Quick Fix french Bread Pizza

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."   "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

 For today, let's talk about...

The Quick Fix

I don't know what it is about pizza.  That rich spicy ooey gooey goodness is hard to resist.  It's very rare to find someone who doesn't like it.  It's a very common "fast food" that people like to order out.  Make a call, wait 30 - 40 minutes, answer the door...  extremely easy.  However, it can become a very expensive habit.  Also, when I think about it, it's not all that fast when the kids are "starving" or you have some place to be.  Which is why I'd like to share with you a quicker  at home fix that is waaaaaay cheaper as well - the French Bread Pizza.

French bread pizza is a super simple yet satisfying fix.  All you need is a pre-made loaf of french bread, some sauce, cheese, and a topping.  If you're not into making bread, pick up a loaf when you do your weekly shopping.  If you're not sure that you'll use it right away, put it in the freezer.  It keeps well especially for this purpose.  Just be sure to pull it out the morning you know you'll need it.

Otherwise, I would say most people have the sauce, cheese and topping on hand.  I like to keep cans of tomato sauce for this, but I've used leftover spaghetti sauce in a pinch.  Cheese is something I buy in bulk as well as pepperoni.  Though any left over veggies would make a great pizza or maybe even some left over shredded BBQ chicken or ham.  

I just cut the bread lengthwise.  Preheat the oven, and start assembling.

Smother it with a good amount of sauce.  Top it with cheese.  Throw on some pepperoni.  

Bake it at 400 degrees.  After 15 minutes of baking, it's ready to serve.  While it's baking, you might throw together a salad or break out the chips and salsa.

Saving money and time... now that's what I like about fast food.

Simple Menu Planning

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."   "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allows for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.  So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Keepin' it Simple Menu Planning

One of the easiest and effective ways I know how to avoid needing to call or stop for take out is simply by having a plan.  In this case, a menu plan.  I always have a menu plan for the upcoming week.   It obviously helps me create my shopping list, but more importantly, it gives me control over what we eat, how much we spend, and how much time I'll spend in the kitchen. 

My no fail approach to keeping it real and real simple is to use the following template.

Past plans kept for reference.

Sunday - Pasta night

Monday - Beef or pork in the crock pot

Tuesday - Chicken

Wednesday - Soup and Sandwich

Thursday - Pizza and salad

Friday -  Tacos

Saturday - Chicken or fish

 A typical week may look like this...

Sunday - Lasagna with garlic bread

Monday - Canadian pork roast in the crock shredded for BBQ Sandwiches

Tuesday - Teriyaki chicken and rice with stir fry veggies

Wednesday - Cream of Broccoli soup with ham and Swiss on a bagel

Thursday - Pepperoni Pizza and a green salad

Friday - Taco night from the freezer - super quick

Saturday - Grilled Salmon with green beans and mashed potatoes

Using the template approach works very well for us for a few reasons.  First, I'm not found racking my brain trying to come up with something so It's a time saver.  I just plug in our favorite meals and call it a day.  Second, The rotation of various meats results in enough variety so that it doesn't feel like we just ate this or that.  Plus, my plan is done for the week.  There's never a dilemma as to what's for dinner.

The template plan is flexible.  I usually put my fastest cook meals on my busiest days such as Thursday and Friday when we have after school activities.  I like an oven meal on Sunday that's low effort - heat and eat.  Crock pot meals on Mondays are a beautiful thing with everyone back to work and school.  Sometimes I switch up Tuesday and Wednesday if I am low on veggies for stir fry.  The CSA veggies get delivered on Wednesday.  Saturdays are nice to kick it outside, put on the music, crack open some wine, and enjoy something off the grill.

So that's it for this week.  Be intentional.  Be prepared.  Have a plan.  Enjoy, and be thinking of how you can make life easier in the future.

This post is shared with Too Many Jars in my Kitchen and Raising Homemakers.

Doubling up for the Freezer

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."  "It's way too hot out."  "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allow for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.

So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Doubling Up

or tripling, or quadrupling for that matter.  Last Friday, I shared my four favorite ways to save time in the kitchen and help simplify things.  It never seems to fail.   There are always days when the idea of having to cook a full meal is just too much.  That's why I like to have food on hand that's quick and easy.  Something that works well for us to have on hand is frozen lasagna.  NOT the store bought kind.  There are way too many things on that label I know I could do with out even if I could pronounce them.  Plus, making lasagna from scratch means I get to control the ingredients and the size.

I like to plan a ahead and prep two or three when I feel like cooking.  We'll have one for dinner and the other(s) go in the freezer.  Then the next time around, all that needs to be done is heat and eat, and perhaps fix up a green salad while it's cooking.  The lasagna I fix is pretty simple, but I suppose the possibilities are somewhat endless.  Around here, we like a meat lasagna with sweet Italian sausage and ground beef.

The trick to successfully freezing the extra lasagna(s) is to flash freeze it in the casserole dish that you'd cook it in.  I do this by lining the dish with saran wrap before building the lasagna in the dish.  Once constructed, dish and all go into the freezer for a couple of hours until it is firm enough to pull out of the dish in one piece with out being flimsy.  The dish goes into the sink and the partially frozen lasagna gets double wrapped in saran wrap and then in foil and goes back into the freezer until I'm ready to cook it.  There are pics below, but I'll share the recipe first.  This recipe makes a 9 X 13 pan or two 8 X 8 pans which is what I typically do.  Of course, you would want to adjust pan size and quantities according to your family's needs.

Meaty Lasagna- makes two 8 X 8 dishes

1 Box of lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1/2 pound of Italian Sausage, browned
1/2 pound of Ground beef, browned
3 cups of sauce
1 24 oz container of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
3 cups of mozzarella
2 eggs
1 cup of mozzarella for topping.
Additional Parmesan to taste.

Combine cooked meats in one bowl and set aside   Combine all cheeses (except one cup of mozz) and eggs in another bowl and set aside.  To build lasagna, begin by putting a small amount of sauce in the bottom of your pan to prevent sticking*.

1. Place one layer of noodles in bottom of pan. 
2. Spoon one quarter of the cheese mixture onto noodles.  Spread evenly to cover.  
3. Place a layer of noodles over cheese.  Pour one quarter of sauce onto noodles.  
4. Sprinkle half of ground meat mixture onto sauce.  Spread evenly to cover.  
5. Place a layer of noodles over sauce. 
6. Repeat steps two and three.
7. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of reserved mozzarella over top.
8. If you are building two lasagnas, repeat directions with remaining ingredients.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 50 - 55 minutes if frozen or 25 - 30 minutes if cooked fresh.  Be sure to remove all saran wrapping from frozen lasagna.

*If prepping lasagna to go into freezer, line dish with saran wrap first as seen below.

Meaty Lasagna- Pictures edition...

Boil noodles al dente.

Prepare Italian sausage by slicing through casings to be removed.

Peel casing off each sausage and dispose of casing.

Begin browning sausage in skillet over medium high heat.

Cook sausage thoroughly.  Do the same for ground beef.

Drop everything and put fancy shoe on build a bear so that she can attend the ball while you, Cinderella, stay home and cook. Just Kidding ;)  This is just one of many interruptions in the life of a mommy with an eight year old. 

Back to business, combine cheeses and eggs.

To begin building lasagna, put a small amount of sauce in the bottom of your pan to prevent sticking.

If need be, cut noodles to fit dish.

Place one layer of noodles in bottom of pan.
Spoon one quarter of the cheese mixture onto noodles.  Spread evenly to cover.

Place a layer of noodles over cheese.  Pour one quarter of sauce onto noodles.

Sprinkle half of ground meat mixture onto sauce.  Spread evenly to cover.

Repeat layer of noodles and cheese.

Top with last layer of noodles, sauce and reserved mozzarella.

This dish of lasagna is now ready to go into the freezer.

After two hours, take lasagna out of freezer and remove from dish by pulling up on saran wrap.

 Double wrap with saran wrap.

I also double wrap with foil.

Place back into freezer until needed.  I have kept it frozen for up to three months with no problems.  When ready to cook from freezer, remove all wrapping before placing into original dish and cooking.

So that's it - another way to make future meals a little easier by spending a little extra time when you have it.

Have you tried this?  What kinds of recipes do you double up and freeze?

This post is shared with Food Renegade.

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."  "It's way too hot out."  "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allow for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.

So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Being Intentional

There are many ways to "be intentional" in the kitchen in order to help simplify things for the week ahead.  The following four are ways that I find work very well.

Menu Plans ~ There are times when I sit down and make up a months worth of menus.  I dream of making one giant monthly shop and never stepping through those doors for at least thirty days after.  Ahhhh, but seriously, menu plans help alot.  For one, if you know you're going to have a busy day, you can pull things out the night before, or even set something to cook in the crockpot.  For two, if you create a list from your menu plan, it does minimize time spent shopping and helps keep you from making extra stops.  It also helps me minimize money spent as in "oops, sorry, it's not on the list".   I like to keep lists of menu plans around so that I can refer back when I'm in a rut or short on time.

Keeping essential ingredients on hand

Doubling up ~ whenever possible, if I am making something that freezes well, I double it.  We eat half that night and half go into the freezer for a future meal.  For example, I caught the Barefoot Contessa show today and though I knew I wouldn't be able to whip up all that she was making, the mashed potatoes sure looked good.  I am not one to buy those overpriced premade packages in the store.  I'm a peeler, a cuber, a boiler - you get the idea.  Though I do like something to show for my time.  So I purposely double or sometimes triple the batch and portion freeze the extra.  This works well with soup, re-fried beans, casseroles, pretzel bread, and the list goes on...

BBQ Chicken with Bacon - one of our favorites

Buy it, cook it, freeze it - If I can pull something precooked from the freezer the night before, it really does cut down on time spent in the kitchen that evening.  Last week, I shared how this works with ground beef.  I also like to keep cooked shredded chicken for BBQ sandwiches, pancakes for quick breakfasts, burritos for lunches, crusts for quick pizzas, and shredded beef roast for soup.  There are times when I will have a "precook" morning just to stock the freezer with future meals.

Eat what you have on hand ~  leftovers.   Yeah, I know leftovers may not always sound good, but they are fast and economical.  If you don't want to have the exact same meal again plan ahead.  If I know I'll be making a couple of roast chickens one night, I may pick up tortillas and cheese to make quesadillas out of the leftovers or some Caesar dressing to fix up a salad. 

Just remember, always be thinking about how you can make your future meals easier and you'll have fast food on hand.

This post is shared with Food Renegade.

Cooking for the Freezer

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."  "It's way too hot out."  "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allow for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.

So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Cooking for the Freezer

With after school activities and busy evenings,I like to have a couple of go-to meals on hand and ready to go no doubt.  There's scouts on Thursdays and guitar on Fridays - it's the same every week.  There's no reason not to see that there'll be little time for cooking.  So those nights are dedicated meal nights.  By that, I mean we tend to eat the same thing every week on those nights.  For Thursdays, it's pizza.  Click here and here for posts on that.  On Friday's it's usually tacos.  

It's nice to know ahead of time what we'll be eating on those busier nights.  All that needs to be done is pulling some pre-prepped ingredients from the freezer the night before.  I put them in the fridge to thaw and then at dinner time the next day, we have a quick easy meal.  So on to what we are really talking about today - browning ground beef in bulk to be used for future meals.

Browned ground beef is very versatile.  Around here, it gets used for tacos, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, meatballs, and the occasional casserole.  In this post, I am purposing it for tacos, spaghetti sauce, and meatballs.  I've started with six pounds of ground beef.  Three pounds were made into taco meat which will be enough for two meals.  One and a half pounds were made into meatballs.  Meatball sandwiches are in our future.  The last pound and a half was portioned out into thirds for spaghetti sauce.  So intentionally, I prepped enough ground beef for six future meals.  Of course, more could be done as well.  It's always nice to do a lot at once.  It makes for less clean up all the way around.

Ready for some pics and DIY info?

I started by browning 2 pounds of ground beef.  You could brown more with multiple pans going at once.  This would make the job go faster of course.  I just wasn't feeling in a hurry.  It really only takes a few minutes to brown regardless.

Once browned, add in taco seasoning.  I use a quarter cup of seasoning per pound.  That would be equivalent to an individual package.  I buy the bulk size so have to measure it out.  If you are wondering, it is cheaper this way as the large container of it only cost around four dollars and goes much farther than four or five packages would.

Once mixed, I move the taco meat to a strainer to drain away any grease while cooling.

Once all the meat purposed for tacos is prepared and cooled, I portion it out into freezer bags at one and a half pounds each.

Now to further save time on this pre-prepping endeavor, multitasking is good.  While the taco meat is browning, I begin working up the meatballs.

What I used here is one and a half pounds of ground beef, 2 eggs, 1 cup of cracker crumbs ( sub bread crumbs if needed), 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons, of crushed red pepper ( a little heat), and 1 teaspoon and cumin.  This mixture also makes a good base for meatloaf.

Mix that all together until well incorporated.  The best way to do this is to use your bare hand.  ~Another good reason to prep ground beef in bulk - I never did like the way it feels~

Once mixed, I use my melon baller to portion out each meatball.  It ought to be called a meat baller as I can't remember the last time I balled melon.  Of course, you could use table spoon for this.  I like to portion all at one and go back and shape them better.  It just seems faster for me this way.

At this point, they go into a preheated oven at 375 degrees and cook for 25 minutes.

When finished, they're allowed to cool before going into a labeled plastic freezer bag.  In the near future, we'll be having meatball sandwiches on french bread.  For a tutorial on how to make your own french bread, click here.

So what happens when we are ready to eat?  As I said, these are planned meals so the night before I pull out what is needed and put it into the fridge to thaw.  The day of, taco meat will get warmed on the stove top in less than five minutes.  Tacos are usually served with salad or chips and salsa.  Meatballs also get warmed on the stove top but in sauce.  This takes less than ten minutes.

For us, it works pretty well.  It's a plan in mind that will save time, money (no stopping for take out), and clean up.  

Remember, it's all about fore thought.  Spend a little time now when you have it and in the future when you need it, you'll have fast food on hand.

Enjoy, and be thinking of how you can make life easier in the future.

This post is shared with food renegade.

Pizza Crust for the Freezer

FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."  "It's way too hot out."  "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allow for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.

So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Pizza Crust for the Freezer

Last Friday, I shared that I buy pizza ingredients in bulk to save money.  Having pizza on the menu once a week can be expensive if you're eating out.  We are frequent-flyers when it comes to eating pizza.  Considering that a month's worth of take out  pizza was costing us $100+, something had to give.  So I began making pizza at home.  We now eat pizza every week for $25.00 a month.  That's quite a savings.  So it totally makes spending a little time preparing crusts and portioning ingredients worth it.

Pizza Crust for the Freezer

(makes three crusts)

9 cups of flour

2 TBSP of yeast

1 TBSP of salt

1 TBSP of honey

4 TBSP of olive oil

2 1/2 cups of warm water (110 -120 degrees)

Start by adding 3 cups of flour and the other ingredients to your mixing bowl.  (Reserve 6 cups of the flour.)  Set mixer on low for three minutes.  When mixture resembles smooth cake batter, begin adding  three cups of additional flour one cup at a time.  Mixture will become stiff like cookie dough.  At this time, switch to working with a dough hook or turn out onto a floured surface to knead by hand.  Working with a dough hook, you want to add in an additional 2 1/2 cups of flour slowly until dough forms a solid ball and the sides of your mixing bowl is clean.  Kneading by hand, you will knead in the 2 1/2 cups of flour slowly until the dough forms a clean ball that is no longer sticky.

Place dough into a large bowl and cover to rise with a damp warm towel for one hour.  Dough will double in size.  After the hour is up, flour the back of your hand and press down dough.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and begin pressing it in to a flat circle.  Score the dough with a large Y which will evenly divide it into thirds.  Cut dough into thirds.  Working with one piece of dough at a time, form piece into a ball and then press flat onto the floured surface. Flip dough and begin rolling it out with a rolling pin.  Roll in varying directions to achieve the desired pizza size and shape. 

Lightly fold dough in half and then in half again.  This makes for easier transfer to a baking stone.  Transfer to the stone and unfold.  If needed, shape dough to better fit stone.  You can do this by gently pressing or pulling at the dough.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 6 minutes.   This partial bake time allows the dough to dry and stiffen for easier freezer storage.  Allow crust to cool completely.  Wrap completely with saran wrap.  Crusts can be stacked and put in freezer.  Crusts will last for up to two months.

To prepare pizza, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Put frozen crust on to baking stone while oven is preheating.  Add sauce, cheese, and toppings to your liking. (If using meat topping such as ground sausage, it needs to be precooked.)   Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.  Crust can be placed directly on oven rack for a crispier crust.  If doing so, use a pizza peel for easy transferring.

Here it is broken down with pics...

Start by adding 3 cups of flour and the other ingredients to your mixing bowl.  (Reserve 6 cups of the flour.)  Set mixer on low for three minutes. 

Begin adding  three cups of additional flour one cup at a time.  Mixture will become stiff like cookie dough. Add in an additional 2 1/2 cups of flour slowly until dough forms a solid ball and the sides of your mixing bowl is clean. 

Place dough into a large bowl and cover to rise with a damp warm towel for one hour.  

Dough will double in size.  After the hour is up, flour the back of your hand and press down dough.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and begin pressing it in to a flat circle.  Score the dough with a large Y which will evenly divide it into thirds.  Cut dough into thirds.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, form piece into a ball and then press flat onto the floured surface. Flip dough and begin rolling it out with a rolling pin.  Roll in varying directions to achieve the desired pizza size and shape. 

Lightly fold dough in half and then in half again.  This makes for easier transfer to a baking stone.

Transfer to the stone and unfold.  If needed, shape dough to better fit stone.  You can do this by gently pressing or pulling at the dough.

 Bake in a 400 degree oven for 6 minutes.   This partial bake time allows the dough to dry and stiffen for easier freezer storage.  Allow crust to cool completely.  Wrap completely with saran wrap.  Crusts can be stacked and put in freezer.  Crusts will last for up to two months.

Since we always make pizza in twos, I make this recipe twice so that I have six crusts going into the freezer. Now for the next three weeks, I'll have the makings for pizza on hand.  Which is nice for saving money, but also when cooking efforts need to be kept to a minimum.  Once again, it's about spending a little time now when you have it to make life easier in the future.

So, enjoy, and be thinking of how you can make life easier in the future.

This post is shared with Food Renegade.