Back in the Kitchen I Go

After a successful night "cooking" my infamous rotel and Velveeta cheese dip, I set out to have another night in the kitchen this week. I have been on an eating out rampage and needed a night in and a home cooked meal. My friend Meghan and I had plans on Wednesday and I suggested cooking instead of the usual of trying a new restaurant.

Her roommate and friend joined in on the fun and home made pizza and salad were the menu.

My responsibility was to get the wine -- which I took seriously -- and tried a new Malbec from Argentina which was quite delish. The other three dinner guests did the grocery shopping and we all met up at Lauren and Meghans.

While making home made pizza might sound easy to some and complex to others it was a very simple thing to make and a great way to get creative! And this is the cooking novice talking, so anyone is capable of this!

All you need is to get either a pre made pie crust or dough, tomato sauce, any toppings you want and of course cheese!

We opted to get the Trader Joes whole wheat pizza dough, mushrooms, artichokes and goat cheese but you can really do whatever you want in this situation. I've also gotten the pre-made pizza crust from Trader Joe's and it works just the same!

After rolling out the dough, spreading the tomato sauce and adding our toppings and cheese, you put it in the oven at around 400 - 425 degrees for at least 10 minutes but could be more depending on your oven. I suggest to keep checking at 5 minute intervals after the initial 10 minutes. Meghan's oven was a little tired so we kept ours in for around 20 minutes.

We (and by we I mean Meghan) also made a simple Romain salad with tomatoes, onions, beets, almonds, goat cheese and artichokes to go along with the pizza.

The crust didn't end up getting as crispy as we wanted but it definitely hit the spot after my return to spin class earlier that night. We all decided that a pizza stone is the way to go if you want to use the pre-made dough to insure faster cooking and ideal crispiness.

I'm thinking about having one night a week be a cooking night -- we'll see how that goes. If anyone has easy and quick recipes for dummies please pass along!