I recently made salmon that was so delicious and so easy to make. From beginning to end, this dish will take you less than 1/2 hour to make.  Remember to look for wild salmon as it is much healthier than farmed, as has less mercury in it.

For two people:

• 2 5-6 oz. portions of salmon or one 10-12 oz. piece of salmon (wild is healthier than farmed)
• honey- about 1 tablespoon
• about 1/2-3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki teriyake sauce (has incredible stuff in it like pineapple juice, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, etc.)

Preheat oven to broiler setting-low.  Then, cover a baking sheet with foil.  Place salmon on sheet (if skin is still on, make sure you put the salmon on the sheet skin side down.)  In a small bowl, put about 6 oz of the teriyaki sauce and about 1 tablespoon of honey, mix till blended.  Spoon some sauce on both sides of salmon, but spoon some extra on the top.  Glaze is thin, so try to make sure some of it pools on top of the salmon.  Place under broiler.  You want the glaze to start bubbling and browning, because that’s what will make it tasty.  If it is getting too brown or burning, change oven setting to bake at 350 degrees.  But you can cook it the entire time on broil if it isn’t burning.  It will take about 10 or so minutes.  But check it after 10 minutes by cutting into a piece.  I don’t like my salmon rare, I like it cooked through, so depending on how you like your salmon cooked, it will either be done or need a few more minutes.  And that’s it.  Oh, I did get my salmon at BJ’s in a bag- it was frozen, individually vacuum sealed packets.  You can defrost them in a bowl of cold water or in the refrigerator.

Note:  You may want to baste the salmon halfway through cooking it, but if you don’t make sure to drizzle the glaze that’s on the foil evenly over each piece of fish.  The glaze is soooo good.

I love quiche, but I don’t often make it because, let’s face it, it’s not exactly healthy.  When I happen to have a frozen pie crust in the freezer, either fresh or frozen asparagus or some mushrooms, some half and half or light cream, and swiss cheese in the fridge, I decide it’s time to treat myself and my daughter Randi, who loves my quiche.  I have these items handy more often now, because I’ve become a real Costco shopper, and I like to buy their fresh asparagus or mushrooms, and their lite gruyere cheese- which is delicious. This morning, I realized I had all the ingredients with about and hour and a half to spare, so I decided it was time to make some quiche.

for one quiche:

• 3 extra large eggs or 3 large eggs plus one egg yolk (or 4 large eggs-3/2011)
• 1 1/2 cups of light cream or half and half -  or 3/4 cup heavy cream plus 3/4 cup whole milk (March 2011, only used about 11/4 cups light cream)
• about 1 pound or a little more fresh asparagus, roasted or 1/2 box of frozen asparagus spears, defrosted
• 1 frozen deep dish pie shell, Oronique is my preference
• 4 - 5 oz.  Swiss or Gruyere cheese ( I like to use lite gruyere or alpine lace, but any swiss is fine)(Used about 1/2 lb. 3-11)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cover sheet pan with aluminum foil.  Cut ends off asparagus spears.  Place on pan.  Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Drizzle a tablespoon of  light olive oil over, toss asparagus with oil.  Roast for about 20 -25 min. till asparagus is cooked.  Set aside to cool.  Then cut spears into bite sized pieces.  Or defrost 1 16 oz. box of frozen asparagus spears,  pat dry, then cut into bite sized pieces, use about 1/2 of the asparagus or more if you wish for one quiche.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.Take a frozen deep dish pie shell in its aluminum pan and place it in a pyrex pie plate to prevent any mess in the oven.   Prick pie crust all over with fork.  Bake for about 10 min.  Then take out of oven.

In medium bowl, whisk or beat with fork, eggs with cream, add salt and pepper.  Spread asparagus (or mushrooms-see instructions below) over bottom of crust, tear cheese into medium to smallish pieces and place over asparagus, pour egg and cream mixture over.   Place on sheet pan in preheated oven, and bake 45-55 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean, and quiche is nicely puffed and lightly browned.  Serve.

for mushroom quiche:

Saute 10 oz. of sliced white or baby bella mushrooms with or without 1/2 chopped onion, with little kosher salt, papper, optional 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, in 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil or only olive oil till caramelized.

To make this chicken, all I did was simply adapt one of my regular chicken recipes for Passover.  These are delicious, which I know for sure, since all my children loved them.  In fact, my daughter Randi claims that she likes this chicken more than my not for Passover oven fried chicken cutlets.  These are delicious hot, but also cold.  What I like to do is prepare the chicken before I leave for work in the morning without baking it, stick it in the fridge, and then when I get home, I can just throw it in the oven and dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

•  1 pound or so of thin sliced chicken cutlets
• matza meal
• kosher salt
• pepper
• olive oil or any other oil of your choice (I use a combination of extra virgin and light olive oil, but that is not necessary)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1.  Line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil, then pour a few tablespoons of oil on it, and shmear it all over the pan.  Pour some oil in a shallow bowl, enough to coat all your cutlets.

2.  Place the cutlets in oil and with make sure the cutlets are all totally coated in the oil.

3.  Pour a good amount of matza meal on a large plate, and add salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Dredge each oil coated cutlet in the matza meal, using your hands to really coat the cutlet well on both sides.  I usually turn the cutlet over a few times, pressing the matza meal into the cutlet.  Then transfer each cutlet to the sheet pan.  Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper over each cutlet and drizzle the top of the chicken very lightly with.

5.  Place in center of oven for about 15 minutes.  Change the setting of the oven to broil- low.  Then cook for another 10 or so minutes just until the top of the chicken is nicely browned.  During this time, watch carefully.  If chicken is starting to burn, then change the setting back to bake at 400 degrees.

Note:  The chicken cutlets I use are very thin.  If your cutlets are thicker, bake them for more time up front, and broil them for a few minutes at the end.  Matza meal takes longer to brown than bread crumbs or corn flakes crumbs.  That’s why I have found it is necessary to broil the cutlets to brown them.  The thin cutlets only need 20-25 min. to cook, and the matza meal will not brown in that time period only on a bake setting.

I’ve made lots of versions of this, and I’ve never really used a recipe.  I made it this week for my daughter Randi and her baby, my amazing grandson, Noah.  They both really enjoyed so here it is.  The one thing I do differently is that I take all the chicken off the bone after it’s cooked and then I cut it up and put it back in the sauce.  It turns out to be more like a chicken stew.  Of course, you may keep it on the bone if you like.

• 4 pounds of chicken pieces, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper (I use only breasts - that’s about 5 - 6 breast pieces)
• 1 28 oz can of good quality crushed tomatoes (or whole peeled tomatoes in thick puree) Best brand of crushed tomatoes is Sclafani or Jersey Best- the tomato product is amazing!
• 8-12 oz. sliced mushrooms (I used baby bella this time)
• 2 large red peppers, sliced
• about 4 carrots, peeled and sliced in large chunks (optional- if you like to add more veggies, this works well)
• about 10 oz. chicken broth or stock- buy organic or msg free
• 4-6 tablespoons of dry white wine (optional)
• 1 large onion, medium dice
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil
• kosher salt, black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or thyme (use fresh herbs if you have them), crushed red pepper flakes to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon (optional- if you like the heat- I can’t use it for the baby)

In a large deep frying pan, pour 1 tablespoon oil,  heat up, and then place seasoned breasts face down, brown, turn and cook another few minutes.  Take out and place on large plate.  Add a little more oil, and saute onions till just starting to brown- towards the end of cooking the onions, throw the garlic in and saute just till transluscent, take out.  Do same for sliced mushrooms, when browned, put on plate with onions.  Then saute peppers, till just soft, take out.

Now you are ready to put it all together.  If this pan is large enough, and has a cover you can cook it all in pan.  Otherwise, in a pot, put the chicken in, all the cooked vegetables, the can of crushed tomatoes or whole tomatoes with juice, the cut up carrots- if using, the chicken broth, the wine if using, oregano, any additional salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer covered over lowest flame for about 45-55 minutes. If you are serving right away, either cook rice or egg noodles, and then serve over.

I do something different at this point.  I  let the pot sit there at least 1 hour, covered, until the chicken has cooled down.  Then I take the chicken out.  I lift the entire breast off the bone, and then I cut the chicken into nice big chunks. I do this because my children never really learned to eat chicken on the bone.   I put the chicken back into the sauce.  Then I turn the flame on, put the cover back on, and I simmer over lowest flame for another 30 minutes to get the juice into the meat.  Then I either serve it, or let it cool and put it into quart containers for serving later in the week or for freezing.

Note:  I go to the butcher shop at my Foodtown, and I buy the chicken that has no antibiotics.  The chicken is more expensive, but it tastes so much better!

I have been making homemade chocolate chip cookies forever.  I have definitely made more batches of these cookies than any other of my recipes.  The reason I made and still make them so often is because I love seeing the reaction of my kids when they realize this treat is coming.  As soon as the cookies are out of the oven and on the cooling rack, I call my kids into the kitchen with “The chocolate chip cookies are ready!”  Then they come bounding out of their rooms (yes, still at 24 years old for Danny and 21 years old for Benji), they grab plates, and then they very carefully select somewhere between 4 and 6 of what they consider the perfect ones.  Sometimes they fight over which cookies they want.  Then they sit down in front of the TV to eat their cookies.  The expressions on their faces are worth a million dollars to me.  Benji makes sounds and his eyes just say it all.  Danny just eats more quietly, but loves them just as much.  As Randi is in her own house, she gets them the next day, but loves them just as much.  In fact, Randi usually begs me NOT to make them in the interest of her health and figure. I love it all!  When my children were growing up, these cookies were a staple in our house.  I often would make up the batter, and bake one or two batches of cookies, and then refrigerate the remaining batter in a tupperware container. Then I could make a fresh batch of cookies every night until the batter ran out, and my children just loved eating them right out of the oven.  There really is nothing like a warm homemade chocolate chip cookie. Here are the recipes I have made over the years:

Standard Toll House Variety:

• 2 sticks butter or margarine (I like to use one stick of unsalted butter and 1 stick of unsalted Fleischmann’s margarine)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon  salt (if your butter or margarine are salted, decrease to 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (I sometimes throw a pinch of baking powder in too)
• 1 12 oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips

OR

Same as above except increase light brown sugar to 1 cup and decrease granulated sugar to 1/2 cup

OR

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter or margarine or a mixture of both
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 extra large or jumbo egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (add a little more salt if using unsalted butter or margarine)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 12 oz. bag of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream room temperature butter or margarine in mixer with paddle attachment, food processor with metal blade, or by hand.  Then add sugars and cream till fluffy.  Add egg or eggs, and vanilla, and mix till fluffy.  Add flour, baking soda (and powder), salt  on very low speed or by pulsing in processor, just till blended.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined or greased cookie sheets about 7-9 minutes until just browned around the edges and till the tops of cookies appear dry.  Let cool for a minute, and transfer to cooling racks.  Store in ziploc bags at room temperature, in the fridge, or in the freezer.

Note:  You can use as much batter as you like, and just refrigerate the rest for up to a week and a half.

Another note:  I saw a video of Martha Stewart Chocolate Chip Cookies 101, and she uses my first variation under the recipe on top, the one changing the light brown sugar to 1 cup and the granulated sugar to 1/2 cup, but she uses all butter which I often do,  she uses 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, with everything else remaining the same, so I may try that next time and see how they come out.

I have been making my homemade meat sauce with meatballs  for the last 3o years, and it remains a family favorite.  But recently, my children have been requesting that I make marinara sauce with meatballs as a lighter and healthier alternative.  So my challenge was to make sure my meatballs would be just as delicious even though they wouldn’t be cooking in my meat sauce.  Well, I did it!  My inspiration to develop the recipe came from my daughter Randi, who thought her baby, Noah, would love the meatballs.  Randi and her husband Dan have been vegetarians for the last 10 years, but have started eating meat again, but they still don’t want a meat overload.  So the perfect compromise is a great marinara sauce with my incredible meatballs.  As a bonus to health, I found fabulous organic ground beef at Costco.  It comes in vacuum sealed 1 pound packages which can be easily frozen, and easily defrosted.  The meat was absolutely beautiful, and had the freshest smell when  I opened it.  What a find!  This is a delicious and economical recipe that you are sure to enjoy.

for the meatballs:

3 pounds organic chopped meat (or ground turkey)

3  extra large eggs

about 3/4 cup ketchup

about 3/4 cup plain  bread crumbs ( I once substituted about 1/4 cup of organic oats and 2 tablespoons wheat germ for some of the bread crumbs, and the meatballs were just as good as when I use all breadcrumbs.)

kosher salt, garlic powder, and ground pepper to taste

Mix with clean hands gently; do not overmix.

Form into meatballs with a diameter of about 1 1/2 inches.

In a very large nonstick frying pan, put a drop of canola or olive oil.  Heat, then put meatballs in over low-medium flame, and brown for just a few minutes over a medium heat.  Turn meatballs and then COVER pan.  You do not want to really brown them all over, because they can become tough.  It is almost as if you are steaming them.  Take cover off a few times and turn meatballs.  This should be a gentle process.  Discard fat as you cook meatballs.  When meatballs seem pretty cooked, transfer them with slotted spoon into your pot of marinara sauce being careful to drain as much fat as possible before putting meatballs in sauce.  The meatballs don’t have to be fully cooked when they go in the sauce, because they will finish cooking in the sauce.  Simmer the meatballs in the marinara sauce over a low heat for at least another hour with cover on over a very low flame.  Recipe for marinara sauce is below.

for the marinara sauce:

about 1/3 cup olive oil

4 or 5 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes (best brand is Sclafani- found at Pathmark on Route 1 in Edison and Top Tomato)

1 small can tomato paste

6-8  garlic cloves, crushed or minced

2 medium or 1 large onion, chopped very fine (I use the metal blade of the food processor and I pulse the onion until it is the consistency of chunky apple sauce)

kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to taste

1 tablespoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or dried herbes de provence

1 teaspoon of sugar, if you like

Pour about 1/3 cup of olive oil in a very large saucepan.  Add crushed red pepper flakes to taste (I use about 1/2 teaspoon.  Then saute the onion till translucent, add the chopped or crushed garlic cloves, and saute with the onion till soft.  Add all  the tomato product, about 8 - 12 oz. of water if you think the sauce is too thick, about 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to taste.  Cover and simmer over low flame mixing every 10 or 15 minutes.

After the marinara has been cooking for about 45 minutes, add the meatballs which you have prepared and par-cooked as instructed above.  Then simmer meatballs in sauce over lowest flame for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours with cover on.

Add more seasonings as needed.  Serve over pasta of your choice.  Or you can let the sauce cool and freeze it in quart containers with the meatballs.

My son Danny and I really enjoyed watching this last season of The Next Food Network Star.  We were really hoping that Melissa D’Arabian would win, because we liked her approachable and sensible approach to cooking.  I felt like I could really relate to her personalilty and cooking style.  Anyway, she won so we now are enjoying her show.  This past week, she made a chicken recipe, which my son Danny asked me to make.  What was so great was that I learned from watching Melissa how to take the chicken breast off the bone and then slice it.  This chicken recipe is fantastic because it uses so few ingredients, yet it tastes absolutely delicious. I made very few changes to Melissa’s recipe.

for 4 people:

• 3 pieces of chicken breast, skin on, bone in (each piece is 1/2 chicken breast)
• 2 tablespoons light olive oil (or other cooking oil)
• kosher salt
• freshly cracked pepper
• 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
• 4 tablespoons honey

Season chicken pieces with kosher salt and pepper on both sides.  Heat skillet that is  large enough for your chicken.  Then add the oil, heat for another minute till oil is hot.  Put chicken in skillet skin side down.  Keep flame on medium high.  Let chicken brown without touching it for about 5 minutes until the skin is very nicely browned and crisp.  You will not need to turn chicken over and cook it on the other side!  Take chicken out of pan and place it on a sheet pan covered with aluminum foil.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare your glaze for chicken.  In small saucepan, measure the frozen orange juice concentrate and the honey.  Sprinkle in a little kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Bring to a boil, then let boil for about 5-8 minutes on low flame, stirring every minute or two, until mixture reduces and becomes a little thicker.  Brush both sides of chicken generously with glaze.  Place on middle rack of preheated oven, skin side up, and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on thickness of chicken.  Take the chicken out one or two times, and brush on more of the glaze.  For the last 5 or so minutes of cooking, switch the oven setting to broil (low) and watch carefully to make sure chicken browns, but doesn’t burn.  You want to look for that beautiful caramelization on the skin. 

Take chicken out of oven, and make sure the chicken is cooked through.  Let it rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes.  Then, carefully, take the chicken off the bone.  Then slice it into thickish slices on the bias.  Place on individual plates or a serving platter and drizzle with a little of the heated up glaze. 

Note:  I recommend you log on to foodnetwork.com and watch the video of Melissa D’Arabian making this dish, so you can see how to safely and easily take the chicken off the bone! 

I combined a few of my kids’ favorite ingredients and came up with a yummy recipe for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.  I used pecans in this recipe, but walnuts could be substitued.  I also used some white whole wheat flour, which you could either increase or decrease.  I am trying to “healthify” some of my recipes, and I really don’t know if it makes a difference with all of these very fattening ingredients!  These cookies are delicious at room temperature, but they taste really good when you eat them frozen, too.

• 2 sticks unsalted or salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2  teaspoons kosher salt (If I am using salted butter,  I reduce this to 1  teaspoon)
• 1 cup unbleached flour (I use King Arthur unbleached organic flour)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur Organic White Whole-Wheat Flour)
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 heavy cup coarsely chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Beat butter with sugars in electric mixer till fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla and mix.  Stop mixer.  Dump in flours, then pour your baking soda and salt right on top of your flours. Then on lowest speed, mix JUST until blended.  By hand,  fold in oats, coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips. 

Drop dough onto prepared cookie sheet using a small spoon so that your cookies aren’t too big.  You can fit about 16 cookies on your sheet.  Refrigerate remaining dough in between batches. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 7-10 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.  Take out of oven; let set for a minute, transfer to wire rack to cool.  Repeat with remaining dough.  You can bake one or two dozen, and save remaining dough in fridge in a good tuperware container for about a week if you wish, or you can bake all of the cookies, and freeze a bunch of them.  This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies.

*Here’s a great trick!  To avoid a step, I measure my flour, then pour it right into my kitchen aid bowl,  then I measure my baking soda and salt and drop it right on top of the flour in the bowl.  Then I turn the mixer on to low, and start mixing the dry ingredients.  This way, I don’t have to first measure my dry ingredients into a separate bowl. 

**  You can exchange more white flour for the whole wheat, or you can try exchanging more whole wheat flour for the white flour.     

I made this recipe for my daughter Randi and her husband Dan last night as a side dish, and they loved it!  It is healthy, easy to make, and much more tasty than the average couscous recipe.  The whole wheat couscous tastes just as good as the regular, so if you can find it, I recommend using it as it is healthier. This recipe serves about 3-4 people, double this recipe for 5-8 people.

• 1 box Near East whole wheat couscous- box says plain
• 2-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• about 3 1/2 -4 ounces of prewashed baby spinach
• 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• about 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, grated on microplane
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Note:  If you do not like feta cheese, or you’d like the dish to be even less fattening, eliminate the feta cheese.

In large skillet, toast pine nuts till lightly browned.  Then add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 very large ( or 4 small) minced garlic cloves and put flame on medium.  Saute until garlic is translucent.  Add spinach over low flame, just until spinach is wilted.  Add salt and pepper.  Add lemon juice and zest.  Take off heat.  (You can do this part in advance if you wish.) 

A few minutes before you are ready to serve, follow directions and recipe on box for couscous- follow exactly.  When couscous is ready, add it to warmed spinach mixture in large skillet and mix.  Spoon into serving bowl, sprinkle feta cheese over, mix gently, and serve.

I was really in the mood to make some delicious pizza last weekend.  I remembered that my son Danny had eaten pizza in New York City a few months ago that he had gone nuts for.  I wanted to recreate that pizza for Danny.  I had so much fun experimenting with making the pizzas, and the results were amazing!  First, I used half the recipe for my homemade pizza dough to make one large pie.  The pie was half plain, and half mushroom.  The second pie I made was specifically for my son Danny, to recreate the pie he had in NY.   For that pie, I topped it with some caramalized onions, and then with some shredded romano cheese.  Then I made some homemade spinach pesto, which Danny drizzed over some of his pizza.  I can’t tell how delicious those pies were!  Few pizzarias make pizza that taste this good!

Pizza Dough  (This dough recipe makes 2 large pizzas, but the following instructions are meant to be enough for only 1 pizza.)  For the dough recipe, type in calzone above in the search, and the recipe for the pizza dough will come up.

for the mushroom pizza:  Heat saute pan.  Put a little olive oil in a saute pan to coat. Put sliced mushrooms (about 8-10 oz.)  in hot oil.  Sprinkle with kosher salt, a few cracks of black pepper, and a light sprinkling of red pepper flakes.  Let sit undisturbed till mushrooms brown on bottom.  Turn and cook until nicely browned.  If you have fresh garlic on hand, mince or chop one or two cloves and throw into pan at this point.  Keep moving garlic around so it doesn’t burn.  Garlic just needs to saute for a minute to become translucent and be flavorful.  Although, I didn’t do this, you might want to add a sprinkling of either fresh thyme leaves (leaves from one sprig), or a sprinkling of dry oregano.  Saute another minute or so. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place sheet of parchment paper on large, heavy duty cookie sheet or half sheet pan. Sprinkle parchment paper with yellow cornmeal (I use Quaker).  Then, roll dough out on a lightly floured clean counter, or lightly floured piece of waxed paper or parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness into either a large circle or rectangle.  Once dough is rolled out, lift the dough with your hands and transfer it to parchment on cookie sheet.  Then spoon about 1 cup of marinara sauce over dough.  Sprinkle a very light sprinkling of red pepper flakes over sauce (if you like the heat).  Then sprinkle about 8 oz. of coursely grated or thinly sliced whole milk (not fresh) mozzarella cheese evenly over pizza.  Place mushrooms evenly over pizza.  Sprinkle very lightly with dried oregano.  Bake on middle rack in oven for about 15-18 minutes until the underside of the dough is lightly browned.  Then change the setting on the oven to broil, and cook for about 3 more minutes until the cheese becomes bubbly, brown, and beautiful!

for the caramelized onion and romano pizza:

Thinly slice about 4 medium-large onions.  Pour about 1/4 cup olive oil into a large saute pan.  Get it hot over a medium flame.  Add the sliced onions.  Sprinkle them with kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper.  Saute for about 30-40 minutes over a medium flame, turning every so often.  The idea is not to burn the onions, but to brown them.  This takes a little while, so be patient. Set pan aside.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place a sheet of parchment paper over a large heavy duty cookie sheet or sheet pan.  Then sprinkle some yellow cornmeal (I use Quaker) on the parchment paper.   Roll dough out on lightly floured clean counter or sheet of waxed or parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thickness, either into a large circle or a large rectangle.  Spoon about 1 cup marinara sauce over the dough.  Distribute onions evenly over top of sauce.  Sprinkle about 4 garlic cloves, minced on top.  Then sprinkle about 4 oz. of shredded, not grated, romano cheese (which I use because romano cheese has no lactose in it), or shredded parmesan cheese over top of pizza.  Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt,  red pepper flakes if you like a little heat, a little coarse black pepper,  and sprinkle very lightly with dried oregano.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake in the oven on middle rack for about 15 minutes until the bottom of the dough is lightly browned.  If pizza is browning too quickly, lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees.  Serve with pesto on the side, and spoon a little on if your wish.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!