Super Easy Dinner

It's so hard to plan dinners around here in the summer because I never know who's going to be around to eat them.  Megan and I made these delicious things earlier this week and surprisingly, everyone was home for dinner...with a few friends.  Maybe that's the trick to draw my kids into the house...make fast, yummy dinners!

This recipe was ridiculously easy.  I looked it up on Pinterest, found most of the ingredients in my pantry or fridge, and whipped up the whole thing in about 30 minutes...perfect for hungry teenagers who think they don't have time to eat.

Step 1:  Melt 1/2 stick of butter and 4T olive oil in pan.  Add 4 cloves minced garlic (yep, four!)  Turn down the heat after everything is melty and add some spices (oregano, basil, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes...just a pinch is plenty) and stir until combined.  Let mixture simmer for about 5 minutes and then brush about half of it onto two halves of a French bread loaf.  (You'll use the remaining melty stuff in the tomato sauce.)  Add a layer of grated mozzarella cheese.

Step 2:  Bake the buttered, cheesy bread halves in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  They won't even be brown when you take them out, but the melted cheese will set the bread a little more so the sauce doesn't make it all soggy when they cook.  It's the best trick EVER!

Step 3:  Make the sauce.  You can do this while the bread is cooking, it's that fast.  Add one 14 oz can crushed tomatoes to the remaining buttery mixture and bring to a boil.  Tomato sauce bubbles really fast so I just left it on medium high heat for the 5 minutes that the bread was toasting in the oven and it was plenty of time for the oil and butter to combine with the tomatoes.  

Step 4:  Take bread out of oven.  Spread a thin layer of the tomato sauce right over the top of the melted cheese layer that's already on the bread.  Add whatever toppings you want.  Add more grated mozzarella.  And put it back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes depending on how toasty you want it to look.  

Final Step:  Take it out of the oven.  Cut it up.  Enjoy!  

I served this with a big green salad and that delicious watermelon from Tuesday and it was perfect!  Fast, easy, and didn't heat up the entire house.  Since we had extra teenagers, I doubled the recipe and made one all cheesy, for me, and one with pepperoni for the meat lovers in the house.