My Quick "Whole Foods Pizza"

Pizza for two using ingredients found at Whole Foods Market.

Whenever I am in need of a quick meal, I dash over to Whole Foods (very near us), grab a pack of their wonderful cornbread pizza crusts, pick up some toppings from the salad/deli bar and head back home where within 20 minutes lunch is ready.

We love these corn meal crusts from Whole Foods.

I often use basil pesto instead of tomato sauce as the base for the pizza.  When I do use tomato sauce I like to pick up a jar of Nello's Tomato Sauce available at Whole Foods. 

Nello's Sauce---the best.

Making healthy choices from their salad bar means I don't have to cut up onions, or mushrooms, or whatever for toppings and I don't have extra leftovers to remember to use before they go bad.

Black olives at Whole Foods salad bar.

Mushrooms and egg plant at Whole Foods salad bar.

In addition to black olives, mushrooms and egg plants, I chose shredded beets, shredded chicken and grated cheese.  All of these were added as toppings on the base of Nello's tomato sauce.

Nello's Tomato Sauce provides the base for the pizza.

My selection of toppings from the salad bar.

Toppings added, ready for the oven.  Bake 15 minutes at 425F.

Ready to eat.

There are so many good and healthy choices, I never make the same pizza twice.  Actually I often make two pizzas and freeze one for a future quick meal.

Cost for this pizza for two:
Crust  $3.00
1/2 jar of Nello's tomato sauce $2.85
Salad bar ingredients $5.70
Total cost $11.55

The ease of making a quick and healthy meal--Priceless 

Ava's Graduation/Livermush Party

A plate of nicely fried livermush.

My friend Ava graduated on Saturday from WTCC and in honor of her graduation she threw a Livermush Party.  I grew up in Cleveland County and Ava grew up in the next county over, Rutherford., so we both know all about livermush.  Our counties are known for the best livermush in North Carolina.  I think of livermush as the pate' of the South.

Ava has a degree in journalism from UNC and she is a professional photographer, nevertheless she went back to school at Wake Tech and got a degree in graphic design.  I have followed her work with great interest, and I must say her work is amazing.

Pizza with livermush.

Livermush was at the center of the party, including a livermush pizza.  Or livermush with homemade pimento cheese.  Or livermush on banana nut bread.

The cake honored Ava's induction into Phi Theta Kappa honor society. 

It was a fun party with a group of congenial folks. 

Ava's party. (Photo by Julian Barlow)

Catherine, Khai, and Heather perusing Ava's portfolio.

Ava (Photo by Julian Barlow).

Dan is having fun at the party.

Ava's husband, Bill. (Photo by Julian Barlow).

Ava's son Woody.

Ava's son Julian and Catherine Stelpflug.

Now I need to find an excuse to have a livermush party. 

To see the marvelous job Ava can do check out her online portfolio.

Homemade Pizza for Two

A homemade pizza for two.

I have discovered these wonderful little pizza crusts at Whole Foods that are the perfect size for Dan and me to share.  So I make a lot of pizza using these.  I just brush with a little olive oil and add whatever toppings I may have on hand and within 20 minutes lunch is ready.

This crust is made with corn meal and wheat flour and is one of the best pizza crusts I have ever eaten.  It stay so "crusty" after baking.

Corn Meal pizza crusts.

It's easy to take leftovers and with this crust one can prepare a lunch that is nutritious  very quickly.

Brush with olive oil.

Brush with olive oil.

Add tomato sauce.

Add tomato sauce and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Saute veggies.

Add onions, red peppers, and mushrooms that have been sauteed. 

Top with veggies and baked chicken left overs.

Add leftover baked chicken.

Add cheese and garnish with broccoli florets.

Top with mozzarella cheese and bits of broccoli florets.
Bake in 425 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Out of the oven.

Ready to eat.  Enjoy!!!

With a side salad, this makes a quick and delicious lunch.  Dan and I had this for lunch today. 

Check out the website for the makers of this pizza crust:Vicolo Pizza

Grace and Grandpat's Pizza From Scratch

Homemade pizza ready for the oven.

While the rest of the family went to the UNC-Virginia Tech Football game (UNC won--go Tarheels)  today, Grace and I stayed home and made a vegetarian pizza from scratch---crust included. I must admit this is the first time I have ever made pizza dough from scratch.

Here's the recipe we used for the pizza dough:
1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2.5 cups bread flour

Directions:
1.  Mix yeast in warm water until dissolved.
2.  Stir in oil and flour until it forms a dough ball.
3.  Cover bowl with a kitchen towel, place in a warm place.
4.  Let rise for 15 minutes.
5.  Punch down and wrap in Saran wrap and refrigerate for as much as 8 hours. We refrigerated for about an hour.
6.  Remove from fridge, warm up and let rise.
7.  Spread in pizza pan or on baking stone. We used a 12" pizza pan that we bought at Williams-Sonoma.
8.  Add favorite toppings.

This makes enough for 2-12" thin crusts.  I saved half of the dough to make another pizza (the dough will keep in the fridge for 3 days).

Grace spreads dough in the pizza pan.

Oiling your hands with a bit of olive oil makes spreading the dough easier.

We had earlier made our own tomato sauce using a can of diced tomatoes to which we added fresh basil and garlic.  We cooked this down until it became thick.

Spreading the tomato sauce.

For toppings we sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Mushrooms and onions provide topping.

 And of course we added cheese, in this case shredded cheddar.

Grace adds the shredded cheddar cheese.

Into the oven for 15 minutes at 475 degrees.

 We baked it in a preheated 475 degree oven for about 15 minutes until browned.

Bobby B was here so the three of us finished off the pizza (we did save one piece for Dan).  We were so eager to try the pizza that we forgot to take a photo of the finished product. It was a good pizza!!!  And we had fun making it.