Pesto Mushroom Jalapeño Pizza

One Year Ago: Linguine with Brussels Sprouts, Cranberries, and Caramelized Onions
Two Years Ago: Spicy Panfried Chickpeas with Lemon, Thyme, and Shallots and Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Cauliflower Bisque with Avocado
Three Years Ago: Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles and M&M Cookie Bars
Four Years Ago: Butternut Squash and Kale Minestrone and Pumpkin Spice Roasted Chickpeas

Sweet Potato Asparagus Flatbread with Goat Cheese

It's been way too long since I've posted a new pizza or flatbread recipe on The Sweets Life. In fact, a quick dig through the archives showed that it's been almost a year...the last flatbread posted was this Bacon Apple Butter Flatbread with Caramelized Onions and Gouda. Pizza's on the menu at least once a month around here, but it's usually a "whatever's in the fridge and can be put on a pizza" type meal, which isn't usually blog-worthy.
This flatbread, on the other hand, is definitely blog-worthy! Inspiration came from Martha Stewart, but I opted to use sweet potato instead of a Yukon gold. The best part of this flatbread was how crispy the crust was. Usually when I make pizza at home, I pre-bake the crust, but only at a temperature of 400F. Little did I know, the secret for the best, crispiest crust lie in a 500F oven!! From here out on I'll bake my pizza at a much hotter temperature! 
The toppings were simple, but satisfying...and not to mention pretty! Skip the red pepper flakes if you have picky palates, but I liked the tiny bit of heat it added to the freshness that the asparagus and sweet potato contribute. Be sure and give this a try while asparagus is in its prime!

One Year Ago: Avocado Egg Salad and Monster Cookies
Two Years Ago: Brownie Macadamia White Chocolate Cookies 
Three Years Ago: Mini Truffle Tarts and Open-Faced Teriyaki Chicken Burgers
Four Years Ago: Lemon Bulgur Salad with Asparagus, Spinach, and Goat Cheese

One Year Ago: Marinated Kale and Green Bean Salad
Two Years Ago: Cranberry, Orange, Chocolate Sour Cream Muffins
Three Years Ago: Tuna and White Bean Salad

 If you're anything like me, you never, ever get sick of pizza. If you are under the unfortunate circumstance of having a child or a spouse or a roommate who isn't quite as pizza obsessed, maybe you can sneakily get away with yet another night of pizza for dinner by making them calzones instead!
These have all the right elements of pizza, just a little mixed up. While you can stuff them with any of your favorite pizza toppings, I kept things simple--spinach and bacon in a ricotta/mozzarella mixture. Sauce was served on the side for dipping, which is perfect if you know someone who hates tomato sauce (ahem. my sister Renatta!).
Make them. Freeze them. And pull them out when that pizza craving strikes!
And if you haven't already, you've gotta try grilling them!!

One Year Ago: Parmesan, Pea Pesto, and Fresh Herb Pizza
Two Years Ago: Asparagus Goat Cheese Gratin
Three Years Ago: No Bake Peanut Butter Balls

When Musselman's sent me some of their apple butter in preparation for grilling season, my first instinct was to use it in a marinade or some BBQ sauce. I even went so far as to select a sauce from Musselman's extensive list of recipes, when I decided to change gears a bit and use it on my favorite grilled flatbreads.
Much like the white bean flatbreads with prosciutto, we started off by grilling the flatbreads until they were just beginning to char. I then spread a thin layer of apple butter on them. Bacon pairs well with, well, everything, so a sprinkle of that was next, followed by some chopped pecans and smoked gouda. At this point I stuck the flatbreads in the oven where I broiled them until the cheese began to melt. The finishing touches were onions that had been caramelized in balsamic vinegar and chopped spinach. 
I love my friends and family in that they are always willing to sample whatever crazy combination I put in front of them. This one was no different! My hesitancy turned to relief when they immediately started raving about the flatbreads (which I cut into squares with a pizza cutter). These definitely have a lot going on, but each of the ingredients works so well together. If you don't have gouda, I think blue cheese would have also complemented the flatbreads well.
Lucky for me, I still have the majority of my jar of apple butter left, so I can still try a BBQ sauce recipe  or a number of Musselman's other ideas...they have some fantastic sounding desserts that feature apple butter! Want to try it yourself? Musselman's has offered to send one of my readers their very own jar of apple butter, along with a sauce mop, and recipe cards. Just leave a comment on this post by tomorrow at 9 pm, telling me how you'd use the apple butter...either one of the Musselsman's recipes or your personal favorite use for apple butter. I'll randomly pick a winner and announce it on Saturday!

I used random number generator to pick a winner for the Musselman's Giveaway and the winner was commenter #12, Serena, who wants to make an apple butter cheesecake (YUM)!

P.S. The winner for the Champion tshirt was announced in the original post. 

One Year Ago: Dried Mango Coconut Muffins
Two Years Ago: Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms
Three Years Ago: Grilled Fattoush

These may not look like much on my dingy baking pan, but darkness was falling and we were hungry, so snapping a few quick pictures before running inside to eat was all I had the chance to do. You're going to have to trust me on this one, because Food and Wine nailed it with this combination of ingredients!

One Year Ago: Ham, Cheddar, and Red Onion Bread Pudding
Two Years Ago: Latin Nacho Bowls

 In the very early days of the blog, I decided to make a butternut squash pizza. I sent Ryan to the store to pick up a butternut squash and when we got ready to make our pizza, I discovered he had bought a spaghetti squash. My sister Julia was visiting--this was before she'd moved to St. Louis--and that evening will forever go down in history as one of my worst moments. Not only did I freak out on Ryan for purchasing the wrong squash, but when my sister started making fun of my ridiculousness, it led to one of our most epic fights. Three years later and I still get a little hostile when Julia or Ryan begins a sentence with, "Remember that time Ryan bought a spaghetti squash...".
For the record, spaghetti squash tastes pretty weird on pizza. (Yes, we made do with the spaghetti squash) Butternut squash, on the other hand, is quite tasty!...especially when paired with caramelized onions, goat cheese, and spinach! This is really more of a flatbread than a pizza. There's no sauce, although I recommend spreading some olive oil on the crust before you add the toppings. While we normally use homemade dough, I had some Pillsbury artisan dough leftover from the Snackadium and we were pleasantly surprised with how good it was! To make this a super quick meal, pre-roast your squash and caramelize your onions. Refrigerate overnight and then throw everything on the crust and bake!


One Year Ago: Skillet Black Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Tortillas (love this meal!)
Two Years Ago: Homemade Marshmallows
Three Years Ago: Snobby Joes (Lentil Sloppy Joes)

Ryan and I have very different opinions when it comes to boots. It's not that Ryan doesn't like boots. He's actually quite fashionable and compliments me each time I bring home a new pair (which is, admittedly, a few times each 'season'). The problem is the scuffs that the boots leave on our floors. I'm constantly chided for leaving my boots on in the house, and the man clearly doesn't understand my need to keep my calves warm!

One thing we can agree on is pizza. We love all kinds, but both prefer a thinner crust with lots of toppings, just like we enjoyed at PW Pizza as part of our 2012: Eat and Repeat challenge. Our absolute favorite was the The Blues, which included bacon, steak, blue cheese, and red onion on a honey wheat crust topped with chimichurri sauce. When I set out to recreate it, I stumbled upon the recipe for PW's chimichurri sauce on STL Today's site which made the recreation much easier!
Ryan and I tag-teamed this pizza (I didn't wear my boots). I made the sauce in the food processor while he cooked the onions and the steak. This pizza could be made much more quickly if you made the various components (sauce, steak, sautéed onions) a day ahead of time...so plan ahead if you're in a hurry! Although we used sourdough pizza crust instead of honey wheat, our pizza tasted pretty darn similar to the original. This goes right up there with this pizza as one of the best (and most creative) pizzas we've made at home!

One Year Ago: Dark Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Buttercream(best chocolate cake I've had!)
Two Years Ago: No Potato Venison Stew
Three Years Ago: Black and White Bean Soup

I love pizza—enough to eat it multiple times a week or multiple days in a row—and I’m not at all tied down to the conventional idea of pizza. I’ll try weird flavor combinations (like pea pesto!), enjoy it in muffins, or spend an hour making pizza monkey bread. When I came across a recipe for these rolls in a recent Better Homes & Gardens issue, I knew this was the newest unconventional way for me to give pizza a go!