Here You Come Again, And Here I Go

I'm trying to get back in the healthy swing of things after the holidays. Get inspired, create some fresh dishes. But the process has not been smooth. Little winter bugs, comfort cravings and general blahness have overcome will and desire. Still, mini pizzas on English muffins are always a treat. They look so good on that plate all that spicy sauce, pepperoni and cheese taunting me. Being a repeat offender, I had them again the next day for lunch with a side of wheat pasta and leftover tomato soup as the sauce.

My Eyes Abhorred You

P loves thin crust pizzas and has never been a fan of the deep dish pies or the 'everything' variety. And somehow I still allow him to hang around. Me, I love all pizza and I can really appreciate the big drippy slices of cheese that they serve up. But I also love the thin crust too. When I'm in charge of the toppings though, I can get a little heavy handed.

So as a compromise I've been doing these mini pizzas on Thomas' Wheat English Muffins halves featuring lots of vegetables and just a smattering of meat. This time I did just garlic and olive oil on the bottom. On that I chopped lots of steamed broccolini, thin sliced Vidalia onions, shiitake & Cremini mushrooms, crumbled Italian sausage, basil, a thick slice of a ripe heirloom tomato and shredded mozzarella cheese. I topped each with an anchovy. Cute!

Taste in food and music have traditionally been key factors in choosing partners for me. P's grandfathered in so he could start to like Chamber music at this point and I'd have to deal with it but there was a time. I once broke up with a guy in high school because he chewed weird. I'd rifle through the music selection at the start of a date. The first sign of a Styx tape and I was out of there. It wasn't that I was shallow. Everyone is shallow in high school. We were ignorant. Say what you will but certain strains of music seemed to paint a grim awful future that would haunt my dreams. Catch a guy passionately singing along to 38 Special, Chicago, Dr Hook..BIG warning signs...Foreigner! Get out of the car now!

You Don't Know What It's Like...

So once I know I have the makings for pizza just getting bored in my fridge its sort of hard for me to focus. Pepperoni is like my crackpipe. But everyone knows crack killed Applejack. He jumped in but he couldn't jump back, he was just too blind to see that, death lives in the rock house. And I know better than to eat pizza two nights in a row. Or do I?

Okay, so to make it a bit more figure friendly, I used turkey pepperoni and made tiny pizzas on sliced wheat English muffins. Then I served a generous portion of broccoli rabe to get more greens involved. These were better than last nights version because I managed to get the barbie oven hot enough without burning the bottoms.

It's hard for me because my love of food is growing everyday. My mind races at work with ingredients and pairings. I'm making lists and ideas. I wake up and I have a particular meat in my head and a challenge to come up with the perfect vegetable side. But certain foods you shouldn't eat all the time or you're gonna gain lots of weight and feel thicker which makes you more sluggish. Like I was on a role making great cookies but who can resist dozens of cookies in their house? Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins and we're also the fattest country. I want to eat healthier and not take more than my share but when that cheese starts melting and gettin' that brown on top and I know those little peperoni's are crunching on the edges, Good Lord I get weak!!!