Hannah had to work last night so it was date night – IN!  You know I love my party pizza Friday!  In this month’s Cooks Illustrated they had a recipe for Chicago Style Deep-Dish Pizza.  Tony and I have attempted this in the past with mixed results.  I thought last night would be a perfect night to try it – only one thing – I didn’t read the recipe all the way through!  After the first hour of the dough rising, I thought I was good to go, but the recipe called for rolling it out, spreading BUTTER all of the top, folding it like an envelope and then rising another hour!  It was getting late already, so we skipped that step – but the results were still REALLY GOOD!

But I am sure you are reading this and thinking, what did Biz have for breakfast and lunch?  And what about the shrimp wonton soup she talked about??

It was back to the good ole breakfast sammie – one light english muffin, 1 ounce ham, 1 ounce pepper jack cheese, 1/2 cup egg beaters, 1/2 large apple.

PC110083

I decided with the rest of the Thai Basil Chicken I would make a shrimp wonton soup.  This soup is so simple and easy to make. 

Biz’s Shrimp Wontons

  • 17 wonton wrappers (that’s how many I got out of this recipe)
  • 7 ounces thawed raw shrimp
  • 1 small handful cilantro
  • 1 tsp. red chile paste
  • 1 tablespoon hot stir fry sauce

Put everything in a food processor and pulse until the shrimp is ground.  I used my melon baller to stuff the wontons.

PC100075

Boil a pot of water and 1 tablespoon of salt.  Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a soft boil – too much boil and it tears the wontons.  Cook six at a time for 5 minutes.  Once they are cooled, you can either put in a ziploc bag and use within two days, or put them on a cookie sheet and individually freeze them.  Just add a few more minutes to the boiling from the freezer.

PC100080

Six wontons is a serving:  218 calories, 2 fat, 28 carbs, 27 protein and 0 fiber.

For the Soup: (two servings)

  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup fresh stir fry vegetables
  • 2 thai chiles, sliced in half (for less heat you can remove the seeds)

Put the broth and chiles in a pot and simmer.  Meanwhile, put vegetables in the microwave using the fresh vegetable button.  When they are done, rough chop and add to broth.  To serve – each bowl gets two cups of the soup, add six wontons and garnish with fresh cilantro.

The soup with wontons comes in at 348 calories, 3 fat, 29 carbs, 30 protein and 1 fiber.

PC110087

PC110086

This was so filling!  Loved every spicy bite! 😀

So this is my adapted version of the deep dish pizza:

Biz’s Deep Dish Pizza Dough

  • 3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 1/4 cup warm water (room temperature is fine)
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon oil (for the bowl when rising)

Put the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in your stand mixer with dough hook.  Add the water and butter and let the machine knead it for about 5 minutes.  Add to a bowl with olive oil and let rest for 30 minutes.

PC110091

I loved the texture of this dough!  I had a 12 inch cast iron skillet, so I used 3/4 of this dough.  I think the addition of cornmeal and butter is awesome.  I only sprayed the bottom of my pan with Pam – if you oil the sides, it’s hard for the dough to stay on the side of the pan.

PC110092

First layer:  CHEESE!

PC110093 

Then we decided to have pepperoni and bacon.

PC110094

Then sauce and the last layer of cheese, sprinkled with Italian seasoning.  Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

PC110095

It was almost 7:30 by the time we ate – we were both starving!!  Guess what?  I ate 1/4 of the pizza it was that good!

PC110096

The crust was delicious! 

PC110099

PC110104

Next time though we would like to try the adding of the butter – they say that’s what gives a deep dish its flakey crust. 

Stats for the Day

  • 1,599 calories
  • 31 fat
  • 157 carbs
  • 103 protein
  • 18 fiber
  • 30 minutes of The Firm DVD with Medicine Ball (lots of lunges and squats which I am feeling today!)

I probably won’t post until Sunday night – we have a Christmas party to go to tonight, and I have my Mom’s church Christmas pot luck tomorrow night. 

On tap for today:

  • breakfast at Mama Rini’s!
  • laundry
  • deep clean the kitchen
  • watch Glee! 😀

Have an awesome weekend and I’ll see you tomorrow night! 😀