Homemade Pizza

I was too lazy to go out for food last night, plus I am trying to save money by eating in.  So I looked through my cupboards and saw yeast and I looked through my fridge and saw tomatoes, and I decided to whip up a couple of pizzas.  No, being too lazy to order a pizza and deciding to make one from scratch doesn’t make any sense.  Don’t worry about it.

My old friend Lisa had given me some recipes from her high school home ec classes, and pizza was one of them.  I have been carrying this recipe around for probably 5 years.  The first (and last) time I tried making it, though, things didn’t work out so well.  So I was determined to figure it out this time.

Here is the dough recipe, btw.  It was really good, except I feel like I could have used more salt.
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup hot water - like, as hot of water as will come out of your tap
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp salt (like I said, I will use more next time!)
2 ½ cups flour

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water.  It should take about 5 minutes, according to this recipe, but the last time I believe that’s where I went wrong, and this time I went and cleaned my bathroom in the meantime, so that usually takes a bit longer than 5 minutes.
Add vegetable oil, salt and flour and beat until it comes together, then knead until “smooth and elastic."  This makes sense once you start kneading. Let stand 10 mins.

I also made the sauce from old tomatoes, onion and orange pepper, plus a shitload of basil and oregano and some garlic powder.  I realized I hadn’t bought garlic in a while, so I went to grab it, and it had turned into its own powder.  Yuck.  I just cooked the vegetables and spices (and salt and pepper, duh) in a bit of olive oil and some water, till they made a sauce of sorts.

Also, I grated a bunch of cheese and put most of it below the toppings.  I hear this is the correct and more pretentious way of making pizza, so I figured, why not?

My only topping was pineapple, because I love pineapple on pizza, as well as the fact that I used up all my vegetables making sauce.  Then I put any remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 20 mins at 425, broil if you want the top browned, which I didn’t and it browned fairly nicely anyway.



Also, I am getting back into this cooking things, but one thing I’m not into is this:

Dishes again today, looks like.

Those Peanut Butter Marshmallowy things everyone remembers from being a kid...

That's right, a real live recipe for those peanut butter marshmallow squares. You won't believe how easy these are, which is probably why everyone used to bring them to barbecues and picnics and potlucks.

2/3 cup butter (real butter works best here people)
1 cup-ish peanut butter (I prefer smooth)
1 pkg butterscotch chips
1 pkg little colored marshmallows

Put your marshmallows in a baking tray first. There's some timing issues here. also like to use those disposable trays because then can take them to someone's house and they just get left there or thrown out when they're done.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot. I don't really measure out a cup of peanut butter: a big scoop usually works just fine. Melt and stir these together until smooth.












When those are all melted together, throw in the package of butterscotch chips. You have to keep these well-stirred - the little suckers tend to clump up and want to burn.

ps, like my action shot here?










When everything's melted all together, pour the mixture over your marshmallows.














Mix it all around. You'll probably want to put this in the freezer for about 1/2 hour (I always make this RIGHT BEFORE I have to be somewhere...) or the fridge for a bit would probably work too. Yum.

Apple Pie

• recipe for a pie crust, store bought pie crust, depends how much time you have.
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
• Enough Granny Smith apples to fill a pie crust - I used about 4, but they were pretty big.

• 
  I was too lazy to make my own pie crust, even though I know they're easy. I used this:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and bring to a boil. I used about 1 tsp of nutmeg and maybe 1 tbsp of cinnamon... I didn't measure. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. I clearly suck at taking pictures, but my sister and friend are coming over today to make one of these with crabapples, so will try to do a little better...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Put this thing on a cookie tray or something! There is some runoff once it starts to bake and heat up and you don't want that in your oven.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. 

This will make you a hit with the new in-laws, trust me.

Tuna Casserole

This may not be the most helpful recipe in the world, because I've made it so many times, I don't measure anything anymore... But I'll try.

A couple of handfuls of bite-size pasta
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
2 cans of tuna
1 can of mushroom soup
cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350, put the pasta water on to boil and throw the celery in a bit of oil in your frying pan. Celery takes longer than it seems like it should. I usually salt & pepper this during cooking - it seems to help draw some of the water out.









Add the onion when the celery is bright green and mostly soft, cook both until they're soft.













The water will probably be boiling by now, throw in the pasta. Put the tuna and mushroom soup in a big bowl, add vegetables and salt & pepper. I use a lot of pepper, because I find it doesn't overwhelm the other ingredients and, well, I like pepper.









Add pasta.














Put in a casserole dish, cover with cheese and cook for 15-20 minutes.













Voila! Look at that cheesy, tuna-y goodness. Makes great leftovers too.