This Margherita Pizza Recipe is sponsored. I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for ACH Food Companies Inc. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating. All opinions are my own.
Summertime in Georgia is HOT and most days I have no desire to sweat over the stove to cook dinner for my family. Since feeding them cereal every night of the week leaves me slightly guilt ridden, I have had to come up with ways to actually feed them real food without heating the kitchen up too much. Finding ways to keep your kitchen cool in the summer will go a long ways towards reducing your air conditioning bill, not to mention help keep you sane. Anyone who has had to deal with children, pets, and a ringing phone at dinner time knows it is 10 times worse if you have sweat dripping in your eyes while you stir boiling pasta! I have included a few of my tips for keeping your kitchen cool during the hot summer months and if you scroll down a bit you can make the Grilled Margherita Pizza that I served for dinner the other night.
Tips to Keep Your Kitchen Cool This Summer
Image provided by Morguefile
1. Learn to love your slow cooker: This is a great way to have a hot meal ready at dinner time without sweating over the stove.
2. Get creative with pasta salads: Cook the pasta first thing in the morning when the temperature is cooler. Just rinse and throw it in the refrigerator to make into a pasta salad at dinner time. You can throw in tuna, bits of leftover steak, veggies, or whatever else you find in your pantry.
3. Invest in a solar oven: This might seem a bit extreme but why not put the power of the sun to good use by letting it cook your dinner for you?
4. Make a cold soup to go with a sandwich: Most people think of soup as a fall meal but there are many cold soups like Gazpacho or Cucumber Dill soup that don’t require any heating at all.
5. Make a no bake dessert: Nothing says desserts have to bake for an hour, right? There are a number of easy no bake desserts that will keep your kitchen cool while still feeding your family’s sweet tooth.
6. Grill out: You can throw meat, veggies, potatoes and even fruit on the grill so that you never once have to turn your stove on! Make sure to grill up extra that can be thrown into the microwave the next night.
One of our favorite grilling out meals is home made pizza. This is a great way to use up bits and pieces of things you may have in the fridge. Half a chicken breast and a few pieces of broccoli or that one lone tomato you got from the garden with some fresh basil. The possibilities are endless and making your own dough from scratch is very easy! You can customize your family’s pizza depending on their tastes. The kids are big fans of pepperoni (of course!) or sausage but veggies and lean meats are healthier choices for my own diet. If you are crunched for time you can have the kids help you with it. My daughter helped me roll out the dough but they are both pretty good at adding topping. Although they usually add WAY too much cheese! You do not have to let the dough rise once you make it. Just mix, knead, and roll into a pizza shape for a wonderful, thin crust grilled pizza. I highly recommend you invest in a pizza peel…that’s the long handled wooden gadget that restaurants use to get their pizza into the ovens. Throw on some corn meal and build your pizza right on top of it. This will make transferring it onto the grill much easier! I used Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast to make this dough. Fleischmann’s yeast is known for quality and reliability and for giving at-home bakers confidence in their from-scratch recipes since 1868 (over 140 years ago!). If you want more ideas for homemade pizza dough and other recipes, check out the Fleischmann’s baking website.
Grilled Margherita Pizza
- Thin Crust:
- 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 envelope Fleischmann’s® Pizza Crust Yeast
- 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup very warm water (120 to 130°F)*
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Toppings:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
- 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
- 1½ cup (6 ounces) shredded Italian blend cheese
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- Preheat grill to 425°F or medium high heat. Preheat pizza stone while grill is warming up.
- Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add very warm water and oil; mix until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky. Knead on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes.
- Pat dough with floured hands to fill greased pizza pan or baking sheet. OR roll dough on a floured counter to 12-inch circle;
- Form a rim by pinching the edge of the dough.
- For toppings: Combine oil and garlic; brush over crust. Top with salt. Add tomato slices and basil; sprinkle with cheese. Finish with a sprinkle of Italian herb seasoning.
- Grill over high heat 5 to 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.
Do you like Margherita Pizza? Do you have any other tips to keep your kitchen cool this summer?
Disclaimer: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for ACH Food Companies Inc. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.
