Recipes of the Week

Here's the recipe for the pizza sauce. I didn't have any celery or fennel seed, so I left it out. It tasted great without it. I had never made pizza sauce before, I usually just use whatever jarred pasta sauce I have on hand, but I was out of pasta sauce. I will be making my own pizza sauce now using this recipe. As for the pizza, we put Italian sausage, sun dried tomatoes, and caramelized onion on it. The beans and rice recipe is one I've made a couple times now. It's great for lunch or dinner. We've served tortilla chips with it and even homemade corn tortillas. The boys love it. I've also made the Cinnamon bread and french toast several times. I make the bread the day before and let it sit out to get a little stale for the french toast. I've never had french toast at Denny's (or been there in the past 20 years), but it was the #1 french toast recipe on Recipezaar, so I had to try it.

Ultimate Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup celery, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed

Directions

1. In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft and transparent.
2. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth.
3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer.
4. Simmer for 30-60 minutes (or not at all depending on your taste and time frame).
5. Remove the bay leaf and spread the sauce on your prepared pizza dough.

Santa Fe Rice and Beans

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 (10 ounce) can of diced Mexican-style tomatoes (like Rotel)
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup low-fat sour cream
• 2 cups shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend, divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, 1 cup cheese and cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer to a greased 2 quart baking dish and top with onions and olives.
4. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese and bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese is melted.

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 egg
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons yeast

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
2. Bake using the sweet bread setting if your machine has it.
3. If not, use white bread setting.
4. When the bread is done, remove from the machine and let sit on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
5. If it sticks, just loosen the sides with a pliable, plastic spatula and it should slip out easily.
6. This makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf that rose really nicely.
7. I did check the dough about 5, 10 minutes into the kneading cycle; if you squeeze a good amount of the dough between your thumb and fingers and it seems a bit moist, and some dough sticks to your fingers, it should be just right; if not, adjust with water or flour accordingly.

Denny's Style French Toast

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 slices Texas toast thick bread
• 3 tablespoons butter
• powdered sugar
• butter
• syrup

Directions

1. Mix together the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt& cinnamon.
2. Heat a large skillet, or griddle.
3. When the skillet is hot, add 1 tablespoon butter.
4. If the butter smokes, your pan is too hot; turn down the heat.
5. Dip each slice of bread into the batter for 30 seconds on each side.
6. Let some of the batter drip off, then put in skillet.
7. Cook each slice 1 1/2-2 minutes per side until each side is golden brown.
8. Add more butter, if necessary, to cook all of the slices.
9. To serve, put on plate, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with butter & hot syrup.