Whole Wheat Skillet Pizza

I'm never making pizza in the oven again. This skillet pizza thing is AMAZING. It's my latest Best Thing Ever.

This was the easiest pizza I've ever made, and I felt safer making it. Because honestly, sliding and pulling pizzas off the pizza stone in a 500º oven always scares me a bit, especially with small children about.

The following recipe is adapted from Dinner: A Love Story which is a lovely cookbook I got from my sisters-in-law. I'm trying to use it more and more because everything I've made from there has been so good. I found that pizza dough recipe took too long, but I found one in America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook that worked brilliantly.

I made Hawaiian pizzas because our family prefers them, but you can use whatever toppings you like.

This recipe makes two 11"-12" pizzas. I used my 12" Lodge cast iron skillet, but you can use any oven-proof skillet and adjust the pizza size accordingly.

Whole Wheat Skillet Pizza
Pizza Dough from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

For the dough: 
1 C flour + 2 tbsp if needed
1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1½ tsp olive oil
3/4 C warm water (110 degrees)

Toppings:
olive oil
1/4 C pizza sauce
4 oz deli ham, chopped
1 C chopped pineapple
1½ C shredded mozzarella

Turn on oven to warm (170º) for 5 minutes, then turn off and keep the oven door ajar for another 5 - 10 minutes. Grease a large bowl and a piece of plastic wrap. (I hang the plastic wrap off the microwave, spray with PAM and then place the bowl underneath it.)

Meanwhile, pulse 1 C flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and salt in a food processor to combine. With the processor running, pour the oil, then the water, through the feed tube. Process until the dough forms a ball, about 30 - 40 seconds.

Let the dough rest 2 minutes, then process for 30 seconds longer.  If the dough is sticky and clings to the blade, add another 2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing to incorporate.

Turn dough onto a light floured surface and knead into a ball. Place dough in prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put into slightly warm oven. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 1½ hours.

Turn out dough on floured surface and divide in half. Cover one half with plastic wrap. Roll and form each piece of dough into a round the size of your skillet. Keep one round covered while you cook your first pizza.

Preheat your broiler. Heat your skillet on medium-low heat. Add a glug of olive oil, and place dough round in it when oil is shimmering. (You can press the dough to the edges if it doesn't quite fit.) Cook dough for about 3 minutes, until the bottom starts getting brown. Flip the dough over, and add half the toppings. Cook for another 3 minutes, then slide the skillet under the broiler for 2 - 3 minutes, or until the cheese starts to get brown and bubbly.

Slide finished pizza onto a cutting board and repeat with second dough round and toppings.

Serve and enjoy!

Easy Peasy So Delicious Pork Tenderloin

This recipe is so easy, so delicious and so impressive. Even though you'll hardly spend any time preparing or cooking this tenderloin, it's a real crowd pleaser. I usually allow for 1/3 - 1/2 of a tenderloin per person. For our family of two adults and two small children, one tenderloin is just enough.

Pork Tenderloin
Adapted from Cooks Country

1 - 2 pork tenderloins
Montreal steak spice
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1/4 C ketchup
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400º. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack inside of it. Use paper towels to dry off tenderloin (this helps keep the meat from sticking to your frying pan). Sprinkle and then rub with Montreal steak spice all over.

Heat the oil in frying pan until just smoking. Brown meat on all sides. Place tenderloin on the wire rack in baking sheet and cook in oven for 15 - 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix ketchup, sugar, vinegar and 1½ tsp Montreal steak spice in small bowl. When you take tenderloin out of the oven, cover with foil for 5 minutes, then spread sauce over meat and serve.

Hawaiian Beans - A Quick Weeknight Chili

It's 4:30, the kids are starting to whine: I'm hungry! You look around the kitchen and you've not only forgotten to thaw some meat, but you have no idea what to make.

You start flipping through fast supper ideas in your head.

YES. Hawaiian Beans. That's it.

I think every household has a few of these quick recipes stored away for last-minute suppers. So this is one of my easy meals - I usually have the ingredients on hand, it doesn't require a lot of prep and it's one of our family's favourites. If you've forgotten to thaw out the ground beef, you can cheat (as I sometimes do) and thaw it in the frying pan, and/or start it out in the microwave.

This recipe came from my blessed mother-in-law. For my wedding shower, she gave me this big binder which she'd filled with their family's (and especially my husband's) favourite  recipes. I use that binder a lot.

I like to serve this with a starch (usually potatoes or buns, or sometimes cornbread if I have time) and a simple side salad.

Hawaiian Beans

1 tbsp canola/olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb extra-lean ground beef
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can brown beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp prepared mustard


Preheat oven to 350º. Pull out a casserole dish and a frying pan. 

Heat oil in frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering, add onion and cook until soft. Add ground beef. Break up chunks and cook until just brown with a little pink remaining.

Meanwhile, add kidney beans, brown beans, tomato soup, pineapple, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard to the casserole dish and mix together. Add ground beef & onion and stir until combined.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 - 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.