Veggie Pizza: Jalapeno peppers and Olives

Hi there!!! Yes I am alive and breathing here. Before I start with my stories of me not blogging, I want to thank all the bloggers who enquired about me and my apologies for me not replying for the comments, since it was not intentional.

So where was I all these days?

I and my husband took a small vacation to Hawaii, and then I joined for the winter classes. Hawaii trip was breath taking and I felt pretty much at home at because of the tropical weather, sugarcane fields, the tropical rain forest all reminded me of Kerala. It was a seven days trip to Maui and we did one day hop to the Big Island. This winter I took four classes which was a mistake I did :( before I could realize I missed the last day to drop with a full refund- ha ha. I am hardly cooking these days and that’s why I am not blogging. Hope to be back with full swing from April first week.

Coming to the recipe now, I have already made pizza and this one is no different from the previous one except for the toppings. I made this pizza last Sunday while my husband was watching the Super bowl. Here goes the recipe!!!

Ingredients

• ¾ to 1-cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 tbsp quick-rise active dry yeast
• 1 ½ tsp dried basil leaves or pizza seasoning
• 1tbsp olive oil or regular oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp yellow cornmeal
• ½ cup warm water
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup sliced ripe olives
• ½ cup Jalapeno peppers chopped
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt to taste

Method

• Combine ½ cup all- purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, yeast, pizza seasoning or basil leaves and salt. Blend oil with garlic; stir into flour mixture with water. Stir in ¼ cup of all- purpose flour until soft, slightly sticky dough forms, adding remaining ¼ cup all-purpose flour to prevent sticking if necessary. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with in container or paper towel; let it rest for 10-20 minutes

• Place oven rack in lowest position; preheat oven to 400F. Spray 12-inch pizza pan or baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray; sprinkle with cornmeal and set aside. If you have a non- stick pan spray is not needed, corn meal alone is fine.

• Roll dough into large circle on lightly floured surface. (Too much rolling makes the crust heavy and dense; stretching dough to fit pan is best.

• Blend tomato sauce with ½ tsp of pizza seasoning or basil leaves in small bowl; spread evenly over crust.

• Top with Jalapeno peppers, olives, parmesan cheese; sprinkle crushed red pepper on top.

• Bake 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese melts.

ENJOY!!!!!!!