Day Eighteen - At Last! Pizza!

Before baking

After a very busy week and weekend all I wanted was pizza. Just a slice. Comfort food.

It used to be easy to make up a crust, dump some Prego spaghetti sauce over it, add some toppings, and bake it up.

The crust was still easy. Cassie simply substituted light whole wheat flour in the recipe. The meat was some leftover hamburger, cooked and seasoned with Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Fresh mozzarella cheese, no problem.

Up-close, before baking

It was the sauce that took some tinkering. I was too hungry to use my own tomatoes and simmer them to a thicker sauce. That would take too long. Tom found a tomato paste with only 'tomato' in the ingredient list. I used two cans of that, added water to thin it down. Then, to my herb garden I went for oregano and basil. Some garlic, salt, and pepper were added. Simmer simmer simmer for about fifteen minutes while I did dishes.

Easily assembled, fresh basil leaves added, and a good drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Into the oven it went.

When I began to smell 'Italian', as the pizza pie baked, I was quite relieved.

The experiment was a success! It tasted like pizza!

Baked, hot, flavorful. 

And I am satisfied.

Lesson: When life drains, keep going. When hungry in the grocery store, stick to the list. When all you want is comfort food, use your imagination. Never give up. Never give in. Real food doesn't take much longer, especially once you've done your homework and found the right ingredients, created your own recipe, and most especially when you are dedicated to putting wholesomeness into the bodies of your family and yourself. It's worth the extra bit of trouble.