FoodieChat

A great way to occupy an evening with children (I can testify to this) is to get a box of vanilla cake mix and ice them together and dunk in bowls of sprinkles.  That way you don’t need to risk wrong ingredient proportions and the finished product will always work. And for $2 for a dozen - it’s dirt cheap too (I used Greens Vanilla Cake mix with frosting sachet, and added one single drop of red food colouring to make the icing pink). Great for parties for children and adults alike!

These are some amazing organic strawberries I picked up at my local Harris Farm. Not one blemish! You can really taste the difference.  I once sampled some straight from the farm at a farmer’s market in California - the sweetest I’ve ever had. Here’s a tip to enhance the flavour - eat them at room temperature. Same goes for all fruits!

Making your own pizza not only takes less time than waiting for home delivery, but it is many times healthier too.  Buy a few frozen bases to keep in your freezer, and always have on hand sachets of tomato paste. You can freeze what you don’t use for up to three months!  I like to sprinkle some chilli flakes on for a bit of zing.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 cup of veges, sliced (see suggestions)
½ cup of meat  eg Shredded salami, ham, SPAM, shredded chicken, cooked mince
¾ cup grated mozarella cheese
½ small thinly sliced onion
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
A few fresh basil leaves and oregano leaves (substitute 1 teaspoon dried italian herbs)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees celcius
2. Spread unthawed pizza base with tomato paste leaving a 1cm border for the crust
3. Sprinkle half cup mozarella on the base. At this stage, add your herbs (chilli flakes, basil leaves, oregano etc)
4. Arrange topping in a consistent layer on base and top with remaining cheese
5. Place on a tray in oven for 10-15mins (see instructions on pizza base box) - or for extra crispy base, place directly onto oven rack.

Suggestions

Mushroom pizza – 1 cup of sliced mushroom caps
Ham and mushroom – ½ cup sliced ham, ½ cup shredded mushrooms
Supreme – 8 whole slices of salami, ¼ cup thinly sliced green capsicum, handful sliced mushrooms, pepperoni
Chicken – ¾ cup shredded barbeque chicken, 2 rashers thinly sliced bacon, ¼ cup diced red capsicum