No guilt here

So if you're like me, you get home from work and want something quick and easy that excites the tastebuds.

Something that's filling and satisfying but not heavy on the calories.

Well, I think we may have found a winner, lovely readers!

(Actually, credits to my Mum who whipped this up after our Zumba class last night!)

Enter the Weight Watchers No Guilt Pizza.

I've experimented with a few of their suggested toppings before, but this one was a bit left of centre and really fresh and light.

And soooooo easy. Were there enough 'Os' in that sooooo?

Here we go . . .

Take one wholemeal pita

Spread with a tablespoon of pesto (we just used the stock standard basil)

Scatter a shake or two of chilli flakes over the pesto

Thinly slice zucchini and layer over the pizza base

Top with halved grape tomatoes (not too many otherwise it goes soggy)

Dollop low fat ricotta cheese on top

Bake in a pizza oven (or normal oven) until crispy

Serve with a scattering of torn flat leaf parsley and fresh mint on top

(We added chicken and grated cheese to Big John's - being a retired meat wholesaler, he's not really down pat with the whole vegetarian thing)

TDF readers. It's amazing.

Enjoy x

If you can't handle the heat . . .

There's something special about homemade pizzas in Summer by the pool. 

I was over at Mum and Dad's last weekend during the heatwave in the Rads. They have a pool, airconditioning and Foxtel. What more can I say?

After a long afternoon watching movies in the air con and interchanging from the couch to the pool and back again, the clock ticked over to 5pm which signalled happy hour. Every week Mum and Dad's next door neighbour pops over for end/start of week drinks. His wife joined in the fun this week as well, so Mum and I sat out with them on the lawn and sweltered over a few ciders (Dirty Granny is our tipple of choice at the mo).

Noone felt like cooking so I offered to try and replicate the fabulous pizzas that Ad knocked up on Kangaroo Island. Light, easy and quick.

Check out Ad's recipe here.

They were easy as pie to whip up as I used pita bases. Ready in no time.

We had good intentions of sitting by the pool and dangling our feet while we feasted . . . but it was too hot to sit on the pavers so we stayed inside!

Oh the joys of an Australian Summer!

Good crust

Holidays are made for cooking. Well, in my books they are.

We took the opportunity to have a pizza night on KI - I even carried my trusty pizza maker over on the ferry with me in hand luggage!

Two toppings on offer - Turkish lamb and haloumi, and Tandoori chicken. 

Lipsmackingly delicious.

Tandoori chicken pizza

Makes 1

Pizza base (either make your own like we did or use a prepared base - good recipe here)

Big handful sliced mushrooms

Tomato passata

Olive oil

1 chicken breast, sliced

tandoori paste 

natural yoghurt

mango chutney

rocket

coriander

thinly sliced red onion

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in about half a jar of tandoori paste and then add a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt and mix. Leave to rest, covered, in the fridge for about 30 mins.
2. Spread the pizza base with about 2 Tbspn tomato passata and a slug of olive oil
3. Sprinkle the mushrooms over the base and then top with red onion
4. Evenly distribute the marinated chicken over the other toppings.
5. Cook in a pizza oven or normal oven until chicken cooked and base crunchy
6. Top with coriander and rocket leaves
7. Serve with mango chutney and extra yoghurt

That's amore!

We had a lovely night over at Liam and Jess's the other night with the master of the house knocking our socks off with fabulous pizzas.

They're recently inherited the wood fire oven from Jess's parents and like all boys, Liam loves nothing better than lighting things up!

He played with some great flavours - there was a gourmet take on the traditional Hawaaian, some kind of Turkish one I think, and definitely a killer Margherita. Lots of other variations but the one that took the cake was the dessert masterpiece - nutella with banana, macadamia, coconut and vanilla cream. It was to die for.

Look how proud he was!

And the mess we left him with. Whoops!

And in trying to prove helpful, I thought I'd supply you with a pizza dough recipe my friend Libby swears by. I still think it's much easier to drop past Foodland to pick up their bag of fresh organic dough for $4 but Libby assures me this is easier! I think it's a Margaret Fulton classic.

Pizza Crust

2 1/3 cups plain flour

1 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar
1 sachet dried yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3 Tbspn olive oil

1. Sift flour in large bowl with salt & stir in sugar & yeast.
2. Make a well in centre and add water & oil.
3. Mix to dough, then turn onto floured surface and knead lightly 4-5 mins, until smooth & elastic.
4. Put dough into buttered bowl, turn to coat in butter & let it rise until doubled in size, in warm place, for about an hour.

Melt in your mouth

Celebrated the Hen's Night of a dear friend on the weekend and we stuffed ourselves silly with the most ah-mazing pizza and tapas at Melt, one of my fave local hangouts and now, conveniently also in the city.

The tapas included fried haloumi with pickled red onions, hommus with ground beef and tortilla, chilli and anchovy green beans and frittata. The pizzas were fab as always with the prawn and harissa one topping my list. The side salad of spinach with red onion, tomato and buffalo mozarella is also a hands down favourite.

To top it all off, chocolate, pistacchio and vanilla bean cream pizza for dessert. Sensational.

Happy Hen's, Stors!

xo