What to do with all that sauce?

Yes THIS post is going to be another pizza post. Can you tell we love our pizza around the Bacon house?  It's most requested for dinner on family fun night, and what can I say?  They give me the puppy dog face.  But I do get bored with the same ol' round pizza.  And you know I have lots of jars of that fantastic pizza sauce lined up in your cupboard right?  So what to make this time?  Pizza braids!  They are wonderful!  And quick and easy and freeze well....  So you want to make one for your family fun night too? Or just any night?  Read on!

First start with that tasty pizza dough.  Once it's all mixed up and rested, take the dough and divide it in half.

Press it out into a rectangle on a flour coated surface, I use my wood cutting board. Good tip to keep the board from slipping is to place it on a silicone hot pad or other non-stick material you have. I keep a chunk of that non-slip shelf liner in my gadget drawer just for this.

Roll out a nice rectangle.  Oh I think this one is about 15 inches long, yes I just guess I never measure much, just ask Mr. Bacon!  

Next add your favorite toppings down the center. Leave about a two inch boarder around the edge. Can you guess who likes to help here? Little Miss Bacon has been loving helping me out more in the kitchen.   

Next cut the dough about every 2 inches around the pizza only up to where the sauce is.  Do this only along both long sides, not the short ends.

Then I flip in the short ends, and bring in the cut stripes. I rotate one from the right, then the left, then back to the right. You get the picture right?!  Bacon Jr. loves to help with this step.  After all it is family fun night and which includes dinner at our house!

As for the other half of pizza dough, you can repeat all the steps above and have two pizza braids or you can go ahead and make some cheesy bread to go with it!  To make it first start with the steps above to make a large rectangle.  Then I melt some butter  (about 1/4 stick) and add some garlic bread seasoning to it.  It's from Tastefully Simple and so not thrifty, but one bottle lasts us about 6 months.  You can feel free to add in some garlic powder, Italian seasonings, Mrs. Dash garlic & herb or what ever you have on hand. Or you can just skip adding things to your butter.  After all it's suppose to be a fun relaxing night right?

Then brush your rectangle with the melted butter.  Next sprinkle on your favorite shredded cheese. We use a 3 cheese blend. 

Now it's time to braid it all up. You can see a little better the way I cross mine over, I'm not picky on this step so if it doesn't look all that pretty it's ok, I just tell people Mr. Bacon did it! 

Next toss them both on a greased baking sheet.  Yes this is a bit tricky with the transfer from the cutting board to the pan.  I just grab it at both ends and pick it up and set it on the pan.  It usually doesn't fall apart. And if it does, I just piece it back together. 

On top of the cheesy bread I brush on more of the melted garlic butter.  This is Little Boy Bacon's job.  He loves to paint dinner, and I love that everyone gets to do a part.  If you're wondering what Mr. Bacon got to help with it was sampling the pizza toppings!  Place in a 400* oven for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are nice and golden brown and the cheese is all melty.  

Now to to add just a little more cheese.  When it comes out I grate on some fresh Parmesan cheese over both the pizza and the garlic bread.  Slice then in strips and you're ready for your own family fun night!  We usually break out the board games after dinner and play many before it's time for the kids to tuck in to bed.  There is nothing better than spending time with my family and starting new traditions!  So what are you doing for family fun night?

Saucy!

Yes this is going to be another pizza post! But don't worry it's  not the same ol' pizza. In fact it's the sauce! I'm sharing just how I make that yummy pizza sauce myself.  Three years ago we started a garden for the first time.  I decided I needed 10 tomato plants. Why? I have no idea since I'm the only one in the Bacon house that actually EATS tomatoes!  We had so many tomatoes that year they were coming out of our ears.  I had to figure out something to do with all of them.  A friend gave me an amazing salsa recipe that I quickly made up.  But there were still tomatoes everywhere.  And of course I'm the only one who eats salsa too, so there was no sense in making more of that.  What to do, what to do? I decided to try my hand at pizza sauce.  It was something I knew we all would eat, and we were making more and more homemade pizzas so why not the sauce?

I found a recipe in the Ball canning book and tried it.  Once I got everything in it, I sampled some and it was less than great.  So I started digging though my spice cabinet.  I toss in a little of this and some of that.  And what turned out was amazing pizza sauce!  And thankfully I wrote down what and how much I was tossing in when I did.  This is now the third year of making pizza sauce and we are addicted.  I like that it's not a heavy thick pizza sauce like the cans you buy at the store. Its' actually a mild and slightly sweet sauce.

I know for some canning can seem like a scary process.  It's actually really easy once you get the hang of it and the end results will last you all year and really save you money.   So lets get started!


First you need to gather your supplies.  One batch usually makes 8-9 pint size jars for me.

8-9 pint canning jars and rings
New lids
Canning supplies like funnel, ladle, jar lifter, lid lifter, and air bubble remover.
Canning pot
1 other larger pot to make the sauce in
food processor or blender
2-3 larger bowls for holding tomatoes

 Next you need your recipe:

Ma Bacon's Homemade Pizza Sauce

18 cups tomato puree

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp Italian seasoning

1tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

2 tbsp garlic powder

4 tsp salt

4 tsp pepper

1 cup bottled lemon juice

Optional:

1/2 cup diced onions

2 tsp chopped garlic

oil for cooking

Lets get started!
This year I had a lot of extra green onions growing in the garden. I decided to use some up in the sauce recipe.  One thing I love about this recipe is you can change it to how you like it.  If you think it needs more of something or less, it's up to you.

I diced up my green onions and added 2 tsp chopped garlic to a pan along with 1 tbsp oil.  I sauteed this just until they started to brown. 

Then I tossed them in my pot that the sauce will go in.
Next it's time to get the tomatoes ready.  Toss your tomatoes in the sink and wash them.  Little Miss Bacon was happy to help with the kitchen sprayer to do this job.  To get 18 cups of puree, I used 3 over-full ice cream pails of tomatoes. I also use at least 2 different kinds of tomatoes when I make sauce. I think this helps give it a better flavor.  But you can use what ever you have on hand. This year I actually used four different kinds because that 's what I planted, Roma, Viva italia, Golden girl (yellow) and cherry tomatoes.

Once you have clean tomatoes, cut off the stem. I do all the big tomatoes at once and pile them into bowls. Don't worry about the cherry tomatoes if you are using them, we'll get to those later. For now you just need to wash them, pick off the stem and set them aside.

Now it's time to remove their skins.  To do this, I use the same method I do to take the skins off of peaches that I described here.  Heat up a pot of water until boiling.  Place a few tomatoes in at a time - I usually do 8-10 depending on their size.  Let them cook in the hot water for about 30 seconds.

Take them out of the boiling water and place them in a sink full of ice cold water.  Toss some ice cubes in to make sure it's nice and cold.  And then watch the magic!  The peels will just about fall off the tomatoes. 

Let them sit in the cold water for a few minutes and then with your hands peel the rest of the skins off.  Place them in a colander that is over a bucket or another bowl so the liquid can drain out of the tomatoes.  I give them a squeeze too to help drain out all the juices. 

After they have drained for a few minutes I place them in another bowl so I can make room for more tomatoes to drain.  You will notice that when they sit in the bowl they will drain out more juice. Can you see it along the edge of my bowl?  Once I have all the tomatoes skined, it's time to do one more final drain to get rid of as much liquid as I can.

Now it's time to break out the food processor! I use the bottom chopping blade in my food processor for this, not the slicing/grating blade.  Toss your tomatoes a few at a time inside and pulse them until they turn into a puree.  Repeat until all those tomatoes are done.  Now I bet you're wondering what I did with those cherry tomatoes right? No? You forgot about them.  Don't worry I almost did too! 

Here they are still sitting in my sink.  And you're wondering how on earth are you going to get the skins off those.  I don't bother. Nope, I toss them in the processor whole and blend away.  The skins blend up and you don't even notice them.  Yes you can skip skinning all of the tomatoes if you'd like.  But if you do it for too many they won't break down and you'll taste them in the sauce. 

Once you have all the tomatoes pureed place it in your large pot.  Now it's time to add all the rest of the ingredients.  Feel free to sample it as you add stuff to see if you want more of something. 

Allow it to simmer on the stove over medium heat for 2 or so hours.  The sauce should reduce by at least a 1/3 and start to thicken up.  This won't be a super thick sauce.  If you are hoping for thicker sauce, feel free to add a can of tomato paste to it.  I actually don't mind the thinner sauce. A good way to see how think the sauce will be is take some in a spoon or ladle and let it sit and cool on the counter.  It will thicken up and you can tell if it's how you like it.

While the sauce is cooking down and making the house smell amazing, it's a good time to get those jars ready if you haven't done so already.  Wash them up and let them sit in a sink full of hot water, make sure to fill each jar with hot water too so they are ready for your sauce.  Pouring hot liquids into cold glass can break them.  Take my word for it, it's not a pretty mess to clean up! 

Once your sauce is ready, it's time to can it. Take a jar and ladle sauce into it until it's about 1/2 in from the top of the jar. 

Take your air bubble stick and run it along the inside of the jar quick and don't forget to wipe the rim clean when you're done.

Now it's time to take one of the new lids out of the warm water it's been sitting in and top the jar with it. Remember the lids need to sit in a hot water bath before they are placed on the jars to help the seal better.  Use the fun lid lifter for this, it saves you from burnt fingers!  Secure the lids with a ring and they are ready to go.

 

Keep going until all the jars are full!  Then it's time for their bath!

I have mine all ready to go in the boiling water in the caning pot. My canning pot came with this nice rack that has handles so I can easily get the jars in and out.  If yours didn't come with one, use the jar lifter to help get them in and out of the pot. 

Make sure once they are in the water bath that the tops are covered with at least an inch of water over the top of them.  Boil the jars for 35 minutes for pint jars.  Once time is up, remove them and let them cool on a hot pad until cool.  This is the point that I like to savor the 'PING' sounds of the lids sealing!

The next morning I unscrew the lid and gently press my finger against the lid to make sure lid did in fact seat.  Make sure you label your yummy sauce too!  You can see from my picture here that it is a bit runnier that what most think.  Don't worry it will still taste amazing!  Now it's time to make some crust and enjoy!

Too hot for the oven

Can you smell that?  Awww... the grill is going again. It's been way too hot to cook inside, surprising for Minnesota, but we've been hit with a few streaks of the 90's. I know it's not as hot as where some of you live, just remember it gets -40* or more below zero here in the winter too!   We've been finding lots of meals to make on the grill this summer.  Not only does it taste wonderful, it keeps the house cooler too.  And who doesn't love pizza right?  I think we could eat pizza three times a week and never get sick of it.  Last summer we enjoyed taking the freezer pizzas and placing them on our pizza stone on the grill.  Really if you've never had grilled pizza you need to.  It's AMAZING!  We took the pizza stone inside for winter and used it once in the oven, and that was one too many times.  It ended up shattering, thankfully not until I took it out of the oven.  If you've ever bought one, they're not cheap so it wasn't something we ran out and replaced right away.  But we've missed grilled pizza this summer and I knew there had to be a way to make it without the stone.  I was doing some digging into how when I thought about our pizza pan.  We have one with the holes on the bottom I thought we could just place that on the grill.  And then I found it.  A mouth watering picture of grilled pizza with the delicious looking grill lines on the crust. I knew I wanted to make 'THAT' kind of grilled pizza.  A little more digging and comparing different techinques and we were ready to give it a try. 

So where do you start?  

First start with the homemade pizza crust recipe that I love so much. Really pizza crust in under 15 is unbelievable!  I love how it tastes too.  Mix it up and let it rise.  Then divide the dough into 4 equal parts.  Take your trusty dough roller or just flatten it out with your hands.  If you're a daredevil and have just washed your floors, give it a toss in the air and pretend you're in a fancy pizzeria!  Once you get your dough ball rolled out, place it on a greased cookie sheet.  I added cornmeal to the one in the picture to help get the dough off the pan when I needed it, but soon realized it came off just fine with the greased pan so feel free to skip that step!

Next gather your toppings. 

You'll need some sauce, cheese and a dish of olive oil.  The rest is up to you for what to add.  The kids wanted just pepperoni.  Mr. Bacon and I added some fresh sliced mushrooms and black olives to ours. 

Now it's time to head out to the grill!  Heat your grill to med. heat.  Mr. Bacon said he heated ours to about 375* give or take.  I don't think I'd heat hotter than this temp, lower is fine, it will just take a bit longer to cook the pizza.  Next take your olive oil and add a bit to your dough.  Spread it around. You want to make sure you coat it enough so it doesn't stick to the grill, but not enough so the oil is dripping off the dough. 

    

Once the dough is oiled, it's time to put it on the hot grill.  Gently pick up the dough. Be careful because it will stretch out. Misshapen dough is ok!  But dough with holes are super thin spots just makes it not look as pretty!  It also can make the dough burn.  Place the dough on the grill oiled side down. 

Close the lid of the grill.  After about 3-4 minutes, take a peak at your dough. When you start to see it bubble it's time to flip!  Now there is a trick to flipping the dough.  We tested out grill tongs, it didn't work.  They had too sharp of  'teeth' on the one's we tried and it just tore the dough apart.  Instead we opted to use our gigantic spatula.  It came with the pizza stone when I bought it.  It works wonderful.  Either will do the trick to flip the dough if you are careful.  If you only have tongs, try to find ones without sharp 'teeth'. 

 

 All flipped... OH look at those grill marks! (Sorry for the corner of the spatula, I blame Mr. Bacon!)

 

 Next toss on the toppings.  This step we found you want to work fast for.  For one because these pizzas cook fast, but mainly because you are sticking your hands into hot 375* heat!  Spread on some pizza sauce, add the other goodies and top it with cheese, then close the lid again. 

 

 After another 3-4 minutes take a peek at the pizza's.  At this point you are just wanting the cheese to melt.  Once it looks ooey, gooey and delicious, it's time to scoop it off the grill!  See our big pizza scoop! 

  Take it inside, let it cool for a few minutes and cut into slices. I like to top mine at this point with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese!  It's the perfect pizza dinner! 

 

It's the perfect pizza dinner! I hope you enjoy yours as much as we did ours!