Celebration Day

One nice thing about celebrating non-traditional holidays is that they're not surrounded by an overwhelming cultural narrative, so you can celebrate them any way you like. Thus, my official Winter Solstice deep-dish pizza:

On the plate:

We concluded the celebration by welcoming the returning sun with some poolside fireworks:

Happy winter holidays to one and all! (Pizza recipe is here.)

Sunday Night Pizza

Pizza time:

3 oz. prepared Publix pizza dough
2 oz. shredded part-skim mozzarella
Arugula, mushrooms, onions, and green olives
375 calories

Fancy flatbread

I love homemade pizza in all its forms, but maybe the most when I make a combination that's not likely to be available from the local joint.

4 oz. Publix prepared pizza dough
Caramelized onions, fig, and port spread
Blue cheese
Prosciutto

Pizza night

One of the few things I can make that nobody complains about:

Pizza made with Trader Joe's dough, tomato sauce, and lite mozzarella, plus toppings.
A small pepperoni pizza for the kid, a larger vegetarian pizza for the grownups (with red bell pepper, onions, and black olives.) I had two slices of the vegetarian, approximately 200 calories each.

Pizza Gets Personal

I love homemade pizza in all its forms. If I'm not going hog wild and making a deep dish, I like to make individual-sized pizzas so each person can have exactly what he or she wants.

Tonight's pizza:

4 oz. pizza dough (Trader Joe's)
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 oz. fresh mozzarella
1/2 oz. prosciutto
5 kalamata olives, halved
3 mushrooms, sliced
2 artichoke hearts, quartered

4 slices, 150 calories per slice
I'll eat half tonight and half for lunch tomorrow.

Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza

Monday night dinner was a Chicago style deep dish pizza with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and black olives. This is a recipe that I only make a few times a year, because it's not what one would call low-cal. My husband grew up in Chicago and introduced me to the wonders of pizza as served at Gino's East. It was our favorite food when we lived in Illinois. Seriously, we went to Gino's the night we got engaged. Unfortunately, we no longer live within driving distance of a Gino's East, so I have to make my own.

After many years of trial and error, this is the closest I can get.
For the dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
1 envelope dry yeast
1 cup water
1/3 cup corn oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (this is a leavener which gives the crust the airy crunch of a Gino's pizza)

Let the dough rise, then press into a 10 inch springform pan
(The easy way to do this is divide the dough in half, press one half of the dough into the bottom of the pan, then make the rest of the dough into two long snakes and press them around the sides, sealing the sides to the bottom and pressing the dough all the way up the sides of the pan.)

Then, in this order, add
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
Any vegetable or meat toppings desired - pre-saute any vegetables and press out any remaining liquid with paper towels, or your pizza will be soggy.
One 14-oz jar of pizza sauce

Bake at 425 for 45 minutes.

Makes 8 slices, approximately 500 calories per slice. It's not health food, but sometimes it's healthy to indulge in a favorite!