Saturday Nights

Recently, Andrew approached me to say he wanted to start a new tradition in our family: he wants to cook on Saturdays. Well I couldn't be more excited! By the end of the week I am usually fresh out of ideas for meals since we cook so much on a regular basis. This week he made pizza which I must say he has mastered. He really is the pizza cook in the family and that is one thing he prides himself on. We make this almost every week so we've had lots of trial and error, but I think we finally have it down.

Margarita Pizza

Dough:

2 cups warm water

1 packet yeast

1 t salt

4 c flour

2 T brown sugar

olive oil

Pour the packet of yeast into the warm water and let sit for about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar. Then add the water and yeast mixture and stir. Cover and put in a warm place and let rise for about 1 hour. (We usually stick ours by a warm radiator)

Toppings (you can obviously do whatever here, but here is our favorite):

A few ripe and flavorful tomatoes, thinly sliced

Fresh basil

Fresh mozzarella, torn

Fresh grated parmesan

Garlic Salt

Pizza & Pasta Magic (or a mixture of Italian seasonings like Crushed Red Pepper, Oregano, Thyme)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 F and heat up your pizza stone. Take it out of the oven after about 15 minutes.

After the dough has risen, take about 1/3 - 1/2 of the dough out and press out on the stone. Remember that the dough will puff up so if you like a really thin pizza, then press it out really thin. Drizzle olive oil over the dough. Stick it back in the oven for about 10 minutes. Take it out and then place your cheese on the partly cooked dough. Then add the tomatoes and basil and then your seasonings. Bake again for another 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Enjoy!

*Andrew's tip: When pressing out the dough on the stone, press from the center (he asked me to add that in)

Another thing Andrew has mastered are tacos, which is also one of our staples. We've recently strayed from our usual to add some flare: MANGOS! Try this sometime:

Mango Salsa:

2 mangos, peeled and chopped

A few ripe & delicious tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

a handful of cilantro, diced

1/2 jalepeno, diced or if you live in the UK just use a green chilli

1-2 avocados

1/2 lime, squeezed

garlic salt, to taste

2 chicken breasts seasoned with fajita seasoning

shredded cheese (Mexican or cheddar)

tortillas

Combine all of the salsa ingredients. Saute the chicken with some olive oil. Then compile your tacos. You can also add black beans into the salsa if you like that sort of thing.