Pizza Pizza

Most pizza recipes probably start out with a recipe for dough....but not mine!

I've made my own dough using a bunch of different recipes.

It's a lot of mess. Not really work, but mess with all the flower and the rolling and the waiting. Okay, so it's the waiting that I don't like.

My solution, and Mom I'm sure is proud of me for this, is to simply buy pre-made dough.

Oh! The Horror!

Oh - chill out. You usually buy pasta from A STORE. It's much easier and once you find one you like it makes pizza night way more fun that slaving over dough. I live in the South so I have Harris Teeter's all around and their dough is great. You could also go to a local pizza shop and buy some from them. Just don't buy it frozen unless you want to wait two days for it to thaw.
 

Now that you have procured the dough, let's talk about what makes this not-quite-homemade recipe so good. It's the sauce. My sister, AD, came up with this recipe and I've stolen it and I love it and I don't feel the least bit sorry. I will credit her with the title:

 

Adrienne's Awesome Pizza Sauce

1 Stick Boar's Head Pepperoni. *It Must Be This Pepperoni*

1 Large Can Plain Tomato sauce

1 tsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves Garlic

1/4 of an onion, diced finely

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste. I use about a teaspoon

Pre-heated pizza stone in a 400 degree oven or, in a pinch, aluminum covered baking sheet with something non-stick on it. I usually sprinkle grits on the pan as well.  Just a little. 

 

Heat up the Oil on Medium in a Medium sized Sauce pan. Soften the onion. You don't want it to brown too much.

 

Dice the pepperoni into discs and then quarters. (Like a pizza!) Put about 1/3 of it into the pan with the softening onion and oil. As the pepperoni starts to brown, add the garlic for just a minute or two.   I leave the garlic cloves whole and let it cook with the sauce, being careful not to ladle it on to the pizza.

 

 

Take off the heat, let it stop sizzling. Add the Can of Tomato Sauce and the Red Pepper Flakes. Stir.  Cook uncovered on low for as long as you can stand it. Let it bubble and stir occasionally - tomato sauce has a lot of sugar and will burn quickly if you don't babysit a little. You'll smell the difference when it changes from a raw tomato smell to a cooked, saucy (yeah! Saucy!) smell. Maybe an hour. If you don't want to wait that long, well, then, don't! Give it at least 20 minutes though.

 

While that's going on, you can prep the pizza dough, get out the cheese, etc.

 

This sauce is enough for two good sized pizzas.

 

I roll out the crusts, CAREFULLY place on the ATOMICALLY HOT pizza stone. Then brush with olive oil and poke holes with a fork. Bake for 5-10 minutes, just before it starts to rise.

Remove from oven. (duh!)

 

Top with sauce, cheese, the rest of the pepperoni, and whatever else you like. I use mozzarella and the cheap-o Italian blend. About half a package of each. 

 

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melting and crust is cooked.

 

 

I often just make one pizza and then save the sauce for next time. Makes pizza night CRAZY easy when you have homemade sauce ready to go.


 

Hope you like it!

It's cold out and I want soup

A family favorite is Cheap Italian Vegetable Soup. Sounds like we are saying Italians are cheap....let's change the name to Easy Italian Vegetable Soup. No, wait, that's no good either.

How about...

Simple Italian Vegetable Soup

In a medium sauce pot...

• Small amount of olive oil
• Brown some garlic and remove it
• Brown a diced onion
• Add water - as much as you like says Mom. Amanda says 2/3 of the way to the top of the pot.
• Add small can of tomato sauce. We like it plain plain plain so we can add our own spices, but do as you like
• If you are going to add pasta- bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta.
• Add can of mixed vegetables
• Heat through

We used canned veggies to keep it cheap. I mean easy. Darnit, I mean SIMPLE. Feel free to use a bag of frozen mixed veggies if you're feeling wild and crazy.

If you're planning to freeze the soup, then boil the noodles separately. I know....TWO pots?!?! But, if you freeze the soup with noodles in it then you get mush.

Mom's version of an old Weight Watchers classic...Taco Soup.  It is so easy and done in one pot!  One Pot!!!  Brown the meat, drain the fat, open seasonings packets pour in and stir, open cans of veggies and beans, pour in everything including the liquids, and stir.  Could not be easier.

 

Healthy Easy Taco Soup

• 1 large jar of northern beans
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 lb ground beef - browned and drained

1 can of water if you like more broth (Amanda adds about half a can.)

Brown and drain the beef - add everything else and cook 10-15 minutes

 

Even better with a little cheese, but that is pretty much true of everything in life.  Food, jokes, whatever.  You can use this for company by "dressing it up" put out bowls of toppings like 

chopped onion and tomatoes, shredded cheddar, and /or sour cream(or Greek yogurt) and taco chips - looks and tastes like a big deal and not much work or expense.

 

 

Stay warm out there!  Especially you folks in the Great White North of Michigan. 

 

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

Pumpkin is a family nickname for our cutest members.  We were all the cutest at one point but, frankly, we all aged out.  Except for our dogs.  Our dogs are always pumpkins.

Sometimes originality is overrated - it's oh so typical to have a pumpkin recipe during the fall but it's oh so good. So enjoy going with the crowd and enjoy this recipe. 

Trust me on spices and don't use a pre-made pumpkin pie spice for this bread. Or for anything really! Buy the cloves and ginger (I'm assuming you already have cinnamon). We complain every season about then having cloves and ginger in our spice cupboard for the rest of the year, yet by the time we need it to make bread and pies for next season, it's gone bad OR has somehow been used. (Ginger crisis of Christmas 2010 for example. Disaster narrowly averted by less-old ginger procured from Nonnie's spice collection.) Plus the pre-made pumpkin pie spices usually have nutmeg in them, and nutmeg is gross. Truth. 

**Update - I found a pumpkin pie spice I really like and Penzy's.  I used it fall of 2012 and the bread came out great.

 

The recipe below makes 4 loaves of bread. Don't even bother trying to half the recipe. Just don't. If by some chance of fate your entire social network is away and you have left over bread, then just freeze it. To pay homage to Steel Magnolias it "Freezes Beautifully".

Pumpkin Bread

2 Cups Granulated sugar

2 Cups Dark brown sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Cup Unsweetened applesauce

6 Large Eggs

2 16 oz cans Solid packed pumpkin (not the seasoned or pie stuff, just plain.  2 15 oz cans is ok, too)

2 Tsp Ground cloves

1 Tbl Ground cinnamon

2 Tsp Ground ginger

2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Powder

2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (I usually throw in a little more b/c I like vanilla!)

6 Cups Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.   Slightly different sized pans are okay.
 

Beat sugars and oil in a large LARGE bowl to blend. Mix in eggs, pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla.

Sift flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture 1 cup or so at a time. (Apologies for needing two bowls, but cleaning up a bowl that just had the dry ingredients in it isn't too bad.)

 

Pour into prepared loaf pans. 

 

Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  We usually rotate the pans about half way through and end up taking it out about 5 minutes early b/c we like it really dense.  We also just let it cool in the pans.

Remember, makes FOUR loaves.

Once Around the Bowl

Family Cookbooks are Lame
But not mine!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom, Linda, and I have been talking about putting together a cookbook for quite a while now so I'm starting here with a blog to gauge interest and to have some fun.  My mother is the best cook in the world.  I'm sure your mom/dad/chef friend/grandparent/aunt/uncle/cousin/sister/brother or even you yourself are also great cooks.  However, my mom is better.  Truth. 

The challenge is that we live far away AND that her methods of cooking are more art than science.  The people who have asked her for recipes, and that's pretty much everyone who has ever eaten something she's made, are frequently baffled and disappointed when they go home and it whatever they make doesn't turn out like my mother's. 
Here are some common reponses my mom gives when receiving these complaints:
"It's not Rocket Science."
"Well you make it ten thousand times and I'm sure yours will be excellent as well."
"Make it how you like it.  I don't know how much <insert spice> is right for you.  I make it how I like it."

My reply to that last one is always "I like it how you make it!  How much <insert spice> do you use?"

Sigh.

See where I'm going with this?  My mom is an artist who can't be tamed.  Well I am going to attemp the impossible, dream the impossible dream, and try to bottle magic.  Or at the very least, get it down on (virtual) paper.

End of Summer Salad

 

One of the dishes that gets the most OOOhs and AAAhs is her Hot Salad.  For our fancy yet-to-be-written cook book we're going to call it "End of Summer Salad". Yes....OOOh and AAAh indeed!  The dressing is nothing but oil, water, and magic.  When asked how much oil to use, the answer is:

 Once Around the Bowl!