The "Pepper-Upper": mozzarella, spinach, roasted bell pepper and banana peppers

Grilled Peaches

Grilled peach half, a tiny bit of brown sugar, butter, pinch of salt. Topped with mascarpone cheese and balsamic glaze. I had two of these as my dinner.

Panini on the Grill Pan

Currently obsessed with panini...

I used to go into panini shops and order without the butter... This may work in restaurants, but don't do it at home. What you get without butter is a crunchy toasted cheese sandwich, and it burns too quickly (before the inside gets melted). You have to spread the bread with butter to get that flaky crust, and keep the bread from burning too soon. I use spreadable butter (like Land O' Lakes Light Butter), and not margarine, because, well, margarine isn't food. You can use any bread you like and get a pretty good result, but with hard-crusted bread (like focaccia or french rolls) you should turn them soft-side out, and butter the inside as the outside. I like to use the Pane Turano slices.

I use my grill pan. I don't have a weight, so I put a piece of aluminum foil on the top and set my cast-iron dutch oven on top - about 2 minutes on one side, flip, repeat.

For fillings, I like mozzarella (either fresh or shrink-wrapped work fine), but I've used gouda and even taco shreds and gotten a good result. I like tomato slices, basil, and roasted red pepper in mine, but sky's the limit. Prosciutto is a good meaty addition, or bacon.

By the way, the chips in the photo are baked Kettle brand BBQ... Best baked chips I've ever had (and by that, I mean they taste fried)!

Tweaking the Pizza on the Grill

Okay, I'm getting really good at this, and I have to make some notes on what I've been doing: 425 degrees on the stone for 6.5 minutes. Instant polenta underneath for motion... You need some corn meal to slide the pizza off the peel, and onto the pre-heated stone on the grill. I've used stone-ground coarse corn meal, and it's like eating a pizza that's been dropped onto gravel. The instant polenta still has the ball-bearing effect, doesn't burn (like breadcrumb does), and isn't crunchy.

I used Trader Joe's whole-wheat pizza dough. I keep a bunch in the freezer and thaw them on the counter in the bag. The dough ball HAS to be room temperature, and if it is wet and tacky, it has to be well-floured all around before stretching. Then the peel has to be floured, and then a light coating of corn meal spread on. I build the pizza right on the peel. Don't wait too long - it will begin to stick, so get it on the grill.

This temperature is perfect. The dough will cook and rise before the bottom blackens. I check it at about 6 minutes. My grill has a thermometer on the hood. Not as hot: dough doesn't cook. Too hot: blackened crust.

This pizza is topped with mushroom sauce, and leftover sauteed spinach that I had cooked with garlic and onions. The cheese is a shredded mix, with parmesan and Italian herb seasoning added (gives it that pizza flavor). Lastly, I added basil from the garden after cooking.

Roasted red pepper, cherry tomato, garlic and shiitake pizza on the grill.

Made in my backyard, in more ways than one. :)