Ok, so it has been pretty hot here in Denver. It's certainly not Houston hot (surface of the sun) but I have definitely been uncomfortable in the afternoons. A few weeks ago, after an especially hot trip to HomeGoods, I discovered the lemonade at Panera. I was instantly hooked and had to have more. I went back the next day and the next day...you see where this is headed. After about ten straight days of Panera lemonade I decided that I needed to cut back a little bit. I had to find a way to make my own lemonade at home!
I found several simple lemonade recipes online and borrowed from a few to create my own. It's the perfect cool-down for these hot August days!
Lemonade
1 3/4 cups sugar
7 cups water
1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and stir continuously to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Cover and place in refrigerator until chilled.
Remove seeds but leave pulp in lemon juice. In a large pitcher, stir chilled syrup, lemon juice and 6 cups of water.
I have obviously been on a pizza kick lately. I guess the baby is a fan!
When I was at UT in Austin I used to love Double Dave's, especially their yummy Peproni Rolls. I probably ate way too many of these but man, they were so good! There are no Double Dave's locations in Denver so I decided to make my own. I searched for an authentic recipe but was not successful. I winged it because really, how hard complicated could pepperoni rolls be? My favorite pizza dough recipe, a few slices of Boar's Head pepperoni and some mozzarella chunks were all I needed to recreate a favorite! They made for a delicious Sunday night treat!
I used mozzarella cheese but you could also use smoked provolone.
Pepperoni Rolls
makes 8 rolls
1 ball pizza dough
4 large slices pepperoni, cut in half
8 pieces of mozzarella cheese, sliced lengthwise into 4 inch long "sticks"
1 large egg, combine with 1 tablespoon water to form egg wash
Parmesan cheese for topping
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
On a flour dusted surface, roll out pizza dough into a rectangle, approximately 20 inches by 10 inches. Use a pizza cutter to divide the dough horizontally and then vertically into 4 smaller rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally so that you end up with a total of 8 triangles.
At the top (widest part) of each triangle, place 1 mozzarella stick on top of 1 piece of pepperoni. Roll the dough down over the cheese and pepperoni until you can fold the tip over the entire roll. Stretch the 2 ends out and under the roll. Carefully pinch close any holes to make sure that no cheese melts out during baking.
Space the rolls out evenly on a cookie or baking sheet, lightly greased or covered in parchment paper. Generously brush each roll with the egg wash. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden brown. While still warm, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
