#10 Grilled Pizza, or Me versus the man

For a long time now I've wanted to find a good way to make grilled pizza. Last summer I attempted making grilled pizza and all I got was a charred mess. Today was my first day seriously cooking since I've been home and I wanted to go big or go home. So after some research online and a little motivation I got to work.

Round 1 was an idea from a blog I found. It made it look so simple: just put the rolled out dough on the grill and flip when you see grill marks, throw all the ingredients on the cooked side while the other side cooks, let the cheese melt, and you're done... WRONG, it was more like, throw the dough on, untangle the dough, attempt to fix the holes and lay the dough flat, and then, oh wait, the otherside is already burning, flip the dough, then flip all the parts of the dough that break off, desperately chuck the other ingredients on, and there you have it, a beautifully charred mess of a pizza.

Round 2 went much better. I rolled out the pizza on a pizza stone (if your trying this at home, MAKE SURE you roll it good and thin, otherwise it wont cook evenly), decorated it with the toppings, and slid the pizza stone into the medium heat grill. Let it cook until the bottom of the crust was very light brown, took it out of the grill and put it under the broiler until the top of the crust was light brown and the cheese was perfectly melty heavenly goodness.

And the winner? Round 2. Luckily for Round 1 even charred pizza crust tastes good dipped in hummus.

If you want to know, I made a margarita pizza with Wolf Gang Pucks pizza dough recipe (my absolute favorite pizza dough). Margarita pizza is simply dough smothered in olive oil, sprinkled with fresh garlic, topped with fresh basil and tomatoes, and covered with fresh mozzerella. yum.

For dessert we had a Strawberry cream pie. I thought I would share the recipe while strawberries are still in season.

Strawberry Cream Pie

From Our Best Bites

2 Cookie pie crusts. (you can use anything from graham cracker to oreo, I used a shortbread crust) OR 1 large crust

1 4-serving size box of instant vanilla pudding

1 cup cold water

14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 pint whipping cream

2 T powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

lots of strawberries sliced thin

Mix pudding, water, and S.C. milk until pudding mix dissolves. Put in fridge.

Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla.

Fold half of whip cream into pudding.

Spread thin layer onto pie crust. Pile on strawberries. Cover with the rest of the pudding mix. (if your using 2 pie crusts split up the filling and strawberries accordingly) Spread the rest of the whipped cream over top and chill for at least 2 hours.

Note: If you want banana cream pie you can simply substitute bananas for the strawberries.