Shredded mozzarella cheese

[Midpack]

Good source of fiber!

True

 

[FUEGO]

Not specifically mentioned so far: meatball subs. We get the frozen meatballs that come in a bag. Microwave, degrease for the health conscious, smother meatballs in marinara sauce, pile on a bun or sub roll and cover in cheese. Omelet is another good idea.

I am curious how much the costco cheese was per pound? I usually get grated cheese on sale for around $3-3.50 per pound, but in the smaller 8 oz bags (so they stay fresh longer). Sell by dates are usually 4-6 months out on this stuff so it can be stockpiled. Not sure how long it lasts once opened - probably 2 weeks to a month plus depending on cheese type and amount of preservatives.

 

[pimpmyretirement]

I have often wondered if stones like that are really food safe. They could have high lead levels, or who knows what in them.

-ERD50

This is the exact reason I decided to buy the $35 pizza stone instead of tiles. I consider it an investment in peace of mind.

 

[Nuiloa]

I scramble eggs with a mix of onion, ham and cheese and dump salsa on top. Looks and sounds disgusting but it's really good.

 

[Nuiloa]

BTW - anyone here ever make pizza using a convection microwave oven?

I don't have a regular oven in the RV but I'm a pizzaholic so I'd like to try making some on the road.

 

[modhatter]

I had to go look at my receipt. It was 11.99 for a 5 lb. bag. So, that's about $2.40 per lb. It says it made from part skim milk. Says it's 100% mozzarella, but does show something added for consistency as another poster mentioned.

I read about having a stone and looked at them on Amazon. Then while I was strolling through Costco about a month ago or more, I saw a really nice large size pizza stone for only $20. Have not used it yet, so can't comment on it.

I also just purchasd a gas grill that has a dome top and a thermometer to gage inside temp. It also comes with a small pizza stone with handle which inserts in the center. Wonder if I would have better luck with trying to cook it in the grill or the oven. The stone that comes with the outside grill is small, while the one I purchased at Costco is larger (large pizza)

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I wondered about the freezing part also.

 

[FUEGO]

I had to go look at my receipt. It was 11.99 for a 5 lb. bag. So, that's about $2.40 per lb. It says it made from part skim milk. Says it's 100% mozzarella, but does show something added for consistency as another poster mentioned.

5 lb?!? Holy queso! I thought we eat a lot of cheese but would have a hard time eating that much before it went bad. I guess we could freeze it.

Lasagna will definitely use up a lot of cheese if you like lasagna. When I make my double batch of lasagna at Thanksgiving or Christmas, I usually use ~4 pounds of mozzarella.

 

[modhatter]

BTW - anyone here ever make pizza using a convection microwave oven?

I don't have a regular oven in the RV but I'm a pizzaholic so I'd like to try making some on the road.

I don't know about the convection oven, but apparently they can be made in a covered grill with temperature control. Do you have one of those you carry with you in RV?

 

[tmm99]

Here's the recipe. Whatever you call it, it tastes exactly like pizza, only much better.

Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust
Heat oven to 450 degrees
In a bowl thoroughly combine
3 eggs
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
press evenly into Pam sprayed pizza pan or cookie sheet
(this makes one 16 inch pizza crust)
Bake at 450 degrees until golden brown (about 10 to 15 minutes)

Then add topping and cook a few more mins
Example of toppings:

This one has the following toppings~

1/4 cup low carb marinara
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
2 links Italian sausage (browned and crumbled)
1/4 cup sliced back olives

The pizza looks SOOOO good. And it sounds quite easy to make.

Al,

What's in your low carb marinara sauce?

 

[FinanceDude]

I could go through that much cheese easily, one Packers game should do it....

 

[ERD50]

Here's the recipe. Whatever you call it, it tastes exactly like pizza, only much better. ....

I dunno T-Al. Here in the Chicago area we take our pizza very seriously. Fights break out over who makes the 'best' deep dish (and when I put 'Chicago' and 'pizza' in the same paragraph - that means 'deep-dish').

I suppose anything covered with a pizza sauce, pizza spices, pizza toppings, Italian sausage, and moz cheese (you really need some Romano and a sprinkle of Parmesan in there - makes a big difference) will taste like 'pizza'. But the pizza crust is something that pizza aficionados debate more than the 4% WR 'rule' is debated here. Corn-meal, no corn-meal, butter vs oil, bread flour vs regular flour, par-bake, how long to rise, and on and on?

I just made pizza last night, so it may be a while, but I'll make this out of curiosity. While I don't doubt that a mix of eggs and moz can bake up to something tasty, I just can't fathom that it would compare with real pizza dough in texture and taste.

Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but when I make an imitation of something, I call it 'mock'-whatever. For example, I make something akin to a shrimp poor-boy, bit it ain't an authentic NOLA Poor-Boy ( I saute the shrimp, not deep-fried with corn-meal crust), so I don't call it that.

-ERD50

 

[JOHNNIE36]

This thread falls in the category of "modus operandi". We are big Costco shoppers and the cheese falls into one of our regular purchases. When we get home with a big bag of the cheese, DW immediately divides it into many sealable freezer bags and (drum roll please) freezes them. While at Costco we also purchase the frozen pizzas (Primo's thin crust). We use these for evening fill-ins. When DW is too tired to fix a dinner, we will throw in a pizza and she will doctor it up with extra tomatoes and grabs a bag of the shredded cheese. I love these pizzas.

 

[TromboneAl]

Depends on exact ingredients, but using low-fat mozz, normal carb marinara and 4 ounces Italian sausage, I get:

Those carb numbers are way higher than what I get, probably from the marinara sauce. Also, I'd recommend the full-fat, mozz of course.

The pizza looks SOOOO good. And it sounds quite easy to make.

Al,

What's in your low carb marinara sauce?

Here it is. You can even use less tomato paste.

1 6-oz can tomato paste (with no sugar added)
1.3 cup water
.5 cans wine (optional)
1 Tbs oregano leaves
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
.5 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
.25 cup Parmesan (add until desired thickness)

Heat.

Here it is on shiritaki noodles:

 

[modhatter]

Well, I just made my first pizza. It turned out pretty good, but a lot of prep work. (cutting up pepper in tinny pieces, ham in tiny pieces, onions, olives, pineapple) Then there's the dough. That's another story. Need some practice on that one. But my son liked it fine, so I was happy.

Pizza stone worked out good. Have a pizza peel ordered from Amazon. I managed without it last night. Now if I could just have all those toppings already chopped and waiting nicely in a dish for me (you know like the cooking shows of TV) it wouldn't be so bad.

Those overly expensive chopped vegetables in small containers I have seen in the produce section of some grocery stores is looking more interesting to me now.

 

[TromboneAl]

When I made normal pizzas, I concluded that using a grating type pizza pan gave better results than my pizza stone.

 

[modhatter]

What do they look like. Not familiar. Will have to look on Amazon.
OK, I looked. Ordered one, a new pizza pan with holes in bottom (to go along with my stone), a new pizza cutter, a new pizza roller.
(and last night a pizza peel)

All this from a 5 lb. bag of mozzarella cheese. Boy am I saving money.

 

[Midpack]

Those carb numbers are way higher than what I get, probably from the marinara sauce. Also, I'd recommend the full-fat, mozz of course.

6 to 12 grams of carbs, about 6% of total calories per serving, seems low to me.

 

[ERD50]

Well, I just made my first pizza. It turned out pretty good, but a lot of prep work. (cutting up pepper in tinny pieces, ham in tiny pieces, onions, olives, pineapple) Then there's the dough. That's another story. Need some practice on that one. But my son liked it fine, so I was happy.

Pizza stone worked out good. Have a pizza peel ordered from Amazon. I managed without it last night. Now if I could just have all those toppings already chopped and waiting nicely in a dish for me (you know like the cooking shows of TV) it wouldn't be so bad.

I've made pizza dough, and also ended up buying Trader Joe's bag of dough - it seemed every bit as good, and 99 cents versus maybe 40 cents for ingredients, not worth the time/effort for me.

I struggled with the rolling out/shaping of the dough until I took this approach:

Let the bag sit out at room temp for an hour.

Oil my cast iron pan. Sprinkle corn-meal on it.

Just dump the dough onto the pan - oil the top of the dough, and 'push' it out to the edges. Do a little more pushing over the next half-hour. Don't worry if it still springs back a bit.

Now, my recent discovery, and the beauty of deep-dish: The shredded Moz is the next layer, so give the dough one more push, then sprinkle the moz in the center. Now you can push the dough out by pushing on the moz - no sticking, and the moz seems to hold the dough in place a bit better. Keep adding moz until the 12 oz is used and the dough is pushed to the edges. Don't worry about getting it perfect, it will rise out just fine as it bakes. Let it rest another 10 minutes, and push out again before adding sauce/toppings and putting in a 425F oven (then turn down to 400F).
​

It pops out of the cast iron pan easily when done and rested for 5 minutes. Then cut on a board.

-ERD50

 

[pimpmyretirement]

Congrats on the first pizza! I've given up on toppings because they are so much work to prep. I'll revist them once I am satisfied with my cheese pizza.

I have really struggled with getting my pizza dough to stretch out all the way as well. Letting it get warm and giving it time to rest seems to help, but it is still really springy. Using a wetter dough has been helpful too, but that also changes the resulting pizza.

I see videos on youtube where people easily stretch it out. I have no idea what they are doing differently than me.

 

[modhatter]

I have really struggled with getting my pizza dough to stretch out all the way as well. Letting it get warm and giving it time to rest seems to help, but it is still really springy. Using a wetter dough has been helpful too, but that also changes the resulting pizza.

I see videos on youtube where people easily stretch it out. I have no idea what they are doing differently than me.

Yes, resistant buggers, I agree. You say "my way", they say "no way".

 

[Dreamer]

ERD50, I would love to have your mock Shrimp Po Boy recipe, if you would not mind posting.

 

[Moemg]

Congrats on the first pizza! I've given up on toppings because they are so much work to prep. I'll revist them once I am satisfied with my cheese pizza.

I have really struggled with getting my pizza dough to stretch out all the way as well. Letting it get warm and giving it time to rest seems to help, but it is still really springy. Using a wetter dough has been helpful too, but that also changes the resulting pizza.

I see videos on youtube where people easily stretch it out. I have no idea what they are doing differently than me.

I had the same problem when I first started making pizza . Now I use a rolling pin to do the initial stretching and then just pull on it . I also went to plain bread dough instead of pizza dough and it was much easier to work with until I got better at pizza making .

 

[Nuiloa]

Anyone ever try veggie pepperoni? They are really good - you don't get the greasy taste that regular pepperoni gives.

 

[freebird5825]

I've frozen mozzarella for months, and I've seen it in submarine freezers for longer than that. I can't tell the taste difference, and those who claim to be able to tell should be subjected to a blind(folded) taste test.

Same here, up to a year, in my deep freezer.
I divvy the cheese up into quart ziploc bags, lay it flat and do not squeeze the air out until after it is frozen.
It stays loose and can be broken apart easier than if you freeze the big bag.

 

[tmm99]

Those carb numbers are way higher than what I get, probably from the marinara sauce. Also, I'd recommend the full-fat, mozz of course.

Here it is. You can even use less tomato paste.

1 6-oz can tomato paste (with no sugar added)
1.3 cup water
.5 cans wine (optional)
1 Tbs oregano leaves
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
.5 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
.25 cup Parmesan (add until desired thickness)

Heat.

Here it is on shiritaki noodles:

Wow, I just posted on the shirataki thread about pasta alfredo and you show me the shirataki pasta here. Thank you for the marinara recipe. I will definitely try it!!!