Wow.
@BakingBarrister, Yep, we got about 70 pounds of beef back in March. We still have a lot left so it seems to have been a good investment!
yum, great idea for mini pizzas! they look tasty. good luck! ๐
Wow those look so beautiful! Great idea for the mini pizzas!
Pizza is usually our Friday go-to dinner. I like these combos. Love the beef one! yum.:)
Oooh, love the idea of using the polenta rounds as a base for your pizza!
Menu planning really is helpful isn’t it? I find it especially useful in figuring out hot to use up those items still sitting in the fridge. Nice job with the pizzas and great work with PFB!
My kind of pizza. It’s not that I hate regular red sauce/pepperoni pizza it’s just that I so prefer something with veggies or unique cheese or if in a pinch…a lot of garlic!
These are beautiful…good luck!
I love the idea of using items other than dough for a base. These are so wonderful and full of such lovely ingredients, I can only imagine that they were incredible little bites.
The eggplant-as-crust is BRILLIANT. I will have to give it a try this week.
Love that you used veggies and polenta as your crusts! Very cool. ๐
To me these pizzas have an elegant vibe and I would love to serve them at some swank cocktail party. GREG
Love this! The garden pizza looks particularly pretty with that eggplant round. Pizza would be so much easier to eat if they were this small. You have my vote, of course. ๐
beautiful! both of these look just incredible. And I love making them bite sized. The eggplant is a genius base. Nicely done. I voted for you again!
Best of luck! Hope to see us both in round 6!!! =)
I love the eggplant crust idea as well, I’ll definitely have to give it a try!
You are brave to plan your weekly menus…i tried it once and was daunted to keep up with it! How do you do it? BTW, I found the eggplant pizza very interesting!
Wonderful. Fully intent to try this!
These pizzas are so pretty looking! And I still totally want to see the pizza cones ๐ Good luck!!!
Awww . .these are too adorable. I think they’d be great appetizers for any party.