Make and Bake Pizza

Delicioso Pizza almost from scratch!

Pizza is one of our staples so I am always looking for an angle and with this simple feast -- I've found it!

My kids ( the toughest critics around) loved it too! Now that is worth every bite!

Your secret ingredient is the pizza dough. Mine is from Trader Joes but I have it on good authority that you can buy dough straight from your favorite pizzeria for about a dollar. With piled high ingredients you get the fullness of deep dish without the deep dish!

My ingredient's:

Sweet italian sausage - removed from casing, crumbled in a hot pan and cooked through.

Brown mushrooms, stems removed and sliced lenghthwise.

Pepperoni - prepackaged slices, cut in half.

1/2 6 oz. can Tomato paste- doctored up with fresh garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.

Let the layering begin:

On a par baked pizza crust round add the sauce to make a generously even layer over all but the crust.

Add on the goodies; a nice thick layer of shredded mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms and lay them on thick! Top with a little more mozzarella and bake as the dough directs, mine suggests 400 for about 10 minutes.

Serve with your favorite side salad and you've got it made!

Satsumas

Isn't this time of year the best? Satsumas (and all the other amazing tangerines) are at the ready. I could buy five pounds and they'd disappear in just as many days. My Dear is the biggest culprit and his minion, our youngest, is right behind him.

They are beautiful and tasty and belong in a salad, right next to the pomegranates and walnuts, don't ya think?

Baked Eggs in Individual Cups

We started a quiet morning with beloved Streusel muffins and baked eggs. My Dad was an egg guy. A master of omelettes and one who loved a poached egg on corned beef hash and occasionally, a shirred egg in the right restaurant. This morning I was musing about the tenderness of the well-cooked egg and thought about baked eggs.

Keep it simple.

Heat an oven to 325 degrees and place individual ramekins in a pyrex or other oven-loving baking dish. Carefully fill the baking dish and not the ramekins so the water comes to about the 3/4 mark. 

Now, enjoy inventing:

• use either a bit of butter or cooking spray in each ramekin to ensure easy removal
• break an egg into the dish and add a touch of salt 
• chose your favorites: shredded cheese (I used some jalapeno jack), roasted tomatoes or peppers, sauteed mushrooms, onions, panko breadcrumbs, croutons perhaps, the whole grain on this one is hemp 

Place in the oven and bake. About 20 minutes to tender but set. Check as you go. I finished one of the eggs in the broiler to brown the cheese for my cheese lover. You'll add lots of individual touches and I bet you can come up with lots of wonderful ideas. Like Caesar Eggs for the anchovy lover.

Ooooh! I'm excited to hear what you might do with just an egg and a ramekin!

Do share.

Kale Salad, again

Kale Salad for breakfast.
The Kale Salad recipe with berries and a whole pomegranate, raisins and nuts and Oh! La! La!

We loved this at our New Year's Brunch.