Asian Marinated Salmon

I just was looking through my photos that I hadn't written any blogs for yet and came across this "Asian Salmon." This was a real quick Friday dinner that ended up being really good so I took a picture. We are not big on seafood but do ocassionally enjoy salmon, walleye, perch, sushi, tilapia, crab, lobster and the occasional shrimp. We love fishing so we often have seafood on hand.. but much of it, especially the pan fish, get sent over to Grandma and Grandpa's. Anyway, I "caught" this salmon over at Nino Salvaggio's and used a purchased marinade that I had never tried before - Soy Vay. Has anyone ever tried Soy Vay? It has a funny story about the company on the back - an Asian and Jewish mix. Anyway, the marinade is excellent and they do have a few flavor variations, too. The basic one is teriyaki and since that salmon, I have used it on pork and flank steak also. I also purchased a spinach salad which you see there on the side, which Nino's throws in those crispy sesame crunches, bacon, egg, honey mustard, etc.. all good stuff. I boiled up some thin spaghettini and dressed it with sesame oil, garlic and scallions. Anyway, I just thought I'd point out that the Soy Vay stuff is pretty good and makes great salmon - this was a really quick dinner but provided a lot of flavor and nutrition! Here is the Soy Vay website - I've seen it in most all stores recently; Here is what it looks like (from www.soyvay.com):

Martha's Birthday Cake and My Mom's Surprise 70th Birthday Party

Ever since we saw the episode featuring the "Martha's Birthday Cake", my mom and I had thought "wow that would be yummy!" We both love meringue. I don't think I remembered that it had apricot as its main fruity flavor but I know my mom loves apricot preserves in her cakes and tortes also. So for my mom's 70th surprise birthday party, I decided I was going to try and pull off this unusual-looking cake.

The cake after having been torched

I followed the recipe to a T because I wanted it to be excellent. To be honest, I'll never make this cake again, especially not the cake recipe. A box cake would have been more enjoyable! I would definitely try a round-cake again and as far as the meringue topping, I would never do that again for a cake I was going to travel with nor in the summer. It got sorta soft and weepy over the course of hours. The meringue needs to be chilled or served right away after browning. The frosting underneath was a good recipe and I'd make that again. I'm sure I did something wrong to make the cake so dense however, Martha, if you'd just put weights for your recipes, this would eliminate any variation in that realm. That's why if I'm making a scratch cake, I like recipes with weights the best.

The smoked BBQ pulled pork and fixin's

I think my mom was generally pleased with the cake or at least all the effort it took to put it together. On top of that, my husband was stuck in the office all days leading up to this including that day, and I had a baby to tend to who refused to nap that day in particular, also. I was coordinating a secret list of invitees and also all the food, including pulled pork that had been smoked for 20 hours in our smoker, and all of the typical BBQ fixin's to go along with it - homemade baked beans, colorful coleslaw, fresh corn and bell pepper salad, and more. I also made some cupcakes and I was able to buy a few dishes at Nino's and a few guests brought some things and everyone showed up so it was a great success.

The dessert table

As for my mom, she was quite upset once I arrived and announced that "sorry I'm late and I should mention that in 45 minutes everyone will be here so you might want to put on some lipstick..." and she threw a little fit. However once people arrived and were there to celebrate, she got into the groove of things and was quite pleased and appreciative afterwards. It was a little hard to listen to all of the complaints and yelling while setting up after hours and hours of hard work to pull it off; but as they say - "in one ear and out the other" and I knew that it will work out in the end. Some people do not like surprises, I guess!


Martha's Birthday Cake
The recipe for Martha's birthday cake and directions can be found here on marthastewart.com

Using vanilla beans for the cake batter

The buttercream frosting and meringue

The frosted dome cake

The cake now has meringue piped onto it and is ready to be torched

Mini Key Lime Tarts and Rum Cakes

The Husband's coworkers were having another gathering and the theme again was cuban! I decided to think of some island-y desserts and one of our favorites is key lime pie. I have a mini tart pan and thought it would be great to put that to use and make mini key lime tarts with meringue.


I made a basic graham cracker crust - one or two batches (you'll know if you don't have enough, it takes no time to whip up more) and pressed it into my mini tart pan - high up on the sides so that the pies would (hopefully) pop out easily.  Then I made my favorite key lime pie filling recipe (per Blue Heaven Restaurant in Key West) to pour into each cup. That gets baked for a few minutes to set and then I let them cool. Last, I whipped up some meringue and piped it on top of each tart which I had already removed from the pan (they came out pretty easily!)

The meringue got golden and toasty under the broiler for a few minutes and then the tarts were complete. This is one of The Husband and I's very favorite desserts. I think we finally realized that we prefer sweetened whipped cream topping instead of meringue... however that is something I will have to reserve for serving this pie at home where I can keep everything chilled. These mini tarts with the meringue topping did fine sitting out for a few hours during the party.

I also decided to try out a recipe that I heard from a friend is popular in the Caribbean islands - rum cake! I found a copycat recipe online and gave it a whirl and decided it was time to use my mini tea cake pan. That pan has a lot of details and the rum cakes worked out OK but I think a tea cake recipe would be best for that pan in the future. The rum cakes were tasty - a rum-infused cake batter which incorporates nuts and gets baked until golden brown. Then a sweet vanilla island rum syrup (with tons of real rum) is created and poured into the warm cakes to soak in. This results in a moist little vanilla rum flavored cake with a zing - you can tell there's alcohol in it!

Basic Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (pulse in your cuisinart food processor, I used my mini one)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
a touch of cinnamon

Mix until a wet sandy mixture is formed and press into the bottom of your pie/tart pans. Bake in the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Key Lime Filling
Recipe claimed to be from Blue Heaven, a restaurant in Key West famous for their key lime pies
(this is a half batch which will be more than enough for 24 mini tarts)

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1/2 cup fresh squeezed key lime juice (use key limes or it won't be the same!)
4 egg yolks

Whisk in a stainless steel bowl. Pour into your already baked graham cracker crust shell(s).


Meringue Topping
This will make more than enough meringue -

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/6 cup of powdered sugar

Beat egg whites to a soft peak. Add cream of tartar and continue whipping until a stiff peak is achieved. Whip in the confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks are formed. Decoratively add the meringue on top of your previously baked and cooled mini key lime tarts. Place in the oven under the broiler and broil (carefully) until your peaks have a golden attractive color. Or, bake in a preheated oven at 450 until your meringue is golden in color.

Let cool and enjoy!

Almost Tortuga Rum Cakes
as seen here on this food.com website

• Basic Cake Mix
• 2 cups cake flour
  1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  4 teaspoons baking powder
  1 teaspoon salt
  1/2 cup butter , cut into bits
  3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• For the Cake
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
  1 (3 1/2 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
  1/2 cup milk
  4 eggs
  1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum)
  1/2 cup vegetable oil
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  Rum soaking Glaze
• 1/2 cup butter (do not substitute)
  1/4 cup water
  1 cup granulated sugar
  1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum)
• Directions
• Basic Cake Mix:
• In a large mixing bowl, combine basic cake mix ingredients.
• On low speed combine ingredients until the mix is the consistency of fine gravel, and all particles are about the same size.
• This mix may be contained and stored for up to 3 months in the refrigerator.
• For the Cake:
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Spray a large Bundt pan (12 cup) with nonstick cooking spray.
• Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on the bottom.
• Place Basic Cake Mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, rum, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and combine on medium speed with electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, scrape down the bowl halfway through.
• Batter should be very smooth.
• Pour into Bundt pan.
• Bake for about 55 minutes- until fully golden and tester comes out clean and cake springs back.
• Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack while making the soaking glaze.
• Rum Soaking Glaze:.
• Combine butter, water and sugar in a small saucepan.
• Bring to a boil carefully as mixture boils over very easily.
• Reduce to a simmer and cook until sugar is dissolved and syrup is well combined and a little thicker.
• Remove from the heat and add the rum, mix to combine.
• While cake is still cooling, pour some of the hot syrup on top of the cake, allowing it time to soak in (this may take a few minutes as there will be a lot of syrup) continue to add syrup until all of the syrup is added.
• Allow cake to cool completerly in pan before turning out onto serving platter.
• This cake is delicate, so once it is turned out, it can not be moved around easily.
• Can be eaten when fully cool, but even better the next day!

Planning Cake Portions and Servings using Cake Mix Boxes

I'm not sure why I didn't think of this earlier but I think this post might be helpful for many at-home bakers. I took a really basic cake decorating class a few years ago and the teacher gave us this simple hand out which had some numbers as to how many cake mixes you need for a particular size pan and how many servings it yields. The hand out was clearly copied from somewhere and I do not have the original source but I know it was not that class nor teacher, so oh well. I have fixed it up and added my own spin on things and created a handy PDF that you can download and print and use for your future reference.

A few notes:
1. Yes this is talking about using those store-bought cake mix boxes to make celebration cakes, wedding cakes, whatever kind of cake you want. I full well know how to make some kick-butt from-scratch cakes but sometimes I choose to use cake mixes. For an intricately decorated cake, I often prefer to focus my time on the decorating. Cake mixes are predictable and easy to use and taste fine

2. You can use doctored cake mixes or your own scratch cake recipe and still benefit from my serving and size estimations by using the following conversion: a cake mix box typically yields about 4.5 to 5cups of batter. You can measure out your batter and fill up the pans 2/3rds full and continue on as noted in the PDF

3. I tend to prefer Betty Crocker cake mixes and the "butter recipe" flavor variations are the best

Click here for the Kitchen Bliss Cake Portion Planning PDF

Ahh... Simplicity

I finally took some time to make a new blog title image. The previous one was definitely ugly and I am happy to see it gone. I hope you enjoy the new simple look, although the baked good that is featured is truly nothing special, but I guess sometimes it is the simple things that make us happy. I hope you all find yourselves having a great 2012!

Ice Cream Pie - One of my New Favorites

You can't beat a super simple dessert that doesn't really require any baking but it's decadent and everyone will love it! I never thought to make my own ice cream cake (or pie) until some of our good friends brought over dessert a few months ago. They had stopped at TCBY and it was this chocolate decadance ice cream cake(pie?). I keep calling it a cake but there's no actual cake in it, so.. I guess it's a pie. I thought to myself - boy, this is delicious... AND... I could easily just make one of these myself but use my own flavors and toppings. Yum!

So, I waited a while for the right occasion to try this out - finally I had offered to bring over dessert to The Husband's parents house... I can't remember the occasion. End of summer, I think. Anyway, I found a recipe for a homemade chocolate cookie crust - 2 cups chocolate graham crackers, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/3 cup sugar. For my 10 inch round cake pan that is 3 inches tall, I needed at least 1.5 batches of this crust, if not two. I wanted tall sides to my crust to hold all the ice cream in. Plan on using 2 of the 3 packages of graham crackers out of the graham cracker box.

Pat the crust into a springform pan and press against the sides, also. Bake at a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes and let cool.

Meanwhile, you could make your own ice cream if you have the time/equipment, but otherwise, take your ice cream out of the freezer and start to let it melt. I ended up microwaving mine for a few seconds here and there. Get out your other cake fillings also - anything goes here - chopped up cookies, snickers bars, nuts, candy, chocolate chips, fudge, caramel,... you name it!

Spread the soft ice cream into the cooled crust. I ended up making this cake a 2nd time, for the "adult" dessert at my son's 1st birthday party. The first time I made the cake, I used 2 flavors of ice cream and in between the two layers, I had oreo cookies and Sanders hot fudge spread around. The second time I made the cake, I used one gallon of ice cream but forgot to make a middle layer so I just dug some oreo cookies down in it and put the rest on top, topped with more Sanders hot fudge. I personally would like snickers bar chunks in here but I was avoiding nuts for some of my guests. Peanut butter cups and such would be great in here also, however, The Husband is really weird in that he hates peanut butter!

Anyway, the idea here is - fill up your crust with any ice cream flavor, topping, and filling that you can think of. I then used cool whip and took out a large star tip decorators tip and piped on a nice border of whipped cream. More oreos/chocolate chip cookie chunks/etc and hot fudge should definitely go on top for decoration. You could either be really casual and have a mish-mash on top, or you could spend some time making a really pretty design on top also.

After the crust is filled up (oh by the way, feel free to use whatever flavor crust you might like!), pop this puppy into the freezer. The first time I made this, I made it in the morning and took it over to another location and it had to go into the freezer there for a few hours also and it was still sorta soft by dinner time. The 2nd time I made it, I froze it overnight and it was as expected - rock solid - so that is ideal. You can let it soften for 10 minutes before cutting, but otherwise a sharp knife will do the trick. 

This is one of my favorite desserts and it takes no talent whatsoever. I used Hudsonville ice cream which is a Made-In-Michigan local product and it is absolutely fabulous along with the best-ever Sanders Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge, another Detroit specialty. Using high quality ingredients will set this over the top and your guests will love it. Enjoy!

Baby Shower Cake for Shiloh

  

Our wonderful friends are expecting to bring home little Shiloh any day now. I was very excited to make the baby shower cake for their family and friends. I was looking online for cute girl cake ideas and didn't come up with much until I saw this adorable owl theme. I decided to go with it since my little Clark's room has forest animals in it also and I really love owls. I thought it was a nice unusual animal but still cute for a girl-themed cake.

I used Rose Levy Beranbaum's mousseline recipe, it took one 11 cup batch and one more 5 cup batch on top of that and there was none to spare. I used the white chocolate mousseline recipe (and when I used white chocolate chips, they seized up and made for a gritty texture but this was OK) which I mixed sweetened shaved coconut into. I thought this was the best buttercream filling I've had in ages, I'd definitely do this again with the mousseline! I used the coconut filling for the bottom tier. For the top tier, I used mousseline mixed with raspberry preserves.

I used pink polka dotted ribbon to trim the cake and just used a frosting comb for the sides. I wasn't too pleased with the final smoothness of the cake but I really didn't have any more frosting to help me out with that. I tried out a new ready-made fondant from Sarah's Cake Supplies (which actually tastes good unlike the Wilton stuff!) and I made the separate colors for the owl the day before. I placed them on the cake then also, and left it all out overnight and everything was fine the next day.

Since Shiloh is from Ethiopia, I wanted to honor her heritage by bringing that into the cake design somehow. I decided to color the cake layers of the bottom tier into red, yellow, and green which matches the Ethiopian flag. I told Andrea and Jan that there was a surprise when you cut into the cake and everyone seemed to like that so I was happy I tried it out.

This was a really fun cake to make and it was nice to get back into the cake-decorating swing of things with a little one around. Hope to be adding more blog posts soon!

We Be Jammin' - Making and Canning Your Own Blueberry Jam

I tried raspberry freezer jam once a year or two ago... it was pretty good, as I remember it from my childhood but for us it's not quite as good as a regular jam. July and August are special in Michigan - it's blueberry season! Blueberry buckle, blueberry muffins, blueberry pies and tarts are all popular around our house. We also buy this Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Preserves frequently, it is our absolute favorite jam. So it's no surprise we chose blueberry jam to be my first "real" jam and canning experience!

Bonne Maman jam is usually $3.99 for 13oz cute little jar. If you already have jars for jam, this recipe is about half the cost. Just a fun fact. I did it for the fun of it and not to save a few bucks (or a few cents as it works out). Blueberries can be expensive, I bought 10 lbs for $24 from the local blueberry farm. It made two batches of this recipe plus left me one gallon ziploc full to put in the freezer for future pancakes, desserts and baby food. When it's all said and done, I saved about half the cost. If you factor in buying jars which are around $10 a flat, you save about 0.05 an oz. Something like that.... so maybe not as cost effective as you might think! And smuckers is a lot cheaper, I'm talking expensive jams in comparison here.

I have never tried canning anything before and I finally had to make time since my parents had picked up the blueberries for me from their favorite blueberry farm stand. I bought jars a long time ago for a party to use them as glasses for sangria, plus The Husband had gotten me a "canning kit" for Christmas a year or two ago. So I was ready to rumble!!



How To Make & Can Your Own Blueberry Jam
As summarized from what I found here, which has more detail and great information


Ingredients
10 cups of blueberries
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
7 cups of sugar
1/2 cup water
1 package pectin (you can use slightly more than 1 box if you like thicker jam)

Canning equipment
jars - this recipe makes about 6 pints (plus some to put in the fridge for immediate enjoyment)
lids - enough for the number of jars you're filling
rings - to screw the lids on
a large canning pot - to boil the jars in
jar grabber - to lift the hot jars out of the boiling water
lid magnet - the lids have to be warmed in hot water so this lid magnet will grab one lid at a time out of the hot water
jar funnel - very helpful for filling the jars

The funnel, magnet, and grabber will be included in any canning kit. The jars and lids and rings are sold in most grocery stores. Other items may also come in your kit but the ones above are what I used and was thankful that I had.

1. Preparations:
A. Run the jars and rings through your dish washer and sanitize setting, time it so that hopefully they will still be hot right when you want to ladel the hot jam into the jars, if possible.
B. Also get a giant canning pot ready with water coming up to boil. I used my beer brewing pot. This takes a long time.
C. Third, get a small little sauce pan with water and boil the jar lids for 5-10 minutes and keep them warm (follow the directions on your jars or pectin box also). This softens the gum sealant on the lids.

2. I started by washing and picking through the blueberries so that I had 10 cups. I'd measure one cup, put it in a bowl and mash it with a masher, and then add it to the rest of the mashed blueberries

3. Mix the pectin with 1/4 c of the sugar

4. Mix the blueberries, lemon juice, and pectin mixture and cook to a full boil (the kind that cannot be stirred away). This takes time

5. Add the rest of the sugar, bring it back to a boil, and boil it hard for 1 minute

6. You can add a little more pectin if you want your jam thicker (test it using the spoon method and letting it cool as noted in the linked website above)

7. Fill the jars (make sure the jars are hot.. if they aren't hot from the dishwasher, I dipped them in the canning boiling water as long as I could stand it (10-15 seconds) to heat the glass). Use a ladle and the funnel

8. Wipe the mouths of the jars clean and seal the jars by placing a lid (use the lid lifter magnet) on the top and screwing on a ring

9. Use the jar tongs to place the jars in the boiling water bath in the canning pot and keep them there for 5-10 minutes

10. Take the jars out (use the tons again) and let them rest at room temperature. The lids should pop down over the next 24 hours. If they don't seal properly (they make a popping noise when you push on the lid), you should start by eating that jam first or you could try boiling it again... I tried that and it did seem to work for some of the jars.

I believe this jam lasts up to 12 months but with a blueberry jam eating machine around like The Husband, they might not last that long. I have made this recipe twice, the second time I did two back-to-back batches so I actually have 18 pints of blueberry jam on my hands right now. I have 24 4oz jars and 12 pints and I plan to give some away. The Husband was not going to let me give any away without making this kind of quantity

I'm really happy to have my first canning experience under my belt! I hope to find a great salsa recipe some day and try canning that, or maybe some apple butter in the fall using Michigan apples. I also hope to get the late-summer raspberries from the farmer's market and make some raspberry jam but we're already running out of time! I also need some more jars though we found some in the basement from the previous home owner. This recipe tastes great and just as good as the high-end blueberry jams I typically buy. I hope you enjoy. The website procedure that I followed here has a lot more information and was very helpful with photos and all so I recommend checking it out.

Banana Crumb Muffins

This is a tasty little recipe. I wanted to make something special for The Husband for breakfast as well as use up some super ripe bananas. Of course, this was extra super duper nice of me because I was specifically cutting out sweets from my diet for several weeks... so I threw the rest in the freezer. This was a good experiment though and a few weeks later I pulled a few out, popped them in the microwave for a few seconds, and tried one and it was still quite moist and very tasty. I definitely would make this recipe again. This would also be a good make-ahead recipe for a breakfast or brunch since they would keep for a few days and they freeze well also. I hope you enjoy!

Banana Crumb Muffins
As seen here on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
  

• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Breakfast Pizza and Grilled Pizza but not Grilled Breakfast Pizza

At Nino Salvaggio's and many other grocery stores, you can buy raw pizza dough - usually in the freezer section. I like Nino's version and have used it a few times for making grilled pizzas. Who hasn't seen an episode on Food Network where some one is quickly throwing on some dough and whipping up a delicious-looking grilled pizza? I always saw that and wondered - maybe we should try it?? Well you should! It's not too difficult, especially if you buy pre-made dough. I heard you can even go to your local pizzeria and ask to buy their dough so that might work, also. Look, I've also made homemade pizza dough. It was a nice experience, recipe was only OK so I'd like to try another but on this day I didn't have time for that.

We had some great visitors - Gwen and Tom - over for dinner last weekend and The Husband and I both thought of "grilled pizzas!" for a dinner idea. We always make some BBQ chicken pizza - shredded or diced chicken seasoned to your liking, bacon, onions, bell peppers, BBQ sauce, mozzarella cheese, and we also made a regular supreme pizza - bacon, onions, bell peppers, and fennel sausage, mozzarella cheese and regular pizza sauce. I also had some fresh basil from my herb garden on top but I forgot to sprinkle on oregano, darn!

The method for grilled pizzas is this - thaw / let your pizza dough come to room temp - oil the bowl and loosely cover and let it rise/come to room temp. This took 3-4 hours for a fully frozen pizza dough. One dough that I buy from Nino's makes 4 personal-sized pizzas. I was concerned this might not be exactly enough so I took a half of another pizza dough and made 2 more -- I knew this would be too much but leftover pizza isn't so bad!

When the pizza dough is room temp, cut into 4 chunks and roll/stretch out the pizzas. You can make a super large pizza if you want. I didn't have a lot of time to let the dough rest and I know that makes the stretching easier, but I love crisp thin pizzas so a little more time and rolling will probably help. Use olive oil to grease the tops and bottoms of the pizza crusts. I usually put them on squares of parchment papers and use cookie sheets to move them outside to the grill.

Turn you grill on to med-high heat - nice and hot and pre-heated. The dough will seem too soft and I thought "that will sink between the grates" .. and it seems like it will but grill one side of the pizza doughs for 2-3 minutes or until charred to your liking. You'll see they are puffing up and perfect when you check on them. Remove the one-side grilled crusts back onto your parchment paper/cookie sheets, grilled side up.

Now take all your pizza crusts inside and put your toppings on the grilled side of the crusts. I had my crusts half-grilled and waiting - this is a good stopping point for a do-ahead dinner. Have your guests arrive and top their own half-grilled pizzas - make a "pizza bar" with all of the different toppings laid out. All you have to do next is pop the crusts back on the grill to char up the raw side of the crusts for another 2-3 minutes and voila - grilled pizza! Close the lid to the grill too, and your cheese will melt and all will be well in the world. I pre-cook my onions and peppers and things just because the crusts aren't on the grill for too long.

So - I should have taken more pictures of the grilled pizza... I just have this one photo of what we reheated for lunch the next day (it was tasty after baking in the oven for a while!)

I do have pictures of what I made the next day with the 1/2 of the dough I had left over. Breakfast pizza! I have never made this before or even eaten it. People order it from Holden's in Milford and bring it into work but I'm always on a diet or not there and miss out. Anyway, there seem to be 2 types of breakfast pizzas. One where the eggs are beaten and then they turn into a scrambled egg topping and one where the eggs are more like a sunny side up. I asked The Husband and the choice for us was sunny-side up style so we could get that runny yolk.

I still had leftover toppings from the night before which was so helpful. Bacon, sausage, cheese, onions, peppers... all good stuff. I made half with a little pizza sauce too because I didn't know if that would be good or not.

I followed the method as noted here on The Kitchn - preheated my oven to 500 degrees. I prepared the dough as I did for grilling - olive oil and rolling/stretching out the dough into one big pizza. I sprinkled all the toppings on except the eggs. I placed it in the oven for 5 minutes. After that I slipped 4 eggs on top of the pizza and put it back in the oven until the eggs were set. It took about 10 minutes when it was all said and done.

The results were delicious and The Husband agreed, we'd definitely make this again and having some extra pizza dough on hand is not a bad thing at all. Yum! Hope you try it and enjoy.