Reflections

Make bread taste better (works
better with crusty, home-made bread (like pizza bread, ciabatta, etc.)

• Once the bread is baked and you are able to handle the bread with your
  fingers (but still warm), take one or more large pieces of uncooked garlic
  cloves and rub it on the bread to your desired liking.
• Instead of traditional garlic bread full of saturated fat, this tastes
  more subtle yet complex and is waaaaaay healthier

If you have a lot of extra tomatoes
(that may otherwise go bad) do this…

• Cut the tomatoes into halves
• Place them in a shallow pan with the flat-sides up, close to each other
• Sprinkle some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning or fresh oregano, basil,
  etc. on top of each of the tomatoes
• Spray a bit of Pam on each
• Bake until most of them are crisp or close to it (during the last few
  minutes of baking you can add some chopped up garlic)
• Once done – take them out, cool them and put them in a blender with some
  good quality olive oil and puree the whole mixture
• You can eat this immediately on a piece of like the one prepare above or
  store it in the fridge for weeks to develop and take out as necessary
• You can also whip up some of this mixture with the healthier versions of
  mayonnaise (if you have to have it) and use as a spread on
  sandwiches (thereby cutting the total amount of mayonnaise you are using)

Healthier pizza sauce

• Chop/mash a few cloves of garlic
• Lightly sauté them in a little bit of olive oil
• Add couple of tablespoons of generic Italian seasoning
• Pour a large can of crushed tomatoes (~quart) into the pan
• Let the whole mixture cook for 15 minutes or so… until your desired
  thickness
• Use this as the base of your pizza instead of already prepared pizza
  sauce which contains lots of sugar and other additives
• You can also use this as a topping for your brushcetta

Cheaper croutons

• Buy good quality bread (artisan bread – sometimes marked down to 50% at
  the end of the day)
• Dice them up to your desired size
• Put them in a shallow pan
• Spray some Pam on them
• Bake them on low temperature for ~15 minutes
• Put them in an air-tight container with some generic seasoning of your
  liking
• Shake them up and leave the lid of the container open until everything
  cools down (otherwise the crouton may get soggy)
• Once cool, you can store them for weeks or at least I have without any
  uninvited guests (mold, etc.)