Camper's Pizza

I found this recipe for pizza-in-a-pan called camper's pizza and I had to try it. I just like things that involve getting craft with what you have handy.

This pizza-in-a-pan can be cooked over coals or in the oven. Mushrooms, ground beef and peppers are the stars of this version, but you can top with your favorite meats and veggies.
Estimated Time Needed: Est. Preparation: 15 mins Est. Cooking: 30 mins Serves: 2 (sort of, see Danny's details below)
Ingredients: 3/4 pound ground beef 1 medium onion, chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 (8-oz.) can refrigerated crescent rolls 1 (8-oz.) can Pizza Sauce 1 (4-oz.) can mushrooms stems and pieces, drained and chopped 1 (2.25-oz.) can sliced pitted ripe olives, drained 1/3 cup coarsely chopped green bell pepper 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions: Brown beef and onion in well-seasoned 11- to 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium coals. Remove to paper towels; season with salt. Pour off drippings from pan. Separate crescent dough into triangles; place in skillet, points toward center, to form circle. Press edges together to form bottom crust and 1-inch rim up side of pan. Spread half of pizza sauce over dough; spoon ground beef mixture over sauce. Top with mushrooms, olives and green pepper. Pour remaining sauce over all; sprinkle with cheese and oregano. Place pan in center of grill over medium coals. Place cover on cooker; cook 20 to 30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
Cooking Tips: If cooked over an open grill or coals, cover pan securely with foil.

So I'm notorious for not quite following the recipe. In this case I picked up garlic crescents and used garlic pasta sauce instead of "pizza sauce". I also subbed in pepperoni instead of ground beef and used a whole green and red pepper instead of the 1/3 cup chopped bell pepper. As a result, it came out really tasty, but we had twice as much filling for the pizza than we needed.

BTW: before we start, turn your oven on to 375 degrees. Also, do you have stuff stored in there? We do, and it was already hot, hot, hot when we remembered.

Also, if you use a skillet like I did, make sure it can go in the oven (in other words, will the handle melt off your skillet if you put it in the oven?)


Here you can see, I've stir fried the filling together and used the crescent rolls to make a pizza crust shape. But I've got twice as much filling for that little pizza. However, since it was in a skillet, the crust was kind of rounded on the bottom. So it was lower in the middle and higher on the edges, which meant it held a lot more filling than I expected.


This was right before I covered the top with Oregano. Then I covered it again with Mozzarella and put the whole thing in the oven.


I baked it on 375 for 20 minutes, then watched it for the next 3 minutes to get the top browned just the way I like it.


Here's a revelation: "Crap! How am I going to slice this in the pan without ruining my pan!?" Luckily enough, those biscuits were greasy enough to let the whole thing slide out with minimal braking (remember, that crust is *very* flaky)

Because we had so much filling and we're lucky enough to have a rice cooker, the moment I realized we had too much stuff and that our pizza was kind of on the small side, I threw rice in the rice cooker.


So this is what we had for dinner and it was pretty tasty. The pizza itself was much more filling than we expected. We had two slices of pizza left over when the meal was done.

Next time I'll either do half and onion and only one pepper, or just buy a second tube of crescent rolls and make two pizzas.

BTW, of the ingredients in the photo at the beginning, I had 2/3 of a jar of sauce left over, most of that bag of Mozzarella, and of course, I didn't use the whole bottle of oregano. :)

On a side note, while stir frying everything, it occurred to me "I'm making sausage and peppers with *pepperoni* as the sausage --this sounds delicious!" So if you're looking for another dinner Experiment, give Pepperoni and peppers a try :)

Danny's Country Duo

This is an experimental break fast with two rules.

1. make "country scrambled" eggs with a veggie (keep meat separate)
   
2. only use two spices when seasoning.

I used to work at a diner in South Carolina and we had a customer who'd always order "country scrambled" eggs. I don't know if that's his own name or a more popular name, but it basically means "scrambled eggs that are scrambled in the pan." The result is, eggs that aren't completely yellow, they still have bits of white in them and hence have more than one texture.

Next is my second rule, two (and only two!) spices. This comes from our recent visit to France. Our friend, who was hosting us, said, "in the U.S. they put on many different types of spices or 'toppings', but in France that gets looked down on. If you order ice cream, you order 1 -maybe 2 toppings, but not 3! As soon as you order 3 they will roll their eyes at you and think 'Americans!'" Of course I, being an ignorant American asked, "why?" He told me it was because as soon as you add more than two spices or toppings, you can't taste the food anymore."

So rule two is about learning to taste your food and the spices you experiment with. Many people default to salt and pepper with their eggs, but today, try dropping one or the other and look at your spice rack for something new to replace it. Stay away from your habit combination (mine is garlic, oregano and black pepper OR garlic, basil, and parsley, which I put in nearly everything :), instead stick with two, not more than two. And lay it on a little *thick,* --let this experiment make it undeniable what these two spices taste like together.

Here I've used a fairly good amount of black pepper and a lot of thyme.


I tried to choose mild veggies (a mix of corn, peas, carrots, and green beans) and got the pan going with just the veggies, olive oil, and my two spices. Note: NO MEAT. Meat is so over powering that it might as well be considered as another spice. If you want meat with your breakfast, cook it in a different pan --not with the scrambled eggs. One of the reasons we're using eggs for this experiment is that eggs have such a mild flavor and it helps you taste your two spices, as soon as you add meat, you will taste mostly meat.

When the veggies are tender or browned to your liking, break an egg right into the pan. I used *wooden* chopsticks to scramble the egg in the pan because I like my pans and wouldn't want to scratch them up with a metal spoon or anything.


As you can see, I skipped the breakfast meat this morning because I just wasn't in the mood. However I did top it all off with some toast, fruit and a nice steaming Hot lil Pepper mug :)

Have fun!
~Danny