Pizza!!

I absolutely <3 LOVE <3 this pizza dough recipe.  Easy to make and it tastes delicious ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (I buy a jar of dry yeast and use it to make pizza dough all the time!)
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups bread flour (I use regular All-Purpose Flour and it seems to work fine)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 vine-ripened tomato, sliced
• mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil or spray
• a handful of basil, torn
• salt and pepper to taste
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, sugar and yeast mixture.  Stir well to combine.  Beat until a stiff dough has formed.  Cover and rise until double in volume, about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (If dough is not rising, your kitchen might be too cool.  Try putting the bowl with the dough on top of your stove; the heat from the warming oven will help the yeast do it's job!)
3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface.  Form dough into a round and then roll out into a pizza crust shape.  (No rolling pin?  I used a plastic cup to roll out dough until my mom got me a rolling pin for Christmas!)
4. Transfer to a cookie sheet (or one of those fancy pizza stones for those who are lucky) and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
5. Cover crust with olive oil (brush or spray on).  Sprinkle minced garlic over the pizza, place sliced tomatoes and mozzarella around the crust, then sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bake for another 10 minutes in the oven.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting!   

• Cost:
• I already had many of the ingredients; I picked up a tomato at Eastern Market for $1.25 and fancy mozzarella cheese for $4.99, but you could make due with some shredded mozzarella for $1.99.  I also bought an entire jar of yeast for $6.49, which can be used to make pizza all summer long!  Assuming you have some basic supplies on hand, you can make this pizza for about $5.

Want Veggies?

The roomie said she wanted veggies this week, so here we go!  Tonight I'm making Roasted Vegetable Lasagne that I pulled off a Weight Watchers website a few years ago.  Here's the recipe with my modifications:

Ingredients:
2 medium raw eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 medium sweet red peppers, chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (Not included in original recipe - replaced a 3rd eggplant with this to make it more colorful)
4 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 black pepper
9 dry lasagne noodles (I'm using the no boil kind)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (The recipe calls for 3/4 a cup... but really?)

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2) Combine the veggies, garlic and olive oil in a roasting pan and bake for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  I had to use two pans because there are so many veggies!

3) Place half of the veggies, salt, pepper and 1/2 c of water in a food processor and process until smooth.  Since I only have a mini food processor, I had to break this down into smaller batches.

4) Spoon 1/2 a cup vegetable puree into bottom o f 9x13 inch baking dish.  I'm going to use a 9x9 dish and a bread pan.  We'll eat the 9x9 this week and throw the bread pan in the freezer to eat at a later date.

5) Place 3 noodles over the puree.  Top with 1/2 a cup of puree, 1/2 a cup of remaining vegetables, 2 tbsp Parmesan, and 2/3 c mozzarella cheese (original only calls for 1/4 c if you're looking to be more healthy).  Repeat layers and then top with remaining 3 noodles, puree and cheese.

6) Bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes.  Serve!

Cost: 
Eggplant - $3.80
Red Bell Peppers - $5.51
Zucchini - $2.27
Tomatoes - $4.72 (but I only used 4 of the 5)
Shredded Mozzarella - $2.29

We already had the garlic, olive oil, spices and lasagne noodles at home and I used some leftover Romano cheese instead of Parmesan... so it was a grand total of $18.59. I've got 3 meals for me and the roomie and an extra tomato.  Woo hoo!