It's white on white here in the T.  We woke this morning to a surprise dumping of snow - must have been a good 10 cm or so.  It's beautiful, and that's sayin' something for someone who would really rather be biking.  I like that it's one of those few times a year when:

a.  Cars drive slowly and actually smile at you when they see you shovelling.
b.  I don't have to worry about kid #1 or #2 falling down for any reason because they are so padded with crap and the snow is so deep that there's no risk of injury.
c.  A lot of the neighbours come outside all at once.  We all shovel and the kids all play and we all chat and it's... nice.
Like I said before, that's sayin' something for me.

So my Winter Wonderland inspired my White cooking day - Marshmallows first and now this:


I don't where this came from - could have been anywhere I suppose.  All I know is that this recipe has been in my recipe box... then folder... then binder... for years... and years.... AND I have made it... once.

It doesn't suck so I don't know why I haven't done more with this idea.  At my most favouritest pizza joint in the entire world - Amelio's (yes, all my Montrealers, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout) - they do this totally sick five cheese pizza that's mind blowing.  This isn't even close to that but I'm in Toronto, not Montreal ;-( and we're just gonna have to make do.  This is a variation as well because I've added in some cooked spinach


and some mushrooms and believe me, they do provide a much needed ccontrast to the cheese.  You could take this in another direction entirely by adding chicken or shrimp or something but I really wanted to keep this meat free.


Also, I think that this pizza is pretty.  I know that pizza is not something that would immediately strike anyone as 'pretty' but I guess that compared with the normal pizza 'look' this one is pretty to me.  Weird.
However, I would make this kind of thing and cut them down for mini's if I had guests - which I don't these days because the main floor of my house has basically turned into a lego receptacle.
Lastly, FYI:  For my taste, when it comes to re-heating pizza leftovers I have to do it in the oven.  The microwave just makes my crust gross and gooey and not pizza'ee' at all.  Blech.   Enjoy the pizza ;-)


Feta Ricotta Pizza... with spinach ;-)
serves 4 (or maybe 2)

pizza dough - you can find my post on that here or you can buy some at the store in dough form or prebaked (although that crap tastes like....) - for on large pizza (sometimes use a cookie sheet for this recipe.

1 bunch of spinach - cooked and sieved (push out as much of the water as you can)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup (maybe 1 1/4 or so) ricotta
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled (I didn't have any so I substituted parmesan)
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oregano and basil
dash or two of nutmeg
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 - 2 cups mozzarella (depending on how drenched you like your pizza), shredded or sliced if you are using fresh mozzarella.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F
Get the dough ready on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
Roll out the dough.  Roll it out a little larger than the pan you want to bake it on, it will shrink when you lift it onto the pan (my achilles heal!).  Place dough on pan over top of the cornmeal.
In a bowl, combine the ricotta, the feta (or parmesan), salt, oregano, basil, nutmeg and honey.  Mix well.
Spread onto the pizza dough.  Sprinkle the cooked spinach on top of the ricotta mixture.  Sprinkle the mushrooms out over that.  Lastly, sprinkle the mozzarella on top.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until the pizza is bubbly in the middle and golden brown at the edges.
Remove from oven and let it rest for about 7 minutes.
Dig in... maybe throw some crushed hot peppers on the top.