Always Trust Your Instincts

So last night, I start making dinner: broccoli & beef flat bread. This is basically a broccoli and beef pizza. I figure, this is simple, easy, and requires little time to prepare; most of the time it is in the oven. This is all great news because I had just woken up from a late-afternoon nap and was, per usual, very grumpy and did not feel much like making dinner. (Afternoon naps+ Courtney = bad news. I've been like that all my life, you'd think I'd learn.) Anyway, so I go in to make dinner. Everything is grand and the dish is indeed quick and simple. I throw the thing in the oven, set the timer for 30 minutes (that is what the recipe said after all) and go about doing other things. After a while, I start to smell the aroma of the flat bread pizza. My instincts are telling me to check on it, but my laziness was telling me otherwise. I stuck with lazy and didn't go check. The timer goes off, I retrieve the flat bread from the oven, and what do you know, it's is burnt, like, way burnt- black all around the edges. I decide that the middle part is salvageable and we ate it. My husband was very sweet to even attempt eating it. It didn't taste awful and we got through it, but my whole apartment smelled. It still smelled this morning and the smell was enough to make me never want to eat it again, even though it could be really good with less cooking time. So, lesson: trust your instincts when cooking, they're probably right.

For the broccoli & beef flat bread you'll need: the oven preheated to 400, 1 roll premade pizza dough, 1/4 cup cornmeal/grits, 1lb ground beef, browned, 1 small red onion, thinly sliced, 1 head of broccoli, chopped with stems removed, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1 tbs dried basil, 1 tsp garlic powder, salt, and pepper .


1. Coat a baking pan with cornmeal or grits. Roll the dough on to it. Spread out the beef.


2. Top the beef with the onions.


3. Next, add the broccoli.


4. Top with the cheese and bake for around 20 minutes & check on it at least once!

I did not take a picture of the final product because I am embarrassed and ashamed. This picture is from Real Simple where I got the recipe.




Favorite Kitchen Gadget: Palm Vegetable Scrubber. I love this little scrubber. It slips over a finger and you hold it in your palm to scrub your vegetables. It's great!



I'm off to clean the apartment, joy. I wish I had a fleet of minions to come do this for me. Until next time...