Favorite Pizza

I enjoy getting a multi-cheese pizza and covering it with my favorite toppings.

I keep the pizza in the freezer until I collect a number of fresh vegetables from the produce aisle. Then I cook and freeze each type of vegetable separately. 

The rewarding trick is to purchase just one or two different kinds of products at a time so you can cook and freeze them before they wither.

Yeah, things can pop up and you can’t get back to them to cook them in time. That’s all part of life.

That’s why you need to keep the purchases low to make cooking relaxing, not burdensome.

Vegetables that keep well are garlic and onions. I peel, wash, and slice the onions and garlic to prepare them for cooking.

I like to caramelize my onions in olive oil and when cooled, I then put them in small plastic bags that will hold as much as I want to place on one pizza.

Most fresh produce should be soaked in a bowl of water with two or more tablespoons of baking soda. I soak the vegetables for fifteen to twenty minutes. Other fresh vegetables that need to be processed and frozen sooner, and cleaned this way, are the following:

Leeks:

Cut an inch or two off the tops and bottoms. You can replant the bottoms if you like.

Cut leeks into workable pieces, four to five inches long, discarding any damaged parts. Separate the leaf sections, rinse two or three times, then place in a bowl filled with baking soda solution, making sure the bowl is big enough to hold all of the vegetables.

After fifteen to twenty minutes, rinse leeks thoroughly, two to three times. Slice across the leaves, making slices a quarter of an inch wide. 

I caramelize leeks as I do onions, in olive oil and unsalted butter, let cool after cooking, then bag and freeze.

If you don’t know about leeks, they are really good.

Sweet red peppers:

Soak peppers in the soda solution, but place a bowl on top of the peppers to keep them submerged.

Rinse, as with other vegetables, remove stems and seeds, and rinse thoroughly again. Cut into quarter-inch slices. Caramelize as other vegetables in olive oil and butter. Let cool and package and freeze.

Baby bok choy and dinosaur kale:

These may be cooked together or separately. Baby bok choy is sold with the bottom of the plant attached. Cut off one and one-half inches from the bottom the separate and wash bok choy leaves. The baby bok choy stumps often root readily if you want to plant them.

Wash these greens two or three times and soak them in soda solution for ten to twenty minutes. Rinse thoroughly two to three times again to remove the soda solution. Chop into one-inch-wide pieces, braised in butter and olive oil, let cool when completely done, and then freeze.

Tell us what you have tried and really like.