Friday Pizza night- BBQ chicken pizza and sneaky chocolate chip cookies

This Christmas I became the proud owner of a Cuisinart 2-pound Convection Automatic Bread Maker). To say I am happy with it is downplaying my giddiness. Every loaf, roll and pizza dough has turned out gigantically fantastical (as the kid would say). From the moment I ripped that sucker out of the package I have been using it non-stop. A couple months ago we started a new family tradition- Friday night pizza- with the neighbors! Once a week I can count on good friends, BOOZE, pizza of all varieties, laughter and well, booze! Sound great? It is!

Last night we had a very simple and totally and insanely delicious pizza. BBQ chicken with black beans. The best part of this pizza is that unlike the take-out or frozen versions there is very little fat, all coming from the cheese which was in part low-fat! The sauce came from Trader Joe's and the the pizza maker took care of the dough! Easy as pizza pie!

For dessert, I made a recipe from the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I have been twisting and turing all these recipes because well, for the most part- the recipes are very poorly executed and I get the feeling that someone didn't really test these out prior. They are awesome in theory but not so perfect in practicality. I have seen these chocolate chip cookies with the addition of chickpeas or garbanzos floating on the information super highway for a long time now and finally decided to make them. They turned out pretty good and the kid liked them. I am in awe of how the book is supposed to be aimed at healthy cooking for our kids but really aside from the sneaky veggies here and there, there is no real nutritional added value to the recipes- no whole wheat flours, organic ingredients, natural sugars or butters. I think it's time!

Enjoy!

Pizza dough for bread machine- 2 pounds

1 1/2 cups Clean water- 80-90 F
1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt or sea salt
2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
3 1/4 cups organic unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup organic whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour
few dashes of dried basil and garlic, each
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Place ingredients in order listed in bread pan with kneading paddle. Select dough/pizza dough setting. Press start. When done remove. Roll out how you wish and top!


BBQ Chicken Pizza

2 lb pizza dough- roll out to desired shape- set aside for topping
3 organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts- I like to use poached chicken but you can slice and saute
1 can organic black beans, rinsed and drained
1 chopped organic tomato
half of red bell pepper, diced
giant handful of roughly chopped organic cilantro
salt and pepper
1 bottle of fav bbq sauce- I use trader joes- it is very mild!
few cups of organic mozzarella cheese
cup of shredded cheddar (use as much or as little cheese as you like!)

Preheat oven to 450F.

Toss chopped chicken, beans, cilantro, tomato, bell pepper and salt and pepper together to combine.

Spread a nice thick layer of bbq sauce over rolled out dough. Top with chicken mixture.

Sprinkle very generously with cheese. I like a lot of cheese!

Bake for 25 minutes. At this point I don't follow how high or how long I bake things. It has become a sixth sense of sorts. When it is bubbly and cheese is brown then take out, slice up and devour.


Chocolate Chip Cookies with Garbanzo Beans

1 cup organic dark brown cane sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 lg organic egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 15 oz can of organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups organic whole wheat flour or white whole wheat
1/2 cup organic oats
1 tsp baking soda
1.4 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

In mixer beat sugar and butter until fluffy and combined. Add in egg, beat. Add vanilla and chickpeas and mix until combined. Add chocolate chips.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined.

Drop dough by large tbl onto baking sheet and flatten just a bit. Cook for 11-13 minutes.

Eat!