The comforts of pizza, cookies, fried rice

Here are your requests for the week … I’ll be seeing you around … Agnes

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Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice (Use leftover rice or cook rice and cool it before making dish.)

1 to 2 cups cooked chopped chicken or pork

¼ cup green peas

2 tablespoons coarsely grated or minced carrots

2 tablespoon minced celery

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring rice to room temperature. Scramble the egg in a small pan over medium heat. Cut into small pea-size bits while cooking. To the rice add grated carrot, minced celery, scrambled egg and diced onion to the bowl. Carefully toss together to mix. Heat butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over medium/high heat. When hot, dump the rice into the hot pan and add soy sauce. Cook for 6-8 minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Add in the peas, salt, pepper, and chopped meat and cook for a few more minutes to incorporate all the flavors.

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Quick Marinara Sauce

2 cans Tomato Sauce (15 ounce each)

½ cup water (to wash out cans)

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon each oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt

Dash of black pepper

1 – 2 bay leaves (leave whole)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions: Put all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook 30 minutes. Enough for 4 to 6 servings.

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Stuffed Pizza Crust

You can find the pizza in the bakery department of most supermarkets. You will need one for each pizza. Roll the dough out so it’s about two inches larger than the pizza pan. Spread cheese around edge of pan, spoon pizza sauce over cheese. Fold over the edges to form ring and press to seal. Prepare remainder of pizza as you like it. Bake on a pizza stone or cookie sheet in a 450 degree preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and golden.

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The best oatmeal cookie recipe: This was sent by a reader who would not claim credit – since she had gotten it from the internet. It is the best.

Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookie

Yields: 30 to 35 cookies

1 1/2 cups pecans

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the pecans on a sheet pan and bake for 5 minutes, until crisp. Set aside to cool. Chop very coarsely. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together on foil or wax paper. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the oats, raisins, and pecans and mix with a large spoon, just until combined.

Using a tablespoon or ice cream scoop, drop 2-inch mounds of dough onto sheet pans that have been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Flatten slightly with a damp hand. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool completely.

Developed from a recipe in 2008, Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten: The Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved

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Recipe for Laughter:

• My personal favorite … God’s Problem Now: His wife’s graveside service was just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance.

The little old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, “Well, she’s there.”

• When I die I want my last words to be, “I left a million dollars under the …”

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