Goat Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms

I made this pizza almost a month ago and haven't had a chance to post it until now.  Just thinking about it though is making my mouth water.  I rarely repeat recipes but this pizza features some of my favorite things....goat cheese, caramelized onions, and mushrooms! This was definitely a more time-consuming pizza to make, just in caramelizing the onions and sauteing the mushrooms.  But it is well worth it if you have the time!  My husband and I fnished this pizza off in one sitting, though I could probably have eaten the whole thing myself, or vice versa!  I always make the kids a plain cheese pizza to go with whatever specialty pizza I end up making.  My daughter eats none of the ingredients on this pizza and I snuck my son some goat cheese crumbles, since that's all he enjoys from this! 

Goat Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms
recipe adapted from Meatless Mediterranean

Ingredients:
1 Pizza dough 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced into 1/2 rings
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
3-4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat pizza stone in oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare the pizza crust to roughly form a 12-inch circle.

In a medium skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium to medium-low heat, and saute the onion for 2 or 3 minutes, until the onion begins to soften. Turn the heat down to low, season with salt and pepper, and cook for another 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to caramelize. Remove the onion from the skillet set aside.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and the garlic, along with salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 4-6 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through and most of the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Remove the mushroom mixture from the heat and set aside.

Spread the ricotta cheese in a thin layer over pizza crust. Next spread the caramelized onions evenly over the ricotta. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella and the grated Parmesan. Top with the mushrooms and then the goat cheese. Top it off with the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, until golden.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing

Mommy & Daddy Rating: 2 thumbs up!

This post is shared at:
Foodtastic Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Tasty Thursdays @ The Mandatory Mooch

The Weekend Chef: Chicken with Mushrooms

This was a recipe that I had planned on making during the week.  My husband ended up being home though and ended up cooking dinner.  I love mushrooms.  Unfortunately, my kids don't.  This was a great dish for us because the kids could easily pick out the mushrooms (after they had their required one bite!). The kids love breaded chicken cutlets, which this basically was, kicked up a little notch with some melted cheese and mushrooms.  Simple and tasty for a quick and easy weeknight meal!

Chicken with Mushrooms
recipe from allrecipes.com, courtesy of KIMPAT

Ingredients:
3 cups sliced mushrooms
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Place half of the mushrooms in a 9x13 inch pan. Dip chicken into beaten eggs, then roll in bread crumbs.

3.In skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Brown both sides of chicken in skillet. Place chicken on top of mushrooms, arrange remaining mushrooms on chicken, and top with mozzarella cheese. Add chicken broth to pan.

4.Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up. 

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms

It's time again for the Eating The Alphabet Challenge, hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  This month's letters were M, N, & or O.  There were just so many veggie, fruit, and grain options to choose from for this month's challenge that it was hard to choose!  I finally decided on stuffed mushrooms.  I love mushrooms in all forms but unfortunately my kids really dislike them.  Although I like stuffed mushrooms I rarely get a chance to eat them.  And I've never made them until now!  Knowing the kids wouldn't eat these I ended up making them as an afternoon snack for myself.  They were surprisingly easy to make.  I had always assumed that they took a lot of work to prepare, one of the reasons why I never made them.  This recipe that I found did not use bread crumbs.  I think that the stuffed mushrooms that I've had and enjoyed in the past used them, so these weren't totally satisfying.  But now that I know how easy stuffed mushrooms can be to make I'll definitely be trying out new variations in the future.

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms
recipe from allrecipes.com by Angie Gorkoff

Ingredients:
12 whole fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.

2.Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

3.When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

4.Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Mommy & Daddy rating: So-so.  

Beef and Mushroom Sloppy Joes

One of the best things about this recipe was that I was able to get the kids to eat mushrooms.  I only gave them 1/2 of a sandwich each since I served french fries and veggies with the sloppy joes.  3/4 of the way through eating her sloppy joe my daughter asked, "Is there eggplant in here?" "No," I said.  "Is there mushrooms?" I told her, "Maybe." "Because I taste something squishy," she said.  When I admitted to there being mushrooms in them she continued to eat, which was very surprising!  I did make their sandwiches before adding the hot sauce.  However, more hot sauce was needed to taste it.  This was another quick and easy recipe, definitely doable for a weeknight dinner.

Beef and Mushroom Sloppy Joes
Cooking Light, June 2011

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces ground sirloin
2 (8-ounce) packages presliced cremini mushrooms
1 cup prechopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
4 (2-ounce) Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, toasted

Preparation:
1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add beef; cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.

2. While beef cooks, place mushrooms in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until finely chopped. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add tomato paste and next 5 ingredients (through salt) to pan; cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and liquid evaporates. Stir in pepper and hot sauce. Spoon about 1 cup beef mixture on bottom half of each bun; top with top halves of buns.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.