Conference turris::cooks

    Mugs of soup.

    not a bad idea... i have a recipe for ministrone that would go well!
    
    i am a bit depressed as i totalled my list for the store and found this
    adventure to be about 30.00.  a bit high for five pizzas no?
    
    any other ideas for a quick, informal get together?  its for new years
    day and i'm sure people will be tired and not in the mood to have to
    serve and prepare things for themselves.  it will also be in the early
    evening.  that is why i thought of pizza.  all you have to do with pizza 
    is eat it!
    

	RE: .1 -- That's a good idea.

	I wouldn't serve anything with cheese for appetizers.  If you wanted
	to stay in the Italian theme, you could serve minestrone or the
	escarole and little meatball soup.  Or you could steam some mussels
	with garlic, wine, and Italian spices.  Or you could make a big
	antipasto salad with salami, prosciutto, provolone wedges, roasted
	and vinegar peppers, artichoke hearts, black olives, and little
	sardines or anchovies.

	Just a few thoughts....

	Other ideas... well, if you want less expensive, you need to cut
	back on the expensive items (cheese and meat).  Spaghetti and
	meatballs is a little less expensive since pasta is relatively
	cheap and quite filling.  You don't need more than 2 pounds of
	meatballs is your only feeding 10 people (I'm figuring 10 people
	since you were talking 5 pizzas at 1/2 pizza/person)

	But, if you have 10 people and you spend $30, then $3/person is
	not bad!

	You could always do subs.  Take a couple of large loafs and
	french bread, build subs, slice and serve with chips.  Easy 
	and quicker than pizza but I'm not sure there are any cost
	savings to this.

	I think that your pizza idea might be the best, with nice
	antipasto salad (my preference).  I looked at what you plan
	and I can't see it costing more than $20.  Sure, you have to
	buy all those different cheeses with cost $2-3 apiece but 
	you won't use all, except for the mozzarella.  Add on the
	antipasto though and you're up to $30.

	Well, whatever!  Have a good time.

	Karen

    
    
    Any ideas on how to keep pizza low fat?  Alot of people are starting
    new year resolutions and weren't too happy to hear "pizza" be the main
    attraction at the party! :(
    
    Unfortunately for them, I am not changing my mind.  I agree that all in
    all its inexpensive for the pizzas and love the idea of the soup and
    salad.
    
    cj

    Have a "make your own" party... prepare the dough and individual foil
    or pie pans... lotsa peppers, onion, broccoli, sumer squash, carrots,
    shrimp, .. just about anything.. buy shreded lowfat cheese... and let
    thier own minds determine what to do

	To cut down fat in pizza, cut down on the fatty toppings like
	sausage, pepperoni, and hamburg.  Sautee (or poach if you really
	want to be low fat!) some thin strips of boneless chicken breast
	instead.

	Increase veggies (as suggested in .6).  The veggies I've added to 
	pizza -- besides the basic green pepper, mushroom, onion, and black 
	olive combination -- are spinach, quartered artichoke hearts, and
	roasted red peppers.  You could also try eggplant.

	Get the take out menu for Ciro's or Bertucci's.  They have some
	interesting pizzas...

    thanks so much for the great replies.  
    
    i have actually decided to make smaller pizza crusts (although at the
    moment, i'm clueless as to how with frozen dough and no small pans)
    and change it to the "make your own".
    
    i'm going to buy all low fat cheese, lots of vegies (love the roasted
    red pepper idea) and ... seafood.  i figure i'll have some sauteed
    mussels and scallops.  if we don't put them on the pizza, we will
    always eat them plain.  we also are continuing with the sausage and
    pepperoni because of the "younger folk" who don't know better; yet.
    
    cj
    
    

    Salad always goes well with pizza....
    
    Use cookie sheets for make your own.  1 sheet could hold
    enough pizza for 2 persons, who can decorate each side to their
    liking.....

    One of my favorites, spinach and feta cheese pizza...you only need a
    sprinkling of feta, much less than "cover the top with cheese", so
    it should have less fat.  No red sauce, just lots of garlic, oregano,
    thaw frozen spinach and squeeze it dry.  Makes a nice change from the
    traditional style pizza. I also do this with broccoli and parmesan.
    Since your guests aren't looking for a layer of bubbling cheese, you
    can really go lightly on the cheese and cut the fat to an acceptable
    level. Add lots of garlic, oregano, thyme, rosemary, any strong herbs,
    and it will add more taste.    

    I know it's too late for your party but an excellent low fat pizza
    can be made using cocktail sauce and imitation crab (the flake style)
    with a bit of cheddar cheese (about 4 oz). I made one the other day
    without cheese and it was actually very good.
    
    Keith
    

This menu was terrific for a small gathering of 9 people.  We had the 
mussels as our appetizer.  I put together a basil garlic garlic pesto
type sauce (concentrated) and simmered that with some dry white wine,
butter and a bit of water.  We steamed the mussels for 7 minutes and
served them in their broth and they were fantastic.  

The pizzas I cheated on.  I got some Boboli pie shells and 3 large 
family size ones were just enough.  I cut up too much vegies but what
the heck, they freeze.  On hand were:  pepperoni's, hot sausage crumbled, 
roasted red peppers, raw chopped green peppers, green olives, black 
olives, provolone cheese, mozzerella, romano, parmesean and mild white 
cheddar cheeses all shredded; mushrooms, tomatoes, sliced and diced; and I 
think... that it is!  We just had the people come into the kitchen and give 
their ideas for a pizza and come to find out that most of them wanted 
everything on it so we did a vegie, a meat and vegie and one plain tomato 
and cheese.  Oh yes, don't forget we did have typical red pizza sauce 
simmering on the side.  

We also served a crock full of homemade ministrone soup in mugs.  
(Served with additional grated parmesean cheese course.)

For dessert, we had chocolate chip brownies with and without nuts, pumpkin
pie (real and canned pumpkin), and apple pie.  This was served chocolate 
macadamia nut coffee and real whipped cream.  Optional liquors such as 
kalhua was put on the side for those X-rated coffees.

We have much vegies leftover so I froze them with another un-used pizza 
shell for a midweek dinner in no time at all.  Half the soup was leftover 
but we'll use that up in no time at all.  As for the desserts, most were 
frozen so we'll just have to eat them every night.  Or, have another 
smaller party.

    I just thought that I would add I tried using the Pillsbury all ready
    crust last night and it was the worst crust i have ever used!
    
    I will always buy Boboli if not making my own.  It was flat, soggy and
    salty (the Pillsbury version) which ruined the whole dinner IMHO.
    
    cj

    If your local grocery store sells fresh pizza dough, use that instead
    of the "brand name" stuff which is usually awful, as you found out.
    The Stop and Shop, Star and Edwards markets near me all make their
    own dough and they are all very good, sometimes excellent. They are
    also, for the most part, very low fat according to the nutritional
    info label (something like about 10 grams of fat in the whole pound
    of dough).
    
    Keith
    
    p.s. I tried the low fat cheese the other day and found it burns
         before the crust is anywhere near being done. If you want less
         fat, it's probably easier to just use less cheese but buy a more
         flavorful variety (sharp cheddar, gorgonzola, etc.)
    
    

    All of the low-fat and low-cholesterol cheeses seem to be awful for
    cooking.  Apparently the low fat content is achieved by replacing it
    with something else (which burns before the cheese can melt) or by
    pumping up the cheese with water, which makes a mess if you are trying
    to cook with it.  They are fine for eating (though the low-fat jack
    cheese has a strange off-flavor, every brand I've tried, so we won't
    buy any of them anymore - ycch).  I second the advice to just use less
    of a more-flavorful real cheese on pizza, or use a pizza recipe that
    calls for very little or no cheese.
    
    /Charlotte

    I use the part skim mozzarella.  The cheese will occasionally brown
    a little, but I've never had it burn.

    When in doubt, eat the real stuff and exercise!  :-)

    I've had pretty good luck with the Kraft Healthy Choice (?) brand of
    cheese. These are 50% less fat rather than totally non-fat (which wind
    up not melting right), but at the 50% less fat, better than the "lite"
    verisons, which are only 1/3 less fat. 
    
    We make pizza a couple times a month and have no complaints about the
    Kraft brand. They are in the packages with the red labels. We've tried
    both Mozzerella and Cheddar (for the Mexican pizzas!)
    
    Debbie
    

    If I have a particularly thick (i.e. lots of topping) pizza, I will
    stick the pizza into the oven without the cheese. I allow the toppings
    to cook until almost done, then I haul out the pizza throw on the
    cheese and whack it back in the oven. Its then simple to cook the pizza
    until the cheese has melted (a couple of minutes) but not burned.
    
    You could try this method if you find the low fat cheese burns or
    browns before the pizza has had a chance to cook.
    
    Angus
    PS I tend to buy store prepared Pizza bases, lazy I guess. Although    
    reasonable, they do tend to be a little soft and require a bit of
    cooking.  So, what I do is stick the pizza base in the oven at 200 C   
    (400 F) for about 5 to 10 minutes. I end up with a lovely, warm, crusty 
    pizza base on to which I put my toppings before whacking the whole lot  
    back into the oven.

    I'm one of those unfortunate souls who are lactose intolerant.  I gave
    up on pizza several years ago.
    
    Since then, I've experimented with lactose-free (but still dairy-based)
    cheese.  The (US) brand is Fromagg or something like that.  I could
    only find the Fromagg American cheese.  It tastes ok, a bit less zip
    than the real thing, but it doesn't melt very well.  The thing I really
    miss is nachos, but I'm not very satisfied with my results.
    
    Has anyone tried either dairy-based, lactose-free cheese or soy cheese,
    particularly for pizza, nachos, and other melted foods?
    
    What brands work well?  How do they taste?  Any other tips?
    
    L
    

    re: .19
    
    Laura, I don't have an answer for your question, but I was curious if
    you've ever tried the LactAid that I see advertised for lactose
    intolerant people to use which allows them to each lactose dairy
    products? I thought that solved the problem or is this another case of
    my consumer naivete' showing again? (like in the Eggland fiasco)
    
    Debbie
    

A year or so ago, I gave a box of the lactaid pills to a friend who was lactose
intolerant.  (He always felt bad about having to return things that had 
unexpected lactose servings at restaurants.)  He chuckled when he opened the
present.  About a month later, he was popping a pill and digging into a batch
of cheese dip.  He swears by them, and has not had any bad problems since.

    RE:  .20, .21
    
    I used lactase tablets for several years.  Since giving birth, I found
    they didn't help.  Maybe I just needed more.  I got tired of
    experimenting with my health and just decided to omit dairy completely.
    
    It's like sex - yeah, birth control will prevent pregnancy (usually)
    but if you don't want pregnancy at all, don't have sex.
    
    'Nuff said?
    
    L

    Where is this note going?  No sex, no dairy! Lactose intollerant.. does
    that make one a Lactophobe?  Will they let you in the army?
    
    Sorry got carried away
    
    Bob

	Hmmm, I can imagine life without some things, but I draw the
	line at cream cheese!  :-)

	Cara