new year's spread

  Chris and I decided to spend a quite New Year's Eve in at the apartment.  Good thing we didn't make any plans that didn't involve lounging around and making food - we got snowed in!  Happy (late!) 2009 :).

Blueberry waffles, and banana white chocolate chip waffles. Mmmm.  Plus some bacon (YUM), cherries (still not as good as the Washington ones, but pretty good!), and coffee made with my new stovetop percolator and espresso cups from Nina!  Plates from an old woman's closet at a craft fair Heather and I went to a few weeks before Christmas.

Yum.

Making Ham and Cheese Scones (recipe coming this weekend!), and to the right, fresh spinach artichoke dip.  I use this recipe for the dip, and usually replace all/part of the mayo with ranch dressing (I usually don't have mayo in the house).

Everything on the coffee table!  We also had olive oil + spices for bread dipping, and the Scharffenberger brownies. If you're wondering what Chris is doing...our couch ate the TV remote :(. 

Happy (sleepy!!) 2009!

delicious? or just a bad idea?

SO.  a tad bit late (oh when will I learn!), but here's the macaroni and cheese pizza post that I promised.

I had been doing my "research" (searches for "pizza" on flickr) for the next pizza I was going to make, and came across several pictures of DELICIOUS looking macaroni and cheese pizza that I knew I had to try.  but I didn't want to make a mac n cheese only pizza, so bacon was the natural second choice of ingredient.  I figured I had to try add something vaguely nutritious to the pizza (if nothing else but to make it look a little more appealing), so I grabbed some frozen chopped spinach in the grocery store and threw that on as well.

mmm, look at all of that deliciousness.

now, although this pizza was incredibly delicious, it was also incredibly rich and had me slightly sick the next day.  chris didn't seem to have much of a problem with it (he does agree it was very rich though), so I'm venturing a guess that my body just wasn't used to all of that creamy/greasy goodness at once.

but don't let that deter you!  I can see this being an excellent snowed-in movie night dinner.  NOM!

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Bacon, Spinach, and Macaroni & Cheese Pizza

pizza dough (I use this recipe)

prepared package of Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 lb bacon

1/2 of a 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

3/4 C mozzarella cheese

1/4 C tomato sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven at to its highest temperature. (Mine goes to 450 F...the higher the temperature, the better the pizza)

Let the pizza dough sit at room temperature while the bacon is cooked.

Cook the bacon on the stove at medium high until just under crisp (it will crisp more in the oven).  Dispose of or save the fat and lay bacon slices on paper towels to soak up extra grease.  Chop the bacon into bite size pieces.

Spread the dough on a greased pan.  Poke the dough with a fork if you're having a tough time - this will break up some of the gluten.  Once the dough is shaped, spread the olive oil over the dough.  Sprinkle the dough with the spices and garlic, and then spread the tomato sauce over that.

Next, add the macaroni and cheese layer.  You're not going to want to use all of it, that'll be too much.  Spread the macaroni and cheese over the dough so it makes a single layer.  Then top with the spinach.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the pizza.  Top the pizza with bacon pieces.

Bake in the oven until crust is lightly browned and crispy.  At 450 F, it usually takes my pizzas 10-12 minutes to cook.  Check on it regularly after 8-10 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!