Hi and happy Monday… or so I hope it is a happy start to the week.  I am still recovering from the excitement over the weekend.  There was absolutely no time for house work this weekend, minus a little bit of tidying and cleaning up.  It started on Saturday and ran through right until Sunday evening.  We were invited to a pizza party at the zesty in-laws on Saturday which to me simply means…. wear the loosest pants you have because you are going to be stuffed.  They never disappoint and Saturday was no exception.

Not only did we have amazing pizza for a couple of hours… including a really nice combination of shrimp, basil and tomato but the phenom baker of the group decided to dazzle us with a Peach and Maple Crumble for dessert.  As I was looking in the kitchen at the start of the night, I noticed the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook out on the counter and I had a funny feeling something was in store.

I had never tried this dessert before but … oh man!  This is a must at some point in your life.  Delicious!

A photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Now not only was Saturday night full of fun, Sunday was packed with a corn maze walk, shooting cobs of corn from a cannon, driving around on John Deere peddle tractors and eating ice cream.

Oh did I forget to mention that we also bought some corn ( 19 to be exact  – a baker’s dozen and 1/2 dozen ).  We did some boiled and some grilled.  Oh, this corn was delicious!!! Such a fun weekend and now back to the grind of … real life.

Have a super Monday and I will talk to you all on hump day.

Take care

zesty

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Well, I don’t really know where to start but I guess I will get to it and go with the food.  We were invited to attend a Pizza Party on Saturday night at the Zesty In-laws.  You know what that means?  Haul out the expandable pants because the food will be crazy good.

I can say this night was no exception.  Read the line up of food.

• Homemade Bruschetta
• Nachos and Salsa
• Caesar Salad
• Mussels
• Raw and Baked Oysters ( Pics never turned out for the baked oysters )
• 8 Racks of Smoked Ribs
• PIZZA ( As many as you can think of ) – Including Dessrt
• Brownies ( that change your life)
• Chocolate Cherry Cake  ( forgot to take a pic )

I think I will just finish this post with pictures.  The food was amazing and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  Thanks Zesty In laws.

Have a good start to your week and I will talk to you Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

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Guess what?  I totally forgot it was Friday and I had to post today!  Can you believe that?  Well I just remembered and I knew I had nothing prepared.  With that said, I thought of this post because hopefully we are approaching the nicer weather where the zesty-in-laws will be calling us up for some pizza.  Whooo Hooo.  Look at this post if you don’t remember it from last year.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to a very special post!

A few weeks back I got a call from a Zesty in Law stating that they were getting a brick oven built in their backyard and I was asked if I would like to photograph the build and feature it on zesty.  Of course my answer was yes as I thought you would love to see it from start to finish. The goal being to see it at the finished stage and taste the food from the oven.  That happened last Friday and we will get to that in a little bit.

One hint: AMAZING

What is a Brick Oven

Now some of you may ask what is a brick oven so I thought I would share a little insight.

These ovens work on retained heat. A fire is burned in the oven for a few hours, the coals are raked out, the oven floor brushed or swabbed with a damp mop and then the food is cooked using the heat stored in the oven mass. Wood-fired bakeovens are used to bake crusty bread, crisp pizza and just about anything else including the Christmas turkey. The oven can have a barrel/vault shape or it can be round. The inner workings of the oven can be of modern firebrick material or simply made of clay like the early settlers used. Plan your oven location, if you can, so it can be used in any weather.

OK.  Everyone is on the same page on the “What is a Brick Oven” so now let’s get to “How to Build a Brick Oven”.  For this next phase I am going to show you a bunch of pictures with very little narrative as I think the pictures will explain themselves.

The Brick Oven

The Final Product

Here is the final oven in all it’s glory!  Notice the sheer size of the structure not too mention how cool it looks in general.

Pizza Pizza

Oh my God or OMG or whatever you want to say when you are super excited and you cannot get enough of something.  This pizza was absolutely insane.  For the night, I was sous chef  Zesty as I was helping with the prep and layout of the pizza.  Also was called upon every now and again to give the pizza a turn in the oven, slice it after completion and call over the troops.

For cooking pizza, the oven was around 850-900 degrees F and the pizzas would literally cook in 2-3 minutes.  It was the first night of pizza cooking so there will be a few tweaks put in place to master the dough levels but overall the crowd loved it.

First off, you have to start the fire and get the oven up to temperature.  Then using a brush, reach in and clean the floor in preparation of the pizza dough.

Zesty in law and myself cooked 11 pizzas including a couple of dessert pizzas that may knock your socks off.  We will get to those in a minute.  First up we have a basic pizza with homemade tomato sauce, some Genoa salami and cheese ( It was for the kiddos but I may have snuck a piece )

As the night went on we switched up the toppings, rolled the dough for a few of them and even picked some fresh basil.

Here is a little olive oil, fresh basil and cheese pizza. This was a huge hit!

On to the Dessert Pizza. How does strawberries, raspberries, chocolate, vanilla sugar and fresh dough baked at 800 degrees sound for dessert? Pretty damn good right? Well if you said “Holy Yum” you would be bang on. These were amazing!

We capped the night off with a Simple Smore done in the oven. I took a marshmallow, sliced a hole in the center and shoved in some chocolate, then roasted it in the oven and placed it between two graham wafers.

Let’s finish the night with a little FIRE!

Special thanks to the Zesty in Law’s for letting me feature this on the blog and  Red Clay for building the oven and doing such a great job.  John over at  Red Clay definitely knows his bricks and it shows in the final product.

Before I go I want to say a special “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to a Zesty in Law who reads my posts everyday.  Hope you have a great day, CAW.  Alright, I better get going here and get some breakfast.  I know this was a long post but I felt it was the best way to describe such an amazing work of art.  Have a super Wednesday and I will see you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

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I don’t have a lot of time to put this post together so bear with me and use your imagination on how good this might taste. There are no rules, no particular ingredients – just whatever you have on hand and whatever you like on pizza.

Being the crazy guy I am – I combined spinach and bacon and topped it with some fresh mozzarella and a hint of fresh basil. I didn’t put any sauce on the portabella whatsoever – just some wilted down spinach with a bit of garlic and a way I went. Have a peek at the result and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• Portabella mushrooms
• Bacon ( cooked)
• Spinach
• Basil
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Mozzarella cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees
2. Prepare portabellas
3. Cook spinach in a saute pan for 3 minutes with some olive oil and garlic
4. Place spinach on mushroom top with cooked bacon
5. Add cheese and cook for 10-12 minutes.
6. ENJOY!

Sorry again for the brief Friday message but a couple of unexpected meetings got me all worked up and I forgot to write my post. Have a super weekend and I will see you on Monday! We need a family portrait this weekend! Zesty-in-laws, are you up for shooting it?

Take care
zesty

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I am sick of rain!  It rained, what feels like the last 14 days straight, and I am tired of it.  On the weekend it managed just to stay cloudy long enough for our team to build the baby barn for habitat for humanity.  It was quite fun and our barn managed to stand up and look relatively similar to the rest.

The food weekend was quite minimal… we ate out on Friday night as part of our tradition and Saturday was a bit hectic.  On Saturday evening in between raindrops I managed to sneak out a pizza on the barbecue and it was a nice treat.  A simple crust and simple toppings made for a fresh summer pizza without all the grease and without the summer.

This dough recipe comes from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. I really enjoyed this recipe as it turned out really well. For me pizza is all about the crust! Toppings are good but I am a huge fan when it’s light on the toppings and sauce but heavy on the crust.

If you are interested in a new whole wheat pizza dough, I highly recommend this recipe. It is very simple and produces a great texture. I opted for a thin crust and placed the pizza directly on the grill for a little crunch. YUM!

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
• 2 Packets (1/4 Ounce Each) Active Dry Yeast
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 2 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Pizza Toppings

• Basil Pesto ( Love this! )
• Pine nuts
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Tomatoes
• Arugula

Method

1. Place water in large bowl – sprinkle with yeast.
2. Let stand until foamy (about 5 minutes).
3. Brush another large bowl with Olive Oil.
4. In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil and salt. Stir in flours until a sticky dough forms.
5. Transfer to oiled bowl (brush top of dough with oil).
6. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until it doubles in size (about an hour).
7. Turn dough onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth.
8. Preheat Barbecue to Medium-High on one side.
9. Prepare in shape of pizza and begin to assemble pizza dough.
10. Spread pesto and then some cheese.
11. Add toppings from above except arugula
12. On the BBQ, place pizza on the side with no heat and close the lid
13. Time varies depending on the thickness of your crust (12-20 minutes).
14. Add arugula at the very end with some more feta cheese.
15. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I like to use indirect heat for the pizza so that the barbecue acts like an oven and doesn’t burn the pizza before it is cooked.  Indirect heat refers to putting heat on one side of the barbecue and placing the food on the opposite side.

A Fun Filled Sunday

Sunday, June 6th, marked a special day in the zesty household.  Mrs Zesty’s birthday!! It is not a big a deal as it used to be as we get older but we still had a great day.  Breakfast out at one of our favorite restaurants  – Cora’s and a fun afternoon.  We wrapped up the day with some Dairy Queen Ice cream cake and a few laughs.  All in all a fun day despite the heavy rain and thunder storms. Have a fantastic Monday and I will touch base with you on Wednesday with hopefully something exciting.

Take care

zesty

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Hi All.  New Years eve is upon us.  Sorry I have not been cooking much over the past few weeks as I was getting the house ready, unpacked and livable.  I promise to deliver some more zesty recipes in 2010.

Are you excited about the new year?  I am sure New Years Resolutions will be flying everywhere in the coming days.  I never seem to have much luck with my resolutions however this year I am going to make a solid effort to be more organized and time efficient between work, zesty and family.  With that being said I wanted to share with you a pretty yummy pizza if you run out of time for supper anytime or just do not feel like cooking.

The last couple of weeks we have been eating take out every now and again… which is bad but just part of life.  One day last week we brought in Domino’s Pizza…. Hawaiian style and it was quite delicious.

I have a busy day planned today – at the office for a little while, test driving another vehicle, shooting a campbell’s video and preparing for a huge New Year’s Eve food fest at the Zesty In-laws.  I am very excited.

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you – we sold the truck.  We need a 4X4 so we are on the hunt.  I will keep you posted if we get lucky.  Have a great New Years Eve and I will stop in tomorrow with some shots of tonight’s gala.

Take care

zesty

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Does anyone love packing?  I must say that I’m not a huge fan but that is what I spent all day Monday doing and it wasn’t all that bad.  I think it helps when you have great help, are very organized and have the drive to get things done.  Yesterday in my mind was a huge success in the packing department.  We conquered pretty much the whole kitchen minus a few dishes to help us survive for the next two weeks.

So what does that mean?  The zesty kitchen is now useless.  I wondered if that would hinder the blog, but my answer is ” Zesty goes on the road”.  I am going to use other peoples kitchen to bring more zesty goodness in the next little while.  Do you think that is a good idea?  I thought so – so look out family members zesty may invade your kitchen.

Now with all this packing meant no real food all day.  Well that is actually not true.

I thought we would order some pizza to have for lunch.  We chose Dominos and it was actually quite good.  We went with two large pizzas with two toppings. The first pizza had pepperoni and mushrooms while the second had Ham and Pineapple.  I really enjoyed the ham and pineapple slice where I found the pepperoni and mushroom to be a tad on the salty side.  It was a quick fix to fill the stomach and keep on packing.

Random packing and pizza shots throughout the day.

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Happy Friday!  I know the title sounds weird but for some reason I love a little alliteration to start off a post. I did this for Pork, Peppers and Pasta as well as Top Ten Toast Toppings and it never seems to get old for me. I am easily amused, what can I say?

On to the pizza.  To sum it up in 3 words – it was delicious.  I picked up the fresh dough at my favorite bakery and went from there. I used some homemade tomato sauce and then proceeded to kick it up with some of my favorite pizza toppings.

What do you like on your pizza? In the comments tell me your three favorite toppings on the pizza. I would like to see how the toppings vary amongst the readers.

For me, thick pizza dough is a treat every now and again.  What I like to do is put down a little cornmeal on the work surface and have it work into the dough.  I love it.

Ingredients

• Wholewheat Dough
• Pizza Sauce
• Shredded Mozzarella/Provolone
• Tomatoes
• Swiss Pepperoni
• Pineapple
• Basil
• Mushrooms

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees.
2. Prep dough using your hands and creating a shape of your choice.
3. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce.
4. Sprinkle some cheese.
5. Add your toppings of choice.
6. Top with cheese.



7. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.




8. ENJOY!!

Zesty Tip: Using a pizza stone will allow the crust to brown evenly.  I like to preheat the stone in the oven and then slide the pizza on the stone.  I prep the pizza on parchment paper before sliding it onto the stone.

Today is the 3rd last day to enter into the clothing giveaway!  Make sure you get your name in the hat.  I will see you all on Monday with the winner announced and another zesty idea in mind.  Have a great weekend and keep smiling.

Take care

Zesty

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WOW – what a day yesterday!  For those of you who read yesterday’s post -I was supposed to be in Tennessee today…. well guess what?  After two flight cancellations and 18 hours in airports and planes – I am in Toronto.  Which in reality is about a 2 hour flight from my house.  All I can say is grrrrrrrrr.

Pepperoni Mushroom Feta Pizza

But the good news is – I had a couple of good things to eat.  I forgot my camera - so i took pictures with my cell phone ( forgive the quality).

So let’s call this section as my buddy calls it “Travel Junk Food”

Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookies

Blueberry Fritter

Mild Chicken Wings

So lets hope that today goes a little smoother – and that the eating gets a little healthier.  Does anyone know any must see restaurant visits in Jackson Tennessee? I will be there for the next couple of days.

Thanks everyone and I hope you have a great Tuesday!

Take care

zesty

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Happy Monday!  I was relaxing on Saturday coming up with new and exciting recipes to create and share with everyone  – that is something I love to do!  I think I have come up with a few really gems that I fell may be of interest.  This one I am about to share with you is a new spin on pizza that cuts down on the carbohydrates but still fills you up.

When it comes to pizza there really are no rules.  You just make the pizza the way you like it.  Different from traditional pizza – this recipe using portabella mushrooms as the basis for the sauce and toppings as opposed to a crust.  Talk about simple – ready in less than 15 minutes, these are great as an appetizer or make enough of them and have a meal.

Ingredients

• Portabella Mushrooms
• Pizza Sauce
• Cooked Bacon ( Small Pieces)
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Pineapple Pieces
• Fresh Basil
• Tomatoes
• Shredded Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
2. Remove the stem and clean the mushrooms
3. Spoon sauce on inside base of the mushroom



4. Add chopped fresh basil, cooked bacon, pineapple, jalapeno peppers



5. Top with cheese



6. Bake until cheese is golden brown ( about 10-12 minutes )



7. ENJOY!

So what did you think?  Pretty easy and actually for my first time making these – they were very tasty.  Let me know what toppings you would like on your portabella pizza.

Zesty Tip: When preparing mushrooms, wipe them with a damp cloth and pat dry with a paper-towel.  Do not scrub or peel the mushrooms or soak them in water.  This will take away flavor, texture and valuable nutrients.  Sprinkle the mushrooms with lemon juice to help retain color.

Have a great Monday and I look forward to hearing from you.

Take care

zesty

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