Weeknight Shortcuts: Thai Chicken Pizza

It's difficult to believe that it's been a whole week already since our last post. But, that just goes to show how busy we've been with the planning for the Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale & Silent Auction here in Milwaukee.  We've met an amazing array of people over the past couple of weeks, whose generosity has been absolutely astounding.

Unfortunately, it also means we haven't been creating a whole lot of original recipes in the Burp! kitchen.  Fortunately, we have a few delicious "secret weapons" under our belt that assist in making sure we're still happy and well fed, even when times get crazy.

One of our favorite quick weeknight meals happens to be this delicious veggie laden Thai chicken pizza, which is a breeze to throw together even when time is tight.  It does make use of a few convenience items, which we don't normally rely upon.  But, its nutritional profile still remains quite solid, which makes it a nice stand-by for nights when we might otherwise order take-out.

One of the items I try to keep on hand are premade corn pizza crusts (we love these rustic crusts from Vicolo, made with non-GMO corn).  These make a great base for a variety of pizzas, and they're absolutely delicious.

In addition to the crusts, a great Thai pizza needs only a few additional ingredients to be absolutely stellar -- some leftover chicken, a few vegetables, cilantro, and some delicious Thai style peanut sauce.

If you've never made peanut sauce before, you'll be delighted by how easy it is to put together. We use a no-cook sauce made with peanut butter and coconut milk. But, you can also use a premade sauce (Trader Joe's satay sauce is quite good) for this application. The peanut sauce recipe will make more than needed for pizza, but you'll have no trouble using up the leftovers. Just throw a bit in with pasta and some shredded vegetables for homemade peanut noodles.  Or use it as a dipping sauce for vegetables or chicken.

Just top pizza with the peanut sauce, add vegetables, cooked chicken, chopped cilantro, and shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

I don't know if I should admit it, but I feel a little bit like Rachael Ray whenever I make these pizzas... But, the reality is, it's pretty darned good for a meal you can put on the table in less than 30 minutes.

Thai style peanut sauce


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Celebrate with Us: White Chocolate Ice Cream with Brandied Cherries

When we were nominated for the Shepherd Express Best of the Milwaukee Web Awards, I was somewhat shocked, and completely flattered.  So, when we attended the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening and found out that we'd won in TWO categories (best food blog, favorite twitterer),  I was absolutely taken aback.

Milwaukee might be a relatively small place, but it's a positive hot bed for technology & social media.  So, it was truly humbling to be in the company of so many creative, media-minded individuals.  We've always aspired to making the Burp! blog a creative, friendly place -- not only where we share what WE do, but also where our readers come to chat about their latest creations.  And we're so glad that so many of you believe in what we're doing.

So, here's a big thanks to friends & bloggers who voted for us.  We're so incredibly honored. And we're tickled that you took the time to think of us!  We'd also like to give a HUGE shout-out to the runners up in both award categories.  Please stop over to their blogs and give them a hearty congratulations!

Digital Print Edition - Shepherd Express

Best Food Blog Award Runners Up:
Iron Cupcake / ironcupcakemilwaukee.com
Vegan Milwaukee / veganmilwaukee.com

Favorite Twitterer Runners Up:
@SJWhipp  (blogging at sjwhipp.com)
@radiomilwaukee  (http://www.radiomilwaukee.org/)

And check out all the award winners at Express.com

In celebration of our awards, we'd like to share another sweet treat with you.  Yes, we've been busy at the ice cream machine again.  And this time, it's serious.

Those of you who've been around for a while might recall that every year for Christmas we make chocolate covered brandy cordial cherries to give away as gifts.

Now, by mid-March, the confections themselves are usually long gone.  But, sometimes we still have a few extra brandied cherries lying around.  These cherries are the rejects -- the poor, stemless cherries that were tossed aside in favor of their more sturdily stemmed kin.  These cherries remain, swimming in brandy and staring longingly out of their clear glass jarred windows, until one of us rescues them for an impromptu cooking project.

One of the projects I've been meaning to get around to is coming up with a recipe for a decadent brandied chocolate cherry cake.  But, this batch of cherries ended up in a batch of celebratory white chocolate ice cream.

The rich creamy white chocolate ice cream makes a perfect sweet backdrop for the the slightly sweet, and definitively alcoholic, cherries.  The nice thing about brandied cherries is that, unlike their virgin brothers & sisters, they maintain a firm texture but don't freeze solid even when surrounded by frigid ice cream.

And... much like anything that's been steeping in alcohol for a time, they're pretty delicious.  This ice cream is the perfect addition to your Easter dessert tray or an accompaniment to that batch of brownies you've been wanting to make.

White Chocolate Ice Cream with Brandied Cherries

Enjoy!
And here's to another year of blogging and tweeting!


©BURP! Where Food Happens
Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at FOODCrush, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.

Over the Top: The Grilled Cheesus Bison Burger & a Cheesy Giveaway

UPDATE & REQUEST:  We entered our Cheesus Burger into Dude Foods Ultimate Grilled Cheese competition -- and we're a finalist.  Please consider taking the time to put in your vote for our behemoth creation by clicking here. You will have to ‘Like’ DudeFoods.com (if you don't already) and then you can ‘Like’ our grilled cheese. Thank you!

Some of you may already know that April is National Grilled Cheese Month.  We have no idea who decides these things, but we heartily approve, as it gives us the perfect opportunity to play with one of our favorite ingredients, Wisconsin cheese.

Needless to say, when we heard that Laura Werlin, James Beard Award-winning author of five books about cheese, was coming out with a new tome just in time for Grilled Cheese Month, we were seriously excited to check it out.  Even better, our friends at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board offered to send us a copy to review.

We drooled from the moment we opened Grilled Cheese, Please!, which features 50 amazing grilled cheese sandwiches -- from inventive savory classics like Double Cheddar and Tomato Jam to decidedly delicious dessert worthy creations like The Sweetest Thing, a grilled marscapone, raspberry, and chocolate sandwich with slices of melted brie.

Not only is the book a virtual hotbed of inspiration for sandwich lovers like us, but Laura really knows her stuff.  Her grilled cheese tips, which include simple suggestions like using grated cheese to ensure even meltage, and covering the sandwiches during cooking (which locks in the heat and helps the cheese to melt even faster), really make the difference when it comes to creating the perfect grilled cheese.

You probably won't be surprised when we tell you that we didn't waste much time before we started trying out recipes from the book.  Peef was feeling particularly inspired when we came across a behemoth sandwich containing not only TWO grilled cheese sandwiches, but also a burger.  It was so crazy, we just had to try it out for ourselves.
 
And so we present one of the most outrageously monstrous grilled cheese concepts known to man:  The Grilled Cheesus Burger.  Inspired by the grilled cheese-hamburger combination created by Portland Oregon's Grilled Cheese Grill, our version of this delectable monstrosity is comprised of a perfectly seasoned bison burger cradled between two delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.

 The top sandwich features melted smoked Wisconsin gouda and caramelized onions, while the bottom incorporates more smoked gouda nestled between slices of spicy homemade dill pickles. The burger itself is made from locally raised ground bison, char-grilled and embellished with ketchup, a swipe of dijon mustard and topped with locally grown mixed greens from Milwaukee's own Growing Power.

Grilled Cheesus Bison Burger

Since we figured you'd either be appalled or drooling by the end of the post, we decided to give you a chance to take on your own personal grilled cheese project.

Thanks to our friends at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, we're pleased to announce that we'll be giving away copies of Laura Werlin's book, Grilled Cheese, Please! to five (5) lucky readers.

For your chance to win, please read the instructions below. Be sure to leave a comment for each entry (and leave your email address if you don't have it listed on your blog/contact info).   Please note that this contest is limited to readers in the United States & Canada. Contest ends 4/29/11 at NOON (CST).

Mandatory entry (must be completed or no other entries will count):   

• Visit the More Grilled Cheese Please page, take a look at the sandwiches listed and let us know which one is your favorite. 

Extra entries – please leave a comment for each additional entry, letting us know you completed it

• Give us a "like" on Facebook!
• Follow @WisconsinCheese on twitter
• Use the following text to tweet about this giveaway (please leave a link to your tweet in the comments for credit):  
• Grilled Cheese Please! book giveaway - #win your copy @Burp_blog:  Ends 4/29 #giveaway

NOTE:  The five winners will be chosen randomly and announced on Facebook on the afternoon of 4/30 .  The winner will be emailed separately to arrange for mailing of the prize pack.

Full Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.  Although we were sent a free copy of the Grilled Cheese Please! book for the purpose of this review and giveaway, all opinions expressed in this review are our own.

©BURP! Where Food Happens

Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at FOODCrush, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.

Video: Cookies For Kids’ Cancer Bake Sale Initiative

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.     – Mother Teresa

Sometimes, it's the little things that matter. It's the times when people come together for a common cause, when they give of themselves freely and utterly, without regard for the consequences.

It's when they decide to go all out... and make cookies.

Seriously, folks. It's really that easy. This past month, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer announced a call to action for a record breaking month of bake sales in May to honor what would have been the 7th birthday of Liam Witt, the inspiration behind the cause. To motivate supporters, The Glad Products Company stepped forward with $225,000 to match all money raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer bake sales in the month of May.  And my good friend Amy from the blog Very Culinary stepped up and announced a call to action for bloggers everywhere.

This video is a part of that call.  Please watch -- and then consider taking part on your own terms. If you happen to be a Milwaukee area food blogger or local baker, please email us at peefandlo (at) eatatburp (dot) com and let us know if you're interested in helping us to organize a local bake sale.  

UPDATE:  It's official! Thanks to the big hearts of our food blogger & baker friends, our Milwaukee bake sale will take place on May 21, 2011 at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.  RSVP on Facebook.


This video is dedicated to Gretchen and Larry Witt, in the memory of their son Liam, who would have been seven years old this year.

Click here for more information about Cookies For Kids’ Cancer. And here for the Cookies For Kids’ Cancer and Glad® bake sale initiative.

If you are would like to plan a bake sale in your area, please consider registering your efforts at: register.cookiesforkidscancer.org    Have questions?  Contact bakesale@cookiesforkidscancer.org  

Many thanks go out to Amy from Very Culinary and her husband Paul, videographer extraordinaire, for putting together this awesome video.

I'd also like to thank all of the beautiful bloggers who lent their time, talents, and delicious cookie recipes to participate in this video:
Kim @ The Paper Apron
Kristy @ The Wicked Noodle
Annie @ A Good American Wife – Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Ethan @ Tastes Better with Friends – Applesauce Cookies
Melissa @ Alosha’s Kitchen – Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
Lily @ Saint Tigerlily
Rebecca @ Foodie with Family – Amish Cookies
Stephanie & Billy @ Per l’Amore del Cibo – Cream Cheese Thumbprints
Amy @ VeryCulinary – Snickerdoodles with Cinnamon Chips
...and you may have also spied me in the video holding a pan of one of my favorite cookies, Maple Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate & Cranberries


©BURP! Where Food Happens
Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at FOODCrush, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.