F-TGIF & A Lazy BBQ Pizza Recipe

My name is Ed and I hate Fridays. Fridays are fun when you are the center of some close knit social circle. Maybe you have a group of friends who all stay in touch via the newest of social networking sites, and you all get together on the weekends and get "sloshed" or "hammered" or "arrested". But I don't have that here.

My name is Ed and I have dogs. And on Fridays we do nothing. Nothing at all. My dogs and I eat breakfast and we watch reruns of Law and Order SVU on TIVO. We watch the sun rise and set from the L shaped couch facing the leaf littered backyard. We do not move from this spot. Our phone does not ring and even if it does we are too smelly and depressed to go out into the world. So we make up excuses about laundry that needs to be done or how we are trying out a new recipe. We are so pathetic on Fridays that we can hardly believe ourselves.

My name is Ed and you can remove WE from the last paragraph. Because in that context the word WE is very misleading. Those dogs do not watch TV. So it's really just me. Me here

making excuses and forgetting to shower until five pm each and every Friday. Without fail. It is not fair to bring my dogs into this. Because truth be told. They would like a walk. Today has been an especially lazy Friday and I am ok with that because sometimes lazy days are ok. Lazy dinners can be ok too, if you utilize your leftovers correctly. I peaked into our fridge today and started to panic.

Will I actually have to go OUT? Into the world and buy stuff to make dinner? Fret not, I said to myself. I took out some left over pulled pork from 2 nights ago and whipped up....Pizza.

Uh, yes. PIZZA. Cheesy and gooey and fantastic. Magic, really. Who does not like pizza? I met ONE person in my whole life who didn't like pizza and it was because she was allergic to nearly everything you'd ever want to put on a pizza. I felt bad for her. I cried a little...it was awkward.

Anyhow, be inspired by my lazy dinner. If you're grumpy and lonely on a Friday night at least know that you can pull together a decent meal.

So... Have you heard of BBQ Pizza? Do you find it delicious? Me too. And that's why I found this "random act of pizza" so phenomenal. First that I had everything on hand to put it together and secondly because it actually tasted amazing. The balance of sweet and savory with the smokey flavors of the pulled pork and bbq sauce...OH and the cheese...so much delicious melted cheese. This is a recipe you will want to make after a big bbq when you have lot's of leftover pork or even chicken. I was feeling especially lazy tonight and happened to have whole wheat pizza dough on hand, if you don't go here for a quickie pizza dough that won't make you break a sweat.

Lazy BBQ Pizza

1 cup (more or less) of leftover bbq pork/chicken or even beef

1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce

3/4 to 1 cups shredded cheese, mozarella and Parmesan or "mexican style"

2-3 scallions

1 bunch of cilantro

1/4 of an onion sliced

prepared pizza dough

Preheat your oven to 400 degree's. Lightly oil a medium size pizza pan or use the flat, underside of a cookie sheet.

Roll out your pizza dough till it just fits inside your pan (depending on what brand/recipe you're using the target size is about 10-12 inches). Sh-mear your dough with the bbq sauce.

Add your shredded cheese, I like to spread it pretty thick all the way to the crusts.

Next you'll add the leftover pulled pork and onion slices.

Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes before checking the bottom by gently lifting at the edges of the pizza with a long spatula.

You're looking for a light brown crust that is dry, not drooping or doughy. Continue cooking for an additional 10-15 minutes checking often. When the pizza is done the crust will be browned nicely, cheese bubbling and melted and the pork will be warmed through. Right out of the oven, add the cilantro and scallions. Serve piping hot with a mixed green salad or...if you're having THAT kind of Friday...A Budlight.

This is the kind of lazy meal that you will remember. And if it's any consolation, you will feel WAY less lazy making this pizza rather than ordering one. AND you will have avoided that nosy pizza boy judging you (in your pajamas with your Budlight in one hand). I hope you enjoy this recipe, it is late and my eyes are drooping the dogs are already asleep and we have ran out of Law and Order episodes, so I bid you adieu!

California Eggs Benedict & An Awkward Introduction

My name is ED (well, not exactly, those are my initials). I am also known as Eva and this is my blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and grab some freshly popped popcorn. Take a look see. Don't gawk though, that's rude. And do not judge. Don't judge my poor grammar and horribly dry sense of humor. Don't judge my use of butter or bacon fat or profanity.

My name is Ed and today I am going on a road trip to save myself from countless hours on the couch eating chocolate covered snacks from Trader Joes. Have you notice that Trader Joes can market anything by covering it in chocolate and a generous sprinkling of chili powder. I was there yesterday and they had chocolate covered dried edamame (soy beans). Why? Because they can. Because you'll buy it. You will. There you will be, waiting in a line that has been cleverly named after a local landmark, and you'll see the chocolate covered edamame sitting high atop a mound of other chocolate covered somethings. You'll pick it up out of curiosity and before you know it, BAM! the package is in your basket. Once you get it home you'll try it and and one of two things will happen, either you'll love it and consume the entire package before dinner or you'll hate it. Then it will take it's place on the lower shelf of your pantry with all the rejected, strange snacks from TJ's. Like vacuum fried bananas, or blackberry and pickle jam. I made the last one up but I wouldn't put it passed them. My name is Ed and I am supposed to be getting ready for a road trip to San Francisco but it is now 11am and I am still in my underwear watching Magic Bullet commercials.

My name is Ed and I need breakfast. And So this brings us to our first recipe (insert cheers and applaud) here. I am sharing with you a recipe for my all time favorite breakfast. Eggs benedict!

I love eggs benedict, I always have. Over the years I have played around with the ingredients using sausage instead of ham, fried eggs instead of poached and different kinds of flavored hollandaise. I usually like the little concoctions I come up with, I mean hey... as long as it includes some crusty bread type component and some lemon butter sauce type component I am in! But no eggs benedict recipe I've tried come close to this. I actually feel guilty calling this a recipe, because only the sauce truly requires a recipe at all.

I am calling this California Eggs Benedict, it is made with a fairly traditional (but EASY) hollandaise, fried eggs, fresh vegetables and thick cut bacon all on sourdough bread. Mmm, I am cleaning the plate as we speak...

The hollandaise will go together much easier if you get all the ingredients ready ahead of time (but keep the butter cold in the fridge until you need it).

California Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

For the sauce:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup cold butter in 2-3 chunks

1 lemon juiced

s&p

paprika

4 eggs

2-4 slices sourdough bread

1 cup wilted spinach

1 large tomato, sliced thick

1 avocado, sliced thick

4 strips of bacon

This first part is done OFF the heat: In a large sauce pan add egg yolks and lemon juice and mix with a wisk. Turn the heat on low and add one of the chunks of cold butter. Continually mix the butter into the egg yolk mixture. The sauce should start to slowly thicken as the butter melts, add the remainder chunks of butter and keep mixing with a whisk until the butter has all melted and the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Smoked paprika is especially good in this sauce, you can also add some sliced green onions to your hollandaise if that is your kind of thing.

Next you toast your sourdough bread and set aside. Cook your eggs to your liking (over easy for me please) and cook the bacon. Set up an assembly line of the ingredients and stack 'em like THIS: toast, handful of wilted spinach, avocado, tomato, fried egg and bacon. Smother...and I DO mean smother, with your hollandaise. Eat up. Quickly, before I find you and steal your breakfast. Ask my husband, I'll do it. If you're a light eater than this will make 4 servings, it's a lot of stuff piled on toast after all. If you're like us chubby's over here, this will make only 2 servings and then you'll feel guilty and hit the gym for an hour...erh...I mean 25 minutes...

In the photo you will notice some deliciously crispy fried potatoes. Want them?

SIMPLE: boil a few teeny tiny red potatoes. Poke 'em.... are they tender? No? Keep boiling....

Poke 'em again. Are they tender? Yep? Put them in a hot hot pan with some oil...sizzle sizzle. Smash then with a smasher or the back of your spatula, just once. Sizzle sizzle. Flip. Sizzle Sizzle. Salt and pepper.

Stop looking at me like that I am NOT giving you a "recipe" for fried potatoes. C'mon!