Scallop BLT Pizza

I made this scallop BLT pizza because I love just about anything on pizza. I mean, have you seen all the pizza toppings I’ve fallen in love with? This combo of scallops, bacon, and alfredo provides the luscious and decadent part while the tomatoes and arugula balance it out with freshness. We had a great scallop pizza last year in Maine for our anniversary.
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I love topping pizzas with raw greens (like this Greek one, or this BLT one, or Big Mac pizza, or this prosciutto fontina arugula one) but if that’s not your thing either spinach or arugula would be great chopped up and cooked on the pizza.

Ingredients:

pizza dough
2 slices of bacon
3-4 sea scallops
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
3 tbs flour/wheat flour
salt & pepper
1 cup light alfredo sauce
1 tomato, sliced into chunks
8 oz shredded mozzarella
2 cups arugula (or spinach)

Directions:

Preheat the oven (and pizza stone if using one) to 400 degrees.
Pan fry the bacon until crisp. Remove from heat to drain and chop up.
Rinse scallops and remove the connective tissue on each one, if there is any. Pat dry.
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Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Spread pizza dough onto the pizza stone or pan and bake for 5-10 minutes. The point is to get it pre cooking so when the pizza is topped, it doesn’t have to cook much longer.
Heat a heavy skillet to medium and add butter & oil.
Toss the scallops in the four mix and pan sear each one for about 2-3 minutes on each side, flipping once (they’ll go into the oven again too so don’t overcook).
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When the pizza dough is pre-cooked a bit, remove from the oven. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees. Top the crust with alfredo sauce, cheese, bacon, and tomato.
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Cut scallops in half horizontally, or into quarter chunks if you prefer.
Add cut scallops to the pizza, with the seared side facing up.
Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
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Toss arugula with a very little drizzle of olive oil and add onto of the pizza.
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Slice & enjoy!

I added a little sprinkle of Parmesan and chives before the arugula, mostly because I had some. I liked everything that was going on for this pizza. It was reminiscent of bacon wrapped scallops.
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This is seriously a cheap way to serve scallops. I bought 3 scallops for 2 of us. I did slice them in half but there were lots of pieces to spread over the pizza! Bay scallops aren’t the same but maybe I should branch out for meals like this. I also only used 2 slices of bacon. It seems like plenty when spread around. I would always like more, but this amount is the smart choice. I pre-portion bacon and freeze it. Otherwise a pound can disappear verrrry quickly.

Raspberry Lime Smoothie

My zester has gotten quite the work-out lately. What can I say I have a zest for life. Ok, onward from the corny-ness and straight to the smoothie. Who doesn’t need some Monday morning detoxing. (excuse the blender cup, I’m being real, not fancy)

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Ingredients:

raspberry yogurt
1 cup frozen raspberries
lime juice from 1 lime
lime zest
1 cup milk/juice/lemonade (liquid of your choosing)

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a blender.
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Blend & enjoy!
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I used some crystal light raspberry lemonade. I don’t like any extra calories in my smoothie (and I usually don’t like want it milky). I liked this one for a change of pace. The lime in there wakes you up and gets you going. It’s a nice flavor without being the fruit. The contrast is great and the flavors scream summer. I have a few more fun smoothies coming along soon. Stay tuned!

This reminded me of raspberry lime rickys that were super popular at the restaurant I worked at in high school. I believe raspberry lime rickys are a New England thing. What do you folks think? Are these drinks a New England thing?

What I Ate: Creamsicle Cocktail

‘What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with ya for the idea or inspiration.

This cocktail is too easy for a recipe (and I didn’t measure), but it was delicious and unplanned and did I say delicious? I just had to share. I was whipping up something for dinner and my eyes fell on the orange soda in the fridge. I don’t buy many every-day drink options so we normally only have water & milk to offer. I rarely make cocktails but maybe I need to do that more often! An after work cocktail definitely makes any random weeknight feel special. I also thought this was perfectly summery.

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‘Fancy’ orange soda + orange zest + whipped cream flavored vodka = creamsicle!

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This tastes even better than it looks. This cocktail took instagram by storm, well, not really but I was cocktail-happy so any likes made me smile.

non-alcoholic creamsicle found here as a smoothie (one of my favorite smoothies ever).

This whipped cream vodka goes with anything for an instant cocktail. I love it in hot chocolate once winter hits but now I want to attempt some sort of frozen-blended fudgsicle cocktail with this too! Any ideas/suggestions for that one?

Falafel Burgers & Basil White Bean Spread

I’ve been all about the meatless meals lately. Summer seems like such a perfect time for that. I saw Jess Fuel make a white bean and basil spread and I thought it would be really good as a hummus alternative. I make baked falafel regularly so this was a perfect time to make a spread. It would be a good dip as well, but I used mine on a falafel “burger” as a condiment.

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Ingredients:

1 can white beans
2 cups basil
1 tbs garlic, chopped
½ tsp garlic powder
2 tbs olive oil
salt & pepper

Directions:

In a blender or food processor, add all the ingredients.
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Blend well, taste, and season with added salt and pepper accordingly.
Enjoy!
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This is so simple. The beans make it thick and hearty and the basil adds the freshness. I don’t know that it would be my go-to dip or anything, but I liked the flavors and love how easy it was. It was a great way to use fresh basil since it only has a few days of shelf life. It would be easy to customize with roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, lemon + mint, or adding cuke chunks and feta. I have to remember this when needing to make something cheap or easy.

For the falafel, I baked them like usual, but I made us each a big patty rather than a bunch of small falafel balls. I served them like a burger but with the bean spread, lettuce, and cucumber slices. These were good, but probably won’t be my go-to for falafel night. I think I still like them in a pita or wrap with feta and hummus. They make great little sliders for an appetizer too!
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Have more basil? Use it for Strawberry Basil Sangria or Grilled Bruschetta Pizza or on a made-at-home sub!

What I Ate: Chicken ‘n Waffles

‘What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with ya for the idea or inspiration.

The south has some pretty good food ideas. I mean biscuits/beignets/fried pickles/bbq are just so good. The list goes on. I like dinner to be varied so after my fun experiment with cinnamon roll waffles on the waffle iron I was thinking about more waffles that could be dinner.

I was going for simplicity here, but also think they could be amped up a bit. I used chicken fingers and only tweaked basic waffle batter by adding cornmeal and a touch of hot sauce.
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Ingredients:

4 chicken fingers
2 pre-made waffles or waffle batter ingredients below:
1 egg
¾ cup flour
¾ cup cornmeal
¾ cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbs hot sauce (optional)
1 cup arugula (optional)
1 small tomato, sliced (optional)
maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to chicken finger cooking instructions (some are fully cooked, some are raw and need to reach an internal temperature)
Preheat waffle iron.
Mix waffle ingredients until combined.
Generously spray waffle iron.
When chicken is almost ready, cook the waffles in batches according to your iron’s size.
Top waffles with arugula, tomatoes, and drizzle with syrup.

I thought this was a fun dinner and totally out of the ordinary. I loved the freshness of the veggies on here with the salty chicken fingers and corny waffles and sticky sweet syrup. I didn’t want my dinner to be only brown/yellow in color.
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Next time I might add some whole corn into the waffles. Spinach or arugula would also be fun additions to the waffle itself.