Very good Semi-Homemade Pizza

1 package Trader Joe's Plain pizza dough
1 container Trader Joe's pizza sauce (used less than half)
1 lb. Trader Joe's part-skim low-moisture shredded mozzarella cheese (used 1/3 or less)
1 pkg. Johnsonville Italian Sausage (not hot) (used half the package)
1 small can mushroom stems and pieces
1 can sliced black olives
1 onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1 green pepper sliced thin
olive oil Pam

Rest dough for 20 minutes per package directions. Use gravity to stretch it into shape. Spray pizza pan with olive oil Pam. Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove sausage from casing. Put a small amt. of olive oil in fry pan and break up and saute sausage meat. When sausage is almost done, add green peppers and mushrooms. At the very end, mix in onions and black olives and turn off heat.

Spread sauce onto dough. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with all ingredients. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Exceptionally good Supreme pizza! Trader Joe's pizza sauce has some herbs and oil in it and is really tasty. Their dough makes a nice 12" size pie. I haven't tried the herb dough, but it also seems like a good plan--maybe bread sticks?

Somen Salad

Somen Salad is a great choice for a hot night. The noodles can be cooked in just 2 minutes, early in the day, and the whole meal can be assembled and refrigerated several hours before you eat. It looks so festive that it makes a great party dish, as well. More than 20 years ago, I received this recipe from my husband's co-worker, who was from Hawaii

Somen Salad

14-16 oz. package somen noodles, cooked for 2 minutes in boiling water, then cooled
shredded iceberg lettuce
3 slices ham, chopped
2 eggs, scrambled
1/2 a kamaboko, chopped (fish cake) or krab sticks
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1 Japanese cucumber, chopped
1 Tbsp benishoga (red pickled ginger)

Dressing:
2 Tbsp. sesame seed
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup corn oil
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Spread cooled somen in 9 x 13" pan. Garnish with remaining toppings. Shake dressing up in a small jar and pour over.

These ingredients make enough for a party-sized serving, although in that case the dressing should be doubled. For a family of 3 next time, I will use the 8 oz. package of somen noodles, and keep the other ingredients and dressing as stated in this recipe. We added miso salad dressing as we ate it, which was delicious!

Pineapple Fried Rice

This turned out to be delicious!

1 pineapple, cut lengthwise, cored and chopped
8 oz. chicken tenders, cut into small pieces
5 oz. fresh shrimp, shelled and cut into pieces
1/2 an onion, chopped
3 green onions chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
Thai fish sauce
soy sauce

Mini Cheesecakes

made for friends

Broiled Sanma with Kimpira

We've been planning a food blog for months now, and we keep forgetting to take pictures of our meals before we eat them. But today is the day.

Oyako literally means mother-child in Japanese. It's the name of a Japanese dish called oyako donburi, which is chicken and egg. And it's what Paul Simon was alluding to in his song Mother and Child Reunion. So this is the food blog for Kristen and Kristen's mom.

Friday nights in our house are always special meals-- usually Japanese dishes, always with rice. Tonight it was broiled sanma, known (if it is known at all) as "saury pike" in English. We cooked this shio-yaki, which just means sprinkled liberally with salt and broiled. The fish is oily, dark, and delicious. If you bite into the part that is the guts, it is bitter, but a tiny touch of that bitterness is part of the experience.

On the side, we had kimpira, stir-fried gobo and carrot with some seasoning and red pepper, as well as grated daikon, which is the perfect and necessary complement to fish. Eaten on the patio on a cool summer evening--what could be better.

Cooking by Mama, photography by Kristen.