Feeding Friends: Margherita Pizzas

This week, my best friend since approximately third grade and former college roomie (one and the same) came over for an impromptu dinner. It was just like old times, except we are both married now, and she's expecting. And unlike most of our dinners in college, this one did not involve frozen pre-cooked flash-frozen chicken breast. Or pasta. But it did involve fro-yo for dessert, which is the 2012 equivalent of ice cream.

It also resembled college dinners because we were about to enjoy pizza and salad together.

She and I have shared many memorable pizzas in our day. The thick-crusted, sauce-on-top ones at my dad's house in high school. The buffet at Gatti's on campus. The frozen ones that lived in our freezer in the apartment on Speedway and the house on Palo Duro. The veggie supreme one we scarfed down at Conan's after spending the day taking our bridal shots together.

Pizza is near and dear to us.

So having my bestie over for tortilla pizzas, dressed with garden tomatoes, as she eats for two? Well, the beauty was not lost on me.

So here's to the days we are able to cook for those we love. Our husbands and wives, our children, our friends, our dogs. These are always special days.

Margherita Tortilla Pizzas

4-6 tortillas (multi-grain or whole wheat)
4 small/medium tomatoes, sliced 1/8 inch thick
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup (or a few good glugs) extra virgin olive oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
2 teaspoons fresh basil, minced

Preheat the oven to 450. Place the tortillas on a baking sheet and prick all over with a fork to prevent them bubbling up.

Mix the minced garlic and evoo in a small bowl. With a teaspoon, distribute evenly to each tortilla, spreading out with the back of the spoon.

Sprinkle each tortilla with finely shredded Parmesan. Top with tomato slices (approximately five per tortilla; do not let them overlap).

Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella, oregano, and basil.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until tortillas are crispy and cheese has just turned golden.

Serve up with a side salad (we went Greek!) and enjoy.

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Pinja Challenge: Cherry Tomato Pie

Cherry (tomato) pie in a homemade (sharp cheddar) crust. 

Maybe I lean a little too heavily on Pinterest for inspiration, but so far it has not led me astray in the kitchen. Thank you, Claire, for coining the term "Pinja." Allow me to explain. Pinja (n): A ninja-like, resourceful wizard who successfully concocts things pinned on Pinterest. Claire's a quilting and crafting Pinja. I'm having fun honing my Pinja skills in the kitchen.

Halved cherry tomatoes, garden oregano, and fresh onions.

Late last week, I happened upon this lovely pie, via Pinterest, over at Not Without Salt. Cherry tomatoes sat on my kitchen counter, begging to be used up in a recipe—so happening upon one that called for roasting cherry tomatoes? This was just the thing. And on a sharp cheddar crust (one that required no rolling and just a handful of ingredients, might I add?)... Heaven. 

The finished product.

Alongside it we had a raw zucchini salad, dressed ever so lightly with avocado, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add a glass of malbec rose, and oh my... A wonderful dinner to celebrate the season's best flavors!

Simple raw zucchini salad; slice zucchini paper-thin with a mandoline, and dress with EVOO, S&P.

Oregano beginning to bud. We didn't eat these, but aren't they pretty?

What Pinja skills have you been working on? Do tell!

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Easy Caprese

Green tomatoes, red tomatoes, jalapenos, and banana peppers—all picked this week!

 Yesterday I made it sound like our garden was kaput, and some of you might have thought, "Wow, she's in a bit of a funk."

So to those of you who may have stopped by for the first time after seeing my Zucchini Enchilada recipe over on Whole Foods' blog, I want to say welcome to the Sustainable Diet Kitchen and Garden! Please stick around—there's plenty of cookin' and growin' going on.

This morning, I picked about a pound of perfectly ripe tomatoes (Romas, Black Cherry, and one lovely Purple Cherokee), almost two pounds of peppers, and one muskmelon. Full disclosure, I've been Googling, "When to harvest cantaloupe" for about a week now, trying to figure out when to pick the durned thing. Fingers crossed I made the right decision.

Black cherry tomatoes ripened on the vine. They have more of a purple tint in real (non-Instagram) life.

And oh, the tomatoes. We have so many! It's wonderful! This weekend's plans involve canning a couple of jars of Romas from our one plant. Last weekend, I watched my 8-year-old niece snack on cherry tomatoes and found myself thinking how awesome it was that she'd just sit there and plop them in her mouth, no Ranch dressing required. Ah, the little things in life.

We aren't growing any lettuce right now—it's way too hot for leafy greens in our yard, though my mom has been able to keep some growing well in the shade—but that doesn't mean we're salad-less.

Easy Caprese salad and some zucchini-arugula tortilla pizzas for a quick weeknight meal.

A quick Caprese salad is a great way to use some of our fresh tomatoes and basil. It's fantastic, even without mozarella on hand. A little shaved parmesan, a spritz of lemon, some ground pepper and sea salt, and voila! A garden-fresh salad.

For my next trick.... might I suggest a Caprese tortilla pizza. Maybe we can just call it a tortilla margherita pizza? Not to be confused with the other kind of tortillas and margaritas... Just a tortilla, topped with diced tomatoes, julienned basil, a little bit of cheese (I'm going to try goat cheese for a new kick), drizzled with olive oil and baked at 450 until the cheese is melted and the mini pizza crust is nice and crisp. I do believe I just came up with our dinner plans.

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Grilled Zucchini and Brie Sandwiches

Zucchini on the grill.

The long weekend meant I had plenty of time in the kitchen. A little too much time, if you ask my dear husband. It was my job to clean the kitchen within an inch of its life (or my life, depending on how you look at it), and every time I'd make some headway, I'd start another recipe. So I'd have a load of dishes in the wash, and decide I needed to do a batch of quick pickles. Halfway through that, I'd decide to add another vegetable to my pickling list and out comes the chopping board again.

It was exhausting, all the cooking and cleaning and cooking and... not cleaning. Oops.

Open-faced sandwiches: perfect for a backyard grill night!

My favorite new recipe from the weekend has to be this riff on Whole Foods' Grilled Summer Squash and Brie Sandwiches. It's fresh and delicious, and the leftovers today proved to be every bit as good as they were hot off the grill last night (with toasted bread and veggies broiled in a toaster oven—resourceful!).

It's also the perfect showcase for our Purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes, which are finally red (purple?) and some of the last garden zucchini (more on that tomorrow).

I simplified the recipe out of necessity; we cooked these at someone else's house and I forgot a few of my ingredients at home. Suffice it to say, though, that the grilled bread topped with brie, a few slices of grilled zucchini, and a thick slice of an heirloom tomato make for an amazing summertime dinner. So even if you leave out the garlic and sprouts, this is a winning grill recipe.

Grilling summer squash is easy. And if you've got an overabundance of zucchini in the garden, go ahead and let a few of them get huge. The one I sliced and grilled weighed more than two pounds, but tasted wonderful grilled with a little olive oil and season salt... Not to mention, it fed almost five people.

Have you grilled summer squash yet? What's your favorite way to enjoy it?

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