Tag: quick dinners

Frozen Pizza

For some reason, frozen pizza never gets cooked right when I follow the instructions. Yes, the oven is actually at the right temp (I know not to trust the built-in thermister … but, if three different devices agree within a degree or so … I am confident that I’ve got the oven to a reasonably correct temperature!). But the middle ends up uncooked and soggy. Ugh! And cooking it for a few more minutes until the crust is actually cooked just yields burnt pizza. Also ugh!

So I did an experiment — instead of cooking the pizza at 400 for 22-24 minutes, I tried half an hour at 350 and half an hour at 375. I had to add a couple extra minutes in either case, but 34 minutes at 350 yielded a not-burnt-but-cooked frozen pizza! That’s not exactly a quick meal — if I have frozen dough defrosted, I can bake a fresh pizza at 550 for about ten minutes and have a full half-sheet of well-cooked pizza. But it’s a lazy meal — maybe three minutes of active cooking and half an hour to wash dishes or something.

Tortellini Soup

Tortellini Soup

Recipe by LisaCourse: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy
Servings

6

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 T butter

  • 1 T olive oil

  • 1 medium onion, diced

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 t Italian seasoning

  • 1/2 t red pepper flakes

  • 1/4 c. flour

  • 4 c. vegetable stock

  • 1 (28-oz.) can diced tomatoes

  • 5 tbsp. tomato paste

  • 1 c. almond milk, reduced to 1/2 c.

  • 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan

  • 3 c. spinach, chiffonaded

  • 4 c. cheese tortellini, cooked

Method

  • In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes.
  • Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and flour and whisk to combine. Cook 1 more minute.
  • Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, and tortellini. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Add the almond milk, Parmesan, and tortellini. Stir to combine. Remove from heat and stir in spinach.

Notes

  • Can use cream instead of reduced almond milk.