Stuffed Focaccia Mini-Muffins

It has become our family tradition that on Christmas Eve I make an abundance of appetizer-type party food.  In years past we've thrown a birthday party for Jesus complete with balloons and streamers and cake and punch.  Since our children have moved away, it has morphed into a film festival of classic holiday films such as It's a Wonderful Life ,The Grinch, and The Nativity Story.  I tell you all this to explain that the first time I made these muffins it was part of this past year's Fountain Family Christmas celebration.  Since I had not started blogging at that time, I decided to revisit this recipe.  Perhaps it was the Christmas advertising starting WAY too soon that put me in a holiday mood!

Ricotta and Prosciutto Focaccia

This is another recipe that turned out to be very much like a quiche.  I think it had trouble deciding if it wanted to be Italian or French! Then I really confused it  by adding cilantro and giving it a Southwestern United States flare.  Boy, no wonder this dish has an identity crisis!  My sweet hubby was starting the focaccia dough, and I had mentioned to him that it used quite a bit more oil than our normal pizza dough.  He had that on his mind when he was putting the ingredients into the breadmaker and accidentally added a full cup of oil! 

Egg and Spinach Pizza Pies

I had been noticing the picture of these pizzas in my cook book for quite a while.  They just looked too cute and I have been anxious to try them!  Mine didn't turn out looking as pretty as the ones in the book, but I was pleased with the outcome.  I imagined these little pizzas might end up being similar to a quiche, and I was right.  They actually would be excellent for a fancy brunch. 

Goat Cheese and Pesto Pizzette

This was an opportunity to try yet another cheese that was somewhat unfamiliar to me. 

Goat cheese, or chevre (from the French for goat), is cheese made out of the milk of goats.  Goat's milk cheese has a characteristic tart, and I thought a bit gamey, flavor. Although the West has popularized the cow, goat milk and goat cheese are preferred dairy products in much of the rest of the world. Because goat cheese is often made in areas where refrigeration is limited, aged goat cheeses are often heavily treated with salt to prevent decay. As a result, salt has become associated with the flavor of goat cheese.

Provencal Pizza

This pizza highlights Emmental, one of the other unique and hard-to-find cheeses I have been eager to try.  Emmental or Emmentaler is a cheese from Switzerland. It is sometimes known as Swiss cheese in the United States,Canada, Australia and New Zealand, although Swiss cheese does not always imply Emmentaler.

Pear, Pecorino, and Taleggio Pizza-Part 2!

One of the aspects of this pizza hobby of mine that I never anticipated was the exploration of a vast variety of unusual cheeses. Some time back my darling husband did some research on the Internet and discovered that there is a cheese shop at selected Kroger stores called Murray's Cheese Shop.  They have many of the more exotic cheeses that are difficult to find; and they will even ship if there is not one close to you!  We happened to be in Atlanta last week end visiting with our daughter and discovered a Kroger store near her neighborhood that has a Murray's Cheese Shop.    I purchased some emmental and some taleggio and decided to revisit the pear, pecorino, and taleggio pizza I made several weeks ago and  see what it would be like with real taleggio rather than substituting fontina. 

Tuscan Chicken on Foccacia

I friend of mine posted a recipe for Slow-Cooked Tuscan Sandwiches on her Facebook page. It looked absolutely delicious, and I thought it would be even better made on freshly baked foccacia bread.  I made the chicken in the slow cooker following the recipe.  It was basically chicken thighs, garlic, and sliced roasted red bell peppers (from a jar) that I had going in the crock pot all day.