Zucchini & White Bean Pizza (from scratch!)

Another meal that's often hiding in an emptying kitchen, waiting to be made, is pizza. Last week I decided to get ambitious and make my own crust for the first time. It was much easier than I expected, though of course not as easy as pita pizza. I couldn't find much to put on it; then I remembered the chopped zucchini in my freezer and the can of white beans in the pantry. Bingo.


Zucchini and White Bean Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

Directions (ingredients in blue this time)

1. Prepare the crust according to your favorite recipe (I used this one from Andrea Meyers and it worked pretty well), or get out the store-bought crust or pita.
2. Move an oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat the oven to 500 F.
3. Spread tomato sauce (I used Prego onion & garlic this time) on the crust; add diced zucchini and white beans, some oregano and red pepper flakes, and shredded mozzarella.
   
4. Bake for 10-20 minutes - watch for the crust and cheese to start browning.

Note: My future father-in-law makes AWESOME pizza. I'll try to get a guest post from him sometime.

Need-To-Go-Shopping Soup

I don't like to grocery shop, so when the fridge starts emptying out I get creative before I give in and head to Meijer. Usually the ingredients for soup are hiding in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. Here are some ideas for a quick, Italian-inspired "need-to-go-shopping soup." These pictures are from some of the soups I've made in the last year.

Ethiopian Lentil Stew

Last night I was cold and tired, so I wanted something that was a) warm and heavy, and b) made with ingredients I had on hand. Some Googling led me to this recipe from Isa on PostPunkKitchen for Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew. I have never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, much less Ethiopia, but I had an Ethiopian Chickpea soup last month at the Soup Spoon Cafe and it was fantastic. The stew turned out delicious as well.

I didn't have every single ingredient, so I did some substituting, and I tweaked the recipe as I went along. The following recipe is a combination of what I did and what I will do next time. The main differences are: I cooked it a lot longer, used more spices, and substituted some ingredients. It's probably less authentic than the original, but I can't confirm. :) Feel free to try either one. This takes 45 minutes to make if you're organized, fast, and like things crunchy. I recommend letting it cook an extra hour if you have the time. I'll try it in the slow cooker next time and report back!

Veggie Sandwich on Pita

I ate lunch early because I couldn't wait to try this! The recipe is basic, and I think I'll repeat it frequently. To take this to work, I packed the hummus and tomatoes separately so they wouldn't make everything else soggy. I just assembled it at lunchtime. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.

Veggie Sandwich on Pita

Ingredients

• Pita bread cut into pockets
• Hummus
• Sunflower seeds
  
• Thinly sliced cheese (I used Swiss)
• Vegetables in small pieces (I used sliced tomatoes, chopped carrots, and spinach)
• Salt and pepper

Directions

• Lightly toast pita.
• Spread inside of pita with hummus.
• Top with seeds, cheese, and vegetables; season with salt and pepper.

Try substituting other vegetables, cheeses, and spreads - turns out my friend Mia had almost the same thing for lunch today, but with herb cream cheese and some other veggies.

On another note: please forgive the inconsistent formatting! I'm having some trouble with Blogger.