Totally un-pizza related, I made up a quiz called "Are you as smart as a fifth grader?" It's fun, and goofy.
If you have a couple of second see what you remember from elementary school... I have to admit, I was unsure about a couple of them. They are tricky!
Click on the link below, to see if you are, in fact, as smart as a fifth grader!
http://www.gotoquiz.com/are_you_as_smart_as_a_fifth_grader
As always, any questions or comments, feel free to reply to me at, sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com, Ciao!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Pizza Games: Sexist?
I am a total nerd and was looking for pizza coloring books and pizza games online and I came across this website, Cooking Games for Girls. On this website there are games such as breakfast games that teach girls how to make breakfast, waitress games that show girls how to be a "good" waitress, dessert games, decorating a cake games... I think you get the picture.
The website boasts that it is a website for GIRL'S ONLY! I don't think they need to worry...like any boy would want to play a decorating-the-cake game. The animated girls on the website are of all races with very nice figures and have beautiful smiles... as every girl should have right?
I don't doubt that these games can help young girls learn communicative and comprehensive skills, but what else is it teaching them? I mean, I am pretty traditional when it comes to a woman's "role" in the home and society. My beliefs are ancient compared to now-a-days feminists, but this website rubbed me the wrong way.
I just don't know if it is sending a good message to our young girls; here is an interactive website for girls only where you can begin to learn everything you need to know in life. I may be thinking about it too much... maybe it is just for girls to go on and "play" and have fun.
I don't like it and wouldn't suggest it. Check it out and prove me wrong. Please! E-mail me at sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!
Top Photo by Larry Crowe/Associated Press
"Johnny" Makes a Pizza: YouTube Video
The only reason I clicked on this video was because I thought the title was hysterical...it is nothingggg compared to the music and photo-combo within the video. Please watch. It's a masterpiece. Send comments to sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!
Pizza at Sally's: the children's book
I am truly in heaven! I, Sally Dwyer, have a found a children's book entitled, Pizza At Sally's!
Author and Illustrator, Monica Wellington has been writing children's books for years, all based on a similar theme: people at work. Apple Farmer Annie, Firefighter Frank and Mr. Cookie Baker all lead interesting and exciting lives like Sally who makes pizza!
The book follows Sally on a normal daily routine. Through bold, colorful pictures and easy-to-read words, Wellington shows us how Sally creates her own pizzas. We find out that Sally grows her very own vegetable garden, of which she uses for her pizzas.
What's even cooler is that Wellington adds an easy pizza recipe for the kids to bake along with Sally! What an awesome idea, while learning to read children can also learn to follow instructions and bake their own pizza. I am in awe of this book-it's embarrassing a little bit.
I must say, I want to buy this book and check out all of her other one's as well! Check out her website, http://monicawellington.com/, and tell me which of her books you would buy. E-mail any questions or comments to sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!
Photo by Monica Wellington
PIZZA RECIPES!
If you like to cook your own pizzas at home, here are some quick and easy recipes I have found. Feel free to e-mail your own pizza recipes to sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!
1. Pizza Dough
Ingredients
2 1/2 c. flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 - 1 c. water
Process
. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add 3/4 cup water and oil.
. Stir with fork until blended and forms a soft ball. If dough is too stiff, add more water, a tablespoon at a time. It should be soft, but not sticky.
. Knead about 3 minutes on lightly floured surface until smooth.
2. BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast, grilled or baked and cut into strips
1 ½ pounds pizza dough
1 cup KC Masterpiece Original barbeque sauce
1 cup chopped red onion
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella
Process
. Stretch pizza dough into two 12-inch rounds
. In a large bowl, toss chicken with barbeque sauce to coat.
. Divide chicken equally between the pizza shells. Sprinkle ½ cup of red onions evenly over each pizza. Sprinkle an equal portion of cheese on pizzas. Bake.
3. Italian Pizza
Ingredients
2 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups Honeyville Farms premium gourmet scone mix
1 can (14.5 oz.) Western family diced Italian tomatoes
2-3 cups cheese
Optional toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, etc)
Process
. Preheat oven to 415 degrees. In large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
. Add scone mix and knead until smooth.
. Roll dough out on a greased baking sheet until the size of a large pizza.
. Drain Italian Tomatoes and chop them into a fine sauce.
. Sprinkle cheese across pizza and add toppings.
. Bake 15-20 min. Serves 5.
4. Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients
3 c. Bisquick baking mix
3/4 c. cold water
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
4 1/2 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (about 8 ozs.)
Process
. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease jelly roll pan, 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch, or cookie sheet.
. Mix baking mix and water until soft dough forms; beat vigorously 20 strokes.
. Gently smooth dough into ball on floured cloth-covered board.
. Knead 20 times. Pat dough in bottom and up sides of pan with floured hands. Or roll into rectangle, 13 x 10 inches, and place on cookie sheet; pinch edges of rectangle, forming 3/4 inch rim.
. Cook and stir ground beef, onion, salt and garlic until beef is brown. Mix tomato sauce and Italian seasoning; spread over dough.
. Spoon beef mixture over sauce. Top with remaining ingredients.
. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Makes 8 servings.
5. BLT Pizza
Ingredients
1 pkg (10 oz) prebaked thin pizza crust
3⁄4 cup pasta sauce (360 mg sodium or less per 1⁄2 cup)
5 slices turkey bacon, cooked as pkg directs, crumbled
1 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 plum tomatoes, cut in thin wedges
1 Tbsp light mayonnaise
Process
. Heat oven to 450°F. Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet.
. Spread sauce on crust and sprinkle with bacon and cheese.
. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until crust is crisp and lightly browned at the edges.
. Meanwhile mix remaining ingredients in a bowl.
. Spread over pizza; serve immediately. pizza
Check out these websites the next time you plan on making a homemade pizza:
b. http://jennycraig.com/food/recipes/landing?_requestid=381767
d. http://www.recipepizza.com/
“Pizza-Bread” of the South
Over the Easter holiday I traveled home to Kentucky to visit my family and the Cincinnati Reds- go Reds! (Hopefully you will show up this season…doubtful). I am always so excited to show off my town to my boyfriend and we spend a lottttttt of the time eating from my favorite child-hood joints. These include, Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn BBQ, Graeter’s Ice Cream, Grippo’s Potato Chips and of course, pizza!
Having lived in Chicago for 18 years, my boyfriend is a thin-crust/deep-dish pizza lover. Over the years I have become an avid thin-crust consumer, demanding one large Lou Malnati’s thin crust pepperoni pizza at least once a month. However, my heart will always be with my child-hood favorites such as, LaRosa’s, Papa Johns, Donatos and Greg’s Pizza, which used to be owned by my uncle, but was recently sold. :(
One thing linking these pizzas together is the type of crust they use. My boyfriend doesn’t even consider it crust; he calls it “a loaf of bread with pizza sauce on top”. After many hours of defending the pizzas honor and claiming that it is “just as good, if not better than Gino’s East”, I began to agree with him. This doesn’t mean that I don’t like it anymore; it actually makes me appreciate it more.
Take LaRosa’s for example, their “thin crust” is not thin and not crispy like Gino’s East, or Pizza Hut. I do not think it tastes anything like a slice of bread or pita bread, but it has the texture of pita bread. I guess the problem my boyfriend has with it is that it is too thick to be called thin crust but not thick enough to be called deep dish, so it lies somewhere in between.
After trying a couple of other “Cincinnati Pizzas”, we realized that this is
a reoccurring theme throughout the pizza joints in Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati area. I never thought it was unusual because that’s what I grew up with, but I guess to Chicagoans eating pizza “on bread” may seem totally unappetizing.
What about your hometowns? Are there any pizza joints that boast particular styled crusts?? Do you like this about them, or hate it? Feel free to e-mail any questions or comments to sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!
Top Photo by Patti Longmire/Associated Press
Bottom Photo by LaRosa's
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Crazy Pizza Toppings-the New Trend?
A new trend is forming within pizzerias and even four-star restaurants that have everyone’s mouth watering: crazy and extravagant toppings. These toppings include anything from peanut butter and jelly to steak and even sweet candies. Research analysts from Pizza Marketplace, an online site for buyers and sellers in the restaurant industry, are saying that 2009 will be the year chef’s and owners of pizzerias as well as high-end restaurants begin to shy away from the traditional pizza toppings (cheese, pepperoni, sausage).
Experts have broken down this tasty-topping trend into 4 categories:
1. Healthy toppings
2. Spicy toppings
3. Fruit and Vegetable toppings
4. Seafood topping
1.) Part of Your Complete Diet
Some reasons for the shift in toppings, experts from Pizza Marketplace claim, are due to the effort in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In Richard Slawsky’s “Top Pizza Trends for 2009,” people have been more health conscious during the current ‘going green’ phenomenon. This results in choosing healthier options when dining out and restaurant owners are adapting their menus to fit these types of consumers.
Slawsky describes this change in menu by interviewing Ed Martino, the owner of Carminuccio’s
Pizza and Subs in Newton, CT. Martino admits that their BBQ Pizza remains a top seller but told Slawsky, “we offer an Insalata Pizza with mozzarella, red sauce and topped with fresh garden salad,” that he sees rising in popularity.
To keep up with competition operators will begin to find more of a demand for healthier toppings on their pizza including the types of cheeses and sauces they will use.
2.) Hot, Hot, Hot Toppings
One way pizza operators are finding new ways to differentiate themselves is through the levels of spicy toppings. Topping pizzas with ethnic flavors not only adds a zing, but a distinctive characteristic only they possess.
Expert’s from Pizza Marketplace say regional flavors specific to countries around the world, such as Korean and Vietnamese, Mexican, and Indian are a few ways operators can add variety to the traditional-style pizza.
More locally, in Austin Texas, DoubleDave’s Pizzaworks boasts spicy hot pizza.
Chuck Thorp, CEO of DoubleDave’s, told Slawsky
In Slawsky’s article on pizza trends, Chuck Thorp, CEO of DoubleDave’s, said the drive to produce toppings of such flavor was inspired by the growing population of Latino customers. Jalapeño-topped pizzas are now a necessity of DoubleDave’s in order to please the customers and have actually become a top-seller.
3.) Back to the Basics: Fruits and veggies
Veggie pizzas have been around for years, pineapple and banana pizzas have been a top-seller, and yet pizza operators are still finding new and innovative ways to use these veteran foods.
Experts say when decorating a pizza with veggies the cosmetic and textural presentation are what people are drawn to. It adds color to the meal, and as the old saying goes, “the more colors on your plate the healthier life you will lead.” The added crunch of the veggies also makes it appealing.
Slawsky also suggests in his article on trends that, “veggies provide a savory-sweet edge that complements the mounds of meat that pizza fans love.”
Howard Olivier, owner of Flying Pie’s was quoted in this article as saying, “pepperoni is still king here, but we do lots with vegetables.”
Fruit can add class to a pizza giving it elegance. What’s even more popular than fruit toppings are entire breakfast pizzas and even dessert pizzas topped with fruit covered in sugar and frosting.
4.) The Ocean-Front Pizza
Nino’s Bellisima in New York City boasts a pizza topped with lobster, caviar, and shrimp covered gold leaf’s. This sells for $1,000 a pizza. This may be an extravagant way to eat, but seafood pizzas are on the rise and will be a new trend of 2009.
Seafood is a category that gives the appearance of elegance and fine dining. By adding seafood to pizza, an operator gives off an ambiance of the restaurant; usually stating ‘we are an elegant restaurant that serves high-end pizza’.
Howard Olivier, owner of Flying Pie’s told Pizza Marketplace, “it’s just nice to have seafood for people who want it.” Adding variety is the goal of each pizzeria. Differentiating the variety makes them unique.
John Poulimas, chef at Carminuccio’s in Newton, CT notices the change in customers. “A lot of them are going for toppings rather than crust, he said. “We pile on our shrimp, others don’t do that.” Poulimas credits their clientele on making pizzas according to their customers’ suggestions. The reason they come back, he said, is because of the taste of the toppings and the amount of the toppings.
Todd Frampton, 42, of Batavia, Il has been an avid pizza-lover since childhood and exemplifies this new pizza trend of 2009. “I am always ready for a pepperoni pizza, but lately I have been trying Pizza Hut’s…and other’s…new pizza’s,” said Frampton. “It’s fun to try new toppings even if they sound a bit weird. You never know, you may actually like it,” he said.
No statistics could be found for the increase in sales due solely to toppings.
Top photo by Associated Press
Middle photo by Larry Crowe/Associated Press
Bottom photo by Associated Press
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