It’s That Time of Year Again

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for – the return of cooking in the car! I’ll give you a moment while you regain your composure. OK, moving on. So many of you have left comments about the return of cooking in the car and prior to my vacation, I had so many other things on my mind that I could never remember to pull something together for cooking in the car.

Now that I’m back, however, cooking in the car is making its 2011 comeback with the debut of frozen pizza. Just how well did the frozen pizza cook in the car? Let’s take a look.

Tuesday afternoon, I stopped by Star Market in Five Points and for $1.17 bought a Jeno’s frozen pizza to be cooked in the car on Wednesday, which was one of the hottest days of the year, reaching at least 100 degrees, if not more. I never heard the official temperature reading, but my phone said it was 100.

Wednesday morning, I got to work about 7:20 and opened up the pizza box, took the pizza out of the plastic wrapper and placed it on my small cookie tray and put it on the dashboard for a day of cooking.

I ate lunch in the cafeteria yesterday and after lunch, around 12:15 or so, I went outside to check on the pizza. It was well on its way to being done. In fact, I probably could have and should have gone ahead and eaten it for lunch. The cheese didn’t melt, mostly just hardened, but the outer crust was getting crispy and it probably would have been perfect for eating. I, however, left it in the car to see how it would turn out by the end of the day.

Looking good at lunch time

Cooked to perfection

I left work later than usual yesterday because I was working on a project and so about 4:45, I finally headed out for the day. When I got to the car, the pizza was more than done. It was a lot crispier than I would have preferred. I took the pizza home and decided I would give it a try there. Since I was still full from lunch, I wasn’t planning on eating a big meal any time soon, but did want to try the pizza to see how it turned out.

A little too done at the end of the day

Once I got home, I brought the pizza inside and attempted to tear a piece off. It was more difficult than I expected due to the crispiness of the pizza. I finally managed to tear a piece off and took a bite. It wasn’t bad, but as I said, a lot crispier/more done than I would have preferred. I suppose I should have ceased the cooking at lunch time.

A bite taken - even the crust was a golden brown

Sorry for the terrible lighting in my kitchen

So, there you have it folks, the first cooking in the car experiment for 2011 was somewhat a success. You can cook pizza on the dash of your car, which is good to know if you are in the mood for pizza and don’t want to go out at lunch time. Stay tuned for more cooking in the car this August. Suggestions will be taken in the comments.