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Friends...I need you! Here we are on April 1, Spring has sprung and I've already made my first grilled pizza, and I still don't have a pizza dough recipe that I am completely head-over-heels for. May I ask...do YOU have a favorite pizza dough recipe? And if you do, would you please, please share it with me? In exchange, I will give you my very favorite pizza topping combination...do we have a deal? Thank you. :)
Happy weekend, all!
Andrea's very favorite Pizza Topping Combination, inspired by Dr. Ho's Humble Pie
caramelized red onions (heat over medium heat in olive oil for about 10 minutes, until golden brown)
fresh arugula (also from Double H Farm) dressed with a little bit of olive oil and fresh lemon juice (or, lemon olive oil...yum!)
shaved parmesan cheese
sea salt to sprinkle on top
We grill one side of the pizza dough before topping, remove the dough and top the grilled side, then put the pizza back on the grill. The arugula and shaved parmesan go on the pizza once it has come off of the grill and is ready to be served.
Good Sunday evening, all! Thank you for all the sweet comments about my BSI submission...you make me blush! :) I have so much fun coming up with new recipes, and especially photographing them. My hubb was so sweet to have yellow tulips waiting for me when I got home last night from my trip, and I just couldn't resist getting them in the photos. Especially since blondies are brown, my table is brown...the flowers helped add a little pop to the photos. I'm glad you liked them!
My day was busy, but a good busy filled with baking, exercise with my pup, dinner cooking with my hubb, netflix during and after dinner...I can't complain! We finally had a chance to make a pizza I've been dying to try, out of one of my favorite books, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. This book is fabulous, and even though we sometimes void the vegetarian aspect of the recipes (like tonight) we've enjoyed everything we've made from it. Tonight was no exception.
Dinner: Carmelized Onion, Blue Cheese, Walnut and Bacon Pizza, a side of Golden Brussels Sprouts (a la 101 cookbooks) and a glass of cabernet
[650-700 calories - YIKES!!!]
The above picture is of the onions within the first 5 minutes of caramelization. The whole process took about 20 minutes, but I forgot to get a picture of the finished onions. :( We used pre-made TJ's whole wheat pizza dough that I had frozen. I'm not crazy about the TJ's dough...I think I'll pass on buying it again.
The contraption my hubb is using to get the pizza in and out of the oven is called a Super Peel, and it is AWESOME. I can't wait to use it for some homemade breads...
This was my first time using the 101 Cookbooks method of cooking brussels sprouts and I am SO IMPRESSED. I don't think we'll be roasting them again for a long time...
I had a little less than 1/4 of the pizza on my plate, but only ate about 2/3's of that. It was SO RICH. I think next time I'll use less blue cheese...
This was a weird eating day for me. Breakfast was so late that I skipped lunch, but did have a peanut butter date blondie after they were photographed. Of course. Then I promptly packed them up to take with me to the office tomorrow. Definitely can't risk having those tasty little treats hanging out in my kitchen!
Snack: peanut butter date blondie
[250 calories]
Dessert: 1/2 cup of Ciao Bella blood orange sorbetto...so good.
[120 calories]
Exercise: I took my dog Lucy for a 3 mile walk/run around the neighborhood. We both needed the exercise, and I wanted to test out my foot. It did ok, but I'm still taking it easy. I think I'm going to make an appointment with a podiatrist to get it checked out... I walked/ran more for Lucy than for me...she's not used to running that far all at once. She had surgery last summer on both of her knees and didn't fully recover until December, so we're still working on getting her strength back. She did really well though, I'm a proud momma! :)
[-260 calories]
Daily Review:
calories consumed: about 1,600
calories expelled: about 260
net intake: about 1,340
Not too bad considering what I ate today. Skipping lunch helped, but that definitely isn't a habit I'll be getting into! I'm kinda glad tomorrow is Monday and I'll be getting back to my routine and my normal healthy eats... :)
G'night!
What a dreary day we've had. I tried to stay inside as much as possible but had to run a couple of errands at lunch time...yuck. I did come home to a fabulous surprise in my mailbox though...my BSI Prize Trail Mix from Melissa!!!
Melissa had the great idea of giving the winner of BSI: Sweet Potatoes a custom-made trail mix...she sent me a list of mixin's to choose from and this is what I decided on:
PB-filled pretzels
chocolate-covered pretzels
almonds
cashews
caramel bits
yogurt-covered raisins
dried cranberries
chocolate-covered banana chips
dried raspberries
raisins
It is soooooooooo good! Thanks Melissa!!! :) I had a big handful as soon as I opened the box!!!
I had high hopes for another wonderful run this evening but just didn't feel like going out in the nasty weather. So instead I pulled out my favorite power yoga dvd...not the same as going to class but I went with it. 50 minutes later I was a bendy, stretchy, happy girl...I do love my yoga. :)
Backtrack a little to my day's eats...another post full of comfort food. What is it about winter-time and the need for warm, filling meals...do all of you lucky Floridians with your 80* winters have the same cravings?
I am so-in-love with the TJ's Pumpkin Spice Granola...I was craving it as soon as I got up this morning and thought it was a perfect opportunity to test out the new Siggi's yogurt that Whole Foods gave me as a consolation prize for eliminating my Oikos from their shelves.
Breakfast: One 6oz container of Siggi's Icelandic Skyr, plain, with 1/2 cup TJ's Pumpkin Spice Granola and one sliced banana.
I must say...I am VERY impressed with the Siggi's. It is very thick but oh so creamy...Julz was right when she commented on my post awhile back that Skyr is like Greek yogurt on steroids! I LOVED it...too bad it is WAY out of my price range. $2.69 for 6oz?!?!?!? I don't think so.
Morning Snack: 3 ginger snaps while knitting...is there anything better on a rainy, cold day?!? I went home around noon to let the pups out and realized that my lunch was actually at work (I didn't anticipate being able to leave the office today). So, I decided to actually take my full lunch hour and just hang out on the couch for 30 minutes and work on a Christmas present...I was happy and so were the pups. :)
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Veggie Soup and a handful of Kashi crackers (I actually took these photos this morning before going to work...poured the soup out of its gladware into the nice bowl, then back into the gladware after the picture. Yes, I'm becoming that obsessed with my food photography...).
Afternoon Snack: Another glorious pear.
Dinner: Homemade Veggie Pizza! Woohoo! We loaded a TJ's whole wheat pizza crust with:
TJ's pizza sauce
fresh spinach
onion
yellow bell pepper
broccoli
black olives
1/3 cup part-skim mozzarella on my 1/2, LOTS of cheese on the hubb's 1/2
Mmmmmm...yum. The crust needed a little longer in the oven, we typically bake it for 5-7 minutes before topping it but the TJ's instructions didn't say to do that so we stuck it in the oven raw with toppings. It was still a little doughy, but yummy all the same. :) I had another piece 1/2 the size of the piece above...which would mean about 3 of 8 slices of a 12" pizza.
Dessert: A small cup of eggnog with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top...my holiday guilty pleasure!
I hope you all have a glorious night and Happy Friday!!!
Good evening! I hope everybody had a wonderful Saturday, despite any dreary weather you may have had (like me!). After my BSI submission I cleaned up the house a bit, lounged around a bit, blogged a bit and made a grocery list.
For lunch I had leftovers: 1-1/2 cups green potage and 2 slices of oatmeal bread, one with roasted garlic hummus.
Turns out the garlic hummus and oatmeal bread weren't that great of a combination...I only ate about 1/2 of that slice.
Before grocery shopping I had a Clif Nectar bar so that I wouldn't eat or buy everything in sight.
Product Review: Clif Nectar lemon vanilla cashew flavor
This is my all-time favorite Clif Nectar flavor, and I'm so glad that my Whole Foods still carries it. I also really love the cranberry apricot and cherry pomegranate but they've discontinued them at my store...SO SAD!!! :( This flavor is wonderfully sweet from the vanilla but still has a nice tartness from the lemon, and there are big chunks of cashews. Yum.
The bar held me over through our various errands and grocery shopping, and kept me from ordering anything when we drove through Taco Bell so Brian could snack on a bean burrito.
Here is a sampling of the grocery store loot this evening:
First, the regular items.
bananas
brussels sprouts
sweet potato
broccoli sprouts
mushrooms
cauliflower
broccoli
raspberries (!)
z-bars (!!)
Clif Nectar Cocao (this should be on the newbie list, never tried this flavor before)
tofu
Silk plain soymilk
Oikos (!) (would love to try Chobani, but my store doesn't carry it!!!)
vino
honey
Amy's soups
Kashi cheddar crackers
whole wheat pitas
More regular items.
rolled oats
part skim mozzerella
Wallaby yogurts (Brian's favorite...so good! they have great flavors and are super-creamy)
red bell peppers
pomegranates (2 of these! 2 for $5!)
feta cheese
frozen edamame
coffee
Regular items not pictured:
cucumbers
tortilla chips
more vino
lunch meat / cheese for Brian
arugula lettuce mix
scallions
onions
cream cheese for Brian's bagels
Newbies!!!
Clif bars!!! (the Whole Foods Whole Deal has tons of coupons, lots of taste-testing this week!)
new hummus - roasted red pepper
PB&Co dark chocolate dreams (!)
turbinado raw sugar
Smart Deli veggie pepperoni slices (for our pizza tonight)
So excited about my newbies!!! Especially the PB&Co, I didn't realize my Whole Foods even carried it! And, I discovered that they carry the MaraNatha almond butter, but I'm not in need right now so I will try it next time I'm all out.
We also stopped at Bodo's to get Brian a supply of everything bagels for the next couple of weeks,
and the Organic Butcher to get chicken breasts and some bacon. I love the Organic Butcher, most of the meat that he carries is local and it feels great to support a local business as well as local farmers. We actually reserved our local, organic turkey for Thanksgiving tonight! :)
By the time we got home I was STARVING! Brian and I put together a wonderful homemade pizza with fresh pizza dough from a local pasta shop. Sadly they were all out of whole wheat, but we were in SUCH a pizza mood that I couldn't say no to white flour.
We made up for it with part skim mozzarella, veggie pepperoni slices and lots of veggies.
I had about 1/4 of the 12" pizza, and paired it with a salad and small glass of red wine.
My salad consisted of:
arugula salad mix
cucumber
red bell pepper
1 tbsp feta crumbles
1/4 cup red raspberries
1 tbsp sliced almonds
1/2 tsp grape seed oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
This Syrah is a new bottle we found at Whole Foods, just $9, and is pretty good!
I'm off to watch SNL...have a great night!
The above picture is of the onions within the first 5 minutes of caramelization. The whole process took about 20 minutes, but I forgot to get a picture of the finished onions. :( We used pre-made TJ's whole wheat pizza dough that I had frozen. I'm not crazy about the TJ's dough...I think I'll pass on buying it again.
The contraption my hubb is using to get the pizza in and out of the oven is called a 
This was my first time using the 
I had a little less than 1/4 of the pizza on my plate, but only ate about 2/3's of that. It was SO RICH. I think next time I'll use less blue cheese...
This was a weird eating day for me. Breakfast was so late that I skipped lunch, but did have a peanut butter date blondie after they were photographed. Of course. Then I promptly packed them up to take with me to the office tomorrow. Definitely can't risk having those tasty little treats hanging out in my kitchen!
Snack: peanut butter date blondie
[250 calories]
Dessert: 1/2 cup of Ciao Bella blood orange sorbetto...so good.
[120 calories]
Exercise: I took my dog Lucy for a 3 mile walk/run around the neighborhood. We both needed the exercise, and I wanted to test out my foot. It did ok, but I'm still taking it easy. I think I'm going to make an appointment with a podiatrist to get it checked out... I walked/ran more for Lucy than for me...she's not used to running that far all at once. She had surgery last summer on both of her knees and didn't fully recover until December, so we're still working on getting her strength back. She did really well though, I'm a proud momma! :)
[-260 calories]
Daily Review:
Melissa had the great idea of giving the winner of 
I must say...I am VERY impressed with the Siggi's. It is very thick but oh so creamy...Julz was right when she commented on my post awhile back that Skyr is like Greek yogurt on steroids! I LOVED it...too bad it is WAY out of my price range. $2.69 for 6oz?!?!?!? I don't think so.
Morning Snack: 3 ginger snaps while knitting...is there anything better on a rainy, cold day?!? I went home around noon to let the pups out and realized that my lunch was actually at work (I didn't anticipate being able to leave the office today). So, I decided to actually take my full lunch hour and just hang out on the couch for 30 minutes and work on a Christmas present...I was happy and so were the pups. :)
Lunch: Leftover 
Afternoon Snack: Another glorious pear.
Dinner: Homemade Veggie Pizza! Woohoo! We loaded a TJ's whole wheat pizza crust with:
Mmmmmm...yum. The crust needed a little longer in the oven, we typically bake it for 5-7 minutes before topping it but the TJ's instructions didn't say to do that so we stuck it in the oven raw with toppings. It was still a little doughy, but yummy all the same. :) I had another piece 1/2 the size of the piece above...which would mean about 3 of 8 slices of a 12" pizza.
Dessert: A small cup of eggnog with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top...my holiday guilty pleasure!
I hope you all have a glorious night and Happy Friday!!!
