Rainbow Pizza...anyone?

Fridays are usually pizza night at my house. I love thick cheezy pizzas loaded with toppings that weigh so much you have to carry them with two hands. My favourite is ham and pineapple with green peppers, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes. It is usually take out.

The real dilemma is that I just finished watching Vegucated, a documentary about three meat-lovers who go vegan for six weeks. I don't have anything against vegans. My neice is a vegan. But I love the taste of meat. And ham and pineapple is a perfect pizza combination. But part way through the film they show some clippings of meat rendering plants.

How could 2 short minutes have such a profound impact on me? Well, with tears streaming down my face right there and then I decided I would never eat meat or poultry again.

Now what the heck was I going to do about pizza Friday?

I'm lazy. Have I mentioned that yet? So the thought of me actually leaving the house to get pizza dough was out of the question. But I have a bread maker. Yay!

How to make whole wheat pizza dough in the bread maker. I got this recipe from Sparks Recipes. It's called:

Jenny's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use stone ground organic)
1 cup water
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl honey
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt

I also added:
1 tsp italian herbs seasoning

Set bread maker on Dough and go lay on the couch for 45 minutes.

Okay. Get up. Turn on the oven to 375F.

Get the topping ready:
For pizza sauce I used a Sweet Basil pasta sauce.
1 cup canned pineapples sliced thin
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
2 tomatoes sliced

When the dough is ready, sprinkle some cornmeal on a pizza pan. Spread the dough evenly over the pan. Spread the pasta sauce thinly (or thickly) over the crust. Bunch the spinach on top then place the pineapples and tomatoes on top to hold the spinach leaves down. Mine was about two inches tall. :)

Place in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes. Cooking time depends on your toppings and amount of sauce so you'll have to judge how long it needs. If you aren't sure you can cut the pizza into slices to check if the dough is cooked. If its not ready just put it back in the oven .

Okay, and now for the real surprise!! Serve with sliced pickled beets. It' s awesome!!! And so colorful. And so tasty you wont even miss the meat. How cool and yummy is that!

Peppery Rotini Cheesed Together with Sauted Spinach and Tomatoes

Some days just scream out for comfort food. Today was one of them. That little groundhog must have been delerious when he said winter was over on February 2nd. It snowed here heavily on Sunday and I got sore arms shoveling the foot of snow off my driveway, my sidewalk, my neighbours sidewalk, and the sidewalk of the people that don't talk to me. Hey every little bit of good karma helps, right? 

Anyway after a week of stress and sad news, I needed some love in the form of melted cheese and pasta. Yup. Carbohydrates to sooth the soul and get those feel good endorphins running. 

This recipe came from Spark Recipes. I don't remember exactly which one though. I usually look at about ten different recipes and then sort of combine them. Leave some things out. Add other things. 

2 cups of rotini pasta

4 cups of fresh spinach

1 red pepper

Coconut oil

Asiago cheese

Chedder cheese

Set oven to 350F

Boil the pasta for about 15 or 20 minutes in enough water to cover them. The pasta should be slightly al dente but more on the cooked side than the al dente side. Meanwhile cut up the red pepper into bite size slices and saute them in the coconut oil. Add in the spinach on top of the red peppers and add a tablespoon of water, then cover. This will lightly steam the spinach. Drain the pasta well. 

Pour out the pasta into a flat oval casserole dish. Grate some chedder cheese on top. Pour the red pepper spinach mixture on top. Grate some more cheese on this. Stir up the layers a bit so its mixed. Grate more cheese on top. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. 

Top with grated asiago cheese And fresh ground pepper. And enjoy!