GFP Day 1 - Lasagna Pizza

A couple weeks ago I made a batch of lasagna. I make my own sauce and when I make it, I make a lot. I knew I wanted to make two pans for family potluck. I also wanted one to bring to my niece who'd just had her first baby. 

In the past a batch of sauce would yield eight to ten lasagnas. But since freezer space is so limited I knew there wasn't room for a stockpile. We made the first two then put the rest of the sauce in ziplocs. 

When we went to pick up sausage for the lasagna (only Graziano's will do) we also saw pizza crusts. 

We'd never seen it before, so we bought two and threw them in the freezer. 

After making the lasagna for my niece there was a half a bag of meaty sauce left. So we thought it would make a good pizza sauce. 

First John got the dough out to rise. 

After some hours in an oiled bowl it became huge. 

Then he rolled out half of to make it thin and crispy. 

We put it on a pizza pan (with holes) after spraying the pan with non-stick spray. Then we added a thick layer of the sauce. It has tomatoes, sausage and ground beef, along with Italian spices. So it didn't need anything else.  

John likes to make sure the sauce and cheese goes to the edge. 

And the cheese. 

Finally it came out of the oven. 

It was good. Tasted like lasagna. Next time I think we'd put a little less sauce, so the crust was crispier and maybe add some ham or pepperoni to the top.   

Day one was successful.  

The Great Freezer Project

This is John and his freezer. As you can see it is very full. So starting tomorrow we will be eating our way through it. 

Here are the rules:

1. We must use a freezer item every day.  

2. We will try to incorporate our co-op veggies.  

3. John cannot buy new meat for the six weeks of the project. (Unless it is less than $2.99 a lb. and we don't already have it in the freezer)

4. We can still eat out once a week. 

5. We will blog each meal. 

So get ready to see how creative we can be with the freezer full of meat. See you tomorrow!

My First Co-op!

A few weeks back, while John was still in the hospital, my sister-in-law told me about a food co-op she'd become a part of.  She showed me pictures of fresh fruits and vegetables and I thought it looked awesome. She sent me the link to Bountiful Baskets. 

I signed up for the first time this week. It was pretty easy. The way it works is you sign up online on Monday and pay for the basket. It's clear that there are no refunds or returns, if for any reason you don't show up, they donate the leftover food. I signed up, paid my money and got my receipt. I was ready for my Saturday pick up.

The pick up is in the parking lot of a local mall. I wasn't sure where to go, but after a little driving aimlessly and the use of my iPhone compass, I found the SE corner. My sister-in-law showed up in time to join me in line.

They have rows of baskets lined up. The first time you sign up, you pay a one time basket fee. We were about twenty minutes early. It gave us a good spot in line.

It was exciting in a geeky sort of way to watch them load up the baskets.

I watched as grapes and blueberries made their way into the basket. Then celery and red potatoes. Finally the line opened up and I gave my name and got my basket number.

I filled two grocery bags full of fruits and vegetables.

.
My sister-in-law got a bonus pack for chips and dip and shared some avocados, peppers and a tomato. Also the fresh cilantro.  (I see some guacamole in my future!)  The rest was in my basket.  It is more than enough to get us through two weeks.

There was a little fruit I didn't recognize, so I cut it up and John and I gave it a try.

It was about the size of a plum.

It had a hard little pit.

It tasted like a cross between a peach and an apple. It wasn't fuzzy and not real sweet.

I have a lot of fresh food to try out.  But I think it is a great deal for all the fresh food you get. I will try to post my attempts!

Due To Illness, The Part of Chef Will Be Played By Jo.

It has been a long time without a blog.  Life gets in the way.

Since February 24th, life got crazy. John went to the hospital for a quick in and out procedure. The plan was two nights in the hospital, a week off from work and then business as usual.

Yeah, didn't quite go that way.  

It is now almost four months later. John just got out of the hospital ten days ago.  It was a scary and stressful time. Now,.John is on the mend, but still very weak physically. Anyone that knows me, knows that John is the chef of the family.  I've never been one to enjoy the process of cooking. While he was in the hospital, when I wasn't eating hospital food, I was hitting fast food or the deli at the grocery store. But it isn't the same as home cooking.

Now that John is home, I have to do the cooking. In the past if I was cooking, I either was alone in the house or had John's expert hand on my shoulder or his advice in my ear. But now he is in the living room, on the mend and I am in the kitchen.  He still gives advice, but its not the same as when he takes over and made it right. Or when I get to be in the living room and get a fully realized meal like magic.

So I am in charge. I have to do all the things that are no fun for me. I have to shop for groceries, make the meals and clean up.  I know most people do this daily, but my husband has kind of spoiled me all these years.

I need to make some high protein meals to get his muscles strong. Lots of veggies to keep him healthy. And make it all taste good.

Wish me luck!

Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad

Tonight is Craft Night at my house. It is the night where I kick the boys out, chill some wine and prepare to eat and craft with some awesome ladies. For my dish, I thought a pasta salad would be good and during lunch I had an inspiration. Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad! Then John, being the superior cook in the house, helped me make it.

First I boiled up some penne pasta. We got some fresh veggies and I asked John to help me blog my pasta salad. That is actually code for "please chop the veggies cause you are better at it than me".

First a green pepper. I joked that I didn't need to take this photo, I probably have at least ten photos of John chopping green peppers.

Some Vidalia onion. This made me a little teary. They were very strong.

Roma tomatoes. They were the cheapest but I love how meaty they are. I am ready for some real homegrown tomatoes though.

Mozzarella. (Imagine John saying that like Giada De Laurentiis "moozarellllla")

Pepperoni!

A little Italian spice.

Oops! Almost forgot the mushrooms.

Finally the dressing. This is some doctored up Olive Garden dressing. John adds garlic to give it more kick.

All mixed up and chilling in the fridge.

Better go vacuum before the ladies arrive!

Restaurant Review: Zombie Burger

Zombie Burger has been around for a few years now and we've been saying that we need to go for almost as long. We had to head downtown so I suggested we finally visit.  It is in the East Village of downtown and is surrounded by quirky and interesting shops. We got there right at lunch time when it opened and it was a good thing we did, because it was soon very packed. 

It had quite a selection of drinks and we knew we had to try one since the second half of the name is "Drink Lab". I went simple and had a root beer float.

Chris had a Zombie Joe, which was ice cream and espresso. I took a sip and it was very good.

John had been craving a Rice Crispy Treat shake since he'd reviewed the menu and it was so thick, he could barely get it through the straw. It was like a premium vanilla shake with some marshmallow flavor and those rice crispies floating.

We started with some deep fried cheese curds. They were good but nothing special.

With our burgers we got some of their Blue Cheese Garlic Bacon fries. They were totally AMAZING! They should be a controlled substance. They were so good. Crispy shoe-string fries covered with blue cheese, bacon bits, and chopped garlic. I wanted to bury my face in it, but even at a zombie themed restaurant, it would be in bad taste.

We got some of their regular plain fries too. We didn't know how many fries came with it, but there was more than enough in one order. We would only need one order next time. It may be one of the only times we left fries on the table.

I had the La Horde burger. It had goat cheese, bacon and caramelized onions. The burger was cooked perfectly and so juicy. Great flavor combo. It was really tasty.

Chris had The Walking Ched. Those big brown discs are deep fried macaroni and cheese acting as the bun. Then there is more mac and cheese, bacon and mayo. Chris loved it and said that even though he'd love to try other burgers on the menu, it would stay on the docket for future meals.

John had They're Coming To Get You Barbara.  The buns were two grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon, cheese, caramelized onions and Zombie sauce, which is kind a ketchup blend.

This was a great meal and we loved it. We will definitely be making the trip downtown again. Zombieburger is a great place to take friends or relatives from out-of-town for a great take on burgers that's not available anywhere but in Des Moines!

Best Italian Sandwiches EVER! And I'm not kidding!!!!

For a few months, a guy I worked with, a fellow foodie, kept bugging me to get this special sandwich called "The Fireman".  It wasn't on the menu and was only advertised by Twitter on days it was available. Finally one day it was available and I had cash on me, so I said yes.

He listed the ingredients which all seemed to be prefaced with the word "spicy". I asked if it was tasty spicy or "melt my face off" spicy.  I like spicy, but only if it enhances the flavor, not to prove anything.  He said it was tasty spicy. So we got them to go and brought them back to work.

I opened the box and it was a beautiful sandwich. It was on garlic foccacia.  It had capicola, pepperoni and a spicy ham. It was topped with a guardinaire.  It was also MASSIVE.

I took a bite and it was amazing.  It also melted my face off.  Thank goodness I was wearing layers that day.

I brought half of the sandwich home to John. He warmed it up and fell in love.  Next thing you know, we are creating our own version.  After a couple of tweaks to tone it down, we have created the BEST ITALIAN SANDWICH EVER AND I'M NOT KIDDING!

We tried with some garlic foccacia, but found that a simpler bread was the perfect compliment to all the complex flavors in the sandwich. We went to the Italian market and got some meats for our sandwich.

First we heat the rolls a little.  It makes the outside a little crusty and the insides soft and warm.

John pulls them out with his asbestos hands.

Sliced in half.

A little spread of garlic aioli.

Sandwich pepperoni.

Salami.  John just tells the Italian market guy he wants salami for sandwiches. We trust our guy.

An extra slice of pepperoni. John decided it need a touch more.

Capicola.  So tasty.

A slice of boiled ham. It helps marry all the flavors together.

Then comes the giardiniera. This is the hard part. We get it at the local Italian grocery store. The hot kind is super hot, and I am very delicate. The mild doesn't have enough kick for John. For some reason they don't make a medium...I don't know why. So we bought a big jar of mild and a little jar of hot and made our own medium.

John drained the oil off and topped the sandwiches, well, he topped four of them, Chris likes his without.

Then half a slice of provolone.

Tops on.

We cover it with foil and it is ready to steam to perfection. Pop them into the 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

And they are delicious.  Spicy and warm and just plain perfect.

Seriously...the BEST Italian sandwiches! We could eat these every day for weeks!