Man Meal | Buffalo Bacon Bleu Pizza

The pool opens this weekend. I have to admit, I can't wait. I live for days with my feet in the water, margarita in my hand. And, I'm dying to try making my own frozen slushie booze. I've been trying these $2 freeze-and-drink packets from the grocery store, and they're good, and super convenient, but I can't wait to try my own flavors.

Plus, there's an entire summer of drinking them ahead of me. An entire summer of cocktails and grilling - smoked chicken wings, burgers, corn-on-the-cob, you name it. Next time, we'll even grill the pizza.

While I love pizza (who doesn't), it has never been my strong point. I can pull off a decent yeast-less dough, but the moment you throw yeast and rising and all that into a recipe I'm out of my element.

This dough, though, turned out absolutely fantastic. And this pizza... well... it is every cheesy, chewy, spicy, yummy bit of deliciousness it should be. So good we couldn't help but take picture after picture after picture. See?

After this, I think it is safe to say we may never order pizza again. Well, until a night of sheer laziness. I can definitely say, though, that we will never buy another frozen pizza again. 

Can you really blame me for being photo-happy? Just wait until you taste it.

I have to give Jason Sharp credit for his fantastic recipe on Allrecipes.com. Thank you for Jay's Signature Pizza Crust. My pizza crust ways have forever been changed.

Buffalo Bacon Bleu Pizza
Yield | 1 large pizza

Prep Time | 25 minutes, plus 1 hour to rise
Cook Time | 15-20 minutes
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Ingredients:

For the Pizza Dough
(courtesy of Jay's Signature Pizza Crust on Allrecipes.com)
1 packet active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F or 45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

For the Topping
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup hot sauce, plus 1 tablespoon (Frank's is awesome)
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup colby jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup bleu cheese, crumbled
4-5 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1/3 red onion, thinly sliced

Dissolve yeast and brown sugar in warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir salt and oil into the yeast mixture. In a large bowl, add yeast solution to 2 1/2 cups of flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in the remainder of the flour until dough is no longer sticky. Form dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Cover with cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and roll into a ball. Let dough relax for 2-3 minutes before rolling out. Brush dough with olive oil.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you're using a stone like we did, you can top and stick the pizza straight in the oven. If you're using a pan, however, Jay's Signature Pizza Crust recipe suggests oiling the pan and letting your pizza rise an additional 15-20 minutes before topping and baking.

Stir 1 tablespoon hot sauce into ranch dressing. Feel free to add more if you like a bit more of a bite. We swear by Frank's. Really, we should think about buying stock, we use so much of it. The spicy ranch is going to be your sauce, so spread over dough, leaving 1 inch around the edges.

Add melted butter to remaining 1/3 cup hot sauce until you reach your desired level of hotness (for us it was 2 tablespoons). Top pizza with chicken and buffalo sauce.

Cover with mozzarella and colby jack cheeses. Add bacon, red onion slices, and bleu cheese crumbles.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

This pizza was a hit. It's delicious and filling. The crust is perfect - crunchy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside. With the bacon, buffalo, and ranchy goodness of the toppings, you can't go wrong.

I think my next one might have to be a cheeseburger pizza. Any reason to use more red onion! Add some fresh tomato, ground beef... sounds good to me.

Coming soon... Dark Chocolate Coconut Cookies, Cajun Fried Cod (so crispy and crunchy! Perfect fish sticks!), Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Lemon Blueberry Scones and so much more.

Man Meal | Cracked Pepper Steak

Awhile back, I decided, in a rush, that I was going to throw together Rachael Ray's Tomato and Vidalia Onion Salad with Steak Sauce Dressing. I made the dressing (my way, as always), and then lost all urge to eat a salad composed of, well, tomatoes and onions. I'm sure it's absolutely delicious - Rachael has long haunted my recipe book collection, and overall, I've been quite happy with what I've tried from her books - but I just wasn't in the mood.

Of course, I saved the sauce until I found my own purpose for it. And that purpose: a sale on sirloin cuts. Oh yeah.

Marinate these babies in the sauce overnight, toss them on the grill (we did ours in the skillet since it was one of Raleigh's five annual cold nights), and you're good-to-go. A little extra sauce to dip in on the side and wham. Tastetastic.

Cracked Pepper Steak
Yield | 4 servings

Prep Time | 15 minutes, plus at least 1 hour to chill
Cook Time | 30 minutes
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Ingredients:

4 sirloin steaks (I'm sure other cuts will be just fine!)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon black pepper, ground
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons EVOO, plus 2 tablespoons for the pan
Dash hot sauce (as always, we use Franks)

Basically homemade barbeque sauce with a kick. Delicious!

Salt, to taste

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add vinegar, sugar, Worchestershire sauce, and pepper. Let mixture start to bubble and remove from heat. Add tomato sauce, garlic, and olive oil; let cool.

Marinate steaks for at least 1 hour, the longer the better - we did ours overnight and they turned out fantastic.

If you're grilling, heat grill on high and go for it. Because it was raining, we were trapped inside, so heat a large skillet with 2 tablespoons EVOO on high heat.

Sear both sides of steak and reduce heat to medium. Cook to preferred temperature.

I don't know if I will ever use the dressing on vegetables, it was just too good on steak!

Boyfriend-approved. Me-approved, and I'm not even a big red meat-eater. Give it a shot, I guarantee you'll love it! And try the sauce on chicken, veggies, shrimp, you name it - it's great grilled, baked, whatever!

Coming soon... Pasta Salad with Balsamic Dressing, Dark Chocolate Coconut Cookies, Stuffed Peppers, and Jerk-Style Chicken Drumsticks... can't wait!

Man Meal | The Grilled Chriswich

You have the boyfriend to thank for this little, tasty bonus gem.

For breakfast today, he decides he wants a sandwich - with bacon, fried eggs, ham, and cheese. 

Okay, honey. Sure thing. And so, the Grilled Chriswich was born, and named for its creator: the boyfriend (Chris). 

Here you go! Worth every caloric bite (and it is just chock full of them, of course), and protein-filled. I could only make this worse for you if I deep-fried it. A manwich at its best.

The Grilled Chriswich
Yield | 2 sandwiches

Prep Time | 5 minutes
Cook Time | 5-6 minutes
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Ingredients:

4 slices bread, thick-cut
6 slices deli ham
4 eggs
4 slices bacon
3 slices cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoons butter
Honey mustard, to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Butter the outsides of each slice of bread. On the bottom slice, place 1/2 slice of cheddar cheese, 3 slices of ham topped with honey mustard, the 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of bacon (broken in half), and a full slice of cheese. On the inside of the top slices, apply a thin layer of mayonnaise and add to the top of the sandwich. Grill each side on the skillet, pressing down with your spatula so everything sticks together nicely.

Ooey, gooey and bacony. He loved it, of course.

Enjoy - I think my boyfriend may be cheating on me with this sandwich.

Man Meal | Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken

Thank you, StumbleUpon, for once again answering the question, "what's for dinner?" for me.

Mmm... bacon, cheese, honey mustard... wow.

Much, much, much appreciated. Remember how I said bacon was the Chuck Norris of foods? Well, this is the Walker, Texas Ranger of bacon's career.

This recipe, originally found here on Everyday Home Cook, received the ultimate boyfriend seal-of-approval: a grunted "yes," followed by a sound, snoring nap.

Mushrooms and honey mustard are boyfriend staples in our house and, well, the whole bacon thing, so I wasn't surprised.

The recipe itself is pretty simple - honey mustard-marinaded chicken, seasoned with paprika, salt, and pepper, seared in the skillet, and baked in the oven topped with sauteed mushrooms, bacon, and cheese.

Simple and delicious. To make this more weeknight-friendly, I skipped the two-hour soak in honey mustard wonderfulness. I'm sure it would have only been better had I done that, but this was more of a spontaneous dinner decision. So I did make a few changes and my adapted, quick and easy version is below. Enjoy!


Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken
Yield | 3-4 servings

Prep Time | 5-10 minutes
Cook Time | 25 minutes
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Ingredients:


1-1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup honey mustard (I LOVE Emeril's, has a nice kick!)
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 of a red onion, sliced
7-8 slices of bacon, partially cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt
Pepper
Cajun seasoning

Love, love, LOVE Cajun seasoning blends.

Parsley (we were out, so no pretty garnish for ours!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat EVOO in skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. I am obsessed with trying different blends of Cajun spices so I have several different kinds around, but don't go out and buy any if you don't have some on hand - paprika or cayenne pepper would be delicious, too!

Cook chicken until browned (but not cooked through), brushing with Worchestershire sauce and honey mustard on each side. Remove chicken from skillet and set in baking pan.

Season and coat with honey mustard. Smells amazing.

Such a good combination!

I added a little more mustard to the veggies. Yum!

Drain some of the juices from the pan and add mushrooms and red onions. Saute until the mushrooms are tender and the onions are nearly translucent.

If you're using regular ol' bacon, you'll want to cook that partially though now - I used thick-cut precooked bacon, tasted great and shaved off a little more time!

Brush chicken with honey mustard once more and top with bacon, mushrooms and onions, and cheese.

Doesn't bacon look good with a side of chicken?

So mushroomy. So bacony. So good.

 Bake for 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked.

Oh yeah. So good. Not exactly health-conscious, but sometimes, you just have to do it anyways!

The leftovers also made excellent next-day sandwiches. A little more honey mustard, maybe some ranch, lettuce, tomato, and mayo... quite nomtastic.

Next time: Blackened Tilapia with Fettuccine and Grilled Summer Veggies... inspired by How Sweet It Is's Grilled Corn and Tomato Fettuccine... so good!