Godfather's Cinnamon Streusel Dessert Pizza

 (http://sorumblyinmytumbly.blogspot.com/2011/06/godfathers-cinnamon-streusel-dessert.html)

Cinnamon Streusel Dessert Pizza

INGREDIENTS:

Pizza dough (You can make your own, I just bought some refrigerated dough at the grocery store)

1 TBSP butter, melted

Cinnamon

Streusel:

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 TBSP vegetable shortening

2 TBSP olive oil

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together streusel ingredients with a fork, or your clean hands, then side aside.

To make pizza, pat dough into a 12 inch pizza pan that has been sprayed with oil.  Perforate pizza dough with a fork (this keeps bubbles from forming), then brush with 1 TBSP melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon all around buttered crust. Top pizza crust with streusel mix.

Bake at 460 F for 8 to 9 minutes depending on the thickness of the pizza.  Mix icing ingredients until it is of a drizzle consistency. If it is too thick, then thin with a small amount of milk until you have reached your desired thinness.

When finished baking, top with icing in a circular pinwheel pattern. Cut up and enjoy!

**Note: Kevin loves butterfingers, so I crumbled up a butterfingers candy bar on top of the streusel mix. Yum Yum!

ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE (food.com)

1 lb uncooked bow tie pasta
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 (12 ounce) bottle roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup half-and-half

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, divided

thinly sliced fresh basil (optional)

Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook 8 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.

Add bell peppers, cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in vinegar, cook 1 minute or until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes.

Place bell pepper mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Return bell pepper mixture to pan, cook over low heat until warm. Combine half and half and tomato paste in a small bowl, stirring with a whisIk until well combined. Stir in ground red pepper.

Combine pasta and bell pepper mixture in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup cheese, tossing to coat. Spoon 1 1/3 cups pasta into each of 6 bowls, top each with about 1 1/2 Tbs cheese.

Garnish with basil if desired.

http://www.food.com/recipe/bow-tie-pasta-with-roasted-red-pepper-and-cream-sauce-167266#ixzz1tqS3nE2K


Note: I really liked this sauce overall, BUT... I did a few things differently, and would do others differently too. First off, I didn't have any half and half, so instead I used cream cheese w/chives since that was what I had on hand. Instead of chopping the onion I grated it. I also didn't have parmigiano-reggiano cheese, so I used a shredded mix I had. I also added a little brown sugar. It also needed salt to taste. It was a little bland, but not too bad for a first try!

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA MARINADE

1 1/2 lb chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 c. plain yogurt
2 TB lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground red pepper
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 piece minced ginger

Combine all ingredients and marinate chicken for at least an hour. I modified my own a bit because of the ingredients I usually have on hand. I don't usually have plain yogurt, so I subbed in sour cream and used closer to 1/2 c. and I don't usually have fresh ginger, so I used 1 tsp ground ginger. I marinated mine for probably about 2-3 hours (because I finally remembered to get it done a head of time!).
The original recipe skewers the chicken, I didn't. I just cooked it like I cook chicken for a stir-fry in my skillet.  The recipe says to discard the marinade, to that I say, Don't Do It!! It made the sauce sooo yummy!
I also didn't actually make the sauce from this recipe, I intend to, but it's one of those not-having-the-ingredients thing. I happened upon a jar of tikka masala at Walmart for about $3.50, next to all the Asian and Thai cuisine.  Given I don't have to slave over the stove any longer, or buy all the extra ingredients, I think it's totally worth it! I dumped the whole jar into the same skillet once my chicken was cooked. The extra marinade from the chicken had already made its own little sauce and mixed perfectly with the jarred sauce. I won't have the jarred sauce by itself now, that's how good it is!
Here's a link to the original recipe on food.com http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-tikka-masala-25587