Tag Archives: tortilla

Super quick cheat’s pizza

Posted on August 5, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

I’ve already talked about hubby’s quest to find the perfect pizza dough, and my Anglo-Saxon efforts and cheats. Here is my biggest cheat of all which hubby happily eats – use a bought tortilla as the base!

For those evenings or weekends when you have no desire or energy to cook, these are perfect and yummy. Use what you have in the fridge, get your littlies to help or just get everything out, turn on the oven and go back to the sofa while the rest of the family make their own!

I always have a tube of tomato puree in the fridge and this is perfect for spreading on these pizzas. You could also use pasta sauce or leave it out entirely and have a ‘pizza bianca’. Then the other toppings are completely up to you and your fridge/cupboard. For fussy veg eater Nicholas, I often add some finely grated carrot and he loves it. If you have your own fussy eater, cut the ingredients up small, focus on the lovely colours and use some veg to ‘draw’ pictures on the pizzas.

A drizzle of good olive oil over the top of even the most mundane ingredients makes everything taste better. I like to add a drizzle before cooking and also after ;)

Tortillas come in different sizes. The ones I used for the photo were slightly smaller than a dinner plate and usually enough for one adult or two toddlers. It never hurts to make too many though as they’re also tasty the next day in lunchboxes.

Why not try using some other type of flat bread for your base?

SUPER QUICK CHEAT’S PIZZA

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: approx. 5 mins
Makes 2 adult and 2 toddler servings

3 tortilla wraps (plain or wholemeal)
3 tsp tomato puree
Extra virgin olive oil
Your choice of cheese (eg. shredded fresh mozzarella, grated cheddar, crumbled feta, etc.)
Your choice of toppings (eg. sliced cooked ham, diced cooked chicken, sliced tomatoes, grated carrot, sliced mushrooms, fresh basil, etc.)

Line an oven tray (a heavy-based one if possible) with baking paper. Heat oven to 220C and put the prepared tray inside to heat up (this helps crisp up the bottom of the pizzas).

Put your tortillas on a cutting board. Drizzle each with a little olive oil and 1 tsp of the tomato puree. Use the back of a spoon to spread the puree and oil fairly evenly over each tortilla.

Add your other desired toppings and finish with another drizzle of olive oil.

Open the hot oven and pull out the tray enough so you can slide the pizzas on to it.

The time it takes to cook your pizza will depend on how many toppings you added, but they shouldn’t take much longer than 5 minutes (just keep a close eye on them).

Finish with another drizzle of olive oil and some torn fresh basil if you have it.

What ingredients do you normally have in your fridge or cupboard that would be great on this pizza?

7 Comments

Posted in cooking with toddlers, dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged cheat pizza, cheat's pizza, cooking with kids, dinner, family, lunch, pizza, quick pizza, recipe, toddler, tortilla. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute lunches: snowman snow globe

Posted on December 17, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Keeping my snow globe theme, here’s a cute snowman to brighten up your day.

cute lunches: snowman snow globe

What you need:
2 tortilla wraps (I used wholemeal ones)
blue food colouring
pastry brush
tortilla filling of your choice (I used avocado and ricotta)
a piece of mozarella (or other cheese such as ricotta or cream cheese)
a piece of cucumber
1 slice of red pepper (or tomato)
1 slice of red apple (or red pepper or tomato)

Directions:

Using a small bowl as a template, cut out two circles from the tortilla wraps (mine were about 12cm in diameter). From the scraps, cut out one snow globe base and the trunk of the Christmas tree.

Mix 1 or 2 drops of blue food colouring with 2 tbsp water. Using a pastry brush, lightly paint one tortilla circle (don’t let it get too wet) and leave to dry.

Put your other circle on your serving plate and top with your filling. Place the base cut from the remaining pieces of tortilla at the bottom of your plate.

Cut out three small circles from your mozzarella, making each a little bit smaller than the last. Cut a larger piece of mozarella for the snow at the bottom of the globe. (If using a softer cheese, spread it at the bottom of the globe.)

Once your coloured tortilla circle is dry, place it on top of your filling and place the mozarella pieces on top.

Cut a piece of cucumber for the snowman’s hat and finely dice some more cucumber for his eyes and buttons.

Cut a nose and hat pompom from the red pepper. Cut two very thin strips from the apple to make the scarf.

Finally, break off small pieces of mozzarella for the falling snow and scatter them around your tree. (If using a softer cheese, drop tiny dollops around for the snow.)

Cute lunches: penguin snow globe

Posted on December 10, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Another Christmas-inspired snow globe lunch, this time featuring one of Nicholas’ favourite animals, an adorable penguin. cute lunches: penguin snow globe

What you need:
2 tortilla wraps (I used wholemeal ones)
blue food colouring
pastry brush
tortilla filling of your choice (I used cooked spinach and ricotta)
2 tbsp ricotta (or other cheese such as mozarella or cream cheese)
2 pitted black olives
1 slice of orange pepper

Directions:

Using a small bowl as a template, cut out two circles from the tortilla wraps (mine were about 12cm in diameter). From the scraps, cut out one snow globe base and the trunk of the Christmas tree.

Mix 1 or 2 drops of blue food colouring with 2 tbsp water. Using a pastry brush, lightly paint one tortilla circle (don’t let it get too wet) and leave to dry.

Put your other circle on your serving plate and top with your filling. Place the base cut from the remaining pieces of tortilla at the bottom of your plate.

Once your coloured tortilla circle is dry, place it on top of your filling and spread some of the ricotta at the bottom for snow.

Cut one olive in half lengthways, then cut 6 thin strips from the sides. Using 4 strips, make the outline of the penguin’s round body and add its flippers. Cut the other olive in half lengthways and trim down the sides of one piece to form the penguin’s head.

Fill the penguin’s body with some ricotta and add two small dollops of ricotta for its eyes.

Cut a nose and feet from the orange pepper. Cut two small squares from the remaining olive piece to finish the eyes.

Finally, drop tiny dollops of ricotta around the penguin for the snow.

scrutinising his lunch

Cute lunches: Christmas tree snow globe

Posted on December 5, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I love browsing other blogs looking at ways other people make food cute and fun. There is amazing creativity out there. Just google ‘cute lunches’ or ‘cute bento boxes’ and you’ll see what I mean.

But apart from having great fun creating my Halloween tasting plate and coming up with some cute ideas for breakfasts for Mindful Mum, I hadn’t allowed my imagination to run a little wild. Not until now that is!

Here is my first cute lunch idea (hopefully the first of many), inspired by Christmas. I hope you like it.

cute lunches: Christmas tree snow globe

What you need:
2 tortilla wraps (I used wholemeal ones)
blue food colouring
pastry brush
tortilla filling of your choice (I used ham and cheddar)
4 slices of cucumber
1 slice of cheddar cheese
a piece of mozzarella (or other cheese such as ricotta or cream cheese)
1 slice of red pepper (or tomato)

Directions:

Using a small bowl as a template, cut out two circles from the tortilla wraps (mine were about 12cm in diameter). From the scraps, cut out one snow globe base and the trunk of the Christmas tree.

Mix 1 or 2 drops of blue food colouring with 2 tbsp water. Using a pastry brush, lightly paint one tortilla circle (don’t let it get too wet) and leave to dry.

Put your other circle on your serving plate and top with your filling. Place the base cut from the remaining pieces of tortilla at the bottom of your plate.

Chop the cucumber slices in half. Once your coloured tortilla circle is dry, place it on top of your filling and layer the cucumbers, starting from the bottom, to create your tree.

Cut out a star from your cheddar and place it on the top of your tree.

Finely dice the red pepper and sprinkle over to create Christmas baubles. Tuck the trunk under the bottom cucumber slices.

Cut a larger piece of mozzarella for the snow at the bottom of the globe. Break off small pieces of mozzarella for the falling snow and scatter them around your tree. (If using a softer cheese, spread it at the bottom of the globe and drop tiny dollops around for the snow.)

inspecting his lunch

It really isn’t difficult at all to create something cute. I’ve got some other ideas as to what I can put in a Christmas snow globe. What would you make?

5 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, toddler and tagged Christmas, christmas snow globe, cute lunches, lunch, snow globe, toddler, tortilla. Bookmark the permalink.