vegetable

Garden Fresh Pizza Sauce

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I’ve already discussed my feelings on pizza. If you missed this, you can check out my pizza dough recipe to understand my obsession. Luckily, I found a husband who shares my pizza obsession. Apparently we were just meant to be. A match made in pizza heaven. Everybody say, “AWWWW.” Okay good. We can move on now.

When we were in college my husband and his brother were roommates and would easily eat at least one frozen pizza a week. I have to admit that for college, even making a frozen pizza was pretty good. I’m guessing a lot of students probably didn’t even know if the oven in their apartment actually worked. Why cook when there are 50 million cheap take-out places nearby? Seriously, they had a point. However, once out of college and married the deal became that we could eat pizza to our hearts’ content but I wanted to make it at home.

Our homemade pizzas started with homemade pizza dough and store bought everything else. That was a great start! Then I started making cheese so it was homemade pizza dough with homemade cheese and bought everything else. Now I apparently make pizza sauce so it’s homemade pizza dough, homemade cheese, and homemade pizza sauce with store bought pepperoni. Pepperoni is pepperoni and it’s a hard habit to kick. Seriously. I don’t see myself making it so I may have to actually buy it as is. Such is life.

Bottom line is, you don’t have to make EVERYTHING from scratch to have some good eats! We didn’t start by making the whole shebang from scratch but eventually it becomes easier. Also, once you make one piece of the pizza (like sauce or dough), you can freeze it for the next time and the process is a lot easier!

Garden Fresh Pizza Sauce
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
30 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 10 Roma tomatoes
  2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  3. 1/2 cup chopped onion
  4. 4 cloves of garlic
  5. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  6. 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  7. 1/2 tablespoon sugar, optional depending on sweetness of tomatoes and preference
  8. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  9. pinch of salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Bring small pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, cut an "X" shape on bottom of each tomato (see above image). This will help the skin remove easily. Once the water is boiling, place the tomatoes in the water for about 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes and place into bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin and discard. The skin should basically fall off of the tomatoes. Cut tomatoes in half, remove extra seeds from the tomatoes and discard. Set the tomatoes aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and let saute 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and saute about 1 more minute. Add seeded tomatoes and break apart a bit with a spoon. Add the oregano, basil, sugar, crushed red pepper, and salt & pepper.
  3. Let simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Transfer to blender to blend or blend with handheld blender in the skillet (this option can get messy) if you want a smoother texture.
Notes
  1. You can also make this with a can of diced or crushed tomatoes (I'm guessing about a 28 oz can) instead of the fresh tomatoes.
  2. I used about 1/3 of a cup of sauce on my pizza but I'm not a fan of a ton of sauce. With the leftovers, I split them into small freezer bags in about 1/3 cup portions. This way, I can put the sauce in the refrigerator the night before and it will be waiting for me to make pizza!
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/

Zucchini, Corn & Spinach Quiche

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I didn’t eat eggs until I had quiche. True story. Except for in baked goods, I didn’t eat eggs for about 20 years of my life. I think in my mind they were mysterious and gross and wouldn’t be good to put in my mouth. I had no reason to think this. I don’t think I had ever actually given them a chance.

One day, my friends and I were all home from college and they were coming over for brunch. My mom asked what I wanted to make and I said quiche. Why I chose quiche I have no idea. I was fully aware that it was made with eggs as a star ingredient. Apparently I thought my friends really liked quiche. Who knows.

My mom asked what I wanted in my quiche so she could pick up the ingredients when she went grocery shopping and I just found a recipe with the basics. Eggs. Cheese. Sweet bell pepper. Done.

I made the quiche with a store bought crust and the basics. By the way, you can also make this recipe with an uncooked store bought crust. It will still be yummy! Anyway, I sat and twiddled my thumbs while it baked thinking it would turn out like a giant egg mess.

Lo and behold, about an hour later when the quiche was done it looked rather tasty. Being that I asked for quiche, had my mom buy the ingredients, then went through the trouble to make it, I figured I better eat it. So very tentatively I picked up my fork and took a bite. Delicious! Turns out eggs are pretty good.

Sorry 20 years of my life. Sorry you missed out on eggs and delicious quiche. Because I missed so much deliciousness over the years, I make it up to myself now by making all sorts of delicious quiche. Here’s a good one!

Zucchini, Corn & Spinach Quiche
Serves 8
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Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hr
For the pie crust
  1. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  3. 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  4. 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed (1 stick)
  5. 3 tablespoons cold water
For the filling
  1. 1 zucchini
  2. 1 yellow squash
  3. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  4. 1 garlic clove, minced
  5. 2 ears of corn (about 1 cup corn)
  6. 1/4 cup chopped onion (I used half a small yellow onion)
  7. 2 cups of fresh spinach
  8. 4 eggs
  9. 1/4 cup milk
  10. 1 tablespoon dried basil
  11. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  12. 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch to sprinkle on zucchini
  13. 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  14. 1 cup grated melting cheese (I used cheddar)
  15. 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
For the pie crust
  1. Place dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar) in food processor and pulse to blend.
  2. Add butter in 1/2 inch cubes, one or two at a time. Pulse between adding cubes of butter to incorporate.
  3. Add water and pulse until the dough just comes together into a ball
  4. Flatten dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.
  5. After dough has rested, roll into circle on well-floured surface and transfer into pie dish.
  6. Crimp edges of pie crust and set aside.
For the filling
  1. Slice zucchini and squash into thin slices (I used a mandoline) and place on a wire rack. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for at least 15 minutes while preparing the rest of the filling.
  2. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add corn cut from corn cobs and onion. Saute for about 5 minutes until the corn turns bright yellow and the onion starts to turn translucent. Add fresh spinach and heat until it just wilts in the pan. Take off heat and set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Mix in the melting cheese and Parmesan cheese (I saved a little cheese to sprinkle over top).
  4. Take a paper towel or towel and pat the zucchini and squash dry. You want them as dry as possible so the quiche does not become soggy.
To assemble
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Layer zucchini/squash with onion/corn/spinach mixture in pie crust.
  3. Pour egg mixture over top, making sure it gets all the way to the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle the top with remaining cheese.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until eggs become firm to the touch in the middle. Let sit about 10 minutes once it is out of the oven to set before cutting. Quiche can be served hot or warm.
Notes
  1. You want to make sure the zucchini and squash are VERY dry or else there could be too much water in the mixture and you end up with a soggy pie crust.
  2. You can buy an uncooked pie crust at the store and complete the process the same way...but what's the fun in that?
  3. Mozzarella, Gouda, or another kind of melting cheese would be nice instead of cheddar but I had cheddar I had to use up! It was still delicious!
  4. I topped mine with fresh basil because I had it. And because it's pretty. Who doesn't like pretty?
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/
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