By far, my greatest discovery at Trader Joe’s has been their fresh pizza dough.   I know it’s not a super challenging task to make pizza dough, but when you’re teetering back and forth over whether to make your pizza at home or order out, that fresh, refrigerated dough from TJ’s is usually the straw that tips the scales in the favor of a homemade dinner.  And truly, I’m always so happy that it did.  Ok, obviously it requires more energy than dialing up pizza joint, but I get to control exactly the quality and quantity of ingredients on my pie.  And tonight, those toppings included a salad.

This isn’t really a recipe, more of a concept.  Build your pizza how you like.  Tonight ours was pretty straightforward.  After slowly shaping the dough, I started with some good ol’ TJ’s pizza sauce from a jar.  Topped it with a tasty layer of really good parm cheese for flavor.  Then some sauteed mushrooms (browning them up ahead of time prevents excess water from leaking out into your pie) and chopped marinated artichoke hearts.  These were followed by a serious layer of pepperoni and a generous sprinkle of low-fat mozzarella cheese (which I find makes the pizza less greasy).  Dust it all with some red pepper flakes and dried oregano and into the oven it goes!  Whoops, forgot to paint the crust edge with some olive oil.   Oh well, next time.

While the pizza is baking,  whisk together about 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and an equal part of extra virgin olive oil.  Toss 3-4 cups of loosely packed baby arugula and then stare into the oven, waiting for the pizza to reach its golden brown and bubbly state of perfection.

When the pizza is ready to serve, quickly slice into portions and then top with the mound of zesty arugula.  Then finish it with a nice grating of good parm and some fresh cracked pepper for good measure.  Talk about some yum.

Seriously, why eat a salad on the side?   The crisp, bright and zippy greens are such a beautiful compliment to the rich, chewy pizza.  Also, forks on pizza night are for chumps.

Alas, the Oscar’s sadly turned out to be a huge bore, but the evening was redeemed by dinner!

You know the old saying, “If you want something done right you have to do it yourself.”? Never has that been more true than with granola. It’s stupidly easy to make and infinitely customizable . Not only do you get to lose a crappy processed food, but you get to make it with exactly the ingredients you want. Also, much, much cheaper per serving than boxed granola. Lemme show you!

You will need:

-4 cups old fashioned oats (not the instant or quick cooking kind), also called rolled oats
-1 cup nuts (I used almonds and walnuts here)
-1 cup dried fruit (I used a mixed berry blend from Trader Joes)
-1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
-1/4 cup honey
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step The First:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take the oil, sugar, honey, and vanilla extract and put it in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar and honey dissolve.

Step the Second:

Take the oats and nuts, put them in a large ovensafe glass pan or baking sheet, and mix them all around.

Step the Third:

Take your nice melty sugary mixture and pour it over the oats and nuts. Action shot!

Mix that all up until the oats and nuts are evenly coated.

Step the (pictureless) Fourth:

Stick that mofo in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Go play Mario Kart. Come back, stir. Repeat for another 15 minutes. After that, if the granola is nice and goldeny, take it out, if not, another 15 minutes.

Step the Last:

Spread out some wax paper or foil on a counter and pour the granola onto that. Let cool until touching it doesn’t burn you ALIVE, then mix in the dried fruit. Allow to cool completely, break up any large chunks, and store in an airtight container. Then eat it!

The awesome thing about granola is you can adjust it to your tastes. Need it more sweet than this recipe? Up the sugar content. I hate both maple syrup and coconut flakes (granola staples), so I’ve left them out. You like them? Add them back in! A few granola flavor ideas:

- pumpkin seeds and cherries
- cashews, raspberries, and chocolate
- pecans, apples, and blueberries

Variety is the spice of life. Now go make some. Do eeeet!

P.S. – A note about honey

If at all humanly, physically, and spiritually possible, get yourself to a farmers market to buy honey. I thought I hated honey because I’d only ever had the SueBee stuff from the grocery store. The farmers market stuff tastes so much more awesome and generally they’ll give you a taste before you buy. In a pinch Whole Foods carries some decent honeys. Also, check out different varieties. It’s listed on the label, like Orange Blossom or Wildflower, depending on what the bees collected the pollen from. My personal favorite is Sage honey. Mmmmmmm….

On hot days in tEh Valley, colder food is desirable. Hence my excuse for making the sush!

It’s fairly simple, just rather time consuming, but VERY cheap in the long run! You can make about 4 or 5 rolls for $20 dollars! I love cheap.

Philly Roll
Veggie Roll (keebot style!)

ingredients:
sticky white rice (2.5 cups – “cups” being from the rice cooker not actual measurement)
salmon
cream cheese
avocado
cucumber
daikon radish
mirin
brown sugar
nori (25 grams for 10 sheets)
(and a cute boyfriend who draws next to the kitchen while you cook)

Put about 1/3rd cup of mirin and a tablespoon of brown sugar in a bowl and nuke it in the microwave! Mix and stir then pour onto the rice while folding it gently.

So once you’ve made the sushi rice, let it sit!

The secret to easily manipulated sushi rice is letting it cool off! Trying to work with hot or warm sushi rice will tear your seaweed or soy paper, so let it cool off! Atleast an hour. It can be a little warm, but it should be closer to room temp.

While it’s cooling . . .

Slice! avocado, cucumber, and salmon. Leave the cream cheese in the fridge until you’re ready to add it onto the roll, it will get soft and meltly if left outside.

You’ll want to wrap some cellophane over the bamboo mat. It helps keep the rice from sticking to the wood and makes the process much more managable.

Place the nori shiney side down on the matt.

Spread out your fingers across half the nori so that it won’t move and cover the other half with rice. I use the plane rice scooper from the rice cooker. You want it to be just an even layer. Be gentle and don’t press down, just across.

Looks so yummy when it’s covered!
Flip the riced sheet over!

Now you can pile on the goodies!
Salmon, avocado, cream cheese and cucumbers!

grab
tuck
squeeze
roll
love
repeat!

When you’re done, wrap that guy in cellophane (cuz the rice is on the outside) and set him aside. The rolls need to sit for a few minutes to conform to their new transdimentional spirit animals.

VeGGiE ROLL on over!
Start the same way as nori!

Avocado, cucumber, and daikon radish!

Once again, let the guy sit!

Now the Philly Roll has sat long enough and you can slice that bad boy!

Slice it with the plastic wrap still around it.
Go ahead and slice the hell out of your veggie roll!