I love to bring along a lot of things to read to pass the time when I travel. Thanks to a readership program I began participating in a few years ago, I get a load of good magazines every month - from Cosmopolitan to Wine Enthusiast. When I went to Amsterdam a few weeks ago, one of the reads I brought with me was an issue of Islands magazine. I enjoy reading this magazine because A.) I love to rip out pages of places I want to go to one day, and B.) They publish a lot of articles that discuss culture and people from around the world, which I find really interesting. In the Islands issue I read on one of my plane rides, I found one article particularly intriguing. It was about the Aegean Greek island of Ikaria, where people are four times more likely to reach the age of 90 than Americans. ... [Read More]
pizza
Balsamic Portobello & Mozzarella Pizza
As some of you may guessed by now, I'm a big fan of pizza. But not just any old pizza, delicious pizza. If I'm going to indulge in pizza, which I do probably every other week, it's got to be good. The best way to ensure that the pizza I'm eating isn't full of grease and extra calories is to make it myself - hence, homemade pizza night happens pretty often around here. The "classic" pie in this house is one loaded with veggies (most often zucchini, tomato, and spinach), mozzarella, and marinara (like the one I posted about here), but I do veer away from that sometimes to experiment with other combos -- such as this goat cheese & arugula pesto pizza. And then there's my most recent pizza creation... Balsamic Portobello Mozzarella Pizza Makes 8 slices 1 whole wheat pizza ... [Read More]
Homemade Pizza Night: The Classic Margherita
Happy (almost) 4th of July! Last night I took my San Diego visitors, my brother Danny and his girlfriend Desiree, to The Shout House, a piano bar downtown. It is so much fun there! I've played the piano since I was a little kid, so I feel like I appreciate the pianists and how talented they are even more so than the average person. It was trivia night and they had an America themed round, of which I can only recall one question... Who was the only man to actually sign the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July? Answer at the bottom of this post! Before we went out on the town, I made us some pizza to enjoy for dinner. If you've read this blog and haven't picked up on it yet, I'm a big fan of pizza! I kept it simple and delicious last night with this pie: Classic Margherita ... [Read More]
Veggie, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pesto Pizza
Today I ate breakfast early due to a conference call first thing this AM. Because of this, I found my stomach growling around 11 AM for lunch. I had pizza on my brain... and not just any pizza, leftovers from a new pizza recipe I came up with last weekend! Instead of using tomato sauce as I usually do, I came up with a healthy pesto to spread onto the dough. Though I'm a big cheese lover, I let veggies take the center stage with this tasty pizza. Veggie, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pesto Pizza Makes 8 slices Ingredients: 1 ready to bake whole wheat pizza dough (I use Trader Joe's) 2 c arugula 1/4 c fresh basil juice from 1/2 lemon 2 TBSP olive oil 3 oz goat cheese 1 c zucchini, sliced 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, sliced 1/2 c purple cabbage, shredded 2 ... [Read More]
South of the Border Personal Pizza
I keep getting my days messed up this week, but does it seem like Friday to anyone else?! Before I get to this yumminess... There's something that's been weighing on my heart since last night that I need to vent about. In the past, I've expressed my love for volunteering at the Humane Society. Normally I'm able to ignore any feelings of sadness, and leave just feeling good knowing that I spent a few hours helping out an organization whose purpose is to give animals the best lives possible. But every once in awhile, I can't help but leave feeling a little brokenhearted about the ways some of the animals have been treated. This was the case last night. Meet Duke, a now blind 10-year old sweetie pie: He recently had surgery to have his eyes sewn shut. Reading the story of Duke's ... [Read More]