Mummy Pizza - Halloween Recipe

Halloween is just round the corner. So I thought I will post some recipes that will be a big hit with kids and adults alike. This Pizza can be made with the kids. So a great party idea. They can make their own Mummies. How cool is that. Give it a try!

Vegan Five Seed Wholewheat Pizza - Pizza gets a Super Healthy Makeover

Sometimes little things bring joy to life. For me baking and eating Super Healthy Pizza was the highlight of today. What can you say, I am a foodie and nothing can stop me from enjoying some good food and company on Friday.

My son loves Pizza. Another interesting thing is he loves Seeded bread A LOT! Yes, It had to be written in caps. So I decided to combine his love for seeded bread and pizza into one recipe. I have been baking with whole wheat flour for some time now and I have to say, I love it. It does not taste much different from plain flour and is healthier. So why not. I have baked with just whole wheat flour as well. Just takes a longer time to proof for me.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza - Vegan Version and Cheesy Version

When someone says Pizza, the first thing that comes to mind is the melted cheese on top and the soft warm bread. Growing up, we never knew Pizza. At some point in our lives, Pizza made a grand entry to our lives - for good or bad I don't know. We used to eat out a lot when I started working and pizza with friends was once a week affair. And the pan size pizza from the Dominos outlet in the office was a go to place.

After years of enjoying pizza, the food gods decided I had enough. Being lactose intolerant, I can't eat cheese. So I have devised methods of making the yummiest Pizza which will make you forget about the cheese. I have come to realize how easy it is to make your own Pizza from scratch. Once you make it, you will never order Pizza, trust me. You can customize Pizza for each person in your house. How cool is that?

Garlic Eyeballs - Pizza Dough Balls with Olives

Halloween has come and gone. We had a fun celebration this year. Yes Yes. I know there are people asking why celebrate a pagan festival, why celebrate vampires, what has it got to do with Indians etc. Let me put all your thoughts to rest. We just had loads of fun dressing up, partying with friends, making and eating loads of food. My little one was dressed up as Spiderman for one and Mr. Bump for another. I was a witch in one and a robber in another. My H had fun as Wally (Where's Wally). 

Vegan Calzone with Homemade Cashew Pesto Sauce

Th easiest way to defines a Calzones is to call it a folded up Pizza. The outside of the calzone is basically the same as a pizza dough. You can fill it up with sauce, cheese and toppings. Fold and bake. Easy, right?

Now today I am presenting to you the best Calzone you will ever eat. The Sauce is just out of the world (and healthy too). And what's more. This calzone is quite easy to make. It will work great in lunch boxes or for picnics as well.

Monster Pizza

Halloween is round the corner. So time to get some spooky, crazy cooking done, right? If you live in a country which celebrates Halloween or not, you can always make such treats for your kids. Very interesting idea for kids parties as well. Groovy Gourmets are making spooky dishes this week. This is my entry to the event!

Making Pizza with kids can be a fun holiday project and your little one will be proud of his/her creation. We made a caterpillar pizza some weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed that project. This time my little one wanted to make a monster. So here we are, a monster with 3 hands, 2 legs and 2 horns! Let your imagination run wild.



You will be using regular pizza dough to make this. So while adults can eat a regular pizza, the kids can enjoy crazy pizza. This could be a great party idea as well. Get the kids to shape it and top it. Then you can just bake it for them. You can make about 6-8 kids servings with the below quantity.

Ingredients

Bread Flour (or APF) 3 cups
Fast Action Yeast 1 (7g) packets

Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Warm Milk 11/2 cup (I used a little more than 11/4 cup)
Oil 2 tbsp plus a little to layer the top

Pesto Sauce (or just use a pizza sauce)
Mozzarella Cheese
Tomato Sauce

Method of Preparation

1. Take flour in a big bowl. Add yeast, salt,sugar and oil. Mix well. If using active dry yeast proof it first.

2. Add milk a little at a time and mix well till you get a spongy dough.

3. Apply a little oil on top. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and rest for about an hour till the dough raises to atleast double.

4. Punch out the air and knead quickly. Take the required size of dough to make pizza. You can make any shape or any size you like.

5. Roll into required shape.

6. Place the dough in the baking tray.

7. Apply a thin layer of Pesto (or any sauce you are using). Use Vegan Pesto if you like. Add Mozzarella slices.

8. Drizzle a little olive oil on the pizza.

9. Preheat the oven to highest temperature. I baked it at 220C.

10. Bake the Pizza till the ends start to brown. It will be done in less than 10 min. Keep an eye!

11. Once it comes out of the oven drizzle some tomato sauce!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Rolls (Pizza) and Butterfly Pizza

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a very popular Children's Book. It is the first book that we read to Neel and it has been a family favourite. It has a beautiful story of a caterpillar, starting out as an egg, developing into a caterpillar, the adventures as a caterpillar, then it gets a cocoon and finally becomes a butterfly.

On Sunday the egg pops and a tiny caterpillar comes out.
On Monday, it eats 1 Apple
On Tueday, it eats 2 Pears
On Wednesday it eats 3 Plums
On Thursday 4 Strawberries
On Friday 5 Oranges
On Saturday, loads of Junk and gets stomach ache
On Sunday, it eats a green leaf, gets a cocoon..
And finally becomes a beautiful butterfly

As you can see, it also teaches little ones Metamorphosis, Days of the week, counting, names of fruits, message about healthy eating.

What's more little ones just love the colours and illustration. And the little worm holes in all the food is adorable.



When Avant Garde Cookies decided to cook from your favourite cook book, my little one and I donned our Aprons and 'cooked' this bread/pizza. he enjoyed both the cooking and eating part. It was a fun project during Easter holidays.



For Dough

Ingredients

Bread Flour (Or All purpose flour) 1.5 cups
Fast Acting Yeast 1 7gm packet (21/4 tsp)
(Note : though I used 1 pkts, now I use only 1/2 and I find it has a better taste. So use just one)
Salt 1/2 tsp
Sugar 1/2 tbsp
Warm Milk little under 3/4 cup (use as required)

Oil a little to grease

Method of Preparation

1. In a bowl, add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar.

2. Warm the milk and add a little at a time and make a dough. Knead it well till it is all incorporated.

3. Apply a little oil all around. Place in a bowl. Cover with cling film and let it rise, till it doubles.

For Green Sauce (Pesto)

Ingredients

Basil leaves few
Parmesan cheese 2-3 tbsp (skip for vegan version)
Sunflower seeds 1 tbsp
Olive oil 3 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Add everything to a mixer (food processor) and blend into a paste.

Other ingredients

Mushrooms for legs
Green Pepper small bits for head
Carrots (or olives for eyes)
Tomato sauce for head
Mozerella grated (if making as a pizza)
Olive oil to brush



Putting Together the caterpillar

1. Divide the dough into 15 parts.

2. Take 3 parts and join to form a ball. This will be your head. Flatten it a little.

3. Roll the rest 12 pieces and flatten them. Arrange them to form the body.



4. Add mushroom legs.

5. Brush the caterpillar with oil.

6. Preheat oven to 230C. (I used a fan oven this time. So my baking time was very less). Bake for 8-10 minutes. (It usually takes me more time).

7. If making as Pizza, Spread the sauce and add cheese toppings to all the body and head. I did not make it as a Pizza.

8. Once out of the oven, apply the green sauce for body and red sauce for head. Add eyes, mouth etc to head.

Once the caterpillar was made and enjoyed, my son asked me for more the next day. I had some dough and decided to surprise him with a Butterfly Pizza!





Enjoy!!



For the Butterfly Pizza, I used the same quantity of dough. Shaped as shown in the photo. Used Pesto as sauce. You can use Tomato sauce as well. For the top wings we topped with mushroom and bottom ones we used pineapple as they are my little ones fav toppings. You can use any of your choice.

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Priya S

Vegetable Pizza - Black and White Wednesday #33!

My first entry to B&W Wednesday.... My first attempt at making Pizza at home. Not bad for a first attempt. Recipe after I perfect the making of it :-)



Susan's event hosted by Saraswathi