Cook a Buttload

The other night while visiting with Carrie and kids, I took over in the kitchen. This happens with me. The kitchen is my home thanks to my wonderful German mom. Carrie enjoyed the easy breezy food so much she suggested I blog about it. She's handy like that.

So, she had a couple of pounds of hamburger meat thawed so I browned it (salt, pepper to taste). She hit the pantry and pulled out some canned tomatoes (several cans for her family of 5) and olive oil. After sauteing some garlic and onions in the oil I added the diced tomatoes (drained). If using whole canned tomatoes hand crushing before throwing them in is recommended. This doesn't take long to cook thru and make a nice consistency. We ended up combining the sauce and meat, spooning it over some pasta, parmesan on top. Kids loved it.

We had a nice amount of meat mixture left. The next day as Carrie and I were talking, I mentioned making mini pizzas. French bread or hamburger/hotdog buns.....slather it with the meat, smother it with cheese, drizzle with olive oil.....brown it up in the oven. Salad with black olives, spinach and mushrooms. Nice little dinner with little or no effort. As with any pizza, your imagination can run wild with the toppings.

One of her children (he's 15) was a bit skeptical about the idea, the youngest (1st grade boy) felt it horrid while Madalyn was on her 4th piece. Yea Madalyn!

Back when my kids were little, I simply bought pepperonis, small hamburger buns, a jar of Paul Newman's marinara and went from there. They loved Mini Pizzi Night! And so did I!