Fancy-Smancy Pizza

At my old place I would have never, ever, EVER displayed on the internet the cabinet I kept all the main cooking ingredients in. It used to be in two cabinets actually, and one of them was called "the cabinet we don't talk about" because when you opened it, usually about 3-6 things would come tumbling out. Now that I have my new space with a bigger kitchen I LOVE my new cabinet! I love it so much, that I wanted to share it with everyone! And seriously, I should have invested in a lazy-susan a LONG time ago! Those things ROCK! So here ya go - this is where it all begins...

Today's post includes a pizza and some fried eggplant. If you know me, you know I LOVE to make pizzas. And not just any 'ole pizza, I love to experiment with new ingredients and toppings almost every time, and this day was no exception - Artichoke-Pepper Pizza with Feta Cheese!

For the fried eggplant, I began by soaking cubed eggplant in some salt water for about 15 minutes.

While the eggplant was soaking, I start sauteing a red and yellow bell pepper I cut into strips with a little bit of olive oil and minced garlic.


For the base of my pizza, in the food processor I add a jar of drained artichoke hearts, 1/4 cup of low-fat mayo, crushed red pepper flakes, freshly ground pepper, and some more minced garlic (because who could ever get enough of that stuff?) I then pulse it all together until it is well mixed.

Once the 15 minutes is up for the soaking eggplant, I drain the water and dry the cubes with a paper towel. After they are nice and dry I toss the eggplant with corn meal and freshly ground pepper.

And into a heated skillet with a little bit of vegetable oil the eggplant goes! This is the first time I have made fried eggplant, and it actually fried up a lot easier than I expected. You just have to toss every few minutes and they are good to go.

I almost always use the Pillsbury ready-made pizza crust for my pizzas. I find that they are equally tasty and easy, and you can almost always find them on sale or a coupon to use. I also always bake the crust for about 6 minutes before I add the toppings and put it back into the oven; it makes for a crispier crust.

So... While the eggplant is frying, I start to top the pizza. First things first, I spread the artichoke mixture on top of the precooked crust.

Next on goes the sauteed peppers and garlic.

And finally I top the pizza with some feta cheese and dried thyme. Into the oven for about 8 minutes it will go!

As I stated before, the eggplant fried up beautifully. I have to admit though - the eggplant was not a big hit... None of us finished it. I think next time I will heat up some tomato sauce to pour on top of it. It was just kind of plain and needed something to go with it.

The pizza out of the oven looks great and ready to eat!

All in all, it was a wonderful meal. The pizza was superb! It could pass for any fancy pizza parlor-pizza! Though the eggplant wasn't as good as I wanted it - I think I could do better with it next time!

Pizza also makes a GREAT leftover for lunch the next day! It was good then too!!!