After a Long Weekend

Nothing says 'long weekend away' than coming back to an immaculate kitchen. It shows, well frankly it shows that I haven't used it. And while I enjoy my kitchen being clean, counters smellingly slightly of my lavendar cleaning product, there is nothing better than messing it all up again. While I still need to bring to you the entire month of August's cooking adventures, rest assured I have kept to my daily habit of cooking something new to bring to you. Oh, and I found the hookup from my camera to my computer, so pictures really ARE coming soon!

Nigella's Crustless Pizza
I really can't live without this recipe. I found it about a month ago and I think I've made it about 5 times since then. It's SO easy, it's delicious and I've only met one kid that didn't instantly love it. It also helps that it requires very little ingredients and once made the kids won't get your floors filthy with it (I know, you're thinking WHAT? Pizza that when dropped isn't messy?) Well yes, that is the absolute beauty of Nigella. Not only is she my absolute favorite cook, but she seems to inherently know and cook what I love, in a manner that I find easy and like to replicate with my own additions (or subtractions) in order to make it my very own. So here it is, Nigella's Crustless Pizza. I'm giving you my version of the recipe, hers can by found either on the food network or her own website.
-1 egg
-2/3 cup flour
-1 cup 2% milk
-1 cup cheese of your choosing (Nigella uses cheddar, I use a mixture of parm, mozz and whatever else I have)
-pinch of salt
-additional toppings of your choice
Preheat oven to 400F
Grease a pie dish
Mix together egg, four, milk and cheese. Add salt and any other herbs or seasoning you enjoy (as you may have gathered, I tend to use fresh herbs from my windowboxes, such as rosemary or oregano).
Pour this mixture into the greased pie dish and pop into the oven fro 30 minutes. Top with additional toppings, both Nigella AND I do not use tomato sauce, you can, obviously, tomato paste will also work, but you still get a 'pizza' without the mess if you omit tomato. Add fresh tomato, or pepperoni, banana peppers or garlic, you get the picture, then top with a little bit more cheese, really to your liking. Bake for an additional 2 minutes and...that's it! You've got a fantasticly glorious pizza that your kids and you will LOVE!

Panzella
I've heard this recipe called about a million different variations of the above word, and I'm sure there is a corret way to spell this. I'll find it...eventually. I LOVE good bread. In fact, bread and cheese may be my absolute downfall, so I almost always have a hunk of nice bread that is slightly off but not yet moldy, that I'm trying to figure out what to do next with. This is a wonderful recipe for that slightly older bread, that isn't turning it into a pudding which is my standard go-to. Give yourself about 30 minutes to marinate this salad once you've prepared it so that all the flavors have time to seep into the core of the bread.
-Hunk of old bread, 1/4 to half a loaf is best
-Peppers, either bell or banana, sliced to fork sized pieces, about one whole
-2 tomatoes diced thick
-1 small onion
-fresh basil
-fresh mint
-salt and pepper to taste
-squeeze of harissa paste
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/4 red wine vinegar
Slice up the bread and vegetables (and fruit). Toss into a bowl and add seasoning. Add oils, toss again and cover in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Toss before serving.

Mussels in White Wine
There are so many recipes out there to prepare mussels. And most of them are pretty good. I find I like to make mine up as I go. That way I'm always pleasantly surprised at the outcome. This last batch I made for a small dinner party where I was serving 3 kids under 6 and 4 adults. Needless to say I needed a lot of mussels, and they needed to taste delicious, but NOT of wine. So I modified my normal bottle of wine with about a half bottle and added other ingredients to ensure I was getting a tasty dinner.
-2 to 4 lbs of mussels. We go to a wonderful fish place that cleans them for free. It saves a lot of time and hassle since I have a tiny sink, but if you need to clean, it's really not that bad!
-1 head of garlic, peeled
-1/2 bottle of dry white wine
-1 tbl of olive oil
-1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
-1/2 stick of unsalted butter
-salt and pepper to taste
-handful of fresh tarragon to garnish
Add everything but salt and pepper, tarragon and mussels to a large pot (I use a dutch oven) and bring to a rapid simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, taste, add seasoning to taste. Add mussels. Cook until the majority (if not all) of the mussels have opened. Plate, garnish with tarragon, serve. How easy is that?