Saturday, April 9, 2011

Easy Marinara Sauce

This is a weight watchers Marinara Sauce that we spiced up a little.  You can start with the basic sauce and pretty much add anything you want.  I added squash, zucchini and bell peppers....I think a few mushrooms would be a good addition.  Any way....it's easy and great tasting!

32 ounce can of crushed tomatos
16 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic

Heat the olive oil in a pot.  Add the garlic and saute for about one minute.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for as long as you can wait to eat.  Seriously, I added the veggies and simmered the sauce long enough for the veggies to get tender.  I served this over whole wheat penne pasta with a salad and a bottle of red wine....if only I had a good baguette it would have been perfect!
Enjoy.

Roasted vegetable pizza with parmesan pizza dough


The dough:
4 cups flour
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. fast-rising yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix the all ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir until mixture forms a soft dough.  Knead on a lightly floured surface gradually adding up to one cup additional flour until smooth and elastic.  Cut dough into four pieces.  Each piece is enough for a 12 inch pizza.  Spray with cooking spray and cover lightly....lest rest for 15 minutes.  Dough that you are not using can be placed in a freezer bag that has been sprayed with cooking spray and frozen for up to 3 months.  You can also keep the dough in the refridgerator for up to 2 days.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup sliced zucchini
1 medium bell pepper, sliced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh basil 

Place veggies in a large bowl, add pepper and olive oil.  Toss to coat.  Place veggies on a jelly roll and bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes.  Place 1/3 cup tomato sauce on your crust. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese over the sauce.  Add veggies and top with an additional 1/2 cup of cheese.  Dollop with 1/3 cup ricotta.
Bake at 500 degrees for 11 minutes until crust is golden.  Sprinkle with basil.

I recommend using a pizza stone and pre-cooking your crust.  I spread out the crust on the stone, sprinkle with corn meal, and then prick the crust with a fork  all over.  Place the crust in the pre-heated oven for approximately 7 minutes.  This cooks the crust and hopefully will give you a crispy crust.