Welcome to my blog!  I’m glad you’re here.  Did you check out our guest post at The Troika Table?  If not, you should.  (The Troika Table is Kelly’s best friend, Kara’s blog.) The recipe is an unusual fall mac & cheese recipe that is so good, we made it 5 times in 3 weeks.

Lemon Drop Martini

Around here, Fridays are martini & pizza nights.  If it’s summer, we make individual pizzas on the grill.  Now that the grill is stowed away for the winter (barring any power outages, that is!) we do the pizzas in the oven.  But first, the cocktail!  A favorite martini is the lemon drop.  My version uses 3 shots of Russian Standard vodka, 2 shots Limoncello and one shot simple syrup, for each martini.  (Put it all in a martini shaker filled 2/3s of the way full with ice and shake for 1 minute.)  What makes this so special is the simple syrup.  I’ve adapted my simple syrup from a Bobby Flay recipe.  It needs to be made at least 2 hours ahead of time so there is time for it to chill. 

Mint Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup washed, fresh mint leaves, chopped.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, stir in the mint, and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to infuse the syrup with the flavor of mint. Strain out the mint and refrigerate the syrup, covered, until cold.  

Once we’re unwinding from a long week with a martini, we start assembling our pizza. 

Ingredients in the breadmaker.

I do my dough from scratch in a bread maker.  (You can always make it by hand or use bought dough from the grocery store or your local pizza place.)  I use a jazzed up recipe that came with my old Regal Breadmaker instruction booklet.  It makes 2 pounds of dough, enough for 2 large pizzas or up to 8 individuals.  If we don’t need that much dough for that particular week, we freeze half of it in a quart size freezer bag for future use.  

Pizza Crust:  

• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon yeast

It all goes into the breadmaker (in the order listed by the manufacturer) and put on the dough setting.  

Finished dough! I love my breadmaker!

When the dough is done, split it in half and spread each half onto a pizza pan sprayed with Pam.  Spray the spread crusts with olive oil, sprinkle some crushed or minced garlic on it, then spread your sauce, mozzarella and favorite toppings.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, changing positions in the oven halfway through if the pizzas are on 2 different racks.  Since I’m not a huge sauce fan, I go with a white pizza.  I just omit the spreading the sauce step. Eric & I both went with prosciutto, fresh tomato & fresh basil on our pizza, his with sauce, mine without.  I also added fresh mozzarella to my section.  Kelly went with some cooked chicken, ranch dressing & proscuitto on hers.

Love Friday night pizza!  ~Linda

Mint Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup washed, fresh mint leaves, chopped.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, stir in the mint, and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to infuse the syrup with the flavor of mint. Strain out the mint and refrigerate the syrup, covered, until cold.

Lemon Drop Martini: makes one drink

• 3 shots of Russian Standard vodka
• 2 shots Limoncello
• 1 shot simple syrup

Put it all in a martini shaker filled 2/3s of the way full with ice and shake for 1 minute. Pour into a martini glass.

Pizza Crust:  

• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon yeast

It all goes into the breadmaker (in the order listed by the manufacturer) and put on the dough setting.  

When the dough is done, split it in half and spread each half onto a pizza pan sprayed with Pam.  Spray the spread crusts with olive oil, sprinkle some crushed or minced garlic on it, then spread your sauce, mozzarella and favorite toppings.  Bake at 400º F for 20 minutes, changing positions in the oven halfway through if the pizzas are on 2 different racks.