< Back January 2026 Kimberly Caristi Jan 25, 2026 After my husband retired he started volunteering at the Habitat store. He came home all excited. He had bought a white Christmas tree that he was going to use on our front porch as a decoration. He begged me to come out and see the tree. This is what my husband thought was a white tree. The “needles” were falling off it. I have to confess it didn’t look that bad at night but I cringed during the day when I had to drive by it or look out the window. BTW, my husband’s name is not Charlie Brown. 😊 My January news letter is late this month because I fell on Christmas day. I hurt my ACL, PCL and tore a ligament in my knee. May I suggest when you see a tripping hazard that you move it right away and not think you will get it later. Recovery is slow so my post on social media has been effected. I haven’t been out of the house except to go to therapy and the doctor. I hope your Christmas was a delight and you are having a blessed beginning of the New Year. Previous Next

Get to know Kimberly Caristi, the author, traveler, cook and photographer. Kimberly, originally from St. Louis, embraced her move to the countryside at thirteen. It was the start of her looking forward to change. Throughout her life each significant event has contributed to her growth, shaping her into the person she is today. Especially her marriage to a wonderful man and the births of her son and daughter. Having lived in several places in the Midwest and spending enriching months in Slovenia, Italy, and Greece, she still holds St. Louis close to her heart. Raising two independent children was her main career, which she loved. Her side careers were working as an artist, fundraising, and working for non-profit groups while volunteering her time in the community. Her husband said she was a stay-at-home mom who was never home. With a passion for cooking and baking, Kimberly has made a name for herself in each community she has lived in. Kimberly’s favorite comment came from her Italian born mother-in-law when she said Kimberly was more Italian than her. Since 2020 she has channeled her creativity into her writing. If you can't guess Kimberly loves sunsets especially over the sea.

Recipes Filter by Level beginner easy medium easy Pizza alla Sicliliana Sicilian Pizza pictured is one recipe. It is a delicious crust made thin or thick easy Gougères Gougères are French for cheese puffs. They make great appetizers though if you have a husband like mine he will eat them all day long. They are light and airy and can be made with all kinds of cheeses and dips. At the party where I took these people where saying they would be great little sandwiches. I always make the choux pastry that I learnt in my first cookbook Betty Crocker. It never fails me. I do add a touch of nutmeg because I think it goes well with the cheese. It might be I have been influenced from the Italians and Greeks. easy Strasbourg Pastries (Strassburg-bakelser) These unique cookies that melt in your mouth. Easy to make but people will think you went to a lot of trouble. beginner Biga A biga is what you use to start a bread. In English it is a starter medium Pane di Como Serve it with stew and meats with rich sauces, with green salads, fresh cheese, sliced salami, and smoked meats. easy Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls my family loves these Cinnamon rolls with lots of icing medium Bagels These bagels are worth the time. I make the dough in the afternoon then put them in the refrigerator. The next morning, I boil them then bake. I once made them with one hand. Not that I am recommending you to do this but it can be done. easy Almond Tea Bread (w/ poppy seed) This is our Christmas bread. We give it to friends and if we forget to give them the recipe they call for it. medium No bake Peanut Butter Balls (from my great aunt Izzy…Isabelle Keith) I usually quadruple this recipe because it is a family favorite easy Lemon Artichoke Risotto Arborio rice makes a great risotto. Stirring it and adding liquid slowly makes it a creamy rice. Adding cheese to the rice makes it so delicious. This recipe has lemon and artichoke. You can drop the artichoke and make it a shrimp dish. Use raw cleaned shrimp and add them on top after you add the cheese. Stir and stir until you see that the shrimp have changed color. Please don't over cook them and you will thank me after you eat them. If you like a little spice add some red chili flakes when you add the garlic. When you smell the chili and garlic add the wine. Another tip is to have everything ready when you start cooking. easy Peanut butter cookies The best peanut butter cookies easy Garlic Bread The first bread I taught my children to make. Very easy and forgiving. Makes a good pizza dough.

< Back Marshmallow Dessert Kimberly Caristi Oct 1, 2025 This dessert brings back so many memories. In 1995 we lived in Slovenia and we brought our five-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son. Our son went to an International school so he was gone from seven until one in the afternoon. That left me with a rambunctious little girl who didn’t care if we had a clean house or what we were having for dinner. She wasn’t a big fan of grocery shopping either but with a bribe she would be a good girl meaning she wouldn’t whine, complain or wander off. Her treat would be a doughnut or a couple of times I bought her one of these. The first time I bought one I thought I would be getting some of it. To my surprise and disappointment she ate the whole thing except a tiny bit she gave me when I asked if I could try it. When we got home from Slovenia we were asked if we would take part in a fundraising event. We donated a Slovene dinner and I made this as the dessert. I had figured out how to make it. I made a better base but the rest of it was pretty dead on. This stay was our fifth time to Slovenia and it was another five month stay. I wanted to buy this dessert for friends who visited us because I wanted to see if the dessert tasted like they did thirty years ago. We bought four and they protested that it was too much. Let me tell you they were all gone in minutes. They are so easy to eat and if you like fluffy marshmallows and chocolate you will love it. The ones I made I used a seven-minute frosting as the filling. I saw little difference. In fact, I was looking at some of the recipes and some have a cream filling. I am sure that it is a dessert that has a multitude of recipes like our chili here in the U.S. or spaghetti sauce here or in Italy. Previous Next

< Back Bookshelf Kimberly Caristi Nov 3, 2025 This isn’t an amazing picture at all! The importance of this picture is to show most of my cookbooks and the stories behind them. Many of them are from our 2008 study abroad when my husband took U.S. students to Italy to do a documentary on Italian food. My job on these trips were to help students stay with the group during tours. If you haven’t heard the term herding cats, nailing jelly to the wall or pouring water into a sieve you should try to keep thirty young adults following one person who is talking in a normal voice about what took place a thousand years ago while there are cars and motorcycles zipping by, tens or twenty different directions they could go, windows filled with pastries, clothes, perfumes, art, jewelry, or things they have not seen before and you will totally understand the before mentioned phrases. I was grateful that I have an uncanny ability to know how to get to places I have been told about, read about or drove by it once. In these travels I have been pulled away from the group by following a student who just had to go the bathroom, tied a shoe, just had to take a picture and probably a dozen other things and I have never lost a student and found the group in a timely matter. I have had one misstep but it wasn’t all my fault and I will leave that for another photo later on. I will tell you I have never lived it down and every time we get together with our Italian director, him and my husband love to retell the tale. I have gotten off track and need to bring it back to the cookbooks. I have really came into my own after that trip and finding all these cookbook neatly stacked in my kitchen. First, you should know we did buy them ourselves and let the students use them. Second, I realized I could make a recipe my own, meaning taking a recipe and adding this or that to it and it still be good. I had always known I could do that with baking as long as I didn’t throw off the fats, dry ingredients and liquids balance. I can bake for anyone but now I felt I could cook for Americans and do a pretty good job of making something that they would like, for Europeans I know I should make something less sweet (no applesauce with the pork but greens.) I can cook for Asians but I am not sure how to bake for them. Sad to say I have never had the opportunity to cook for anyone from Africa. I haven’t hosted them in my home…yet. I always do research on food from their area before we host someone. I never tell them it is their food because no one can cook exactly like their family. Example, I cooked what I thought was Chinese and our Chinese guest said “What do you call this Kim? It almost taste like Chinese.” Being that our guest was from Szechuan province and their spice level was quite a bit higher than ours I took that as a compliment. We had a guest from Slovenia who said she loved everything that came out my large saucepan. These cookbooks gave me the experience to experiment and I fell in love with cooking just as much as baking. Our friends noticed a difference. I have always had about a half a dozen recipes for a dinner that I used repeatedly. When I started mixing it up they took notice. When we started donating dinners our community notice that I was not just a chocolate nut or a baker. I have had two articles written about me on those subjects. I make my own truffles and for our Christmas party each year I would make about a dozen different cookies, a half a dozen bars, a half dozen other pastries plus a dozen different chocolates. I did offer other non-sweet items. The first few years of our marriage it was all store bought with a few personal bakes. I kept challenging myself to go bigger until it got too big. To make us feel a little better about all this over indulgence everyone invited were to bring dry goods for the food pantry in town. I look forward to sharing my recipes with you as time goes on. This past last month we have been travelling. I hope to get my photo albums up soon. We traveled through eleven states. North Dakota was our 48th contiguous state to visit and we got to it this time. We also got to see the head waters of the Mississippi river and I got to stand in it. I was so excited. We stayed in a cabin without a television, even more important no internet. We taught ourselves a new game of cards and the silence almost drove my husband nuts. I have to say I did miss the internet. I wish you all safe travels even if it is just to the grocery store to buy a new ingredient. Previous Next

Latest News Jan 25, 2026 January 2026 After my husband retired he started volunteering at the Habitat store. He came home all excited. He had bought a white Christmas tree that he was going to use on our front porch as a decoration. He begged me to come out and see the tree. This is what my husband thought was a white tree. The “needles” were falling off it. I have to confess it didn’t look that bad at night but I cringed during the day when I had to drive by it or look out the window. BTW, my husband’s name is not Charlie Brown. 😊 My January news letter is late this month because I fell on Christmas day. I hurt my ACL, PCL and tore a ligament in my knee. May I suggest when you see a tripping hazard that you move it right away and not think you will get it later. Recovery is slow so my post on social media has been effected. I haven’t been out of the house except to go to therapy and the doctor. I hope your Christmas was a delight and you are having a blessed beginning of the New Year. Dec 15, 2025 December 2025 This Christmas party table is just a small part of our party celebration. We got into having a Christmas party when we were dating. When we were in college we took ashtrays from Arby’s to make ornaments. We bought store bought cookies and I made a couple of cookies that I knew by heart. We gathered our friends the first Saturday after the Thanksgiving weekend. Had a few friends bring their guitars and we say sang Christmas songs. We continued having it on that first Saturday after we got married until my body gave out. I miss making as many candies, cookies, dips and appetizers in one week as I could. The only item I started before that week was I soaked my stemmed cherries in rum for a couple of weeks. People couldn’t believe I did everything in a week. I couldn’t have done it without my kids and husband taking up the slack and helping me or doing my duties around the house. We would get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and started decorating our tree and home. We cut down a tree if we could find a tree farm; if not it was a non-profit place. The last thirteen years we have decorated an artificial tree. I always was sick when we had our party and it took forever for me to realize it was the Christmas tree making me sick. I would get a sinus infection that always turned into bronchitis or worse. Nov 3, 2025 Bookshelf This isn’t an amazing picture at all! The importance of this picture is to show most of my cookbooks and the stories behind them. Many of them are from our 2008 study abroad when my husband took U.S. students to Italy to do a documentary on Italian food. My job on these trips were to help students stay with the group during tours. If you haven’t heard the term herding cats, nailing jelly to the wall or pouring water into a sieve you should try to keep thirty young adults following one person who is talking in a normal voice about what took place a thousand years ago while there are cars and motorcycles zipping by, tens or twenty different directions they could go, windows filled with pastries, clothes, perfumes, art, jewelry, or things they have not seen before and you will totally understand the before mentioned phrases. I was grateful that I have an uncanny ability to know how to get to places I have been told about, read about or drove by it once. In these travels I have been pulled away from the group by following a student who just had to go the bathroom, tied a shoe, just had to take a picture and probably a dozen other things and I have never lost a student and found the group in a timely matter. I have had one misstep but it wasn’t all my fault and I will leave that for another photo later on. I will tell you I have never lived it down and every time we get together with our Italian director, him and my husband love to retell the tale. I have gotten off track and need to bring it back to the cookbooks. I have really came into my own after that trip and finding all these cookbook neatly stacked in my kitchen. First, you should know we did buy them ourselves and let the students use them. Second, I realized I could make a recipe my own, meaning taking a recipe and adding this or that to it and it still be good. I had always known I could do that with baking as long as I didn’t throw off the fats, dry ingredients and liquids balance. I can bake for anyone but now I felt I could cook for Americans and do a pretty good job of making something that they would like, for Europeans I know I should make something less sweet (no applesauce with the pork but greens.) I can cook for Asians but I am not sure how to bake for them. Sad to say I have never had the opportunity to cook for anyone from Africa. I haven’t hosted them in my home…yet. I always do research on food from their area before we host someone. I never tell them it is their food because no one can cook exactly like their family. Example, I cooked what I thought was Chinese and our Chinese guest said “What do you call this Kim? It almost taste like Chinese.” Being that our guest was from Szechuan province and their spice level was quite a bit higher than ours I took that as a compliment. We had a guest from Slovenia who said she loved everything that came out my large saucepan. These cookbooks gave me the experience to experiment and I fell in love with cooking just as much as baking. Our friends noticed a difference. I have always had about a half a dozen recipes for a dinner that I used repeatedly. When I started mixing it up they took notice. When we started donating dinners our community notice that I was not just a chocolate nut or a baker. I have had two articles written about me on those subjects. I make my own truffles and for our Christmas party each year I would make about a dozen different cookies, a half a dozen bars, a half dozen other pastries plus a dozen different chocolates. I did offer other non-sweet items. The first few years of our marriage it was all store bought with a few personal bakes. I kept challenging myself to go bigger until it got too big. To make us feel a little better about all this over indulgence everyone invited were to bring dry goods for the food pantry in town. I look forward to sharing my recipes with you as time goes on. This past last month we have been travelling. I hope to get my photo albums up soon. We traveled through eleven states. North Dakota was our 48th contiguous state to visit and we got to it this time. We also got to see the head waters of the Mississippi river and I got to stand in it. I was so excited. We stayed in a cabin without a television, even more important no internet. We taught ourselves a new game of cards and the silence almost drove my husband nuts. I have to say I did miss the internet. I wish you all safe travels even if it is just to the grocery store to buy a new ingredient. Oct 1, 2025 Marshmallow Dessert This dessert brings back so many memories. In 1995 we lived in Slovenia and we brought our five-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son. Our son went to an International school so he was gone from seven until one in the afternoon. That left me with a rambunctious little girl who didn’t care if we had a clean house or what we were having for dinner. She wasn’t a big fan of grocery shopping either but with a bribe she would be a good girl meaning she wouldn’t whine, complain or wander off. Her treat would be a doughnut or a couple of times I bought her one of these. The first time I bought one I thought I would be getting some of it. To my surprise and disappointment she ate the whole thing except a tiny bit she gave me when I asked if I could try it. When we got home from Slovenia we were asked if we would take part in a fundraising event. We donated a Slovene dinner and I made this as the dessert. I had figured out how to make it. I made a better base but the rest of it was pretty dead on. This stay was our fifth time to Slovenia and it was another five month stay. I wanted to buy this dessert for friends who visited us because I wanted to see if the dessert tasted like they did thirty years ago. We bought four and they protested that it was too much. Let me tell you they were all gone in minutes. They are so easy to eat and if you like fluffy marshmallows and chocolate you will love it. The ones I made I used a seven-minute frosting as the filling. I saw little difference. In fact, I was looking at some of the recipes and some have a cream filling. I am sure that it is a dessert that has a multitude of recipes like our chili here in the U.S. or spaghetti sauce here or in Italy.

< Back December 2025 Kimberly Caristi Dec 15, 2025 This Christmas party table is just a small part of our party celebration. We got into having a Christmas party when we were dating. When we were in college we took ashtrays from Arby’s to make ornaments. We bought store bought cookies and I made a couple of cookies that I knew by heart. We gathered our friends the first Saturday after the Thanksgiving weekend. Had a few friends bring their guitars and we say sang Christmas songs. We continued having it on that first Saturday after we got married until my body gave out. I miss making as many candies, cookies, dips and appetizers in one week as I could. The only item I started before that week was I soaked my stemmed cherries in rum for a couple of weeks. People couldn’t believe I did everything in a week. I couldn’t have done it without my kids and husband taking up the slack and helping me or doing my duties around the house. We would get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and started decorating our tree and home. We cut down a tree if we could find a tree farm; if not it was a non-profit place. The last thirteen years we have decorated an artificial tree. I always was sick when we had our party and it took forever for me to realize it was the Christmas tree making me sick. I would get a sinus infection that always turned into bronchitis or worse. Previous Next

Books written by Kimberly Caristi The Diner Life is hard and worst of all lonely for Sandra. You wouldn't know it because she doesn't let the struggles she has define her. She has a smart and level head on her shoulders. When Dante comes along he tries to make her think with her heart instead of her head. Possibilities Dorothy or Dart is an amazing singer with perfect pitch who grows up in an amusement park. Dart's life take so many different directions it's is hard for her family to keep up. Each possibility leads her to new heights but she can't always see what is in front of her face. Dart is lucky to have people who can help guide her to open her heart. The Winds of Wyoming Jolene has a real love of horses and learning. Jolene is brought up in a well to do family that thinks women should only do lady-like things and marry within their class. She leaves home to attend college in Wyoming much to her parents' dismay. There she finds herself, her husband and her true calling through read books. Crow's Nest Tessa is an over ambitious young woman. She turns over her father's farm to an organic farm, becomes a chef, competes in a competition of young chefs, opens a restaurant, raises pekin ducks and emus. She has one great fling and one drunken night in Italy which is life altering. Tessa sees love all around her but thinks she will never find that one true love. My Daughter thinks I Ruined her Life Ellie hasn't had an easy life. The one solace in her life is her art. A promise that she made to a dying friend has her working very hard on her art. Her life revolves around her daughter and her art and she doesn't know how to communicate well with people until she meets Lorenzo in Florence. He shows her that life can be more than her daughter and her art. My Mother Ruined My Life A fifteen-year-old girl thinks her mother ruins her life when the mother keeps changing their life situation, being a scatter brain, and too busy with her work. It takes a grandmother figure to help her figure out her mother did everything to give her a life she wanted. Life is....so Many Things Tanzi is a passionate chef who waits tables more than she cooks. After losing her boyfriend and the restaurant she is working in closed she travels to Italy with her dad and meets Kyle and Phillip. She falls for one then realizes that she loves the other. She comes to the conclusion that she needs to straighten out her life before she gets into another failed relationship. My Summer Adventure A shy 15-year-old girl finds an unwanted visitor in her tree house. Something in Ned makes Sam want to protect him. The two bond of the love of art and poetry. My Summer Adventure is a coming-of-age story about love, loyalty, and the courage to protect those who matter most. A Club I Never Wanted to Join A widow decides to live out her husband's dream of living in Italy. She goes for three months. She finds healing, herself and love again.

< Back Pane di Como Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 35 to 40 minutes Serves: 2 loaves Level: medium About the Recipe Ingredients ¾ cup (180 grams) Biga 1 1 ½ cups water, room temperature ½ cup (65 grams) whole-wheat flour 3 to 3 ¼ cups (435 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons (10 grams) salt Preparation By Hand Cut the starter into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. Add all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of the water and mix until the starter is in fine shreds and the liquid is chalky white. Stir in the whole-wheat flour and most of the all-0ppurpose flour, 1 cup at a time. When the dough is a fairly rough and shaggy mass, stir in the salt dissolved in the remaining water. Knead on a floured surface, sprinkling with up to ½ cup additional flour and using the dough scraper to scrape up the fine film of dough that will accumulate on the work surface, as well as to turn and lift the dough. After about 5 minutes of kneading, slam the dough down hard several times to help develop the gluten. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth, a total of 8 to 12 minutes. The dough should still be soft, moist, and sticky. By Mixer Mix the starter and all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of the water with the paddle in a large mixer bowl. Mix in the flours and then the salt dissolved in the remaining water. Change to the dough hook and knead at medium speed until soft, moist, and sticky but obviously elastic, and 4 minutes. Finish kneading by hand on a floured surface, sprinkling with additional flour, until smooth but still soft. By Processor Refrigerate the starter until cold. Process the starter and 1 ½ cups of cold water with the steel blade and remove to another bowl. Change to the dough blade and process the flours and salt with 2 or 3 pulses to sift. With the machine running, pour the starter mixture through the feed tube as quickly as the flour can absorb it. Process 30 to 45 seconds longer to knead. The dough will be moist and sticky. Finish kneading by hand on a floured surface, sprinkling with additional flour, until the dough is smooth but still soft. First Rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, 1 ½ to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it has numerous bubbles and blisters under the skin. Shaping and Second Rise. Divide the dough in half on a floured surface without kneading it. Shape into 2 round loaves. Let them relax under a cloth for 20 minutes. Line baking sheets or peels with parchment paper and flour the paper generously. Roll each ball into a fat cylinder and place seam side down on the paper. Dimple the loaves all over with your fingertips or knuckles, as for focaccia, to keep the dough from springing up. The dough should feel delicate but extremely springy. Cover the loaves and let rise until doubled, with many visible air bubbles, 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours (or put is a cool place or refrigerate overnight.) Baking . If I put it in the refrigerator I take it out and let it come to room temperture and let it rise some more around thirty minutes to an hour. I take my cloth off as soon as I take it out of the fridge and wet it again with warm water then cover the loaves again. Thirty minutes before baking, heat the oven with a baking stone in it to 425 F. Sprinkle the baking stone with cornmeal... Carry the peel or baking sheet to the oven and very gently invert the dough onto the stone, gently remove the parchment paper. Immediately reduce the heat to 400 F and bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. (I baked them on the baking sheet) Cool on racks. Variation sometimes I add a teaspoon of Malt Barley to this recipe. It adds a nice flavor. I buy it on Amazon because no one carries it around here. It is used in beer making. Previous Next

< Back Lemon Artichoke Risotto Prep Time: 40 minutes Cook Time: about 30 minutes Serves: 6 Level: easy About the Recipe Lemon Artichoke risotto goes well with seafood. Pictured here is grilled Tuna steaks but grill shrimp is delicious too. It is easy to make it just takes a bit of time and stirring to make it wonderful. Ingredients 8 cups canned low-salt chicken or veggie stock olive oil about 3 to 4 tablespoons 2 cups finely chopped onions, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice 2/3 cup dry white wine one lemon, zested and juiced one can artichokes, quartered then third 2/3 cup grated Romano Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional Preparation In a heavy large saucepan add olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. (In the picture I didn’t have shallots which is my preferred onion in making risotto.) Stir in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes. Push the rice out the edge making a two-inch hole add the garlic, sauté for a minute. Add the wine; cook until the liquid is absorbed, stirring continuously, about 2 minutes. Add a couple of ladles of hot stock; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding more stock by the ladle full and stirring often, about 28 minutes (the rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of stock plus you don’t want to overcook the rice. You want it al’ dente but not chalky.) Mix in the Romano cheese, artichoke, lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Previous Next

< Back Almond Tea Bread (w/ poppy seed) Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: one hour Serves: 2 loafs Level: easy About the Recipe Ingredients 2 1/4 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 1/8 cup oil 3 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 baking powder 1 1/2 cup milk 2 Tablespoons canned poppy seed 1 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla, almond extract and butter flavoring Glaze: 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup orange juice 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla, almond extract and butter flavoring Preparation Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans. Cream together first three ingredients. Add 1 1/2 cup milk alternating with flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Add 2 Tablespoons canned poppy seed, 1 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla, almond extract and butter flavoring. Beat 2 minutes. Divide between the two pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. In a small saucepan combine the glaze ingredients. Boil for 1 minute. Glaze bread with this mixture while still warm. We usually start cooking the sauce when the bread comes out of the oven then after the minute of boiling we pour it over the bread. You can get canned poppy seeds in the pie filling section. It will change the flavor and dynamics of the bread. Previous Next

< Back Garlic-Glazed Chicken Pizza Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 10 to 12 minutes Serves: Serves 4 to 6 as a main course, or 8 to 10 as a starter Level: easy About the Recipe This pizza is a family favorite and anyone who likes garlic will go crazy for it. I got this recipe from my brother who was my hero...not just because he gave me this recipe. It is wonderful hot or cold though I might be the only person who likes cold pizza :-) Ingredients ¼ cup sesame seeds 1 head garlic, peeled, and coarsely chopped * 2 teas crushed dried red chili peppers ½ cup soy sauce 1-½ cups rice wine vinegar * ¾ cup vegetable oil ¼ cup chopped green onions 5 Tabls honey 5 boned and skinned chicken breast halves, cut into bit sized pieces 2 cups (about 8 oz) grated Gruyere cheese 1 cup (about 4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese Your favorite pizza dough Preparation Put the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat. Toast the seeds, stirring or shaking the pan, until golden, about 4 minutes. Empty onto a plate to cool. Reserve. Combine the garlic, crushed red pepper, soy sauce, honey, and vinegar in a bowl, reserve. Heat ¼ cup of the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté chicken until opaque on all sides, about 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and reserve. Pour the garlic mixture into the skillet and cook over med-high–heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce is reduced to a consistency of syrup, about 15 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the pieces are lightly glazed, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and reserve. Brush your dough with vegetable oil, then top with a layer of each of the cheeses and the glazed chicken, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle with the green onions. Pour a little of the liquid on the pizza. Bake in Preheated oven (500) for 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds, slice and serve immediately. *You can substitute half the amount balsamic or red wine vinegar (3/4 cup) and the other half water (3/4 cup) plus provolone for the gruyere *I have used as little as ½ head but no less. You need that garlic to make the dish Previous Next