Quick & Easy Weeknights: Margherita Pizza

I love to meal plan. It means I only grocery shop once every 3 weeks, I spend less, and I have quick meals planned for those nights you don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. This recipe is adapted from a cooking light recipe, uses refrigerated pizza dough, and fresh ingredients. 

Quick Margherita Pizza (Adapted from Cooking Light)

What you need
1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, halved
5 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 3/4 pound)
1 cup (4 ounces) mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Baking Sheet
Rolling pin
Pizza cutter

What you do
Preheat oven to 400° F. Unroll crust dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; roll out to the edges of baking sheet using floured roller. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes.

Remove crust from oven, and brush with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Rub crust with cut sides of garlic. Arrange tomato slices on crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border; top with mozzarella slices. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until cheese melts and crust is golden.

Sprinkle pizza evenly with sliced basil, salt, and pepper. Cut and serve.

Wine Pairing: Make it an Italian night with Barbera - a red wine with some acidity to cut the fattiness of the mozzarella cheese.

Simple & Delicious Panzanella Salad

After spending the last few months dealing with recovering for two broken wrists, I'm finally starting to cook again. I love my husband, but I can only take so many chicken patty sandwiches and frozen pizza nights. You may think it's nice to have a break from cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house (not to mention working full time and attending grad school -- oh and the puppy is always a handful too), but I really missed cooking after a while. In fact, after about 3 weeks, I was trying to figure out how to clean this house again too. Being a type A sort is tough with two broken arms.

The colors of this dish are also pleasing for the eye

So, getting back into the swing of things meant making something simple but delicious. How do garlicky chunks of bread, fresh tomatoes & basil, tangy onion, and a simple balsamic vinaigrette dressing sound? Yeah, amazing. I thought so too. Panzanella salad is a classic Italian dish, usually enjoyed in the summer. While it's not quite summer yet, a girl can be optimistic.The simple ingredient list and fresh taste make it a light side that pairs well with almost anything. Make it as a dish for you and a date, a cookout, a potluck, a picnic - it's very versatile and not to mention quick and easy to make. I would pair it with a light Pinot Grigio, which perfectly suits the summer-iness of this meal.

Spaghetti & Meatballs and garlic toast

The other night, I revisited a classic: spaghetti & meatballs. Spaghetti & meatballs is actually one of my favorite comfort foods, there's nothing like a big fork-ful of pasta and a carmelized meatball. I try to make this a bit healthier with the use of lean ground turkey and whole wheat spaghetti. Many "light" recipes call for only using the egg white instead of the whole egg. If you want to watch your fat and cholesterol, you may, but I hate being wasteful (and I have nothing against the egg yolk). Rolling into about 2 inch meatballs, you will yield approximately 18 meatballs that will fit nicely into a 12 inch cast iron skillet. The whole meal should feed about 4 hungry people, or if you serve with a caesar salad (which I originally intended to but filled up a bit too much on spaghetti and garlic bread), you can stretch it to feed 6.

This meatball recipe could be matched with either a white, due to its herb-y nature, or red. Avoid Chardonnays, as they do not like to be paired with tomatoes, and match up with acidic red such as Malbec or Sangiovese.

White flatbread pizza

Naan bread, olive oil, ricotta, mozzarella, basil, garlic powder. Can you handle this 15 minute recipe? I think so. Forget waiting 45 minutes for a $15 dollar pizza when you can get a personal pizza at home in less than 15 minutes with simple ingredients you can get at any grocery store.

My idea for this recipe was originally from an issue of Wegman's magazine (Wegman's is an awesome Northeast grocery store) and ever since trying their naan pizza recipes, I've been hooked on my own version of white naan pizza. See more naan pizza recipes from Wegman's here.

Naan is a South Asian flatbread that is commonly seen in Indian and Pakistani restaurants in the US. And of course, it's complete natural for us (Americans) to take a century old recipe from ancient civilizations, cover it in cheese and salt and call it a pizza. Mmmmm, pizza.

You can find Naan bread at most grocery stores now, pre-packaged and ready to use in a number of recipes. I bought Tandoori Naan, and I particularly like the garlic flavor for this recipe (it also comes in original and whole grain). Find out if this is available at your local grocery store. The size of the naan is perfect for a personal pizza, so take this in consideration for serving sizes if you plan on making only this flatbread recipe with no sides.

This mild, garlicky, and herb-y white pizza will pair well with almost any white wine from Champagne to Sauvignon Blanc, so I won't even name grapes - just pick up a bottle of your favorite white. If you prefer red, I almost always opt for an Italian Sangiovese or Chianti when eating mozzarella and ricotta cheese.

Chicken Piccata & Roasted Balsamic Asparagus

Chicken Piccata, a lemon-garlic Italian chicken specialty, is one of my favorite dishes. However, I don't get an opportunity to cook it often, as my husband particularly dislikes lemon-y chicken and even more so capers, so I waited until I was home alone and indulged. When I was in college, chicken piccata was one of the first things I learned how to cook for myself that wasn't from a box. I partnered this dish with asparagus, because it is in season and complements nicely with lemon flavors. So in this posting, you'll be getting 2 delicious recipes: Chicken Piccata and roasted balsamic asparagus. Enjoy!

Chicken Piccata is very agreeable and will pair well with most dry or semi-dry white wines. I love a buttery Chardonnay with the lemon and garlic flavors of this dish.

Sausage & Vegetable bake with garlic-herb crust

Using many of the same ingredients as my Tuscan Sausage & Spinach soup, I created this delicious casserole with a completely different flavor. Starting with a base of classic sausage & peppers, this recipe is enhanced with the addition of healthy spinach, a layer of whole grain pasta, and a delicious garlicky herb crust. This recipe will easily serve 8-10 hungry friends and family.

(Dig in!)

Wine pairing: The tomato sauce and spicy sausage in this recipe will pair well with Sangiovese or Chianti (these wines are from the same grape), which are medium-bodied fruity wines and are available from Italy or California.