My new love

It is in the '90s here today and I have been drinking water non-stop. 

When I was making my green drink, I pulled out this sorbet, tasted one spoonful and I was in love!

I have indulged in two bowls so far but since it only has 60 calories per serving, I haven't gotten too far out of control...yet.

My second try at making pizza turned out much better.

I cooked a couple of Rosie's chicken breasts and chopped them into chunks.

And I doctored up the pizza sauce with - 

- 2 tsp. of Tofutti cream cheese
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 1/2 tsp. of raw raspberry honey

This turned the sauce from an overly acidic red sauce to a pink colored ambrosia. It was like a really tasty, thick tomato soup.

The chicken went on next.

Then I piled it high with the mozzarella cheese blend and it went into a 450 degree oven for 14 minutes.

I thought it could use some greens so I tossed some baby greens with some raspberry vinaigrette.

The dogs didn't get to have any of this - It was too delicious!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday.


I am going to go open my freezer and stare longingly at the container of Ciao Bella sorbet...

You can tell it's Monday by the pizza

Pizza with artichoke hearts, baby asparagus and ground bison.

It looks pretty enough, right?

But take my word for it, this pizza was a big disaster. 


The disaster part? That's how you can tell it's a Monday.


The train wreck started innocently enough.

This seemed like a good idea at the time. I added dried rosemary (which I did finely dice) to the pizza dough. But the result was like adding teeny tiny sticks into the dough. 

And it was just as fun to gnaw on.


I was also trying out a new sauce.

Another lesson learned - taste the new sauce BEFORE you douse your dough in it.

There was nothing really wrong with this sauce but it was on the tart side and I like my pizza sauce a bit more sweet.

Keep in mind, this was not the kind of train wreck where the engine suddenly derails and everything explodes.

Nope.

This is one of those train wrecks that happen in slow motion, each car going slightly off kilter until the whole train is a mess. 

Then came the toppings.

At this point I think the pizza was still edible (other than the rosemary twiggy bits). The combination of artichoke hearts and baby asparagus is a great one.

But then I added some ground meat.

For some reason the slightly gamey taste of the ground bison was a terrible combination with the other ingredients. I would not do this combo again.

Then came the cheese.

It looks like a lot of cheese but I probably should have added more. 

Yes, it did come out of the oven looking very pretty.

The tell-tale sign that I had a bad feeling about this pizza?

I doused it in Parmesan and black pepper before I even took the first bite.

Since I couldn't eat it past the first bite (Don't worry it won't go to waste, I chopped it into small pieces and put it in the fridge for treats for the dogs), I am going to do a remake for lunch.

I'm gonna go drink my green drink and contemplate my train wreck...

Sometimes it just turns out right

Homemade pizza dough is a great thing to have in the freezer.

I pulled out a piece of dough out of the freezer last night so it was all thawed out and ready to go at lunch time.

The pizza dough spread with bottled tomato sauce.

I added a sprinkle of onion powder, garlic powder and oregano on top.

Then I layered on some turkey meat.

Then I finely chopped some broccoli. I took another look around the kitchen to see what else I had on hand - and ended up chopping up some fresh tomatoes.

The pizza went into a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes.

Hot out of the oven.

 This pizza turned out incredible! It is a bit hard to tell from the photos but the dough has a slightly orange color. I added garlic powder and paprika what I made this batch of dough and it really added that extra something to the pizza.

I had two pieces - 

Along with two more of the oranges.

Every have one of those days when you feel anxious for no reason? I am having one of those - but this pizza helped:-)

 

Standards and lunch

I went on the hunt for collard greens but my neighborhood store (family owned and has tons of veggies) did not have any collard greens.

When I asked about it they said, "The greens were not looking great today so we didn't buy any." 


Yup, my local store has standards. I thought about running to one of the big chain grocery stores and getting some but heck no, I am going to support my local market and their firm stand on quality. My ham hocks will have to wait for another day.

This is what I made when I got home:

Parmesan and blue cheese pizza.

It was very fast since I pulled out the pizza dough from the freezer last night.

I used a bottle to roll out the dough, hence the hatch marks - I really need to get a rolling pin.

Some tomato sauce.

Parmesan and blue cheese.

It went into a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. It came out bubbly and delicious.

I didn't forget the dogs.

Two mini balls of dough.

Dog pizza toppings.

Take my word for this - you do not want to cook the dogs mini pizzas at the same time as yours. If you do, your pizza will be infused with a very strong fishy smell.

Thankfully, I did not do this - really, I didn't...

And, as usual, the dog's treats came out gorgeous looking:
 

Smoked sardine doggie pizza.

Pretty pizzas

This evening I was inspired by Jenna's post at Eat, Live, Run.

She posted a great recipe for pizza dough and now that I have yeast in the house, I wanted to give it a try.

In my usual fashion, I did my best to follow the recipe, but unfortunately, I ran out of flour. I had to make do with what I had on hand, so I used matzo meal to fill in.

Those nubby bits on the dough? That is the matzo meal.

Even with my creative addition - the dough was wonderful. Elastic and soft with a great yeasty smell.

I cut the dough in half and stuck one in the freezer.

The other half I used to make 2 personal size pizzas.

Tomato sauce, mozzarella, yellow tomato and olives.

Pesto with mozzarella and Parmesan.

The difference in pizza when the dough tastes great? Stunning.

Yum!

It's all about the dough

Since I had such a light breakfast, I was really hungry by the time lunch rolled around.

The banging has been non-stop making it impossible to concentrate. Another good excuse for procrastinating!

I had that newly found bag of flour sitting in the fridge so I decided to make some dough - Pizza dough :-)

The dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups of flour + 2 3/4 tsp. of baking soda.

I found a recipe for a yeast free pizza dough here - not because I have anything against yeast - I just didn't have any in the house.

1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 1/2 cup of water mixed in.

I kneaded the dough for about 5 min. but it wasn't looking quite right.

I added in another Tbsp. of olive oil and it started looking a bit better.

Then I tore off enough dough for a single serving size pizza.

I rolled out the dough.

A little olive oil on top.

Pizza 1: spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, basil and oregano.

Mozzarella, parmesean and a sprinkle of basil on top.

I used the cooking instructions I found here. Which I now realize are intended for store bought pizzas - probably not the best choice.

After 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven, it came out over cooked and dry :-(


Pizza 2:

Olive oil and parsley.

I thinly sliced a potato.

Salt and pepper.

Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil on top.

This time I cooked it for only 12 minutes - then I moved it to the lowest rack in the oven and let it cook under a high broiler setting for 2 minutes.

A very pretty pizza!

Pizza 2 turned out great. The crust was slightly crunchy with the dough cooked to perfection. 


The broiler did the trick with the potatoes - they were tender with the edges just turning crispy.

 

I enjoyed Pizza 2 with a small side salad of baby greens with a fat-free raspberry balsamic dressing and an apple.

My conclusion on the dough experiment? It turned out fine but not great. I think I will go with a recipe that uses yeast next time.


The dogs got a choice between Pizza 1 and Pizza 2 - they both choice to enjoy a small bite of Pizza 2.


Yup, my dogs have good taste :-)