Monday, February 20, 2012

Pizza! Pizza!

Do you remember those commercials where a little cartoon guy would say "Pizza pizza!" really fast?  I tried looking it up and there's a chain called Pizza Pizza, but it's Canadian, so I don't think that was it.  Maybe Little Caesars?  Hmm, mystery.

Anyways, I was craving pizza recently (probably because at my school you can find free pizza somewhere on any given day of the week), and I decided to try my hand at making my own.  I wish I had a pizza stone, but other than that it turned out really well!


I mostly followed this recipe for the whole wheat pizza crust, but I couldn't find any whole wheat bread flour so I used whole wheat pastry flour instead, and I added some chopped fresh rosemary to the dough (so good!!).  I also baked mine in the oven instead of on the stove.


I made my own pesto sauce using basil I had previously cut from my basil plant and pureed with a splash of water in the food processor, then stored in the freezer.  Along with the pureed basil, I added spinach, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (just lightly toast them in a dry, nonstick skillet on medium heat until they start to brown and become fragrant), olive oil, parmesan cheese, and milk - all of those ingredients went into the food processor until the mixture became smooth (I like to add the liquid ingredients while the food processor is on).

I spread the pesto on top of the unbaked dough, then I added spinach, grape tomatoes (cut in half), sauteed mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and kalamata olives.  That went into a preheated 425* oven for about 15 minutes.  I should have let it go longer, so I would suggest increasing the time to about 20 minutes.  I had 1/3 of the pizza when it was fresh, and then had the leftovers for 2 more dinners.  I think the leftovers were actually better because I warmed them up in the oven and they cooked a little more. 

Since today is Presidents' Day, the rec center/ gym where I belong is closed (but we still have school - doesn't seem quite right to me).  I decided to do a workout DVD for some cardio this morning before class.  I did Denise Austin's Fat-Burning Dance Mix DVD, which incorporates jazz, latin, "club funk," and ballet moves.  It was pretty good and I worked up a little sweat, but it wasn't an intense cardio workout.  I always have fun pretending I can dance, though.  Back to the gym tomorrow!

(Source)

So tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, which means Lent starts on Wednesday.  I've given up something for Lent for a very long time now, and sometimes I got pretty intense.  I've given up all TV, just reality TV, entertainment TV shows, chocolate, all sweets, Facebook, beauty magazines, internet gossip sites, online quizzes - even blogs!

This year I've decided to give up chocolate, and also try something new:  doing something every day rather than giving it up.  I'm going to track my expenses daily, which I've been planning to do for, oh, I don't know, 5 years now?  So hopefully this will start a regular habit, even after Lent is over.  For the past few years, I've given up all sweets, so I think just giving up chocolate will almost feel like "cheating"!  Not to say that I won't sorely miss chocolate, though.

Are you giving anything up for Lent?

PS I finished I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella last night... and I just got it from the library on Friday.  I tried to pace myself, but I could not put it down!  So if you're looking for a very entertaining, funny, enjoyable read, check it out!  But beware that you might not get much else done once you crack it open.  

PPS Monday night TV!!!  2 Broke Girls and Hart of Dixie - who else is watching with me??

Song of the Day:

"Don't Gotta Work it Out" by Fitz & the Tantrums.  This is off their 2010 album Pickin' Up the Pieces, but it sounds like it's out of the '60s.


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