August 2009: Recipe 1 in my MisAdventures of Cooking: Mexi-Pizza

Here it is ... Recipe #1:

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Mexi-Pizza as submitted by Kelli Dix

Yes, I actually made this!

Whole wheat Pizza dough from Trader Joe's
1 can of Black beans undrained (use as sauce) [I actually used TJs refried black beans with jalapeno peppers]
Corn (sprinkle on fairly evenly)
Green onion (optional) [used it]
Mexican blend of cheese [used lite cheese]
Chicken sautéed in lime juice and salt and pepper (optional) [used grilled chicken strips heated with the lime juice and seasonings, yumm-o]
Fresh Salsa (mild)
Sour cream [used light]
Lettuce
Tortilla Chips


My actual ingredients

Directions per Kelli:
Dough…make it easy go and buy the dough from trader joes..it is very inexpensive and we like to buy all 3 kinds and play with different pizzas. Do as directed on package….get the dough to be as flat as possible by using a rolling pin or Luke just throws it up in the air ….
Black beans…You will probably only use 3/4 of the can
Corn..frozen or canned..I prefer frozen because it is healthier
Lime Chicken… I think it would make it even tastier, and it would be great with lime juice…if you do not add lime chicken then maybe consider dashing on a few sprinkles of lime juice
Fresh salsa tastes good cooked into the pizza so sprinkle it on sparingly throughout pizza before you put the cheese on or after if you forget…won’t really matter.

After it is cooked as directed on the dough package (I think it was 450' for 8-10 min. - I threw out the package before recording the info)
Put Sour cream
Sliced Lettuce
Sliced tortilla chips or just sprinkle them on in some way….
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Ok, so I'm sure you all read through it and said, "Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy". I chose this recipe to start simply because my Mom was at Trader Joe's and asked me if I needed anything:-) For those of you unlucky enough not be next to a Trader Joe's I am sure any other pizza dough (or handmade for that matter) would work just great!

I will tell you about my first "MisAdventure in Cooking", but I don't want to reveal too much about the results to keep you all in suspense :-)

**Warning: accurate technical cooking terms will probably not be used in the following recipe review**

Since Mike loves to cook, he has all sorts of kitchen thing-a-ma-bobs, luckily a rolling pin and a silicone roller-outer sheet thing. I was so excited about lightly flouring the surface and getting the dough flat that I really failed to read the directions on the package, which tells you to first take dough out and let it rest for 20 min. I didn't realize that was my problem until I couldn't get the dough to stretch to the required 12" diameter. I later learned that you need to let the dough come to room temp before it will cooperate.


My impressive setup, aren't you impressed?

Once I rolled it out, I put on the black beans. I actually used one of my new favorite ingredients (originally purchased on accident), TJ's refried black beans with jalapeno peppers. Compared to regular black beans, it only bumps the per serving calorie count by 10 and the total fat by .5 and actually raises the protein and fiber. It seemed much easier to spread on then regular black beans. Next was the sprinkled on corn. I was so pleased that things were headed in the right direction until... can you guess it?


Captivating comparison between whole and refried black beans

I realized that I failed to move the dough onto a stone or pizza pan. I couldn't believe it, after pain-stakingly rolling out my dough to as close to a circle as I could and spreading my beans and corn out evenly, I had to figure out how to lift this up to put it on another surface. Lets just say it wasn't pretty. My first attempt was to put it on the stone, but sure enough after juggling it almost on, the stone wasn't large enough. Move #2 (by this time I'm laughing an "I'm so pathetic" laugh) was successful to the pizza pan/sheet, but forgot to oil it. Oh well!


Post traumatic pizza ready for the oven

Thankfully the rest went on uneventfully. Owen was able to help sprinkle on the cheese and salsa. I cooked it for 10 min., but I think I should have done it a little longer. We added the toppings and voile, I made it without the fire dept showing up:-) These are actually photos from the Mexi-Pizza I made. I think it turned out as yummy as it did pretty! :-) The kids sure thought so.

Love Eyan licking his fingers:-)