Home Pizza

Preheat oven to 350F.

Start with pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe's, roll it out flat to 12" round on floured cutting board; drape over large mixing bowl and let rest for 20 minutes. Place onto pizza stone.

Spread tomato paste or pizza sauce over the dough and add topping of your choice.

*I used mozzarella cheese, sausage, black olives, artichoke hearts, and spinach

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Waffles

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. But do we ever eat it all the time? Doubtful. Why? Boring breakfast foods. How do we solve this epidemic of people skiving off the first meal of the day? Strawberry waffles. I know what you're thinking, strawberries again? Well, heck yes strawberries again! How could you not enjoy the juicy sweetness of a strawberry that's perfectly ripe? The answer is you can't...unless you're allergic and for that I am truly sorry.

So I got my mommy a waffle maker for Christmas and yes it has been used before now much to the pleasure of my tummy and that is where this story begins. We were having the classic buttermilk waffles when I thought, "How could I make this better?" With that I perused the fridge and found strawberries. It's a simple recipe that anyone can follow and really only calls for you to have a whisk, bowl and a waffle maker (along with the ingredients obviously).

Strawberry Glazed Chicken Breast

So I made this a while ago when I was somehow talked into cooking dinner one night. So I Googled the internet for a recipe that called for strawberry jam and chicken. I know what you're thinking, why? Well, I like strawberry jam. So luckily I came across this recipe that was originally intended for raspberries but said I could use strawberries instead. It was brilliant! Especially since it was an easy recipe and the most complicated dish I've previously cooked would be a grilled cheese sandwich. All I had to do was hope that it tasted all right in the end. It did and no one died.

Torta di Pasta

Tony made this for us a few years ago and I'd bookmarked it but never tried it. I threw it together the other night when we were trying to figure out how to reheat our leftovers without a microwave (the only reason to have one besides of course, melting butter for popcorn). It was easy, cheesy and filling. And it had the added bonus of stretching one night of spaghetti leftovers into dinner for two more nights (a side salad with it would've stretched it even further)!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Souperbowl

I am going to visit with my friend Alan for the Superbowl. To say that this guy is a big eater and appreciator of good food is like saying Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana could handle the ball well. Bless him, he loves my cooking...overdone, underdone, well done, whatever and it's pure joy watching him eat. It's a whole new science with him. Though I'm going to be away from home, we needed a hearty, totally wonderful meal to go with the cold weather and football (that can also travel). Enter the Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. My sister and I made this for my Mom's birthday before Christmas and it was a big hit. It's both easy and forgiving to make and guys love it (well, my brother-in-law anyway).

As I am prone to changing recipes, I'll include the ones I made here, but you can link the original recipe through my sister's blog, Make It Bake It Buy It Fake It (above).