Happy New Year to my wonderful WeekNight Bite readers! All my love and best wishes to you all for an amazing 2014!
We decided instead of dealing with overpriced pre-fixed restaurant menus last night, we’d host our own New Years Eve dinner party. Best decision ever! On the menu: spinach and kale bites, hummus and crackers, Lentil Bruschetta Dip, HOMEMADE PIZZAS (!!!), Arugula Pesto Salad, Sugar Spiced Salmon, Grilled Dijon Balsamic Chicken, and my friend Gaby’s Chocolate Butterscotch Blondies. It was ridiculously good.
The most fun part of the night was the pizza making (using our brand new pizza stone). And we captured it all on video. This isn’t your usual polished WeekNight Bite video. Nope, we got some noisy boys in the background watching football, fire alarms going off thanks to the burning cornmeal on the pizza stone, lots of chaos, and lots of fun. We had the best night and I’m excited to share it with you right here! Plus your getting my super easy recipe for this delicious mushroom pizza and you’re going to have the best time making it and hosting your own pizza party!
Before I get into the details of the pizza-making, here’s a little look into our NYE . . .
These are Gaby’s blondies . . . a new favorite!
Lots of roasted veggies . . .
And now for the Mushroom Pizza . . . look at this beauty!
Ingredients
Trader Joe’s Garlic and Herb pizza dough (or any pre-made dough that you love)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic – sliced
1 1/2 cup Quattro Formaggio cheese blend (Asiago, Parmesan, Fontina, and Provolone)
1 cup sliced mushrooms – I used white mushrooms, shiitake, and porcini
1 tbsp fresh thyme
Freshly shaved Parmesan on top
Optional: sprinkle of truffle salt
- Place pizza stone in bottom rack of oven and turn oven to 500ยฐ. Allow it to heat with the stone in the oven.
- Roll out your premade pizza dough. Work into it to make it thin and (somewhat) round.ย
- Try to throw it in the air if you dare!
- Place rolled dough onto a pizza peel that is dusted with cornmeal. This will help it from sticking.
- Brush your olive oil onto the dough and add sliced garlic.
- Now pile on your cheese and your mushrooms.
- Add thyme.
- Drizzle olive oil on top.ย
- Give your pizza peel a shake to make sure the pizza is loose enough so it can slide onto the stone in the oven.
- Slide it onto the pizza stone and allow to cook until edges have browned – about 10 minutes.
- Remove with pizza peel, carefully.
- Slice and serve immediately! Add a sprinkle of truffle salt for extra amazing flavor!
Enjoy!! Happy happy New Year! Cheers to an fabulous 2014!
