Feed 'Em Fridays

So, it's Sunday, not Friday, but here is my Feed 'Em Friday contribution. Pizza. A bit of a no-brainer, but it's easy and can be better for you than you think. Round here, we have two variations of what we loosely call Mexican Pizza. My adorable kitchen assistant shows you Variation 1.

 Varation 1 is a store-bought pizza crust. Sure, you could be like me and wish you could make pizza crust from scratch, but you're also probably scared of making dough. We need a support group, or someone who can make the dough and show us, I think.

Anyways, get your store-bought dough (I hear Trader.Joe's has good stuff), and spread it out. Then, puree 1 can of drained diced tomatoes and one can of drained mild Rotel. That is your sauce. If you're really hungry while cooking, it also makes for a good salsa, even if you only have crackers to use as chip. Add some chopped cilantro and a dash of cumin and kosher salt to the sauce for a little extra pep.

For toppings, use whatever you have that is "mexican". I like black beans, mozzarella cheese (we only had cheddar on this particular day), shrimp sprinkled with fajita seasoning (look closely, you can see them). Look closely again, that baby boy is so damn cute! Good lordy I love those boys. Ok. Pizza. We're talking about pizza. The boys really like "macaronis" on their pizza, so I put pepperonis on one side.

I should pause and admit that while they did eat some pizza, they picked off the black beans. Sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't. And that's OK, in this house high praise is given for trying a new food. Or a food mom has served 25+ times and is still rejected. Whatevs, at least try it, will you?

Variation 2 is my favorite, but the boys are not 100% on board with this variation, so I dont make it as often. Take the pizza dough, or tortillas. Cook 1 can of black beans, add 1 packet of Jamon seasoning from the ethnic aisle at the grocery store. Cook the hell out of the beans, and if you have it, add some chicken or veggie broth. Or water, if you don't. A little cumin and kosher talk makes it all better, too. Now puree/blend the beans into a paste. Here is your pizza sauce.

Spread over dough or tortilla. Top with mozzarella, spots of goat cheese, shrimp or meat, chopped cilantro ("salad"), onions, peppers, whatever you have on hand that you want the kids to turn their noses up at/pick off. Go crazy.

Bake per dough instructions. If I use tortillas as my pizza base, I prefer to use the pancake griddle to crisp the bottom. Tasty.

Now, my other feed 'em Fridays mention is about something a lot more fun. Hot cross buns! Yes, people, it's that holy time of year when the powers that be rose from the dead and gave us...hot cross buns, amongst other things like eternal salvation.

The last two years I tried making them myself. See? Last year was OK, but lacked a little something. Well, my cousin Hans' wife, Melanie, so very kindly commented with a new recipe to try. We leave for vacation in 3 days, but I'm hoping to make at least 1 batch before we leave. Melanie, cross your fingers and hope I don't mess up that recipe. I sure would love a good hot cross bun.

This picture below is to show that I don't always aim high. My, and sister Karen's, coffee place is selling them this year! We got some, obviously. And ate them pretty quickly, so they must not have been that bad. They did contain strawberries, which was different...so I"m still hoping to make my own. We'll see if that happens.