Chicken Cobb Pizza

Did you ever have a meal at a friend’s house, and instantly, the meal became one of your favorites? It’s that dish you immediately try to work into your weekly menu, and immediately start nagging your friend for the recipe… For me, this Chicken Cobb Pizza went straight into the favorites list, from the moment I tried it at K’s house. I’ve made it a couple of times since then, and have begged K to make it when we get together (including for “lunch” at 9am, 10 miles into our Sunday morning walks).

This pizza is pretty healthy in general (the original Pampered Chef recipe, using 1-10 oz. can chicken, says that two squares of this pizza is only 300 calories), but can be made even better for you with reduced-fat versions of the ingredients and even more veggies.

Thanks to K for sharing this great recipe!

Chicken Cobb Pizza

Adapted from Pampered Chef’s Clubhouse Chicken Squares

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2-8 oz. pkg. crescent rolls
• 1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbs. mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. fresh dill, chopped (or 1 tsp. Pampered Chef All-Purpose Dill Mix or dried dill)
• 1 1/2 c. cooked chicken, chopped/diced
• 1/2 small cucumber, seeded and chopped/diced
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 6 slices bacon or turkey bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled

Make the Crust: Preheat oven to 375F.

Unroll one of package of crescent rolls on a baking sheet, with the longest sides of the dough running the length of the pan. With your fingers, seal in the perforations. Press the sides to form a crust.Repeat on a second baking sheet with the second roll of crescent rolls.

Back 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.

Make the “Sauce”: In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, mayo, garlic and dill. If the cream cheese isn’t soft enough to mix thoroughly, throw in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.

Assemble the Pizza: When the crust is cooled, spread the dill mixture on top of each crust. Layer chicken, bacon, veggies, and cheese.

Note for preparing in advance: The “sauce” can be made in advance. If it sits overnight, it will be come very garlicky. Also, if put together far in advance, the shredded cheese tends to dry out. Sprinkle cheese on pizza as close to serving as possible.

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese, a la Ina

A couple of weeks ago, my hubby invited some friends over for the first college football game of the season. He promised light snacks, and everyone was coming over around 6:30. Light snacks? Really? Chips and dip were never going to suffice. We definitely needed something more substantial. These Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches satisfied that requirement – I couldn’t make them fast enough!

The only real changes I made to this recipe were the bread (my grocery store didn’t have sour dough so I used French bread) and the serving size. I don’t know if the bread was smaller or if I used less cheese and bacon, or a little bit of both, but I actually got more like 10 sandwiches out of this recipe. Ina also suggested shredding the cheese and crumbling the bacon. I ended up leaving the bacon slices whole (or halved when necessary) and “shredding” the cheese with a knife, so that I ended up with pieces larger than a traditional shredder would make. In the future (and in the recipe below), I actually changed this step, so that the cheese is thinly sliced. It will be easier to get more cheese on the sandwiches, and will keep the cheese from falling off when grilling.

Recipe chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake, of Barefoot Bloggers, from Ina’s new book, How Easy is That? to be released this October.

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese

Adapted from Ina Garten’s How Easy is That?

Makes 6-10 Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 12 slices thick-cut bacon, such as an applewood smoked
• 1 c. good mayonnaise
• 1/4 c. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 loaf of sourdough bread (french bread also worked well), sliced 1/2 inch thick (12+ slices)
• 6 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 oz. aged Gruyère or Comte cheese, coarsely grated or thinly sliced
• 6 oz.good  extra-sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated or thinly sliced

Equipment: Panini Press or Grill Pan

Make the Bacon: Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with foil on the bottom (optional – makes for easy clean up) and a baking rack inserted on top. Lay bacon in a single layer over baking rack. Cook about 20-30 minutes “until nicely browned.” (I cooked mine for about 40 minutes to get the bacon crunchy.) When done, set on a plate lined with paper towels.

Assemble the Sandwiches: In a small bowl, combine mayo, mustard, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Spread half of the bread with a generous serving of the mayo mixture. Add cheese (1 oz. each cheddar and Gruyère / comte, about 1/3 cup total if grated) and 1-2 slices bacon. Top with other slice of bread.

If using a Panini press on the stove, heat the Panini press over medium heat. Meanwhile, either spread butter on sandwiches (both sides), or melt butter, and when Panini press is hot, brush butter on both sides of the pan. Cook 3-5 minutes, flipping as needed. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before serving.