Pizza Night!

I had another pizza night with the girls a while back. We had a great time planning our toppings and then downed the cheesy goodness. It was cool enough to use the oven for a couple of hours, but still summery enough to justify my favourite summer beverage, the Coco Loco.

Pesto, yellow squash, pine nut and mozzarella

Pesto, pear and brie on the left and a traditional tomato, basil and mozzarella on the right

Tomato, salami, caramelized onion, olive, feta and mozzarella

And, for those so inclined, the recipe for the Coco Loco is as follows:

• 1 oz coconut rum
• juice of half a lime
• splash of grenadine
• lots of ice
• 7-up (as much as you'd like, I use about 1 cup)

Stir together and top with a paper umbrella (optional)

Hot Hot Heat

I chose the wrong night of the summer to make pizza. Although Victoria rarely gets very hot, 30 degrees is enough to turn me off cooking. But, I had made the pesto for the sauce the night before and had already pulled the dough out of the freezer to thaw. It had to be done.

I made the pesto with my very own home grown basil!

I topped the whole wheat pizza crust with my pesto, parboiled new potatoes, caramelized onions, buffalo mozzarella and parmesan.

It was delish! And, the best thing was, I didn't have to cook the next day, which was even hotter!

Pizza Party

Two friends and I got together for a pizza/martini party a few weeks ago. One friend made the crust and all of us brought together our favourite ingredients.

The results:

#1 "The West Coast" was topped with parboiled yams, soft cheese curds, basil and tomato sauce.

#2 Half "Traditional", topped with basil, tomato and mozzarella on tomato sauce and half "Emerald City", topped with pine nuts, basil, grated green apple and dates on pesto sauce. There were caramelized onions somewhere in here too, but I am not sure what pizza they ended up on.

Orange Blossom Martini

.5 oz simple syrup

1 oz lemon vodka

1 oz Cointreau

Juice of one orange + a bit of pulp

Shake with ice and enjoy!

Along with a viewing of "Shakespeare in Love" it was a fun night with the girls :)