Paper and Spice

It's been quite a week! Between a fun weekend in Minnesota celebrating our friends marriage, plus a very busy week catching up at work and oh, yeah, the official election of a new president, I'm ready to relax. It's been getting quite chilly around here and with ski season just around the corner we are banking on some serious snowfall.

This afternoon we are having a few friends over for a BBQ. Eric is planning on grilling a variety of meat on the Big Green Egg, a friend is going to make her specialty mac & cheese and her husband is also bringing over Rock Band! Certain to be a good time! I can't have folks over though without the serious itch to make something myself. It's a perfect time to make some of my favorite recipes.

I have to say I'm a bit proud of myself for this recipe. It's one of the few I've put together on my own. The idea came from a combination of watching Rachael Ray make mini pizzas one afternoon and one of Eric's favorite kinds. These are a great appetizer for parties since they are colorful and super easy to make. I only wish the picture was better!

Ingredients:

• 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tbls chopped garlic (we use the stuff in the jar)
• 8 oz. mozzarella brick
• 1 tub grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Roll out tube of pizza dough into a rectangle. You can either use a cup to form as many circles as possible or the easier method may be to just cut it into 3x3 inch squares or so.
3. Brush each mini pizza with olive oil and rub about a 1/4 tsp of garlic on each one.
4. Slice tomatoes in half length wise, and then slice each half again lengthwise. Slice cheese into 1/4 in thick slices into chunks that will almost fill the sections. Place a piece of cheese on each section of dough and arrange 3-4 tomato quarters on top so the stay put.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges of dough start to brown. Allow to cool slightly, sprinkle basil over top and drizzle with olive oil.