Mini Naan Pizzas

We found these mini garlic naan at Sam’s Club last week.  We seem to always find something not on our list that we just have to try whenever we shop there.  This time it worked out really well.

We’ve been making more of an effort to eat at home rather than going out to eat, especially when it’s just because we’re in a hurry, tired, or haven’t planned something.  We’re trying to treat going out to eat as more of an event, and less of a necessary thing.  That means sometimes we need something really fast and easy at home.  Because sometimes it’s just one of those days; it’s late, we’re tired, the kitchen is already a mess, we have a million other things to do, etc.  Fast and easy wins the day.

These mini naan pizzas are fast, easy, and delicious.  They’re about the fastest option I’ve found for pizza since the naan is already cooked and you’re really only melting cheese.  They’re pretty similar to the Summer Vegetable Pizza I’ve shared before, but don’t involve the refrigerated crust.  We have also made our own crust using the bread machine, but that process takes about an hour, so isn’t the best option when we need something in a hurry. 

Using the mini naan is great not only because it’s fast, but it’s also super easy to customize them to individual tastes.  I hate mushrooms, but Nick loves them.  I love onions, but Nick prefers not having them on his pizza.  I made two mini pizzas for each of us, and it was perfect for dinner. 

I just used the ingredients we had on hand, and didn’t measure anything, so I don’t have an exact recipe.  I think it would be pretty hard to mess these up, though, and the possibilities are almost endless, depending on the vegetables you enjoy and have on hand.

For these I used a lone squash that was lingering from last week’s produce box, a tomato, some kale from the produce box, a handful of mushrooms, part of a red onion that was left over from another meal, shredded mozzarella cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, olive oil, two garlic cloves, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Combine the garlic cloves, pressed, in about a tablespoon of olive oil (I just estimated the amount, and it was perfect for four mini pizzas) with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning, and brush over the naan. 

Sprinkle a little cheese over that.

Top with thinly sliced vegetables.  If you’re using kale I recommend putting it on first to keep it from getting too crispy on top.  Sprinkle the vegetables with a little salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Sprinkle some more cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, basically until your cheese is nice and melted and your vegetables are starting to get tender.

Enjoy, while congratulating yourself on having pizza that was faster, cheaper, and healthier than delivery would have been. 

Garlic

I love garlic, in fact, it’s probably my favorite spice to cook with.  And I recently learned that April 19^th is National Garlic Day.  So garlic had to be my G post during the A to Z Challenge.  I tend to buy garlic in bulk because we use so much of it, and the garlic press is one of the most used tools in my kitchen. 

I love garlic because not only is it delicious, it’s so versatile and works in so many different dishes and types of cuisines.  There also seem to be quite a few studies confirming some pretty impressive health benefits of garlic.  So it’s delicious, versatile, and good for you. 

I know we’ll be eating garlic on the 19^th in celebration of National Garlic Day.  Here are a couple of garlic recipes for you in case you’re looking for a way to enjoy garlic too:

Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese

Summer Vegetable Pizza

So what about you?  Do you enjoy garlic? 

Kohlrabi

Last year’s CSA boxes introduced me to a few vegetables I’d never tried before.  No surprise there, really, since I’m a little late to the vegetable eating party.  (I spent many years with green beans and lettuce being about the only vegetables I would eat.) 

One of my new experiences was with kohlrabi.  I had never seen or heard of kohlrabi before it showed up in our first CSA box.  I thought it looked more like something out of a sci-fi movie than something off of a farm.  Fortunately, the farm has pictures of the more unusual veggies to help folks like me figure out what in the world we have. 

Once I learned that I was in fact in possession of kohlrabi, and not something left behind by a UFO, I turned to Google.  I learned that kohlrabi is basically in the cabbage family, that it comes in a few different colors (isn’t the purple pretty?), that the leaves are edible and can be treated basically like any other green, and that you’re really only limited by your imagination and culinary preferences when it comes to preparing and serving kohlrabi. 

Garlic and olive oil are my main go-to things in the kitchen.  If in doubt, I tend to sauté it in garlic and olive oil, and maybe add a little Italian seasoning.  I love garlic and olive oil, and most of the time it’s a good fallback plan.   I decided that garlic and olive oil would be my plan for the kohlrabi.

It had a texture very similar to potatoes (or apples) but smelled a lot like cabbage.  Cabbage isn’t my favorite thing, so I decided on a lot of garlic at that point.  Because the texture reminded me of potatoes I decide to go with a sort of home fry approach.  I just fried pieces of it in the olive oil with lots and lots of garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. 

It turned out alright.   It had a little more of a cabbage flavor than I liked, but it was alright. Nick liked it a little better than I did.  We basically agreed that it’s something we can eat when it comes in the CSA box, but not something we’d choose to buy on its own.

We also tried tossing some chopped kohlrabi into vegetable soup.  I didn’t care for it.  I thought it gave the whole soup too strong of a cabbage flavor.  Nick thought it was okay. After that we pretty much stuck to the original home fry way of preparing the kohlrabi.

The greens were no problem.  We seemed to have some sort of greens in pretty much every box, so we just cooked a big pot of whatever greens we had on hand almost every week, or sautéed them and served them in quiche. 

So what about you?  Have you tried kohlrabi?  Do you like it?  What’s your favorite way to prepare it?  Do you think it looks a little sci-fi?