Quick Easy Dinner Ideas – for your Saturday Night

Spread the love

Well, the weekend is here!Easy dinner ideas

It’s Saturday lunch but already my weekend has been action packed as we have the in-laws visiting for a couple of days.

We caught up last night around the Weber, had a delicious breaky with turkish bread, spinach, bacon and eggs before heading to the beach for a swim.  Then we had Thai for lunch, an ice-cream, a visit to the toy store followed by a coffee at the organic cafe.

balanced lifeIt’s now that time of the afternoon where I either need to have a nap, or another coffee and I’m kind of regretting that beer I had at lunch.

At the same time, I know there is washing to come in and there is that nagging feeling of I had better be a good hostess and think about organising something for dinner.

So I consulted my memory bank for quick easy dinner ideas, useful for when I am feeling just so.

Doing a quick mental inventory of the contents of the fridge and the pantry, I quickly rule out my usual favourite of spaghetti bolognese due to a lack of pasta (such a great Thermomix recipe for bolognese sauce found here).

I remember the pizza dough recipe that I have on the Thermomix recipe chip and think “Ah yes!  That will do nicely!”

Easy dinner ideas

This recipe is out of the Basic Cook Book which came with my Thermomix TM 5 but there are a myriad of different pizza dough recipes out there if you do not have a Thermomix.  The main difference is you have to do the kneading by hand.

You can also purchase some ready made pizza bases either fresh or frozen, or make mini pizzas with either pita bread rounds, or half an english muffin.

If you are making your own base remember you need to let the dough rise for at least an hour so allow for this in your planning stages.

Basic Easy Pizzas

Place 220g lukewarm water, 1tsp sugar and 2tsp dried instant yeast into the mixing bowl and mix 20sec/speed 2.  (Or use hand beater on high until mixed).

  1. Add 400g (14oz) baker’s flour (finer than usual flour), 30g (1oz) extra virgin olive oil and 1tsp salt and knead for 2mins/dough setting.  If you don’t have a Thermomix, you will need to knead the dough by Easy dinner ideashand on a floured surface for 5mins.
  2. Work dough into a ball and place into greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to prove for 1hour in a warm place.
  3. After an hour, knock the dough down and split into 2 pieces.
  4. Preheat your oven to 180º Celcius (350º Farenheit) Stretch the dough to fit your pizza trays, I like to use warmed pizza stones and lightly spray them with olive oil spray first.
  5. Easy dinner ideasAdd a pizza sauce, whatever toppings you desire and plenty of mozzarella and grated fresh parmesan on top.  Mmm mmm.
  6. Cook until golden.

Slice it up with a pizza cutter, and enjoy!

The recipe makes 2 bases, I do a ham, pineapple and cheese for the kids, and a supreme with anchovies for the grown ups.

It’s really great because as long as you have your flour and yeast or an alternate base, you can pretty much improvise with whatever toppings you have at hand.

Super versatile, super quick dinner ideas for your Saturday night!Easy dinner ideas

What’s for dinner at your house tonight?

Love,

Kris

 


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *