Awkward-Free Pizza on the Grill!

So, all of this “come home and be healthy” talk didn’t end up sticking… The bender doesn’t seem to end! Too tempting to drink and stay up late every night. Not working all that often right now isn’t helping either.  STILL unpacking from Burlington too, gahh it never ends!  Enough complaining though, regardless of how satisfying it seems.

I’ve been finding myself (surprise surprise) in a slew of awkward experiences lately.  I won’t go into details, because rehashing them will probably make me crawl out of my own skin, but, you get the idea. Therefore, I’m determined to get out of my awkward funk, no matter what it takes.  I vow to speak my mind, try new things, and not let long pauses feel like fingernails on a chalkboard.  I’ll let you know how it goes…

On a non-awkward note, I finally got back on the cooking bandwagon, and it was a WONDERFUL idea.  Made pizzas on the grill last night and they were unbelievably delicious.  Here’s my dough recipe, but you might have to alter it depending on how thick you want the crust to be (don’t go tooooo thin, it will fall through the grates on the grill…):

• 3 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 2-3 tbsp honey
• 1.5 cups warm water
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 3-3.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

1. Mix yeast, salt, honey, and warm water
2. Add olive oil and 1.5 cups of the flour, MIX
3. Add the rest of the flour and the cornmeal, adjusting the amount to get a pretty thick mixture
4. Put the dough into a bowl (sprayed with cooking spray) and let rise for 2 hours.  This can be sped up if you turn the oven on, turn it off, and then let the dough sit in the warm oven (only 45 min rise time).
5. Once risen, split into 2 balls and roll each out onto a floured (plus some cornmeal) cookie sheet
6. Add toppings of choice (mine are below)
7. Place on grill (still on cookie sheet).  Leave on for 5-10 minutes (until edges have cooked up) then slide directly onto grill until edges have browned.
8. ENJOY!

Here are my pizza choices (with pictures):

First up: olive oil & pesto base with tomatoes, sliced fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil (grown by my talented mother!) on top. 

Here is the before picture…

And here is the during/after!

Second: olive oil & diced tomato base with garlic, portobello (cooked first), grape tomatoes, spinach, black olives, feta cheese, and shredded fancy blend (cheddar and mozz? super fancy!) on top

Before…

During/After!

I tried to take AFTER pictures, but we ate it too fast. Seriously, lots of pizza, REALLY fast.

Oh well, at least I got an action shot!

See, I’m not always awkward.

Happy eating!