The Sandwich That Made Me Cry...and Pizza!

When coming up with ideas for dinners without Anthony, I stated to think about all the things that he doesn’t like (eggplant, mushroom, pineapple). Then I remembered a pizza that my friend mentioned. While it sounds like a weird combination, I could totally see why it would be great. This is why I decided to make a Pineapple and Jalapeno Pizza. Pineapple used to be my topping of choice on pizza and it wasn’t always available. I’ve suggested pineapple on pizza to Anthony before, but he is not into the fruit on pizza thing. Luckily I found a recipe online for this exact pizza. At least some people have good taste out there!


The recipe calls for store bought dough (I had a small thought of making my own crust, but it seemed like too much work). I picked up wheat pizza dough from Wegmans. You can either just stretch the dough by hand over your pizza pan or roll it out with a rolling pin. I stretched it by hand (one less item to wash!) and tried to get it as evenly spread out as I possibly could. Then you make an easy pizza sauce (you could just buy pizza sauce to make this even easier) using a can of tomato sauce, olive oil, 1 clove of garlic chopped, and chopped basil, thyme, and parsley. Spread this over the pizza dough, than add mozzarella and parmesan cheese (1/2 of each). Top the cheese with pineapple (1 large can) and jalapenos (1 can), than add the rest of the cheese. Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes (at least). Mine was in the oven for 35 minutes.

Final Product:

I'm from New Jersey (we like thin crust!) so the crust on this pizza was too thick for me. That fact alone makes me want to try to make my own crust next time. Even though the crust was thick, it was actually pretty good considering it was store bought. I loved, loved, loved the pineapple with the jalapeno. The combination of the sweet and spicy was perfect. Too much cheese for my taste, but with a few little changes this recipe can be perfect!

A few days ago I really wanted to make a vegetable sandwich with eggplant, portabella mushroom and roasted red peppers. I tried combining two different recipes for said sandwich; one where the veggies are grilled the other where they are sautéed. Disaster ensued and it wasn’t just because I was trying to make something up on my own. The first issue was when I decided this would work without using the grill. I thought it best not to try to grill stuff when Anthony wasn’t home, I didn’t want to blow myself up. So I figured why not just pan fry these things (thinking back now I don’t even know why I thought of that, all that oil on a sandwich = yuck). When I took the portabella mushroom out of the fridge it was a little soggy around the edges and when I took the gills out it was starting to break at the edges. I should have just stopped there, but instead I got my eggplant ready. I put some oil in a pan and added half of the mushroom and two slices of eggplant. Another bad idea was adding the roasted red pepper to the hot pan, it started making a popping sound and was sticking to the pan. I pulled that out right away. Meanwhile the mushroom somehow managed to start burning and the smoke detector started shrilling. Everything was way too oily, the mushroom was way too burned and when taking the red pepper out of the pan half of it fell on the floor. Then I when I tried to cut the bread I discovered it was way too hard; I couldn’t even cut it (this is why I don’t like shopping ahead of time!). I got so angry and frustrated with all of it that I took everything and threw it all in the garbage! There is not final product picture for this one. I thought about taking a picture of the trash, but that wouldn’t have been very attractive.


I had been defeated by the cooking. It finally did me in; to the point that I swore I would not be cooking for the entire rest of the time that I was dining alone. Lack of sleep, coupled with being bored sent me over the edge and I ended up in tears over a vegetable sandwich. A sandwich!! I heated up some leftover pizza and took some deep breaths. Is this it? Am I through with all of it? Done?


I really did think I was and then a miracle happened. Last night I got my act together and managed to put a meal together. The recipe was horrible, so horrible I’m not even going to post it, but I cooked. I didn’t let the whole issue of the night before make me lose my confidence in my ability to cook a basic meal.


Here’s a picture of my recovery meal.

It is fettuccini tossed in a mixture of tomato paste, olive oil, garlic, and hot pepper flakes with salad greens added to it. Why? Who knows! Was it good? Not really, but I was happy. Happy that I moved on from the disaster of the day before and had the will to continue on with my cooking adventure.


Can’t wait to see what I come up with for next week. It’s my last dining alone week, so it should be interesting.

Vacation Food

I’m back! My vacation was not as restful as it could have been. We put about 700 miles on the Xterra just traveling around to see everyone in NJ and PA. Ridiculous!! Now my truck isn’t feeling well. I think it needs a break. A parking brake actually. Apparently when the dealer was fixing my rear brakes, they either cut the line for the parking brake or adjusted it wrong. Now it doesn’t work at all, which is not making me happy since I am due for inspection in September. It never ends! Madness! I’m also not paying for them to fix something they screwed up. I’ve got to take a stand!

On to discussing the food enjoyed while on vacation. The first food of the trip was our standard lunch of McDonald’s. I know it’s disgusting, but there is just something SO good about it. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. That’s just about the only items on the menu that I can eat and not feel sick after eating them. Anthony ordered the McChicken and McDouble. Those are the only items he ever orders. $1 menu all the way! Once in NJ my mom wanted to take us to this really popular pizza place, Pete & Elda’s in Neptune. It was jam packed. Anthony and I figured it had to be good with so many people there. The place did not disappoint. They have an eating challenge. You have to finish a XXLG pizza by yourself and you get a free t-shirt. This pizza is thin crust and when I say thin I mean THIN!! It was super yummy!! Anthony said the crust’s taste reminded him of popcorn. We both ordered XXLG’s but neither of us finished. I only ate half and Anthony ate one piece more then me. I had also ordered (and shared with my mom) mussels in marinara. Mussels Marinara is one of my favorite things to eat in NJ, besides the pizza pie. I’m sure they sell it other places, but I’ve only seen it once in Rochester. Anyway I must say this dinner was delicious!!

The next night we were invited to eat a small cookout at my brother-in-laws house. The cookout included hamburgers, hot dogs, tomato salad, pasta salad, and corn. It was your typical American cook out. The corn smelled very good, but I can’t eat corn unless I want to pay for it later. We also had cold leftover pizza from the night before for lunch and it was still great! My beer choices while away were not the best, MillerLite the first and 2^nd nights. It seemed fitting since it was the only beer I frequently drank while living in NJ.

The following day was a great time. We went to Pt. Pleasant to hang out on the beach and then walk the boards. Awesome! I miss that so much. It was pretty hot that day somewhere in the 90’s. So we didn’t sit on the beach very long, just long enough to get the feel for it again. Then we walked around the boardwalk. Anthony and I just really wanted some clams. I would have preferred them raw (or so I thought, read tomorrow’s post to find out more), but we ended up having them steamed since that’s the only way Anthony would eat them. We ate at Martell’s Tiki Bar. If you are from NJ and frequent the beaches, you know Martell’s. We had a dozen steamed clams for appetizer and then Anthony had a burger and I had a blackened Mahi sandwich. Yum. If I can have seafood over anything else I always will. After going into Jenk’s Funhouse and running around Jenk’s Arcade, we needed a snack. I knew just what I wanted and that was a twist cone from Kohr’s. I got a vanilla and chocolate twist and Anthony got a peanut butter and chocolate twist. Having Kohr’s again really made me miss the beach. That night was another get together with food: roast beef with mushrooms and sauce, ham, pasta salad, potato salad, tomato salad, etc. My drinks were a little bit better this day: Corona, Blue Moon, and Cosmopolitan’s!

Next day we went out for breakfast. I don’t eat eggs straight up, so I ordered 3 pancakes, pork roll, and home fries. Oh pork roll, my how I miss you! There is nothing like it in the world. Everyone needs to try it at least once, because you don't know what you are missing! YUM!! Later this day we went to a picnic at a lake in PA. More standard cook out type foods: hamburgers, sausage, bbq chicken, potato salad, tomatoes, baked beans, corn, etc. My uncle brought salmon he caught in Alaska and smoked it and served it with cream cheese. Seriously good!! Smoked Salmon is the number one way I like to eat salmon. Corona was the drink of choice at this get together.

That’s pretty much the extent of my vacation eating. When we got home Sunday we popped a California Pizza Kitchen frozen White Pizza in the oven. It actually wasn’t too bad. It has spinach, garlic, and a couple of different cheeses on it. The pizza had a lot of flavor for what it was. Then we shared TastyKake Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes for dessert Sunday. We picked up a package before we left Jersey. They really are quite delectable! Overall it was pretty good eating while we were away. The only thing missing was Rita’s Water Ice. There never was an opportunity to stop and get some. I’m very sad. I don’t know when the next chance will be for us to get some Rita’s.

It’s good to be back! I was starting to miss writing this little blog. I’m excited for this weeks upcoming dinner’s: Grilled Clams with Salt Potatoes and Bruschetta (Anthony’s night to cook), Curried Cauliflower Soup, Black Bean Lasagna, Stir-Fried Beef with Orange and Ginger, and a night out at Rohrbach’s for Brewtopia. This should be a good week!

I also bought two new frozen meals to try for lunch. One is a Veggie Masala, I can’t remember what brand it is and one is a Kashi meal with coconut chicken. Someone had recommended I try Organic Bistro and I really want to. I just have to work up the gumption to spend over $6 on a frozen meal. The ideal eats for lunch would be leftovers from dinner, but sometimes I just don’t want to cook THAT much food. Also, not everything I cook tastes good enough, to be eaten again.

Then the other item on the to-do list this week is poaching an egg. I’m really excited to try this, but I think I’ll wait until the weekend. This might take awhile!

Mexican Pita Pizzas

Day 8-I was sick yesterday and was home from work. I wasn’t completely sure if my stomach was going to behave itself enough for me to eat dinner. Luckily, my stomach felt better closer to dinner time, so I decided to give it a go. I originally was going to make the pork tenderloin and peppers, but I was confused as to which wine I should use (dry and white was needed, but I wasn’t sure which of the whites we have were dry and cheap). Anthony was too wrapped up in homework to help me figure out the wine issue. So I put all the pork tenderloin ingredients away and decided to make something I know how to make. Mexican Pita Pizzas. Besides my love of seafood and Indian, I also really love Mexican. Now obviously what I was going to make, isn’t authentic Mexican food. It still has some yummy ingredients though and it’s the closest to Mexican I was going to get last night.

I’ve made these pizzas numerous times. I’ve never tried to make an actual pizza with these same ingredients, but now that the idea is in place I’m putting that on the list. This recipe is a Rachel Ray oldie but goodie. It is supposed to be faster to cook then the way I made it last night (30 minute meals are her specialty). I wanted to make my own refried beans. I didn’t use lard. Sorry people! I have an issue with actually having lard in my house. Ick! I’ve made refried beans before, but I was a bit distressed from the change of plans and wasn’t really focused. I ended up draining the can of pinto beans, which you are not supposed to do. It’s better to mash it all up together. Oops! Then I didn’t cook the onion and garlic long enough. The garlic was fine; it was the onion that was a little crunchy still. Once I put the beans in with the onion, garlic, salt, and pepper that’s when I realized that I drained the beans. So I added ¼ cup of water. I figured its just water nothing bad could come of it. I also decided to give the beans more flavor (I’m not sure what is in the part that I drained) and added some Sazon seasoning. The refried beans were still tasty even after the mishaps.

You can totally omit that step and just open a can of refried beans. Most of the time I do that, but I do love fresh refried beans. The rest of the recipe is super simple. Toast some pita bread. Once it is cooler (I don't wait very long), spread the beans on, add a couple tablespoons of taco sauce, sprinkle a generous amount of shredded cheese, and add diced tomatoes, chopped scallions, and diced jalapeño and you are good to go.

Put the pitas into a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes and you have dinner! Love it! I also made instant rice (gag me), because it was the easiest rice I had to make. I put some Sazon seasoning in the water with the rice. Once it was cooked, I added garlic salsa and some shredded cheese to give it a little something more.

Final Product:

I love these things. They are super easy to make and they taste good. What more could you ask for?!

Totals: 10 minutes prep, 12 minutes cooking time, 1 pot (no pots if you don’t make your own beans), 1 baking sheet

Mexican Pita Pizzas Recipe is from: Veggie Meals: Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals