Ladies' Night...

Mr. R headed down to Cincy on Saturday night, so Miss M, Miss L, Daisy, and I had a lovely Ladies' Night in his absence, featuring the classic Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix Spinach Dip, homemade pizzas, SANGRIA (mmm), and lovely rich chocolate cheesecake. Yum.

We made the Barefoot Contessa pizza dough which is a reasonably good dough. It was a bit tough this time around, I think something was off with my gluten. Mix yeast, honey, warm water. Add flour. Mix on dough hook until Kitchenaid motor wants to die. Knead by hand a bit. Let rise. Divide. Let rise again. Then(again, I heart Ina) let it rest in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

For toppings, I bought regular old mozzarella and Italian cheeses, but also some fresh mozzarella. I roasted some cremini mushrooms, red onion, and red peppers at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes as well. I also had some boring pepperoni, but that was almost an after thought topping. In my infinite wisdom, I forgot to buy or make any red sauce, but we improvised with leftover pesto and just rubbing the dough with garlic.


FYI on Sangria - I heart it - probably too much, it just goes down too easy for me - bottle of red wine, 1/4 to 1/2 c of harder liquor (pref brandy, but SoCO and others work as well), 1/4 of sugar or more, slice up some fruit (orange, lemon, lime, peach) and allow the flavors to meld together as long as you'd like. Before serving, throw in about 3/4 liter of club soda or seltzer and enjoy. I've made white sangrias as well, also lovely, but I love a good red wine sangria. Yum.