Restaurant Reviews: Z Pizza

First of all, I just need to say "yaaaayyyy!!!!"  I'm so sorry for the extreme lack of blog posts of late, but yesterday I just finished up the three day marathon that is the Texas Bar Exam.  Before that, I was holed up studying 10 hours a day for the last month.  Not fun but it feels so good to be done.  Now you may be wondering "so Laura, you just took the Bar... what's next?"  Well, to read about that, visit my personal blog here.  Now on to what you really care about... pizza!

I feel like all I've been reviewing lately is pizza, but there are so many new gluten free pizza options in Houston, so it's a great problem to have!

A follower recently introduced me to Z Pizza in West U so we headed over for a casual dinner the other night after bar studies.  It is a VERY casual place, which we weren't expecting but actually appreciated because Peanut just did not want to sit still.  The prices are not cheap frankly for the tiny little pizzas you get, but the service was very quick and the pizza was good.

I would say the crust is most similar to Pizza Fusion if any of y'all went there before it closed.  Thin, but nicely browned.  I really liked it!
 

As usual I started eating a forgot to take a picture of the whole pizza!

My Apologies

I just wanted to say I'm sorry everyone that I haven't been posting much lately and probably won't for the rest of the month.  I'm knee-deep in studying for the Texas Bar Exam and haven't had any spare time to write.  I do have some great reviews and recipes to share though, so I hope to be back up and blogging in August... thanks for understanding!!

Restaurant Reviews: California Pizza Kitchen

Yummy CPK Barbecue Chicken Pizza with bacon on the new gluten free crust!

I shared with y’all a few weeks back when I learned that California Pizza Kitchen would soon be debuting gluten free crusts.  Well I’m so pleased to say that yesterday was the first day of the new crusts at our local CPK and we were right there to taste them so I could share this review with you!  I’m so selfless I know, ha!


The new menu is great and clearly indicates which items (besides the pizzas) are gluten free.  There are a good number of appetizers and salads that are marked GF and even a dessert option.  All of the pizzas except one could be made GF and with no upcharge!

So what was the verdict?  Well, it was delicious!  We were prepared for it to be just so so since it was the first day and we thought they might still be working out the kinks, but the pizza came out quickly and tasted great.  The crust is on the thinner side, but not crispy.  We enjoyed the pear gorgonzola pizza and the classic barbecue chicken pizza.  Both were absolutely wonderful.


Since the CPK on West Grey is just down the street from our house, I know we will be going a lot.  I still prefer the flavor of the crust from Pink’s Pizza, but at a lower price tag with a dine-in option, I know CPK will definitely be in our regular rotation.


Here are a few more pictures of the new pizza I captured with my blackberry camera… I apologize there are no pictures of the entire pizzas because like a little piggy I started eating before I remembered to take a picture!

Pear, Gorgonzola, hazelnuts, and mixed greens on GF crust.

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it!

Stop by and try it soon.  I can't wait to hear what y'all think!

Recipes: Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

I recently shared this easy weeknight recipe on my family blog and I thought I should bring it over here to share as well since it easily converts to gluten free.  This comes together in less than an hour but tastes like it's been baking all day!

Skillet Chicken "Pot Pie"
Serves 4

Pie Filling:

• 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken (I use thighs because that's what we prefer, but breasts are fine too - or if you are feeling super lazy, just pull apart a rotisserie chicken)
• salt, lemon pepper to season
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots minced (but you can use any onions you have on hand)
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (or in my case left over flat champagne, ha!)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon herbs de provence (if you don't have that use thyme)
• 2 cups frozen pea, carrot, corn medley

Biscuit Crust: 

• 2 cups all purpose flour (I use my standard blend, but insert any gluten free all purpose mix you like and make sure that if it doesn't have it, you add 1 tsp xantham gum)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Begin by making the biscuits.  Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.  Stir in the cheddar cheese.  Stir in the cream with a wooden spoon until the dough forms.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured area and form a ball.  Knead the dough briefly until smooth.  Then, cut biscuits (I use the top of a glass) and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake about 15 minutes.

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and lemon pepper.  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Brown chicken lightly on both sides and transfer to a plate.  Add the remaining butter to the skillet and heat on medium until melted.  Add shallots and salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, whisk together the cornstarch with the wine.  When the onions are ready, stir the liquid mixture in with the onions for about 1 minute.    Slowly whisk in the broth, cream, and thyme, and bring to a simmer.  Place the chicken back into the pan, cover, and cook over medium low about 10 minutes.

Transfer fully cooked chicken to a plate.  Stir veggie mixture into the sauce and simmer about 2 minutes.  Once chicken is cool, shred it into bite-sized pieces and return it to the skillet.  Season filling with salt and pepper to taste.  Either place biscuits on top of the filling and serve from the skillet, or put individual servings into ramekins and top with a biscuit.  Enjoy!

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ask five different people and you'll hear five different versions of the ideal chocolate chip cookie... so I don't know if this will be your hands down favorite, but I do know that everyone who has tried these cookies has loved them.  You can of course customize them a bit for your own taste.  Don't like nuts?  Leave them out.  Don't like dark chocolate?  Use all semi-sweet.  The dough is very thick and takes a bit of muscle to pull together so enlist a friend (or husband!) if you can, haha.  Lastly, I made these recently but didn't take pictures, ugh... guess I'll have to make them again!  If you're not feeling up to this level of effort for your cookies, I'll be featuring a head to head review of a few gluten free chocolate chip cookie doughs later in the week.  Enjoy!

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free Of Course)
Makes about 24 large cookies 

• 1 cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs Beaten
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups Gluten Free Flour (I Used 1.25 Cups Rice Flour, .5 Cups Potato Flour, .25 Tapioca Starch)
• 2 cups Gluten-Free Oat Flour
• 1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 bag Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (12 Oz Size)
• 4 ounces, weight Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Chopped Pecans
• 1 cup Chopped Hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350F and put rack in middle position. Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Meanwhile, combine gluten free flour and oat flour and stir.
In a small bowl, stir together xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and then add to the flour mixture. Whisk the whole mixture together. Add the chocolate chips and nuts and stir into the flour. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly (this will take some arm strength and it may seem like there’s not enough liquid but hang in there!).
Using an ice cream scoop, place dough about 1.5 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (I get 12 cookies to a sheet). Chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, remove, and then bake for 15-17 minutes until the cookies look just set. Cool the cookies completely on the cookie sheet.

In Gluten Free News...

I recently heard a couple of exciting pieces of GF news that I thought I should share.  First, California Pizza Kitchen has announced that it will be adding gluten free crust to its menu!  CPK already has a gluten free menu that includes some very yummy salads and Haagen Daz icecream sundae's for dessert, but I absolutely cannot wait to try their gluten free pizza!  The new crust is set to debut at the end of June and I'll be there to let y'all know how it is as soon as I've tasted it.

The next exciting piece of news is that Kellogg's Rice Krispies will now be available gluten free!  I've been on the Kellogg's website and supposedly they are on shelves now, but I haven't seen them yet anywhere in the 713.  Once I read this I started thinking about Rice Krispie treats of course and when I couldn't find them, I had to make a gluten free substitute.  I hope I'll be trying this recipe out again soon with the new gluten free Rice Krispies, but it worked just fine with Envirokidz Koala Crisp Cereal.  To make something a little different, I used this recipe I found on How Sweet It Is for Cake Batter Crispy Treats.  I adapted it slightly so see below for the changes I made.  They were delicious!  I apologize for the terrible pictures, but my camera wasn't working so I had to take these with my phone, haha!

GF Cake Batter Crispy Treats

• 3 tablespoons butter
• one 10 oz bag mini marshmallows (naturally gluten free!)
•  1/3 cup yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix)
•  1 tablespoon vanilla
• 6 cups - about one whole box of Koala Crisp Cereal
• Sprinkles - she measured it but I just eyeballed (the bottle I bought at Kroger was gluten free but you may want to read the ingredients just to make sure)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir in marshmallows.  Continue stirring until marshmallows are melted.  Stir in cake mix one spoonful at a time and then vanilla until well blended.  Stir in cereal and remove from heat.  Continue stirring until cereal is completely coated.  Stir in a good handful of sprinkles.  Pour into a glass baking dish (I sprayed mine lightly with cooking spray).  Then with wet hands, press mixture down until its flat.  Top with a few more sprinkles and cool for approximately 30 minutes.  Then cut into squares and enjoy!

Let them eat {tres leches} cake!

Cinco de Mayo is almost upon us so for those of you planning a fun get together, this is a delicious recipe for gluten free tres leches cake.  Unfortunately, I will not be celebrating on Thursday (I'm in the midst of law school finals), but tres leches is my hubbs favorite, so I am made it for his birthday last night.  Happy Birthday Sweetie!

I can personally attest to the ease of this recipe because I made it for him last year while holding a newborn the entire time!

GF Tres Leches Cake
*makes one regular sized sheet cake - 9x13

Ingredients: 

• For the Cake:
• 4 cups plus 2 tablespoons gluten free flour (click here for my standard cake blend, if you are not mixing your own make sure that the one you are using has xantham gum or else add 1 tsp)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
•  For the Topping:
• 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can whole milk (use the evaporated milk can)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon spiced rum

Directions:


For the cake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 sheet cake pan (I prefer to use glass since you will be serving it in this).  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and whisk together to break up any lumps.  In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Beat in the buttermilk until just combined.  Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time, mixing until incorporated between each addition.  Spread the batter evenly in the pan (it will be thick but do your best!!).  Bake 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cake on a wire rack until room temperature.  Pierce the cake repeatedly with a fork about every 1/2 inch (or just get crazy!!).  Whisk the condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk together and pour slowly over the cake to give it time to absorb.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and rum until stiff and spreadable consistency.  Spread over the top of the cake.  You can serve immediately, but I like to refrigerate for another 20-30 minutes.

This cake only gets better after a day or so... enjoy!!