Mystery Ingredient Monday on a Thursday with a Theme... aka Deliciousness

Okay... are you ready for this?

So today's Theme Thursday is askew.  And I was wondering... how do I take a picture of my entire life right now?  'Cause I kind of feel like it's all askew.  But figuring out a single picture which would cleverly portray the ways in which I feel my like is a bit askew was taking too much time and effort, due in large part to aforementioned askewedness.  Askewity?  Whatevs.

So, I chucked that idea.  Moving along to dinner preparations, Alex and I made calzones, and Alex asked his dad for his super secret super amazing pizza sauce recipe.  Okay, so it's not necessarily super secret, but it's the type of recipe that never gets written down with any measurements or proportions, so that essentially amounts to secret in my book.

And guess what?  The pizza sauce has mustard in it.  (We're coming back to "askew," I promise).  Now, I didn't make any attempt at this week's Mystery Ingredient Monday mustard challenge because I don't like mustard.  And, askewity.  So when I saw that the pizza sauce had mustard in it I was soooo excited.  Yes, I know it's not Monday.  But the link-up is still open, and as far as I'm concerned that is essentially an invitation for late submissions.

So, I present to you mustard, askew, and deliciousness, all in one evening.

Look how he's holding the mustard bottle all askew--I didn't even tell him to do that!

Mmm...mustard (not).  So, the ingredients for the amazing pizza sauce (posted with permission, I promise) are:

• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 medium can of Italian stewed tomatoes
• 1 small can of Italian tomato paste
• basil
• oregano
• Italian seasoning
• Worcestershire sauce
• yellow mustard
• fennel seed
• chopped garlic
• onion flakes

You'll have to figure out proportions on your own, I'm afraid.  I was in the garden picking basil while Alex got his instructions.  Sorry!  All I know is if you skimp on the oregano it will be too sweet.  And don't be stingy with the Worcestershire sauce either.

Also askew: Crane men and their sipping of Worcestershire sauce.  He is seriously taking a swig, not just posing.  A skewed taste if ever I've seen one.  Gross.

The end product (with sauce ever so precariously askew):  calzone recipe from last year's birthday present of The Best-Ever Good of Bread , with personalized fillings (mine had pepperoni, Italian sausage, green and red peppers, onion, mushrooms, Italian cheese blend, and fresh basil, topped with a rosemary garlic spice mix... are you hungry yet?).  I was so proud of myself--the calzone recipe was in the bread machine section of my book, and it turned out great made by hand.  The conversion wasn't actually all that much of an accomplishment--you just need to come up with the order of ingredients and steps yourself, which is pretty standard across bread recipes.  I was thrilled with how it turned out.  The crust was very light and slightly crisp and had a delicious olive oil taste.  The pizza sauce was the perfect accompaniment (not gonna lie--I can't taste the mustard which is probably why I like it).

So there you have it, folks: link-up-mash-up-deliciousness.  Check out the other (timelier) uses of mustard at Jessica's and the rest of the Theme Thursday gang at Cari's!