A Pizza A Pie

Pear, Mushroom and Carmelized Walnut Vegetarian Pizza

I know this isn't a food blog - but it is my creative blog.

And I love working with food.

This week . . .it's pizza.

Who doesn't love pizza - but the older I get the cheaper I get.

And paying $15 or more for a lump of dough with a little cheese and meat seems ridiculous to me.

And that is for the average pizza.

The really good pizza? . . .

here's some perspective.

The last time we went "out" for pizza with friends?

 For 6 adults we ordered 2 medium pizzas, 3 salads and a few drinks. (Most of us had water).

The cost?   Over $60 dollars.

Are you kidding me????

And half the time - the pizza I get from the local pizza place makes me feel . . .well, not so special.

Too greasy.

Too . . .bleck (is that a word?).

Too heavy.

So we have become the pizza kings and queens at our house.

We have come to love making our own.

I have made my own dough - and it is quite wonderful.

But I must admit that I cheat - my local grocery store sells a wonderful fresh dough for $1.50 a bag.

Enough to make a large pizza.

And it is really good dough.

By the time we are finished, our gourmet pizza costs under $5.00.

And it is not greasy and not heavy and anything but bleck.

We have discovered a few shortcuts to make it a wonderful, relaxing experience -

the first is a large bag of preshredded mozarella from Costco.

The bag lasts the whole month and saves tons of time.

A luxury that I don't mind spending a little extra for.

The other - a large jar of Pesto - also from Costco.

In the summer, when I have fresh basil at my fingertips, I will make my own.

But during the winter months - the Kirkland version is quite wonderful and we use it on all sorts of things.

From there -a healthy dose of imagination.

A few of our favorites?

Outside of the traditional basics, we love things like

sliced potato, bacon, cheese, fresh thyme, grilled onions

or

grilled onions, sauted mushrooms, feta or goat cheese, fresh herbs, and roasted butternut squash, pine nuts

or

sliced winter pears (apples work wonderful too), grilled onions, goat cheese, and carmelized walnuts

With spring approaching -

I'm sure we will have some versions featuring asparagus!

Come summer - we will raid the garden and farmer markets for fresh ingredients.

Again the most important ingredient is imagination.

All of the above use pesto instead of a traditional red sauce.

The result is a wonderful explosion of flavors in your mouth.

And with the dough - if you don't want to make it into a pizza -

roll it a little thicker,

top with olive oil, a few herbs and parmesan cheese.

Poke it with a few holes and back for 15 minutes or so . . .

hot, out of the oven foccacia.

YUMMY!

Give it a try - and if you come up with a new version that you just LOVE . . .

be sure and share!