header picture

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Sometimes it’s Pizza for Dinner


Sometimes I get frustrated. Trying to do it all and having to compromise in everything that I do. I feel like I’m doing the best I can – which is not good enough to me – because I want to do everything perfectly. But in reality I find that I’m not giving enough attention to my kids, not investing as much as I want to in my work, I haven’t opened the mail in the past two weeks (besides paying the bills), haven’t said a word to my husband since he got home, and I’m cutting corners like crazy when I cook. Ohh, and the list goes on and on. Sounds familiar?

As much as I love to cook – and I do, very much – and I got more than 117 cookbooks and a zillion food magazines around me, sometime I have no idea what I’m going to cook for dinner. This is how I came up with the weekly meal plan! But every now and then it’s… pizza for dinner. Ok, this is why it is a weekly meal plan and not a monthly meal plan.

BUT, I have good news. I am not going to give you a phone number to call for pizza when you are stuck without dinner. Today we’ll discuss not just any “pizza” but an upgraded pizza.
Here’s the thing.
I always have frozen pizza in my freezer that I buy at Trader Joe’s. Good planning so far! I tried all kinds of brands but this one is good and worthwhile cost-effective-wise. I use it as a base and add all kinds of good stuff on top. 10-12 minutes in the oven. A salad. And there you have it – dinner.
Kids can help too with the “cooking”. They can chop veggies for the salad and scatter the toppings. Very easy to do and they love it. Young kids can do it too.


This is the sad looking store bought pizza.



Which can be turned into this…


Or this...


How?


Pizza #1
Black and green olives, chopped/sliced
Mozzarella, cut to small pieces
Always add salt and black pepper
Tomato, chopped, without seeds and juice (so pizza doesn’t get soggy)

Thyme
Parmesan, grated
Toasted pine nuts (in a 350 F oven for a few minutes)

Pizza #2
Green olives, sliced
Crimini mushrooms, washed quickly and chopped/sliced
Thyme, leaves only
Feta, crumbled
Mozzarella, diced
Always add salt and black pepper
Parmesan, grated

Bake according to reheating instructions on the pizza package or until cheeses melt.

Sometimes I drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or truffle oil before serving.

For more toppings ideas, look in your fridge and use leftovers and ingredients who are about to expire soon.

2 comments:

Cakespy said...

Yum! Way to make what could be just a halfhearted dinner into something truly unique and delicious! Good work!

Vered said...

Looks good. I think I will still serve the boring cheese pizza to my little picky eaters, but upgrade the grownups' pizza.