Welcome back!
Is there anything more delicious than succulent vegetables fresh from a Farmer’s Market? Full of nutrition and bursting with flavor, they are spilling out of their baskets, just waiting to be gathered into your arms. While I can joyfully bite into a wide variety of fresh vegetables (including onions!), my children are slightly more reserved. Raw tomatoes and onions may be left to perish on the side of their plates, but these same veggies, properly prepared, inspire them to ask for more.
I have learned the secrets of preparing veggies for non-veggie lovers, thanks to one of my all-time favorite books, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver. My family may not share my passion for hunting and gathering in our local Farmer’s Market, but they do share a passion for great meals. Sunday night dinners are a huge hit as everyone prepares their own version of a food I never thought was healthy, until now.
Growing up with commercially prepared pizza, I thought all pizza was patently unhealthy. Now I know better. It’s all in the ingredients you use! After much experimentation with the recipes in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I discovered the combinations my family loves.
For anybody who thinks pizza dough is hard to make, I encourage you to think again. Bread machines make this a snap. Just 4 minutes of effort will provide you with enough dough for two large pizzas! No bread machine? No problem. Preparing the dough by hand takes all of fifteen minutes – quick work by anyone’s standards.
Here is my favorite version of an unlikely health food:
Crust
3 tsp. yeast
1-1/3 cups warm water
1 tsp. salt
3 tbs. sucanat or other unrefined sugar
3 tbs. olive oil
3 cups sprouted spelt flour (or whole wheat as a substitute)
1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
Once you’ve dissolved the yeast in warm water, add in salt, sucanat and olive oil. Knead the flours into the liquid and let the dough rise for 30 to 45 minutes. This waiting time is the perfect opportunity to prep your toppings.
Toppings
Feel free to customize based on your tastes!
1 sweet onion, sliced
2 red, green or yellow sweet peppers, sliced
olive oil
1/2 jar all natural pizza sauce OR 2 cups fresh tomatoes
1 pound of the freshest mozzarella you can find
1 cup cooked kidney or adzuki beans (perfect for fiber, flavor and protein)
fresh feta
black olives
Italian seasoning to taste (especially oregano)
free-range chicken (shredded pieces of leftovers work great!)
Preheat your oven to 425°. Gently sauté the onions and peppers in a bit of olive oil until tender. This brings out the natural sweetness, so even children love them.
When the dough is ready, split it in half, reserving a bit if you have children who will enjoy creating their own pizza specialties. If you have a lot of people to feed (and you will when people realize what you’re up to), roll out two round pizza crusts on a lightly floured surface. Alternately, prepare one pizza now and save the other half of the dough in the refrigerator for the next day. Remember to roll the edges of the crust to hold your delectable toppings! Place this dough onto a baking stone or pizza pan, and add your favorite toppings. If using pizza sauce, be sure to put this on first. Otherwise, lead with mozzarella.
Slide into the oven for about 20 minutes and enjoy an amazingly nutritious, easy to prepare meal custom designed for your family.
-
On the Front Lines of the Mommy Wars with Leslie Morgan Steiner! Ever wonder why women waste so much energy judging other women? Are you ready for a breath of fresh air? Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of the best-selling anthology Mommy Wars, will join us on The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood to help resolve the tension between...... -
Come Play in My Sandbox! There's a recurrent theme in my conversations with mothers over the last few weeks. Essentially, women are telling me that they don't feel like they belong well enough to "play in other people's sandboxes." I've heard this from unconventional moms of all ages - they feel too old (grandmothers raising...... -
Straight Talk on Mother Shock with Andi Buchanan! Mother Shock! Best-selling author, Andi Buchanan, aptly coined this term for the state in which many new parents exist during those first confusing, chaotic, and often comical years of parenting. "It is the clash between expectation and result, theory and reality; a twilight zone of 24-hour-a-day living where life is...... -
Are Your Baby's Vaccinations Safe? There has been a whirlwind of media on this week's court ruling on whether Autism can be linked to childhood vaccinations. People on each side of the divide have a lot to say. Here are some links to help you make sense of the information: Health Blog : What the...... -
Sleep Expert on "The Mommy-Muse Is In" Show! Do you suffer through sleepless nights, and then during the day listen to heartless advice to let your baby "cry it out?" Tune in tomorrow on The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood on the VoiceAmerica.com Health and Wellness channel. Join me as I interview my well-rested......
