Make-Ahead Pizza Dough....and Pizza Sticks for Lunch

Now that school's in session, you'll find me every Saturday in my kitchen, cooking for the week ahead. I'm determined to stop relying on basic sandwiches this year and branch out into better lunches. Pizza's great, whether warm or cold, so this was a natural starting point for me. My oldest is in middle school and has a microwave at her disposal, so she'll likely eat her pizza sticks warm. My youngest doesn't have access to a microwave, so we've compared these pizza sticks to the Lunchables pizza lunch, which kids eat cold all the time. She approves.

This dough can be made ahead and frozen so that you have two pizza crusts ready to go for dinner one night when Papa John calls out to you. Instead of relying on delivery (which can cost a family of four as much as I spend per week in groceries), pull out your dough and you'll be ready to bake in no time. If you roll your dough into pizza crust shape before freezing, the thawing time will be minimal. The other option is to keep it in a ball and thaw it overnight in the fridge. Either way, pizza night just got a whole lot cheaper and less complicated.

This is not the first pizza dough I've shared with you, but it has a different texture and taste than this one. The one I shared a while back is great for cracker-thin crusts. This dough is softer, which makes it a natural choice for my kids' school lunches.

Make-Ahead Pizza Dough
Makes enough dough for 2 medium pizzas (thin crust)

What You Need:

• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (if desired. adds color and flavor. I used parsley, basil, and thyme)
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups flour (white or whole wheat, or a combination)

How it's Done:

1. Stir together yeast, sugar, and water, and let it sit until bubbly. Stir in half the flour, the salt, herbs, and melted butter.
2. Knead in remaining flour until a stiff dough forms. Knead about 6 minutes.
3. Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl. Cover and place in a warm spot for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Punch the dough down, divide it in half, and roll each half into desired shapes. In my case, rectangles, as I'm making pizza sticks. I want my sticks on the thick side, so I rolled my dough into rectangles that were about 1/2" thick. Place the dough on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. You can freeze at this point if you want. Otherwise, proceed.
5. Let the dough rest 20 minutes. Then, top as desired and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

For my pizza sticks, here's what I did once the dough was rolled into rectangles:

1. I placed each rectangle onto a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
2. I used a pizza cutter to cut through (but not separate) the dough, making 1" wide strips.
3. I spread a bit of pizza sauce -- just a couple tablespoons per rectangle -- on the dough.
4. Then, I topped the sauce with sliced veggies. In this case, sweet banana peppers.
5. Next, I sprinkled about 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan cheese on each rectangle, and baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. I let them cool slightly before recutting the strips.

A Week of (Healthy) Bare-Bones Meals

Today's day five in my week of super-frugal recipes. You'll notice I don't use much meat this week. It's much less expensive to eat a plant-based diet. Therefore, my frugal tip for today:

Frugal Tip #5: Treat meat as a side dish or a tasty addition to a meal, not the main course.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to cut your grocery budget, rethink your meat & potatoes approach. Even if it's what you've been doing your whole life, you can change now, and so can your spouse and/or children.

Today's meal uses up some of the scraps of foods leftover from other days. I encourage you to switch things up a bit with whatever you have around.

I don't have a recipe for you; just a set of instructions. Open up a bag of tortillas (flour, hopefully whole wheat). Spoon on any leftover beans and vegetables you have. Maybe you have some salsa and cheese in the fridge. If you don't, I suggest adding chili powder, salt, pepper, and garlic to the beans before heating them up. Anyway, you're making a leftovers burrito. It's easy, it's practically free, and it's tasty. As a matter of fact, I have a sixth frugal tip for you today:

Frugal Tip #6: PLAN to USE your LEFTOVERS.

Don't waste food. Plan to use them. Leftovers don't have to be the same dish just warmed over. Take your leftovers and transform them. Chicken becomes chicken soup and chicken burgers. Beans become Mexican pizzas and bean burritos. Change it up a bit. Add new spices. Make a main dish into a salad. Be creative.

And enjoy your quick and easy lunch. :)

Here, I've taken a whole wheat tortilla and stuffed it with my beans (leftover from Mexican Pizza), lettuce, and tomato. Filling, nutritious, and easy!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Day 9.

Someone had to be the first to think that the humble potato would make good food. They tried it. It was good. And now we all eat potatoes. The same goes for this sandwich. Swiss cheese, ham, turkey, mustard, JELLY? POWDERED SUGAR?

This sandwich is supposed to be deep fried in a thick batter, but I've removed that layer and prepared it in the "French toast" method instead.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 8 thick slices of white bread
• Dijon mustard
• 4 deli ham slices
• 4 deli turkey slices
• 4 half-slices of Baby Swiss
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• strawberry jam
• confectioner's sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter
  

How it's Done:

1. Preheat your griddle to medium-high. Add butter and let it melt.
2. Meanwhile, assemble your sandwiches. Spread a very thin layer of Dijon mustard on each piece of bread. Place a piece of ham, then Swiss, then turkey, and close the sandwich.
3. Beat the eggs with the milk, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
4. Secure each sandwich with a skewer and dip into the egg mixture, coating well. Move to skillet and remove skewer.
5. Fry on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, until golden brown.
6. Spread strawberry jam on the top piece of bread. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

Sandwich Cubano (Cuban Sandwich)

Day Two.

One of the benefits to living in south Florida is the ability to walk into a Cuban restaurant and order a Cuban sandwich, a guava pastry, and a Cuban coffee. If you happen to be in Palm Beach County, I highly recommend Havana for a great meal.

However, if, like me, you're not in the Sunshine State, you can make your own Cuban sandwich at home.

Cuban Sandwich

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of Cuban bread (If you can't find Cuban bread, look for a long loaf like French Bread. You're looking for very crusty outside and soft inside. A baguette will NOT work. It's not wide enough.)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup mustard (I mix 1/2 cup mustard with 3 Tbsp mayonnaise. You're not supposed to use mayo traditionally. I like it.)
• Baby Swiss. How much you use will depend on the size of your loaf of bread. You need enough to make two layers on each serving.
• 1 1/2 cups of leftover roast pork, cut into thin pieces
• Deli-thin ham (again, the amount you need depends on your bread)
• Dill pickle slices. Not rounds. Ovals are good, as are sandwich stackers.
• Butter, softened

Directions:

• Cut your loaf of bread into four equal part. Slice each horizontally, almost all the way through. Leave the halves connected on one edge.
• Spread your mustard (or mustard mayo mix) on both sides of the bread.
• Starting on the bottom slice of bread, layer your ingredients in this order: Swiss cheese, ham, pickles, roast pork, Swiss cheese.Top your sandwich. Spread both pieces of bread with softened butter.
• Place your sandwich on a preheated (to medium-high) griddle. Find something heavy (I use a plate topped with a full tea kettle) and use it to smoosh your sandwich while it toasts. After a couple minutes, flip your sandwich, smoosh it again, and let the other side toast for a minute or two. You're only toasting and smooshing and barely melting cheese. This does not heat the sandwich all the way through. If you want it heated all the way through, heat up your meats ahead of time. Remove your thoroughly smooshed sandwich from the griddle. Cut it on the diagonal into two thin triangles and serve.

Delicioso!