Dec 13, 2012

Thai Chicken Pizza


You know the really corny, yet accurate saying, "If you want God to laugh, tell him your plans"?

I feel as of late that I am experiencing my own version of that over here. More than laugh at me, I feel that my Father in Heaven is trying to tell me to slow down, knock it off, take it easy, and as a friend recently admonished me, take it down a notch.

When October rolls around, I start making a never ending list of things to do all in the name of celebration and holidays. So once December hits, I am on a little bit of project burn out. At the same time, that is when all the ideas are coming. I also really enjoy with coming up with create gift ideas to make.

In my mind, I have plenty of time and of course I have the best time management skills...cough...cough...It doesn't matter that I have yet to actually use that time management over previous holiday seasons.

This year will be different I think to myself. I will get what I can done during the day and happily sew at night. I will not fall exhausted onto the couch cursing my sewing machine. I will get all the gifts done and mailed by the 15th. I will then be able to spend the last 10 days before Christmas baking, singing, and all around merriment-making with my loved ones.

This year more than any previous, things have not gone as planned.

Yes, this is my first Christmas with four kids, but truth be told, they are really good kids and the four kids card alone I can't use as an excuse.

HOWEVER, when all four of the sweet little cherub faces take alternating turns getting sick, well that is a valid excuse for things not getting done.

Everyone but me was sick over Thanksgiving week.

Then almost two weeks ago Oldest got croup. Over the next two weeks that or other illness have cycled through all the kiddos, and this time me. Ugh it is germ-tastic over here.

We have not left the house in days.

I have decided this is His way of telling me to cool it, and I have decided to try not to stress about it.

We will stay in our jams. I will work on stuff here and there, but presents might be late...sorry Moms. We watch movies and will have hot cocoa, popcorn, and pizza.


Probably not necessarily together.

Pizza is kind of a staple in our house and is the perfect thing to make when you need to just chillax and take it down a notch.

This Thai Chicken Pizza is just about the most perfect homemade pizza.

Now, I will say my Little Men are not really adventurous and don't eat this pizza. Now, sometimes I am annoyed when they won't eat what I make, but in this case I am more than happy to make them a regular cheese pizza and just have this one for the Hubs and I.


The sweet red chili sauce is one of my favorite parts. I am not a big marinara fan and whenever a pizza has an alternative sauce I get pretty happy. This pizza is lighter on the cheese and heavier on the veggie goodness.

My next favorite part, the peanuts on top. Yum. Yum.

As I write this I am reminded that I have some leftover in the fridge and I am seriously debating whether or not I need a second breakfast...I mean the saying is "feed a cold" right??

Since I haven't been able to exercise all week, I should probably leave it in the fridge...

Probably...

The great thing about this recipe is that the dough recipe used makes two crusts, so you can use one for this super yummy adult-friendly Thai Chicken Pizza and you can use the other crust for a simple cheese pizza for the kiddos.

A win, win for everyone involved. Pizza is always a good idea. Pizza is a great slow down, take it down a notch dinner.

Enjoy. I hope all of you are finding moments to take it easy during this busy holiday season. I would love your secrets to success! I need all the help I can get.

In return I will give you the yummiest pizza recipe. Deal?

Deal!



Thai Chicken Pizza
adapted from Annie's Eats

Print Here


1 recipe Pizza Dough (below)
1/4 cup sweet Asian chili sauce, plus extra
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 medium to large zucchini, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded chicken*

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup small carrot slivers
3 Tablespoons chopped peanuts
3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

Make pizza dough.

When the dough is done rising, preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Roll out the pizza dough into rounds. Brush the perimeter with olive oil. Spread the chili sauce evenly over the top. The layer with first the green onions, zucchini, chicken, cheese, and carrots.

Bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown, between 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for a minute.

Sprinkle the top evenly with the cilantro and peanuts. Then drizzle more chili sauce over the top.

*I love to use rotisserie chicken.

Pizza Dough:
1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cup room temperature water
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Measure warm water in a bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the top. Let it rest for about 10 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour and the salt. Measure room temperature water and add to the yeast/water mixture.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly incorporate the water mixture and the olive oil into the dry ingredients.

Mix until it is well combined and the dough is formed. Switch to the dough hook. Knead the dough in the mixture on medium-low speed for about 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly greased bowl. Coat the dough. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in size. Roughly 1 1/2 hours**.

Punch the dough down. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Shape dough with a rolling pin into two round pizza crusts. Transfer to a pizza stone. Brush edges with olive oil.

**Here is a great trick I learned for cutting the raising time in half, run the dryer on the fastest cycle. When it is done (and empty), place the bowl of dough uncovered in the warm dryer and then shut the door. The warm heat left over from the drying cycle with make that dough rise in half the time. Yippee, who couldn't use that?

Thanks for stopping by Friends!

5 comments:

Ashley said...

yuuuuuuuuuum man this looks good

The Gilbert Family said...

I sooo know what you are talking about. We starte with Pink Eye the weekend before Halloween for one. Then had an ear infection for another. Then had a cough and runny nose for 2 weeks for two of them. Then the one with an ear infection got stomach flu, and I am still getting over a cough from the cold I had. The only one who didn't get sick is of course the hubby...what is up with that???? I hope you guys feel better soon too!

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Thanks Barb!

pprecious said...

You totally deserve more than 3 comments on this post!! I made this pizza today and it was so flavorful. The Thai pizza at CPK is my husband's favorite, so I had to make this when I saw it. I wanted a peanut flavor in the sauce, so I added a heaping tbsp of peanut butter to the chili sauce along with 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. Thanks for sharing!

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

You are so sweet! This is by far my favorite pizza for sure!

Adding peanut butter to the sauce sounds yummy!

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