Another Cooking Day - April 10, 2024 @goldenoakfarm

Wednesday was another day to make meals of this huge shopping trip made last week. This time we were going to make a veggie pizza and some broccoli snacks.

When my helper arrived at noon, we headed out to do some quick errands then she fed the seedlings before settling down to cook. The pizza was first up, as it was the most work intensive.

She got busy chopping the zucchini and mushrooms for the “crust”. She added the broccoli after this photo. Here’s the recipe:

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

2 zucchini, sliced into half moons
16 oz mushrooms, slice into large chunks
2 bell peppers, sliced into strips, halved
3 small crowns broccoli, sliced into large florets
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Mixture:

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup breadcrumbs (or almond flour)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Italian blend seasonings
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup spaghetti sauce
10 cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion, sliced
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil
Garnish: fresh basil + chili pepper flakes

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Spray your large rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Add your veggies to the sheet – it doesn't matter if they are overlapping. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 20 minutes.

Parmesan Mixture:

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a medium bowl.
After the veggies have roasted for 20 minutes, remove from oven and toss them to mix them up. IF there is a lot of liquid in the pan, use some paper towels to absorb most of it. Push the veggies together to form an even single layer rectangle.

Drizzle the veggies with the marinara first, then sprinkle with the Parmesan mixture all over (this helps absorb the liquids too). Next toss on the mini tomatoes, onions, mozzarella. Drizzle with some olive oil and pop back into the oven for 18-20 more minutes.

Top with optional garnish of chopped basil and chili flakes.

Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 15g

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I left out the bell peppers and cherry tomatoes because I don’t like either cooked. There was a considerable amount of liquid from the vegetables once baked for 20 minutes. We drained it off and thought, because it was pretty rich, that mixed with something it would make a nice dip for the crisps.

She mixed up the cheese topping. I don’t like prepared Italian seasonings, so I made my own with thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley, basil, celery salt, and pepper. I used almond flour in this mix.

I used lots of garlic and my own spaghetti sauce. It called for a cup but that didn’t seem at all enough, so I put on an extra half cup. (That wasn’t enough either.)

Once the pizza was in the oven, she started on the broccoli crisps. Here’s that recipe:

Crispy Parmesan Broccoli Chips

1 lg head or 2 sm heads of broccoli
10 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt, garlic powder + onion powder to taste

Preheat your oven to 420℉. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Steam broccoli 5 minutes. Don’t overcook. Sprinkle the baking sheet evenly with your cheese so that there is a thin layer. Next transfer the broccoli to the sheet, slightly spacing them out so that you have room to mash them. Take a small shot glass and smash the broccoli pieces down gently but firmly. Sprinkle the tops with salt, onion powder and a little garlic powder. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese has turned golden brown and the broccoli is turning crispy. Allow to cool slightly and then break apart to serve.

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This is a really simple snack recipe.

I didn’t have Parmesan shreds so I used the grated. We put down a lot more than the recipe called for to make the rectangle. She had a good time mashing broccoli.

That went into the oven with the pizza. We ended up leaving the pizza in a bit longer to make sure the “crust” set. It really didn’t, there was even more fluid from the vegs.

The pizza really needed a thicker sauce with more seasoning than my spaghetti sauce. I’m thinking of adding a can of tomato paste and beefing up the seasonings next time.

I got 8 meals out of this, even with generous portions, as this pan is a huge roasting pan, not a 9” x 13”.

The crisps I thought we’d been conservative with the seasonings, but they were really strong and salty. So we will have to go easier next time. But they were good and nice and crispy. But they didn’t stay that way as they cooled. They will still make a good snack.

I sent my helper home with some of the crisps and a serving of the pizza. We had eaten a serving of the pizza to try it out and I saved a serving for another meal. The rest went into the freezer.

We sort of cleaned up the kitchen and she left. I was pretty exhausted. She had done most of the standing work, but I had to keep getting up to check things as we’d not made the recipes before.

On Thursday, I need to finish laundry, clean off my desk, and sort of keep the fires going as it’s to rain all day. There’s plenty to do, but I expect I will just rest after this busy week.