Pear, Pecorino, and Taleggio Pizza

First of all, I must make a disclaimer.  The pizza I made did not have taleggio, a cheese I had never heard of before much less tasted.  I was looking forward to experiencing this new taste treat, but was unable to find it here in Valdosta.  After doing some research on the internet, I decided that fontina would be a suitable substitute.  The pizza I made also did not have pecorino romano.  I have tried pecorino before and didn't really care for it; I thought it had an aftertaste that was somewhat disagreeable.  Parmesan is more to my liking and is quite a bit cheaper. 

Calzone alla Parmigiana

This was my first time ever making calzone (pronounced "cal-zone-ay"; I had to look it up!)  In all honesty, I must admit I don't recall ever having eaten a calzone before. . .huge mistake!!  Preparation of calzone is a bit more involved than pizza, but it wasn't difficult and was well worth the effort. 

Potato Pizza

This is a recipe that is popular in southern Italy and would be great if you have someone in your family that is on a gluten-free diet.  It basically consists of using mashed potatoes as a base for the pizza rather than traditional crust.

Chicken Taco Pizza

Years ago our church published a cookbook with recipes submitted by different members of the church.  In my experience, those are the most valuable cookbooks because the recipes are family favorites that taste good without using exotic ingredients and complicated techniques. Does anyone still use the Oscoda Baptist Cookbook? If you do, I'd love to know which are your favorite recipes!  One of ours was a grilled taco chicken that was submitted by my friend, Marion Tripp.  

Mike and I got to thinking about that chicken and, of course,began to wonder if perhaps it might be delicious on a pizza. 

Patriotic Pizza

A few weeks ago Mike suggested we do a special pizza for Independence Day.  I racked my brain to think of red, white and blue toppings that could be used on a traditional-type pizza.  Red and white wouldn't have been too difficult, (tomatoes, mozzarella, red bell peppers, feta cheese, etc.) but I could think of absolutely nothing that was blue!  The only blue I could think of were blueberries, and so we created a dessert pizza with blueberries and strawberries that was absolutely yummo. (Okay, maybe I have been watching a little too much of Rachel Ray!)