Mozzarella

Italian-style Sloppy Joes—get it? Hah! I kill me! Funny! Well, I thought so, anyway . . .

Talk about flexible, this chicken is a cheerleader. Yes, it’s equally good steaming hot or icebox cold. Eat this dish four seasons of the year, hot or not, indoors or out. It’s G-R-E-A-T . . . great!

The French are notorious for their stuffy and particular attitudes . . . especially when it comes to food, but they’ve got nothing on the Sicilians. It takes a Sicilian ’tude to think one could improve on a French classic, especially in 30 minutes. Well, this Sicilian says “Bring it on.”

This sammy is so hearty you won’t think to ask “where’s the beef?”

French bread pizza from Stouffer’s was my favorite frozen food as a kid. Now that I’m all grown up I make my own, because I can overstuff them. (My appetite grew, too.)

Get in “The Zone.” These calzones are meat-free, super hearty, and super healthy. Eat up, chow down, and enjoy.

The ingredients list is the whole sales pitch. Need I say more?

Take a pizza Margerita, make it on a tortilla, then fold it like a quesadilla and you get a pizza-dilla!

Okay, this one could take 35 minutes; but the results taste far more time-consuming.

Caponata is an eggplant dish normally served as a relish or appetizer, but I am so fond of it that I keep reinventing ways to add it to each cookbook I write. I’ve topped polenta with it, tossed it with pasta, packed it into sub sandwiches, and now, here we go again . . .

This is a pizza I discovered on a trip to Rome as I wandered the side streets with my mom. It became such a favorite of mine that, on a return trip I made in the cold late fall, I think I ate hot, half-kilo blocks of it every day for a week. This is my at-home version. I love the feeling of giant slices of this hanging from my mouth. It really brings me back to Roman Holidays.