Tag Archives: pizza

Asparagus Prosciutto Pizza

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I’m on day 3 of a pretty raging headache. It last all day, and I assume all night, as it is still there when I wake up. I’m thinking its allergy related, although I don’t really feel any other allergy signs. I started taking my allergy medicine again just in case. I’m a naturally headachey person, but 3 days non stop is just too much, it makes me bitchy.

I’m shocked it’s only Tuesday, the week already feels exhausting. I’m hoping yoga tonight will help me de-stress and chill out a little bit, because I’m feeling very annoyed. Yesterday we walked a 5k in the sun after work, which was so very nice. It’s suppose to be nice all week, which makes me NOT want to workout inside. I’m actually looking into the option of putting our (already paid for) gym membership on hold until the fall. I love to walk outside when the weather is warm, the gym just feels too cooped up.

Tonight for dinner I made Asparagus Prosciutto Pizza on Trader Joe’s Herb Pizza Dough. I sauteed mushrooms and garlic and olive oil with the Asparagus before cooking it. It was yummy, and 2 slices made me just full enough, but not too full to go to yoga tonight.

 

Why Costco Pizza makes me hate my job.

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Here is a little story from today.

First let me add this little tidbit that isn’t really related, but is kinda a lot related:

At my job we get health insurance. Every year they offer this “Health Assessment discount” of $25 per month if you fill out this little healthy living survey. Well this year they are taking it a step further and actually requiring you to have a REAL health assessment.  They will test your blood pressure and glucose and all that stuff. PLUS for men you must have a waist line smaller than 40″ and for women I think its 35″. Here is the kicker. They are going to give everyone 6 months to “fix” any health issues, and if you don’t (or can’t) fix it in 6 months you not only lose your $25 discount, but you have to pay back the last 6 months of discount you received. Awesome huh.

So on to todays story.

About a month ago, due to some major sales we had on Black Friday, corporate gave our team (and all stores) a large chunk of “fun money” to use over the holidays in whatever way we want. Lots of teams took this money to add-on to their Xmas parties, but we had already paid for ours so we didn’t do that. Wanna know what management decided to do with it????

Wait for it….

FEED US COMPLETE FATTY SHIT FOR A WHOLE MONTH!!!!!!

Isnt that fantastic!

I’m talking donuts twice a week.

I’m talking breakfast burritos

And today…dun dun dun…they ordered COSTCO PIZZA for the team.

I understand some people might think this is just fantastic, me….not so much. In fact its been darn right HELLISH. See it’s not like they buy donuts and throw em in the break room for people to grab as they please, nope. They wait until we have mandatory staff meetings to throw them down in the middle of the table, so you are stuck there sitting in front a 3 or 4 boxes of donuts. And you get to spend 45 minutes watching everyone eat one…or two…or three. Oh don’t worry, they provide milk to wash em down too.

Yeah lovely.

So I give myself MAD PROPS for managing to turn down 4 donut days and 1 breakfast burrito day.

Today however was Pizza day. I had already made the decision to NOT eat pizza, but for shits and giggles I decided to look up the nutritional information…are yah ready:

This is the nutritional information for ONE, I repeat ONE slice of Costco Cheese Pizza. You can actually find all of their food court info here. Prior to having this information, Mr. Gaunt and I guessed what a slice would be…400 calories? 500 max! Umm…we were a bit off. Incase you need me to HIGHLIGHT some of that…notice that there is 102% of your daily Saturated fat needs…umm…I wasnt aware we NEEDED any saturated fat.

So Mr. Gaunt and I, and our friend Drew sat in our car on break and discussed. Both boys REALLY wanted pizza, they had both planned to eat a least 1 slice. With the new information they had, both were feeling very conflicted. In the end we all talked about the pros and cons of eating it, and I told them this:

IF I AM OLD ENOUGH TO PAY FOR MY OWN HEALTH INSURANCE, THEN I AM OLD ENOUGH TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT I AM EATING!

And that was that. We all agreed to be strong and to say NO! Not only is it not right to eat that, we don’t even think it should be right to sell that stuff to people! Outrageous! We also decided it was important to print out the nutritional info and post it in the break room next to the pizza so that others could be informed too. This was not to make people feel bad, it was to give them the knowledge to make the best choice for them.

Well, in the end everyone read it, and no one gave a shit. There were very overweight people who consumed upwards of FIVE slices. Oh did you need me to do the math for yah?

That is over FOUR THOUSAND Calories in like 20 minutes!

And the worst part was, after they were all putting themselves into a fatty-coma, they came and bugged the three of us about why we didn’t eat pizza, OVER AND OVER! It was non stop jokes and harassment all afternoon.

And this my friends is just another reason why I need to quit this job.

Which all ties back to that little health assessment. Seems to me that feeding your employees thousands of calories in GARBAGE is not a great way to get them healthy, or maybe that’s the point?

I’m just glad that I am choosing to NOT live in ignorant bliss. And I’m glad to have partner in life that supports that too.

 

 

Caprese Pizza

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Mr. Gaunt bought me a cute little Basil plant and re-potted it in a cute little yellow pot. We put it in the window, where it took all of 3 days to wilt and die. We don’t really get sun. Oh well, I can’t wait till we have a yard, or even a porch! Some day.

Before the Basil plant died I picked a bunch and made this YUMMY Caprese Pizza!

INGREDIENTS:

-Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

-Handfull of fresh Basil Leaves

-Olive Oil

-Balsamic Vinegar

-1 Medium tomato

-Fresh Mozzarella

DIRECTIONS:

-Brush crust with olive oil

-Layer evenly with basil leaves

-Slice tomato thin and layer on top of basil

-Sprinkle with mozzarella

-Splash with vinegar

-Bake per crust instructions (about 12 minutes @ 375)

Home Made CPK California Club Pizza

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One of my favorite restaurants is the California Pizza Kitchen! I could go back and forth between their BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad and California Club Pizza every other day. I rarely eat there, because I really can’t stop at one or two slices, I need to eat the whole damn pizza. It’s that good.

We got avocados in our Door to Door Organics Box last week that were very ripe. They usually send us stuff that needs a day or two to ripen, but these were ready to go. Mr. Gaunt decided to make pizza, and I wanted him to use avocados **DING DING DING** California Club Pizza!

Here’s what you need for the healthier version of this pizza:

INGREDIENTS

1 Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

3 Strips of Turkey Bacon

1 Cooked Chicken Breast OR 1 Large cooked Turkey Sausage (I would have used Chicken, but we didnt have any)

2 Tbs Olive Oil

1 Cup Shreaded 2% Mozzarella

2 Cups Chopped Lettuce

1 Heaping Table Spoon Fat Free Mayo

1 medium tomato (or lots of cherries tomatoes if that’s all you have!)

1 Avocado

Optional Chopped Mushrooms and onions.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven per your pizza crusts directions.

1.Microwave your bacon (yes you can cook it in a pan too, this is just faster) Cut into little bits and set aside

2. Cut up your chicken or Turkey sausage into bite size pieces, set aside.

3. Chop up your onions and mushrooms and set aside

4. Brush olive oil over pizza crust. Sprinkle Meat, Veggies and Cheese onto crust. Bake per instructions (usually about 15min)

5. While your pizza is baking, put your Chopped (small pieces) lettuce into a bowl and toss with mayo. Cut up avocado and tomato into thin slices. Set aside.

6. When Pizza comes out of oven, spread the lettuce/mayo mixture evenly over the top. Lay avocado slices and tomato on top. Cut and enjoy!

To me this tasted almost EXACTLY like CPK’s pizza, with WAY fewer calories! I will definitely make this again. And it saved us over $20 not going out to eat..woohoo!

Cooking What I Plan.

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I’m always so pleased with myself when I actually follow through on a recipe I said I would. Last week I mentioned this Smoked Salmon Pizza made with Leeks and Pesto. I got Leeks last week in my Door To Door Organics box, and searched Food Gawker for ways to use them. There were a ton of Leek Soup recipes, but Spring is coming so no more soup! Pizza is year round friendly, and I had Salmon.

So like usual I made a few changes to the recipe. Like always I used a Whole Foods 365 Organic Wheat Pizza Crust to start off. The recipe called for a heavy cream Pesto sauce, but homie doesnt use heavy cream, so I made my own Cream Pesto Sauce! I used 2 Pesto Cubes (I made Pesto last summer and froze it in ice cube trays) melted in a sauce pan, added a teaspoon of Olive (just to make it more runny) and a large dollop of Fat Free Cream Cheese. stir on medium low until smooth. Spread evenly over crust.

Oh ha! Before I made the sauce I actually baked a Salmon Steak. I didn’t have smoked salmon, and although I love Smoked Salmon sometimes its too intense for me. Any way  I only have one Salmon Steak left, so this was a great way to use it up. I basically just sprinkled some seasoning on it and baked it at 350 for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Ok back to the stove top. I cut up my Leeks (to be honest I have never used Leeks so I really didn’t know how to cut them, so I just did thin slices off the end) and tossed them in a little heated Olive Oil with Mushrooms. When those got nice and cooked I threw in some Kale, because let’s be honest, I’m a little MAD FOR KALE! Let it all cook down.

To put it all together I layered it like this

-Pizza Crust

-Pesto Cream Sauce

-Light Sprinkle of Mozzarella

-Sprinkle Salmon evenly

-Glop sautéed veggies generously

-Sprinkle more Mozzarella

Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.

Ok I know I keep saying this, but this is the BEST pizza I have ever made! Ha! Mr. Gaunt LOVED this! Im so glad I did regular Salmon and not smoked. It was beautiful!

On a side note this past weekend in Washington I made Kale Chips! Whoohoo! These are all the rage on food blogs and Food Photography Sites. I was waiting to make these with my mom for her Birthday, and we did just that! They turned out pretty darn good, shockingly crispy and chip like. They are also very easy. I bought Purple and Green Kale just to mix it up. You can read how to make them here. I was also shocked how much people liked them! Even the guys, so definitely try them.