Thai Pizza and Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza reviews

I found a recipe for a Thai pizza with sweet chili sauce instead of peanut sauce. When we made our last Thai pizza, Myles said he would like one more like the Thai pizza at Papa Murphy's, which has a chili sauce instead. So when I saw this one on the Deals to Meals blog, it caught my eye and we decided to make both of pizza recipes shown.

I'm re-posting the recipes here with a review of what we thought of them.

Sweet Thai Chicken Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza crust (whole grain or regular crust)
2-3 chicken breasts, grilled and seasoned with salt and pepper
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained (or use fresh pineapple)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2-2/3 cup sweet red pepper jelly (you can buy this at Costco/Walmart or make your own)
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Season the chicken breasts and grill until cooked through. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside. Roll the pizza crust out into a circular shape until thin. Spread a thin layer of the sweet red pepper jelly onto the crust. Add the toppings and sprinkle with a thick layer of shredded cheese. Bake in a 485 degree oven on parchment lined baking stone or pan for 18-25 minutes, or until the pizza is bubbly and golden brown. Garnish with extra fresh cilantro as desired.

Thai Pizza with Sweet Pepper Jelly

Our review:
- We used our regular cracker crust recipe which is par-baked before adding toppings. We made a 16 inch pizza and the amount of toppings was WAY to much. We cooked 2 large chicken breasts and had enough chicken for 4 pizzas (2 of this flavor, and 2 of the other) The amount of other toppings was good for 2 pizzas plus a little leftover on the pineapple and onion. The only topping we used the listed amount was the cilantro - we like cilantro. I didn't measure the cheese- so who could say on that. We used a sweet red pepper jelly I found at Smiths:

Too Sweet- but it's what I found

I don't know what other red pepper jelly tastes like, but we though this was a little too sweet. Overall the pizza was good, but next time we will try to find a red pepper sauce that isn't as sweet- maybe a Thai chili dipping sauce from the Asian food aisle instead of the jelly from the jam aisle.

Don't forget extra cilantro on top!

**UPDATE 3/24/17**  We tried this pizza again- but tried to make it more like Papa Murphy's Thai Chicken pizza - it was much better!  We found 2 different sauces; both are very good:

Myles liked this one better. We found it with the other wing sauce flavors on the condiment aisle.

Ryan and I liked this one. We found this it with the Asian foods. I mixed some fresh grated ginger in the second sauce -probably 1/4 tsp, maybe a little more.

For toppings for 2 pizzas we used:
4- 5 Green onions, chopped
1/4 Red onion, diced
1/2 Red pepper, diced
2 tiny zucchini squash, thinly sliced - 1 would have been enough
Diced cooked chicken
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

After baking it, we added fresh cilantro, bean sprouts and grated carrots on top.



Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza crust (whole grain or regular crust)
2-3 chicken breasts, grilled and seasoned with salt and pepper
2-3 stalks green onions, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced very thin
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2-1 cup ranch dressing
2 Tbls.-1/4 cup buffalo sauce (Frank's Red Hot Sauce is my favorite)
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Season the chicken breasts and grill until cooked through. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside. Roll the pizza crust out into a circular shape until thin. Spread a thin layer of the ranch dressing onto the crust. Slice the tomatoes and green onions and add to the top of the pizza. Add the chicken pieces to the pizza as well. Sprinkle the pizza with a thick layer of shredded cheese. Add the crumbled blue cheese on top of the pizza and bake in a 485 degree oven on parchment lined baking stone or pan for 18-25 minutes, or until the pizza is bubbly and golden brown. Garnish with extra green onions as desired.

Buffalo Pizza with tomato

Our Review:

This pizza doesn't specify what to do with the buffalo sauce.... We aren't into super spicy here, so we used a mild wing sauce and just drizzled it over the top of the pizza before we cooked it. We all decided it would have been better mixed with the ranch before spreading it on the pizzas. The other topping amounts were fine- except the chicken as noted above. We did one as written and one we used celery instead of tomatoes.  Cooked tomatoes are okay,but the celery one was better. I like blue cheese, so I though the amount on them was fine, but everyone else said it was too much! I don't think we will do this pizza again, We will stick with the recipes Ryan has made before.

Buffalo Pizza with celery - It's better this way!

Hawaiian Barbecue Pork Sandwiches

I have recently found several recipes that I thought would be fun to try. I though it might be fun to do family dinner night on the weekend instead of going out to eat. So this is the first recipe we decided to try. I found the original on Deals to Meals. She adapted a recipe from The Sandwich King. Here's my own version. The kids loved it. The girls had to eat their "salsa" separately, but they ate it. I didn't get a pic until everyone's sandwich was at least half gone!

Roast Pork:
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. ground coriander
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 boneless pork roast or shoulder (about 5 lbs.)

Sweet Chili Sauce:
1 bottle (12.7 oz) natural rice vinegar (about 2 cups)
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Crushed red pepper (mine was skimpy - we are afraid of hot stuff around here)
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, smashed

Sandwich Build:
Mini Hoagie buns
Pork with Sweet Chile Sauce
Grilled Pineapple Relish (recipe below)
BBQ Sauce
Additional Jalapeno slices if desired

Grilled Pineapple Relish:
1 fresh pineapple, skinned, cored and cut into 1 inch slices
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. Grated fresh ginger
2 limes, juiced
½ jalapeno, seeded and diced
½ red onion, diced
Salt and pepper to taste (optional - I don't think I used any)

For the pork, place the pork fat side down in a crock pot. Mix all of the pork seasonings together and rub into the meat as best you can. Put the lid on and let the pork cook on low heat for 5-8 hours, depending how large the roast is.

While the pork cooks, make the sweet chili sauce and the pineapple salsa.

Sweet Chile Sauce: Bring the vinegar, sugar, crushed red pepper, salt and garlic to a boil and cook until the sugar and salt dissolve. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, and then set aside until the pork is ready.
Once the roast is tender and cooked, remove from the pan, and shred the pork into pieces. Drain the juices from the crock pot and discard. Add the shredded pork back to the crock pot.Remove the smashed garlic cloves from the chili sauce. Pour it over the shredded pork and toss to coat.

For the salsa: Preheat a grill pan or grill over high heat. Rub the grill with a bit of oil and grill each side of the pineapple slices until dark grill marks appear, 3 to 5 minutes a side. I just put mine under the broiler - It took 5-7 min on each side.  Roughly chop the pineapple and add it to a bowl with the cilantro, ginger, lime juice, jalapeno and onions. Season with salt and pepper.

For the sandwich build: Place ample quantities of pork on the bottom bun and top with Grilled Pineapple Relish. Drizzle with your favorite BBQ sauce. Myles, Ryan and Pierce added jalapeno slices.