Pizza! Pizza!

For a quick recap- it was the battery. whew! Replaced with the help up my husband and we are up and running.

What’s more perfect than starting your weekend off with a pizza? Well, maybe  a beer to go with it. Or maybe a nice large check to pay off my student loans so I can buy a new car.  Ok got a little off track there. Too much wishful thinking.

So, maybe I’ll just stick with the pizza, beer and an amazing husband who made it.

True story. A tired gal stumbles in the door from work to the smell of freshly baked dough in the oven. A smiley handsome man gives her a kiss, and says “Hi sweetie I baked you a pizza.”

Smiley handsome man pulls the pizza out of the oven with inquisitive eyes, and says what do you think?

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“I put meat on my side, but your side has zucchini.”  Tough question.

Tired girl smiles, and thinks the real questions are how did she get so dang lucky? And did you actually use Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (published in the 1970’s)??? Awesome!!

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Half and Half Surprise Pizza

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Pizza Dough from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105-115)

1 Tsp sugar

1 Tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Toppings

1 sliced Tomato

1 sliced Zuchinni

1 can sliced olives

1 bag of sliced mushrooms

1 sliced onion

1 cup freshly grated Mozzarella cheese

2 chopped turkey sausage links

1. Set oven to 425.

2. To make your dough: Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients; beat vigorously 20 strokes. Let rest about 5 minutes (while your arm rests as well).

3. Slice and cut your veggies.

4.  Press dough into greased baking pan.

5. Layer on your toppings.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese in light brown.

Berry Happy Bodies is featured on Healthy Living Blogs today! Check out the interview here.

In terms of nutrition and health, this meal is a little heavier than we typically eat, but I will explain that it’s actually pretty good for you.Way better than getting pizza from a restaurant. You can control how heavy or healthy you want it by adding or cutting back on the cheese and oil, adding more veggies or making the dough thin or thick.  So in the end it’s actually a balanced ratio of whole wheat carbs, lean protein (with low fat cheese and turkey sausage), healthy fats (if you use olive oil) and veggies. Not too bad for pizza! You can check out other meals and snacks we’ve made at the Refuel/Recipes page here.

Lucky gal with Calzsams!

I am one lucky gal.  The other night I came home from work to this:

Which is truly appropriate since sunflower is  the flower of our wedding. And then he made me this, a veggie Calzsam (a what??):

Easy ladies he is a husband- to- be in approximately one month! Holy smokes!!! Now that we have that squared away we can move on the the Samosa turned Calzone, adapted from 1,000 Low Fat, Salt, Sugar, Cholesterol Healthy Recipes.  I’m not sure how we acquired this recipe book, and despite the turn off of a name it has a massive amount of recipes. The down fall to owning this encyclopedia of recipes is it requires one shelf all to itself. For the sake of time my fiance creatively turned the samosa recipe into yummy, filling, healthy calzones.

Vegetable Calzams:

Ingredients:

1 small potato, peeled and quartered

1 small carrot, halved

4 cauliflower florets

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp water

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 tbsp frozen peas

1 fresh green chilie, seeded and finely chopped

1 /2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground coriander

beaten egg to glaze

mango chutney to serve

Pastry

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/8 cup margarine

1/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Cook the potato, carrot, and cauliflower in a small pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain, let cool slightly, then chop. Put oil, lime juice, water, shallot, pease, chile and spices in a small pan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer gently, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped potato, carrot and cauliflower and transfer to a bowl to cool.

2. To make pastry, sift the flours into a bowl, add the margarine and combine with hands until crumbly. Add just enough milk to make a firm dough. turn out into a lightly floured counter and knead gently until smooth. Divide the dough into  equal pieces, and roll to a circle. Cut circle in half.

3. Brush a baking sheet with a little olive oil. Divide the vegetable mixture between the dough semicircles, placing it on one half only and leaving a small border. Brush the edges with water, fold the dough over and seal, pressing the edges together. brush with beaten egg, transfer to the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or cold with mango chutney.

      Next challenge: better photos!!

Music: Thievery Corporation: Culture of Fear again. We are gearing up for their concert. Since we have a repeat I will throw out an awesome band that both genders will love. Delta Spirit! We have had the awesome opportunity to catch them live here in San Diego at a couple of different venues, and each time with the same result: amazing! They are a Southern CA local band, with high energy shows. The passion they have for music is reflected in their lyrics and layered into the variety of instruments used. Both of their cds can be played over and over again with such catchy and melodic rhythms, but complex enough that you can hear something new each time. I highly recommend!!!