Weekend Dog Blogging #42

One of our favorite quick lunches on the weekends is Stouffers French Bread Pizza … quick, simple, and much less greasy than regular slices, while still able to satisfy a craving fix. So you can imagine that when I saw Rachael Ray make French Bread Pizza on a recent episode of 30 Minute Meals, I had plans for that!

The Neighbors came over for dinner tonight, and we had a very casual meal with the pizza, Oven Baked Barbecue Wings, and Buffalo Chicken Dip. I FINALLY hit the Farmer’s Market today, so I took advantage of the fresh vegetables I bought, and added Panzanella as well. Perfect.

The pizza was deliciously filling, nice and crispy and, of course since it was a Rachael Ray recipe, it was a snap to make. The Buffalo Chicken Dip – yum! I’ve seen a few versions of the recipe floating around, and found this one in a recent issue of Family Circle magazine. I skipped the whole first step by using rotisserie chicken, making it a lot easier. We also reduced the hot sauce from six tablespoons to four. Six sounded like a lot, and this added just the right amount of heat. Creamy from the blue cheese dressing, filling from the chicken and downright yummy. It will definitely be repeated (will post recipe tomorrow).

Alright folks, all for tonight. Until tomorrow… on with the Weekend Dog Blogging round-up (a very short one tonight — they all must be enjoying the Summer weather)!

Ziggy from Soul Fusion Kitchen in Los Angeles goes for a quick dip to cool off:

Little Willie from Eating for One in Kansas is up next – what a cutie!

The trio over at Dispensing Happiness certainly have the HIDE part of Hide-and-Seek down pat…

And lastly, Pucci from What I’m Cooking Now in Georgia:

Oven Baked Barbecue Wings
10 chicken wings
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon garlic powder
5 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 425F (220 degrees C). In a small saucepan, melt butter or margarine. Add onion powder, sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard; mix well. Dilute ketchup with water and add to saucepan mixture. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Place chicken wings in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Pour saucepan mixture over chicken. Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes.

Super Stuffed French Bread Pizza Rustica
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

1 (2 foot long) loaf French bread
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (I skipped)
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed dry
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 pound sweet sopressata, from the deli, sliced thick, chopped
1/2 stick pepperoni, chopped
1 sack (10 ounces) shredded mozzarella
1 sack (10 ounces) shredded provolone
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Split bread lengthwise and hollow it out. Cut in half across, making 4 shells for pizzas. Heat a skillet over medium high flame and brown sausage in extra-virgin olive oil. Brown and crumble sausage. Add red bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, add spinach. Remove mixture from heat and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, to your taste. Transfer to a bowl. Combine sausage and veggies with ricotta, Parmesan, sopressata and pepperoni. Fill bread shells and top with mounded mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Place in hot oven on cookie sheet and bake until cheese melts and bubbles and bread is super crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes. Top pizzas with oregano and hot pepper flakes. Serve immediately, or snack all night!

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