Pizza Fritatta (Whole 30)

What is it with people and the need to spoil movies for others?  I am not talking about movies that have been out a few weeks.  I am talking movies that just came out last night.  I am not unrealistic.  I know I can’t help hearing things about, say, Game of Thrones, Season 7.  It came out last summer.  Have all the spoiler filled conversations you want.  I’ll just excuse myself until the subject is changed.  It isn’t reasonable to think people won’t be taking about it in public after a year.  It’s not your problem I haven’t seen it yet after a year.

But if a movie just came out last night, please be respectful that not everyone can get to the midnight showing or any showing for the first week.  I have avoided all social media, places were the fan boys will be talking, like comic shops.  I just want to enjoy a movie I have been looking forward to for a long time.

I couldn’t avoid having to work next to you and having you look right at me after I asked you to please stop because I haven’t seen the movie yet and having you proceed to tell me everything about it.  It isn’t funny.  It isn’t cute.  It is mean and a total bitch move so just stop.  End rant.

Okay, now on to the food portion of this post.  One of the last times I posted, I gave you a recipe for Italian Sausage.  This post I am giving you a recipe to use Italian sausage.  Isn’t that funny how that works?

Pizza Fritatta

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

From The 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook

1/2 lb ground pork

1 TBS Italian Sausage Seasoning blend

8 eggs

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp granulated garlic

1 TBS olive oil

1 bell pepper, sliced

5 mushrooms, sliced

3 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup black olives, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a medium bowl,  combine the pork and Italian Sausage Seasoning Blend.  Mix the pork and seasonings with your hands until well blended.  Heat a large oven safe skillet over medium heat.  When hot, add the pork and cook until no longer pink, breaking up the meat as you go.  Remove the pork from the skillet and set a side.

In a small bowl,  whisk together the eggs, salt, and pepper. In another small bowl, combine the tomato sauce, basil, oregano, garlic, and the remaining salt.  Set both bowls aside.

Heat the pan you cooked the pork in over medium heat.  Add the oil, when hot add the bell pepper and cook until it starts to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and coo until they soften slightly, about 2 minutes.  Add the meat back to the pan with most of the green onions and olives.  Stir to combine.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan and shake back and forth until the eggs cover the entire bottom of the pan.  Let cook for about 5 minutes or until the edges begin to set.

Drizzle the tomato sauce over the eggs.  Place the pan in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the eggs are set.  Insert a knife in the center of the fritatta, if it comes out clean it is done.

Pizza Pasta Casserole

This afternoon I couldn’t decide if I wanted pizza or pasta so I went to my big, white binder and pulled out this recipe. It is good as is but you could easily adapt it to include any of your favorite pizza toppings or even use pizza sauce instead of tomato sauce.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
½ lb ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
1 recipe Italian tomato sauce
2 cups spiral pasta
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
17 turkey pepperoni

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In s skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef until the meat is no longer pink, drain. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain. Combine the meat, pasta, and sauce, mix well. Transfer to a 6 cup baking dish. Top with cheese and turkey pepperoni. Bake 35-40 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Adapted from Taste of Home Magazine

Homemade Pizza — Crust and Sauce

Okay. The weather needs to make up its mind and decide if we are going to be cold enough for sweat shirts or warm enough for t- shirts. This warm, cold, warm, cold is getting very, very old.

I had planned to come home from work and do some house work but coming home to an ice cold house forced me to put my pjs on, lay on the couch huddled under my flannel quilt and watch Doctor Who. Life is hard.

Since I had a more leisurely evening then I had planned, I decided to make homemade pizza. How is pizza leisurely? Doesn’t it take two hours for the dough to rise and even longer for the sauce to simmer? According to some food and recipe blogs, it can. However, it doesn’t need to. Pizza is never going to be an in a hurry meal, not even if you order out but my recipe will be ready from start to finish in about an hour, not 2-3 hours.

Don’t be intimidated if you have never worked with yeast before. Its easy if you keep a few things in mind.

1. Yeast is a living organism. Like all living things, yeast dies when it gets old. If the expiration date on the envelope has passed, it is time to get some new yeast.

2. Excessive heat kills yeast. The water you use to proof your yeast should feel neither warm nor cool when you stick your finger in it.

3. Smooth and elastic is about the texture of your ear lobe.

Pizza Dough

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
½ cup lukewarm water
1 tsp yeast
¼ tsp salt
1 TBS olive or canola oil
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

Place lukewarm water in a medium bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Let it stand 5 minutes until foamy. Add salt, olive oil and ½ cup of flour. Beat several minutes with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour a ½ cup at a time mixing after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Oil the bowl, place the dough in it, turn the dough over to cover with oil and cover the bowl with a clean dish towel. Put the dough into a warm place to rise 30-45 minutes or until doubled. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Still Life With Menu

Now that we have gone to all “trouble” of making our own pizza dough, it would be a shame to ruin it with jarred or canned pizza sauce. So while our dough is rising lets make some pizza sauce.

Pizza Sauce

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
1 (8 oz) tomato sauce
½ tsp olive oil
½ tsp red wine vinegar
1 medium garlic clove, minced
½ tsp salt
½ tsp oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl. Stir well. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Now go find something to do for the next 38 minutes while our dough finishes rising.

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Jan/Feb ’11

When the dough is done rising, punch the dough down. Roll the dough to fit a pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and press it into place. Add the sauce and desired toppings. Bake in the top third of the oven for 10- 15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the toppings are bubbly. 2 9 inch pizzas
Notes — I use a 9 inch cake pan for this recipe but you can use any pan that will hold the dough when it is all stretched out.

— I like to pre bake the crust for about 5 minutes before I add the sauce and toppings. It keeps the crust from getting soggy. It isn’t necessary, however.

— A light hand with the sauce and toppings will also keep the crust from getting soggy.

— If you don’t use both servings of pizza dough, you can put in in a small plastic freezer bag and keep it a day or two in the fridge or in the freezer for up to a week.