The only thing I am not too keen on is the washing up area. When I cook I tend to use a lot of equipment and sure, I clean as I go, but I need more counter space by the sink so I can a) Stack dishes to be done and b) have a draining board area where they can drip dry while I am busy doing other stuff
For more Kitchen Eye Candy:
After a hectic week at work it is nice to unwind with a ooey, gooey slice of home made pizza fresh out of the oven. As you well know, I usually make my own pizza crust but sometimes it is nice to rely on Helpers! I bought some Pizza shells at Real Canadian Superstore, I had some Yves Pizza Pepperoni and an assortment of cheeses on hand but truly lacked in the veggie department except for one yellow and one red pepper. Normally I would also use green pepper, spinach and tomatoes. Oh, but I did have a handful of mushrooms tucked away in one of the crisper drawers; I know, shocking that they weren’t in a Tupperware container, right? I blame it on lack of space in the very impractical fridge in my current kitchen.
Anyway, I had enough ingredients to throw together three pizzas so there will be some tasty cold pizza for lunch tomorrow!
Pizza Shells
1/2 425g can Tomato Sauce
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon of “The Mix” or Italian Seasoning
1 package Yves Pizza Pepperoni
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan Cheese
Olive Oil
1 large Onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoon Garlic, minced
1 each Yellow Pepper, Red Pepper, sliced into thin strips
6 large Mushrooms, sliced
Basil
Oregano
Chili Flakes
Preheat oven to 450F.
Line pizza pans with LFoil for super easy clean up. Sprinkle with a bit of cornmeal.
In large skillet, saute onion in a bit of olive oil, over med-high heat for about 3 minutes.
Add garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Add sliced peppers and cook until tender crisp.
While onion/pepper mix is cooking, mix together in a small bowl the tomato sauce, tomato paste and herbs.
Evenly spread the sauce over each of the pizza shells.
Top two of the pizzas with Yves Pizza Pepperoni.
Top one pizza with loads of the pepper/onion mixture along with the sliced mushrooms; reserve a little of the pepper/onion mixture to top the other two pizzas.
Top each pizza with some of each cheese.
Spread remaining pepper/onion mixture evenly over the other two pizzas.
Top each pizza with a sprinkling of dried basil, oregano and chili flakes.
Bake each pizza for 15 minutes in 450F preheated oven.
Slide pizza off baking tray, let cool for about 5 minutes then slice into wedges.
Serve hot!
Though cold Pizza is always pretty decent too!
Throw on a pot of rice.
While the rice is cooking sautee:
Onion, for a few minutes
Add some minced Garlic; cook for another few minutes.
Grate in a bit of Ginger root.
While that is cooking away, thinly slice a few peppers: red, green, yellow
Slice a handful of ‘shrooms.
Break flowerettes off of a head of Cauliflower as well as some Broccoli
Wash all under cold running water, drain well.
Throw into pan and cook over high heat until tender crisp.
Add strips of Yves “Beef” Strips
Add a generous amount of bottled Teriyaki Sauce (1/2 cup) and heat through.
Serve immediately on a bed of hot Rice with Sesame Seeds to garnish.
What to do when you have heaps of turkey leftover from that Holiday meal? Turkey a la King is always a great option!
½ cup Butter
1 small Green Pepper, chopped
6 fresh Mushrooms, sliced
½ cup Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Pepper
½ teaspoon ground Sage
½ teaspoon ground Thyme
1 McCormick Vegetable Stock Cube
1 ½ cups Milk
1 ¼ cups Chicken Broth
2 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey
3 cups hot cooked Rice or Egg Noodles
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook bell pepper and mushrooms in butter, stirring occasionally, until bell pepper is crisp-tender.
Stir in flour, sage, thyme, salt and pepper.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbly; remove from heat.
Stir in milk and broth along with vegetable stock cube.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
Boil and stir 1 minute.
Stir in chicken or turkey; cook until hot.
Serve over rice.
It has been a long day at work and the last thing you want to do is cook, right? Quesadillas are a quick fix, add a handful of not-s0-g00d-for-you Tater Tots, a side salad and consider dinner done in the amount of time it takes to bake those Tater Tots!
Turn oven on the 425F.
Lightly spray baking tray with vegetable oil spray.
Put tater tots on tray, put them in the oven; when the oven reaches 425F turn timer on to 20 minutes.
In large Skillet, sautee:
1 Onion, thinly sliced; cook until soft and translucent
While Onion is cooking, de seed and thinly slice:
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
Add to onion and cook over high heat, stirring often.
Add:
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Cook for a few minutes, while grating about
1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese
Heat Griddle to 350F.
I have one of those long Griddles and can cook 3 – 4 Quesadillas at a time.
Place 3 – 4 Flour Tortillas, slightly over lapping, on Griddle.
Put about 1/2 cup of the Pepper mix on one half of the end Tortilla, sprinkle with Grated Cheddar and fold in half.
Proceed until all 3 – 4 Tortillas are “stuffed” and folded over.
Cook until lightly browned, turn over and continue cooking until second side is lightly browned.
Continue with remaining Flour Tortillas and Pepper Mixture.
As the Quesadillas are removed from Griddle, cut each into wedges.
Serve with Tater Tots, a Side Salad and some Salsa on the side.