Crockpot Pizza

 

 

I made a mistake.  Something that yes, I know everyone does.  But, I still really hate it when I do so.  In this case while we were moving I wrote down the name of the blog I had for Blogger C.L.U.E. Society.  I wrote down the name of the blog that had ME, not the blog I had...  Kelli from Kelli's Kitchen was so very gracious about my goof.  She said not to worry and she was fine with being skipped this month.  But, I wasn't happy with her being skipped.  So, the first evening we were home I went hunting through her blog for something that'd Beat the Heat.  Let's see, a cool drink, ice cream or a crock pot meal.  I started with the crock pot meal knowing that our Sunday plans included starting to hang pictures at the new house.  That meant limited time to cook AND meant we'd be hot and sweaty and I wouldn't want to deal with the heat.  After getting sidetracked by loads of fabulous recipes that wouldn't beat the heat, I found this.  But, as soon as the weather cools down a bit I must go back and try the beer cheese soup with meatballs.  What a fabulous idea!!!  And, there's a meat lovers onion soup that sounds SOOO good.  And, bacon wrapped Hatch chilies.  Ok, now this one sounds so weird I've got to try it!!  Mexican chocolate cornbread.  How about bacon and fig bread pudding?  Kelli's blog is so much fun to read and she has a wealth of great recipes to choose from.  But, once I landed on crockpot pizza, I knew I had my recipe.  I left the page open and went to my chair to read the Journal and the Times.  Connie sat down at the computer.  OMG!  He says.  "Can we have this now?????  (Keep in mind it's WAY past dinner time.) Look at that cheesy goodness.  Oh, man does that ever look good.  Are you going to make this?  No, when are you going to make this?  I'll go to the store and get anything you need."

LOL, it was too late to be cooking Friday evening.  Saturday we spent at the office then over at the old house giving the new owners a tour of the yard.  We showed them all the edibles and pointed out some of the piggy plants that love to invade their neighbors space.  And, some that look awful this time of year but great in the spring.  They're very nice folks and will love the house as much as we did.  We dashed home from the old house and marinated pork tenderloin for Symphony on the Prairie.  Here's what I wrote on Facebook about the evening:

"Funny story of the day... We buy tix to Conner Prairie - table included. Connie sends out the email invitation. Folks sign up. He sends me a list and I send out the pitch-in list. Folks sign up. I don't pay any attention to how many are coming. He tells me ten. I dutifully pack ten sets of silverware, plates, wine glasses etc. I count noses right before we leave home. Ten GUESTS are coming. Connie has forgotten us! We throw two chairs in the car. I don't think about the plates etc. We get there and buy two more tickets. Get the table set up. Finagle Chris and Mark's spoons. Use a couple of bowls I'd brought for crackers in place of plates. Chris has a wine glass and Mark's drinking beer so we're good to go for wine glasses. Now, see the guy with the white hat and red shirt CLEAR at the end of the row??? That's Connie in our seats. I'm standing at the table with all of our guests..."

Yup, true story. 

Sunday we headed to the office pretty early.  Home very early for us, about 2:30.  We'd unpacked most of the boxes of pictures.  I did most of the rest while Connie worked on laundry.  Then, we started hanging.  Some just fit and I knew exactly where I wanted them.  Some are still floating around the house looking for their best spot.  About 5:00 I headed to the kitchen.  I'd pulled two pizza recipes I wanted to try:  caramelized onion and gorgonzola for one, tomato and eggplant for the other.

Kelli's recipe called for putting the parchment paper in the crock pot to start with.  That didn't work very well for me.  So, I laid it on the counter and worked back and forth until it'd fit.  Then, I topped it while it was on the counter.  The other, well we were out of parchment paper so it went commando.  

What did we think?  What a great way to make pizza!  We loved the toppings.  Poor Kelli, who is married to Mr. PIcky Eater, probably wouldn't have had a happy hubby with all of the funky flavors we had going on!  She used a regular pizza sauce and more traditional toppings.  So, now we know this pizza can be as traditional or as weird as you want and it still works.  Thanks Kelli! 

Here's how to go visit Kelli: http://kelliskitchen.org/2014/11/crock-pot-pizza/

Crock Pot Pizza

Ingredients:

Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough


For the caramelized onion gorgonzola pizza:
dried basil
dried oregano
garlic powder
2 large sweet onions
2 T butter
2 T brown sugar
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
shredded mozzarella cheese
3 oz gorgonzola cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
chopped kalamata olives

For the tomato eggplant pizza:
dried basil
dried oregano
crushed dried rosemary
roasted garlic, chopped
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
eggplant slices (about 1/8" thick, I used six but it'll depend on the size of the eggplant.  Start with the top of the eggplant)
shredded mozzarella cheese
smoked goat cheese (regular will be fine)
shredded parmesan
chopped green olives
sliced pickled garlic

Directions:

For the crust:

Take a paper towel and schmear some olive oil on the parchment paper.  Cut the pizza dough in half unless you have a mongo crock pot.  Give up on having a round pizza.  It's going to be kind of funky shaped but will taste fabulous.  Stretch the dough to fit your crockpot.

For the caramelized onion gorgonzola pizza:

Peel and thinly slice the onions.  Saute them in the butter and brown sugar for about 20 minutes or until they've caramelized.  Sprinkle the dough with the herbs and garlic.  Top that with the chopped tomatoes, then the onions.  Sprinkle on shredded mozzarella, then top that with the gorgonzola and parmesan.  Top everything with the olives, cover the crockpot and go put your feet up for two hours.  I know, doesn't that sound like a wonderful idea????  Dinner will be served!  Oh, wait, you have one more pizza to make...

For the tomato eggplant pizza:

Sprinkle the dough with the herbs.  Then, the roasted garlic.  If you don't have roasted garlic, use garlic powder.  Then, add the chopped tomatoes.  Top them with eggplant slices.  Make sure you fully cover the tomatoes with the eggplant.  Then, top the eggplant with shredded mozzarella, goat cheese and parmesan.  I used Queen Creek Olive Mill feta stuffed olives but plain old green olives will work just fine.  Or, you can omit the olives.  Ok, now it's time to put those tootsies up!