Woodfired Pizza Dumplings/Rolls

Confession: we have homemade pizza about once a week. 

During vacation last week I thought it would be fun to reinvent pizza night. 

I started with the usual pre-made dough and mozzarella cheese.  This would also work with shredded cheese.

Mr. Happy started up the wood fire oven.  Yes, we have a wood fire oven.  It was built by the previous owners and I have to admit that it's pretty darn cool!  And under used... we need to find reasons to use it more! 

Here you can see the smoke pouring out. 

Gave the dogs each a 'soup' bone (the kind from the store that has the marrow still in) to keep them happy/busy.

I am also joining in on Tasty Tuesday with Sugar the Golden Retriver and Kolchak from Kol's Notes

On a cutting board, I flattened the dough with my hands in to a rough rectangle.

Cut the rectangle into eight squares.

Then I went back to check on how the fire was doing and shoved a few more pieces of wood in. 

Oh, and as a side note, these rock ovens + our location in the woods seem to be spider heaven.  Mr. Happy pointed out that there was massive (and thankfully dead) spider in there.  Ick!  Seriously it was the biggest one I have seen in NY.   

Back to dough.  Roll each dough square in to a ball and then flattened them like mini pizzas.

Add a tomato sauce of your choice in little blobs.

Open and cut up the mozzarella.  I also chopped some fresh basil from the garden.

Layer the cheese on the sauce.

Generous heap of basil on top of the cheese.

Now, you bring the sides of the mini rounds together.  I found it worked to do two opposing sides at a time. 

Then a little *pinch, pinch* and you form your dumplings!

And then I flipped them upside down. 

For next time: I think I will leave the 'pinched part' at the top.  When they baked... the cheese and sauce oozed out and it would have been extra yummy for it to ooze out the top and all over the dumpling!

I use a regular baking pan lined with parchment paper (so the dumplings don't stick to the bottom) to cook these in.  It's a pan that has been abused a few times like this and is still going strong. 

I also brushed the dumplings with tomato sauce.  You could probably use butter instead if you like.

When the woodfire oven was ready I took the dumplings to meet the heat.

Popped them in.  The fire and coals get pushed to the back and the pan bakes in the front.

They only took about 15 minutes to get nice and toasty with the cheese and sauce melting out the bottoms.

Dipped in a little more sauce mixed with parmesan and I think we have hit a recipe to try again!!

So easy.  So versatile.  So fun!  And yes, you could do these in a normal oven too!  And let me tell you... the leftovers the next day were incredible!

Hope you give these a try!!

Cucumber Delight

I was given a rather large cucumber by a neighbor.

I really like cucumbers, but have a problem where I cut up a plain cucumber into slices, put them in single serve baggies, and then stare at them each time I open the fridge.  And they sit in the fridge.  And I don't eat them.  And I feel bad.

I didn't want this to happen to this cool cucumber gift.

So, I set out to make cucumber salad.

I've never made cucumber salad (at least I don't think so). 

There are a million and a half recipes for cucumber salad on the web. 

I had no idea which one to use.

So, I read a bunch of them.  And read about ingredients like vinegar, sugar, onions, garlic....

I headed into the kitchen to whip something up that was inspired by those other recipes, but that harnessed the ingredients I already had in the house.

I started by slicing the cucumber into paper thin round slices with my crazy sharp and fast slicer. (Thank you again Beka for that awesome Christmas gift.  Yes, I still have all my fingers intact.)

My next leap was to all the ripe peaches I have been hoarding.  I'm thinking how good would a sweet and spicy salad be.  Enter the peaches.

I pitted and sliced two of them.  Next time I think I would use a few more for a more even mix of peaches to cucumber slices.

Oh, so pretty against the fresh light green of the cucumbers.

Next up. Rice vingear!  This is the first time I got to use this ingredient.  I think we originally bought this bottle a few years ago when we thought it might be fun to make our own sushi.  And we never ended up making it.  Maybe the open bottle will inspire that next?

I didn't really measure any of the quantities, but I began to pour some on.  Then gave the cucumbers and peaches a good mix.  I was looking for a very tiny coat of rice vinegar throughout.

Enter salt.  About two pinches.  I would later add another two or so pinches.

Cayenne!  This is where the spicy entered.  A few dashes, then a few more.  Then a few more. 

I live for the heat that cayenne brings to the party!

Honey.  Instead of sugar I wanted a more pure sweetener. 

This is a local honey purchased from a local orchard.  Local honey is supposed to help with seasonal allergies.  I have been busy trying to work honey into everything I am making lately.

I drizzled about two tablespoons-ish on the top.

Basil!  Fresh basil at that.  From my garden.  Love it!

About 6-9 leaves here.  I rolled them together and then sliced and chopped them. 

Cilantro.  I was a smart cookie this year and put hebs in two places.  This meant that the recent bunny invasion only wiped out a portion of my herb garden. 

Smart cookie, right?

I included a few sprigs.  Pulled the leaves off and tossed them in.

Here are all the treasures together!

The results after a nice mix.

The last two additions after tasting were a couple of shakes of cloves to give it a bump up in spice.  And a drizzle of olive oil to bring all the flavors together.

I was so happy with the result that I ate a bunch.

Then I packed a bunch more in my lunch for the next day. 

That's a combo of rice noodles and cucumber delight.

The right food, can really make your day!

What are you eating today?  What is your latest creation?

Bruschetta

Trying out a new recipe and spoiling your taste buds with it = happiness!

We were at Olive Garden the other day for lunch and saw that they were charging $10 for a bruschetta appetizer. $10; can you believe it? It was just the push we needed to try and make it at home. It was so easy! You chop the tomatoes, mix in some fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Then put it in the fridge for a few hours. I just love when a new recipe is a keeper! You can bet we will be making this again this summer!

Here is the recipe I followed: click here