END-OF-THE-WEEK PIZZA

An easy and individualized way to use your leftover vegetables (and fruit if you're using tomatoes and pineapple!) is to make homemade pizza.  This is also a great way to get the kids involved in making dinner too.   I try to time end-of-the-week pizza for weeks that I have leftover homemade tomato sauce or pesto.  I've even used leftover peanut sauce for pizza.  To cut time, you can use pre-made crusts, but why would you when you can make easy homemade pizza dough?  While the dough is rising, you can prepare the veggies you want on your pizza.


You can pretty much match any vegetable with any other vegetable, but I've found that taking different ethnic cuisines as guidelines, I can make some really delicious pizzas.  For instance, try making a southwest Tex-Mex pizza with corn, whole black beans, jalapenos, onions, bell peppers and tomatoes.  My favorite is the Thai pizza with Thai-flavor combinations of lime, cilantro, bean sprouts, onions and peanut sauce (which can also be made vegan because it doesn't need cheese to please).   One of my old stand-by pizzas is spinach, wild mushrooms and jalapeno.  What about a Chinese-inspired pizza?  Baby corn, red bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms, green onions and bean sprouts.  Try a mix of your own, and let your family members make their own combination.


Ingredients to try:
fresh spinach
fresh basil (add after baking)
any herb
onion sliced thin
green onions (add after baking)
fresh tomato
sun-dried tomatoes
artichoke hearts
whole black beans
bean sprouts
green beans
jalapeno
olives
corn
pineapple
bell peppers


Sauces to try:
Homemade marinara sauce
Peanut sauce
Pesto (and this can also be vegan if using my recipe for pesto)
Salsa


Cheeses to try:
Goat cheese
Burrata cheese, cut into bite-sized pieces
Bits of brie cheese
Mexican or chihuahua cheese
No cheese






When dough is ready, add pizza toppings, bake at 425 degrees for 11 - 15 minutes, depending on your oven.  You can bake the pizza on a cookie sheet or sheet with a slight lip - it doesn't matter (see photo above).  Place pizzas on a rack to cool (I just use my oven rack on the counter) so as not to get the bottom crust mushy.  What a great way to eat vegetables!

THE MESS DIFFERENCE OF TWO KIDS

If you know me, you know I believe that kids should help in the kitchen as much as possible.  There are the benefits of experience, a sense of accomplishment, and a connection with the food they eat.  However, as any parent knows, there is that little problem of the mess they create while they learn.  It took me a long time and some deep breaths to overcome my mess-phobia, but I have, and I've reaped the benefits of cooking with my kids. 


I wanted to show you the difference between two of my kids:  one is neat and tidy; the other one, not so much.  See the pictures below and see if you can tell which one's which.




CANDIDATE 1:

CANDIDATE 2:

The pants, originally in dark blue.

SESAME PANKO TOFU

 This dish is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  One of my children's favorite meals which they ask for again and again.  Even tofu-haters (haters, stop hating!) like this dish.  If you have a deep fryer, you can use that, but I use my cast iron skillet for almost everything, including frying.

Serve with vegetable fried rice.

Ingredients:

soy sauce

flour

3 eggs

panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons white, black or mixture of sesame seeds (black sesame seeds look more dramatic).

2 tubs of extra firm organic tofu

2 - 4 cups canola oil or other oil for frying.

   In four salad or soup bowls, pour until about half-filled in each bowl and in order:  1) half soy sauce and half water; 2) whole wheat and/or all purpose flour mixture; 3) 3 eggs whisked; 4) panko crumbs mixed with a couple of heaping tablespoons of black and/or white sesame seeds (you can use all white, all black or a mixture).            

Before breading tofu, heat the oil in a cast-iron pan or a fryer.  I turn on my oven fan and heat my canola oil in my cast-iron pan on high until I see wisps of smoke.  While waiting for the oil to heat, quickly bread the tofu, instructions below.

 Slice tofu like a loaf of bread into 1 - 1 1/2 inch slices of tofu.  Soak a few tofu slices in the soy sauce mixture for about a minute.  Then in order, coat in flour, coat in egg, coat in panko.  Place on a cookie sheet, and repeat until all the tofu slices are coated.

With long chopsticks or metal tongs, carefully slip each tofu slice into the hot oil and fry until golden, about 30 seconds, and turn over for about 10 seconds more.  You may have to do 2 or more batches of frying to fit all the slices.

My 13 year old frying the tofu

When the tofu is cooked to golden brown, take them out and place them on some paper towels to soak up the excess oil.  Serve immediately topped with green onions with a side of soy sauce and sriracha.

WHY BREAKING BREAD WITH FRIENDS MATTERS

Almost every Friday night at my house, I have people over for dinner.  I make a big meal and we have a great time.  There's usually a bunch of kids and pets running around in the house, and the activity and noise make me very happy.


When I first started having people over, I'd order take-out.  As I started to cook and wanted my friends to try my dishes, I'd over-plan every meal and try to follow each recipe exactly.  It was stressing me out.  As I've evolved as a cook, I don't stress so much.  I still want everyone to enjoy my cooking, but I'm comfortable with whatever meal I make.  And I surround myself with good people, so when something doesn't turn out that great, we all laugh (just recently on one of these Friday dinners, I made blueberry pie from scratch, but somehow mixed baking soda for corn starch and the pie was bitter and disgusting!  I just opened another bottle of wine and dug up some homemade cookies).


Humans are social creatures.  Our health depends on contact with others.  We know that touching premature babies help them grow.   Studies have shown that talking with one another releases oxytocin, also called the "love hormone".  In fact, people who are socially connected are healthier and live longer than their more isolated peers. 


Yet somehow, many of us are more and more isolated.  We drive alone in our cars, we text instead of chat, we have our earplugs on, we zone out on television.  That's why making a commitment to get together with friends is more important than ever.  Instead of (or in addition to) joining a bowling league, why don't you have some friends over for dinner this weekend?


Don't be afraid to cook for someone.  It's the gift of sitting down, slowing down, talking, laughing to give to your friends.  And even though they may enjoy what you've cooked, they'll remember the camaraderie even more.

EASY VEGETARIAN CASSOULET

This is my go-to dish when I don't have much time to cook but have a lot of people to feed.  Pam Anderson (not that Pam Anderson, but the cookbook writer) is one of my favorite chefs. Her recipes are easy and delicious.   Try to use vegetarian sausages which can be found in the produce section of any major grocery store, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.  Of course you can follow the original recipe and use meat sausages, but at least get organic.

This dish only takes 5 minutes of preparation!  The only chopping is the onion, which you can have done in 8 chops (chop off ends, chop through the middle, chop each half into quarters, and done!) and the garlic (which you can mince in seconds in a garlic mincer).  I serve this with crusty whole wheat bread and shredded carrot salad with my French vinaigrette dressing.  Do you and your family a favor and try this dish.  You won't be disappointed!

Here's a video I found with Pam Anderson and her daughter demonstrating how to make this.  For her written recipe, click here.  To see my friend Kate's blog post which got me started down the Pam Anderson path, click here.