Tag: pizza

A hole in the wall: New York Pizza in Aspen!

All of the restaurants in Aspen are great, but you sure have to pay the price! If you plan on eating out, expect to pay around $30 per person…. excluding drinks. We found an exception to the Aspen dining “norm” with this hole in the wall pizza joint called New York Pizza.
They have a wide variety of items on the menu including whole pies (with extra toppings only costing you $.25 cents each), salads, subs, sandwiches, and calzones. Like I said, the prices are very reasonable.
I love the atmosphere of this place. Walking up the red carpeted stairs, you feel like you’re leaving Aspen and entering New York City.
Literally a hole in the wall… you have to walk upstairs to find this restaurant.

Upstairs, you’re greeted with the smell of warm pizza, stainless steel ovens, and pizza-by-the slice. For less than $5, you can get a HUGE slice of pizza of your choice. Choose from pepperoni, cheese, canadian bacon and hamburger, veggie with Feta, black olives, onions, and peppers and more!

Pizza by the slice!
We ordered a greek salad to-go and all loved it! Topped with plenty of Feta cheese, extra-large mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, peppers, diced red onions, sliced tomatoes, and romaine lettuce, it sure was a winner. The dressing is some sort of vinaigrette, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
Greek Salad to-go.

Finally, take a look at this New York pizza! The crust was thin and chewy, the toppings fresh, and the cheese savory. My dad ordered half canadian bacon and hamburger for himself, while my husband requested pepperoni.

If you’re looking for something cheap and tasty in Aspen, New York Pizza is a winner. It sure beats Dominoes, which is also located in Aspen. However, why would you eat Dominoes when you can have New York style pizza?

Large, 16 ” pizza: half canadian bacon/hamburger and half pepperoni.

Fruit Pizza

In honor of the “Pizza Theme” week I’ve shown on my blog, here’s one more “pizza” recipe…but with a twist… Fruit!

This Fruit Pizza recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Paula, who has made it countless times for birthdays, get togethers, lakehouse trips, and just because!  For my 22nd birthday, the first one I celebrated as married, Paula brought over this fruit pizza, and I just fell in love with it.  She knew I LOVED fruit, and was right in thinking that I would adore this birthday treat.

Fruit Pizza is a “healthier” dessert, perfect for the summertime when you are craving something light and luscious.  As many of you know, this has been the hottest summer on record for Dallas, Texas (except for the summer of 1980).  We’ve already had 14 days of three-digit temperature days and it’s only the beginning of July!  Sometimes I notice that the extreme heat makes me less hungry, however, that’s not to say I don’t crave sweets still!  As I told you before, the weekends are my husband and my “cheat” days.  We eat whatever we want and then start back to our “normal”, eating-right diet on Monday.  So today, instead of making a heavy dessert such a brownies or cake, I thought this fruit pizza would be refreshing, sweet, and satisfying.  It sure was!

Send me pictures of your fruit pizza….you can decorate it with any fruit in this world and in any pattern! Enjoy the aesthetic beauty as well as taste in this dessert pizza!

Bake the crust for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

While the crust cools, wash and prepare your fruit.  Or go to the store to buy cream cheese like I had to!

Make your cream cheese filling and spread it on the cooled crust.

Layer with fresh fruit in any sort of pattern.

Feel free to change up your design with different fruits. Below I used just strawberries, clementines, and bananas. This design is prettier than the one above. Have fun with it and enjoy!

fruit pizza fruit pizza

Fruit Pizza
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • CRUST
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tarter
  • TOPPING
  • 8 oz. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Fresh fruit of your choice
Instructions
  1. FOR THE CRUST: In an electric mixer, beat the butter, shortening, sugar, and egg on medium speed. Sift the flour, soda, and cream of tarter and than add to butter mixture. Beat until just combined.
  2. Press into a greased, round pizza pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely.
  3. FOR THE TOPPING: In an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Frost onto cooled crust.
  4. Arrange fresh fruit in any pattern on cream cheese. If desired, pour strawberry or a peach glaze over fruit.

 

CPK’s BBQ Chicken Pizza

I LOVE pizza and could eat my weight in it.  The good thing about this pizza recipe is that you can make it pretty healthy.  First of all, then thinner the crust, the better.  Well, my crust is very thin as you can see.  Second, you can cut fat by using low-fat or part-skim cheese.  I used part-skim Mozzarella, which is one of the few cheeses that are actually good for you.  Thirdly, BBQ sauce has no fat in it…just sodium.  The only thing left is chicken breast, which provides a lean meat/healthy protein source for you.  Finally, red onion and cilantro gives you wonderful flavor in this BBQ Chicken Pizza.
I adapted this recipe from Ree Drummond, or the Pioneer Woman, who in turn created her own version of California Pizza Kitchen’s BBQ Chicken Pizza.  If you’ve ever been to California Pizza Kitchen, also known as CPK, you know what I’m talking about.  Their pizzas are wonderful and come in almost every flavor or combination known to man.  Their frozen pizzas are quite good too! Last week my mom and sister made Rosemary Chicken and Potato Pizza from The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook.  I’ll be sure to blog it as soon as I can!  
 
Making pizza is extremely fast and easy, especially if you buy a pre-made crust.  If you’ve ever heard of Naan bread, it makes for a great crust as well.  The neat thing about making pizza is that the baking time is so quick!  With an extremely high oven temperature, at least 500 degrees F, you can bake a pizza in literally 10 minutes.  For those of you who like to grill, grilling pizza is another tasty alternative.
Enjoy!
 
Bake chicken covered in BBQ sauce for 25-30 minutes in a 375 degree F oven.  Dice into thin pieces.

Roll out pizza dough.  Cover in a couple of tablespoonfuls of BBQ sauce, then chicken.

Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and thinly sliced red onion.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until crust is golden, and cheese is bubbly.  Top with freshly chopped cilantro.

CPK’s BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
2  Individual Pizza Crusts (I used Basic Pizza Dough recipe)
1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
Olive oil, for drizzling
Salt for sprinkling
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 whole red onion, cut in half, and sliced very thin
chopped Cilantro, to taste

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.  Salt chicken breasts on both sides, then place in an ovenproof dish.  Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts and turn them over to coat.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is done.  Remove from oven and cut into a fine dice.  Set aside.
3.  Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees F.
4.  Roll/stretch out one pizza crust.  Lay it on a sheet pan sprinkled with cornmeal.  Spoon a couple of tablespoons of extra BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly.  Top sauce with half the diced chicken.  Sprinkle on half of the Mozzarella and thinly sliced red onion.  Repeat with second pizza.
5.  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
6.  Remove from oven and sprinkle on plenty of chopped cilantro.  Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings
Adapted from Pioneer Woman