Quick and Easy

Last night we spent the evening helping our neighbors build a retaining wall. Well my husband helped, and I held their baby, but hey, it was helping. Well 6:30 rolled around and it was dinner time. I needed something quick and we were out of frozen pizzas, so I went for another quick staple at our house. The tortilla. You can do anything with those. Last night we had "Pizzadillas." (that is what my husband and daughter named them.) Delicious. Since it is Summer and things are busy for us, I thought they might be for you too. I thought I would share a few of our quesadilla favorites.

Pizzadillas

cheddar cheese and pasta sauce sandwiched in between two tortillas. We add peperoni sometimes too.

Meaty Quesadilla's

ham or turkey deli meat with mozzarella cheese sandwiched between two tortillas, or one folded over.

Bar-B-Que
this one sounds weird, but it is actually really good.

Spread barbecue sauce on a tortilla and top with Cheddar cheese and another tortilla with barbecue sauce.

My husband and daughter also like to make them with ranch dressing instead of barbecue sauce. I have yet to try it though.

And the traditional

Refried beans, cheese, and salsa sandwiched between two tortillas.

For desert you can end with a warm buttered, cinnamon, and sugar tortilla. Yum!

The possibilities are endless, so when you are in a bind, grab a tortilla and see what you can come up with!

Grillin' & Chillin'

We finally broke down and bought us a new outdoor gas grill a couple of months ago, and we've already used it a ton! I love cooking on it because 1)I'm not heating up the house by using the oven, 2)cleanup is easy since there are no pots and/or pans, and 3)it tastes so delish and makes me excited to really cook again.

Tonight was my first attempt at grilled pizza. I used this recipe for the dough and wasn't disappointed. The recipe calls for kneading minced garlic and fresh chopped basil into the dough, which gave it an extra bit of flavor baked right in. I was a little rushed, so I didn't have the extra hour it says to let it rise again, so mine wasn't as tender or easy to roll out into a thin crust. But it turned out great.

The one on the left is a traditional margherita pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I'd never tried the fresh mozzarella before, you know the kind in the fancy cheese case at the store in its own little container of water. After trying it tonight, I'm in serious trouble - that stuff is amazing and melts so incredibly creamy. The one on the right has an alfredo sauce with sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms and a little bit of chicken and topped with grated mozzarella cheese.

If you're new to this kind of cooking like I am, remember that most foods cook much quicker on the grill than in the oven or on the stove. When you make pizza, get all of the toppings ready before you even put the dough on the grill. I brought everything out on a cookie sheet. Don't even think about multi-tasking while the pizza's on, like thinking you'll grate the cheese while it cooks. Roll out the dough, brush with oil and place oil side down on the grill. It only takes about 4-5 minutes on the first side. Brush the top with oil and flip over. Add the toppings and close the lid so the cheese can melt, about 3-4 minutes. That's it!

Now for the chillin' part. I reserved a small section of dough and didn't mix in the garlic and basil. I rolled it out as usual and brushed it with a little butter on both sides and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and grilled as I did the other pizzas. Serve a wedge with some ice cream and bananas and you've got yourself a perfect finish to your grilled meal.

This is one of our favorites. What is your favorite grilled food?

Please, Will You Come to Dinner?

Sometimes I wish we could all just sit down together and have dinner. Everyone. The whole planet. There's just something about sharing a meal ... I wonder if we could get a few of our collective issues resolved that way, and get to know each other in the process. Wouldn't that be lovely?

But since we can't actually sit down together, here's a little glimpse of what it would be like if I could invite you all to my house for dinner.

The table is all set. (We hope you don't mind that the place mats are wrinkled.)

Candlelight is a must, even though we're down to our last candles and they don't match. A few months ago we started lighting these candles at dinner time to encourage good table manners. If anyone in the family is caught being rude or inconsiderate at the table, one candle gets blown out. If we have any still lit at the end of dinner, we can all have dessert; if they're all blown out, no dessert. It's been working out amazingly well!

Our dining room is also my sewing space ...

... and those baskets are where we keep our napkins (which we use every day) and napkin rings (if we're feeling fancy) and our best silverware. I think it's a shame to let good silverware sit unused in a box, so I've decided we'll use this set every Sunday in addition to holidays and other special days.

Our dining room is also home to part of our library, and all the kids' art supplies ...

... and usually a napping cat or two.

And what's on the menu? Tonight it's Spicy Tofu Bento Bowl from Vegetarian Times magazine. Please make sure to press your tofu first! For dressing, the one in the recipe makes things too spicy for my taste (but my husband prefers it, so it all depends on who's making dinner!) so I use Brianna's Ginger Mandarin to sweeten the deal.

What's for dinner at your house tonight? And if you try the recipe, I'd love to hear what you think of it!