Grilled Pizza Party!

Need a fun, easy idea for a Labor Day Party?!

A few weekends ago when I was at home, my family and Pat and I had a make-your-own-pizza-party!

I followed this recipe for the pizza dough and cut up various toppings and spread out different sauces and everyone went to town!

Pizza Dough

Annie's Eats

1/2 cup warm water

1 package yeast

1 1/4 cup water, room temperature

2 tbsp EVOO, plus more for greasing the bowl

4 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose)

1 1/2 tsp salt

Place warm water and yeast in a measuring cup. Let sit until yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.  Add room temperature water and olive oil and stir.

Add flour and salt in a bowl.  Slowly add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture.  

After the ingredients are combined, knead dough with hands (or mixer if you were home in VA!) for 5 minutes.

And knead.

And knead. Then flex your muscles : )

Roll dough into a bowl and cover in an oiled bowl for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Before

After

Deflate dough and cut into 6 separate mini pizzas.

(sorry, no picture.... too.excited.)

Now you are ready for the fun part!  Make sure to grease your grill extremely well with olive oil so the dough won't stick.  Also oil one side of the pizza dough.

Place oiled-side down on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until brown.

Add toppings:

Pizza sauce, pesto, carmelized onions, chicken, bacon, cheddar  cheese, mozzarella cheese!

With the cooked side facing up, make your pizza!  Return pizzas to grill for 4-6 minutes, and serve!

This was such a fun night, everyone!  My parents and Pat really got into making their pizzas "their own".  Not only did it take no time to cook the pizza, but it tasted amazing!  The dough was perfectly cooked and browned on the edges--my favorite part!

The most attractive pizza of the night! Courtesy of Papa Gourmand!

Enjoy!

Cajun Deviled Eggs

There is a certain restaurant in Arlington that is one of our go-to lunches.


Bayou Bakery.


Not only do they have fluffy, sweet beignets, and the perfect Cuban sandwich with layers of meat and sour pickles sandwiched between two slices of buttery bread, Bayou Bakery provides one of life's simplest pleasures: Deviled Eggs.


These are such a yummy appetizer or light lunch for any egg lover (or even a person who, like myself, thinks eggs are only really necessary for baking).  These really stole my heart with the cajun seasoning instead of the standard paprika that is sprinkled across the eggs.  


You can only guess my surprise when I heard that the Occasional Oenophile sought to create imitations of these beauties.  The result: utter perfection.  They taste just like the ones from Bayou Bakery!


Now if only she can find a recipe to imitate the beignets....


Cajun Deviled Eggs
Inspired by Bayou Bakery's Deviled Eggs


6 Eggs, hard boiled and cooled
~2tbsp light mayonnaise
1/4tsp salt
One half batch of Bobbie Jean's Cajun Spice Mix (or your favorite Cajun mix!)

Slice eggs in half, remove yolks.  Mix yolks with mayonnaise and salt (I like to whip them).

Fill egg white cavities with yolk mixture.  Sprinkle with Cajun Spice Mix.

Chill for one hour or more.

Enjoy :)