dinner was YUM today

In between classes, I took some pizza dough out of the freezer to thaw on the counter and rise a bit. (I make my own using a Barefoot Contessa recipe--it's fairly easy and it makes a TON, so I freeze it in individual serving sizes.) Then, when I got home, all I had to do was thaw out some pesto (I also make it in big batches and freeze it), shred some mozzarella, and chop roasted red peppers.

Pesto Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers


This is the pizza just out of the oven. I preheated a pizza stone in the oven, so I used the parchment paper so that (a) I could easily slide the pizza on and off the stone and (b) I wouldn't have to clean the stone after using it.




As a side dish, I used some white beans and a few mushrooms leftover from the soup I made this week, plus some spinach I had in the freezer. (I can never eat a whole bag of spinach before it goes bad, so I always blanch and freeze leftover spinach. It is WAY better than boxed.) I cooked the mushrooms for a bit in some olive oil, added the beans and a little chicken stock, and let that cook for a bit. Then I added chopped, drained spinach.



I topped it with scallions and parmesan. The idea for this dish came from a recipe I saw in a magazine that had potatoes, bacon, spinach, and white beans with scallions and parmesan. I just used what I had with the same method.

Here's the final version:



And, finally, one more picture of pizza:

I feel like this is turning into a cooking blog but oh well...

My dinner last night was a perfect example of how prepping ahead can make it possible to make a meal that looks/tastes like you spent hours on it, but really was super simple. I found the recipe for the picture above, Chicken, Mushroom, and Orzo Soup, in Rachael Ray's magazine (Everyday with Rachael Ray). The recipe called for boxed chicken stock and boneless, skinless chicken breast that you'd cook in the pan before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Lucky for me, though, I made and tons of chicken and stock. I freeze the stock in Ziploc containers and shred the chicken and freeze it in packs of foil/plastic bags (usually I put between half a cup and one cup of shredded chicken per pack). That way, I always have those on hand to defrost for soups, salads, wraps, casseroles, you name it. In the long run, this is a LOT cheaper and less wasteful than buying box after box of stock and tons of packs of chicken. And with a few hours on a weekend, you save so so much time later on when you're swamped during the week.

The recipe also called for cooked orzo, sliced mushrooms, and chopped celery. I prepped all of that while home in between classes making lunch. I also thawed the stock and chicken. Then, when I came home from class at 5 p.m. (starving!), all I had to do was sautee the celery and mushrooms in a little olive oil, add the chicken, a drained/rinsed can of white beans, and the stock, and let that heat up. The recipe didn't call for this, but I added a parmesan rind that I had hanging out in the fridge (you can't just eat the rind, but it adds a ton of flavor when you let it simmer in a soup for a bit). It probably only took 15 minutes to put together.

One of these days I'll post my mom's stock recipe (the only one I use).