easy dinner

When I lived in Denver, Friday was always pizza & movie (documentary) night at the apartment. We would buy a fresh unbaked pizza from Whole Foods and dress it up with a few toppings. Whole Foods also has a fantastic salad bar in the deli section. Usually we just got a few fun toppings from the salad bar, threw them on the pizza and voilà … pizza perfection.

This particular pizza was topped with Black forrest ham, fresh spinach, roasted red peppers & fresh goat cheese from the Cherry Creek Farmers Market.

There is something about goat cheese that bumps a meal up just a notch. Anyone else agree?

Enjoy!

Semi-Homemade Ham, Spinach, Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pizza

-fresh pizza from Whole Foods

-fresh spinach

-black forrest ham (or your preference)

-fresh or roasted red peppers

-goat cheese crumbles

-onion powder

-garlic powder

-salt  & pepper

Top the pizza with the spinach first and add the rest of toppings. Sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste. Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup with Pesto & Goat Cheese

woah, long title. Got home today and and had a craving for tomato soup. It’s not quite soup weather, I know, but I bought some delicious cherry tomatoes at the store and decided to put them to good use. I couldn’t find a recipe that was simple enough, so I created my own using everything what I could find in the pantry. The tomatoes & roasted red peppers complemented each other very nicely. I threw a little pesto into the mix & topped it with a bits of goat cheese. Enjoy.

Pesto, you just cannot go wrong with it.

Roomie, with her Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors shirt

Roasted Red Pepper Tomatoe Soup with Pesto & Goat Cheese

1 roasted red pepper , chopped (canned or homemade)

1 large tomato, diced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 cup water

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP Pesto

2 TBSP milk

Goat Cheese

Heat olive oil in a medium size sauce pan over medium heat, saute the onions until translucent. Mix in the tomatoes, roasted red pepper and let simmer for about 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the water, lemon juice, pepper, salt, pesto & milk. Continue to simmer for about 10-15 more minutes on low heat. Remove the pan and pour into a blender. Blend on low for 1-2 minutes. Return the blended soup to the pan and simmer for a few minutes more. You will have to taste it throughout to see if it needs more salt, pepper, lemon juice, etc. Basically you really can’t mess this up. When it is ready to serve, garnish with goat cheese!