Pizza Tonight

I've been battling sinus "ick" for about a week now, and last night I just didn't feel like making dinner. I had already managed to do several things around the house while snowed in from my weekly trip to Urbana on Thursday, and I was just exhausted! Yet as my dear husband suggested ordering a pizza for dinner, my fiscal sensibilities reeled as I remembered the huge grocery trip I had just made the day before.

Then I remembered, I bought everything I needed to make pizza at home! I offered to make dinner if he would help, a ridiculous proposal. He's always ready to lend a hand in the kitchen. He's the best sous-chef (french for "under chef") a girl could ask for!

PIZZA

While shopping the previous day, I had taken a moment to read labels in the pizza crust section. By far the best bet was a just-add-water dry mix in a pouch. The fat and calorie count were reasonable and even the saturated fat was low, much lower than the already made, ready to bake crusts. On top of that, it was the Walmart off brand and just $0.46! Deciding that I could also add powdered fiber to the mix because it was in an unprepared form I bought 4 packets as well as pizza sauce. Pizza sauce is a healthy bet if the ingredients are all natural and don't include sugar. The sauce I bought was just 30 calories for 1/4 cup. Tip: 2 packets of crust can make one 18" pizza for just $0.92!

A healthy base for a pizza is a marvelous thing, but it's the toppings that will get you every time! My advice is pile on the veggies! I chose yellow onion, mushrooms, and green olives. (Watch the sodium count and go a bit easy on on olives!) I did decide to add 1/3 cup chopped turkey ham as well. Another favorite I passed on this time is pineapple, often paired with ham on pizza.

The final topping, and perhaps the most dangerous, is cheese. I decided to go 1/2 2% mozzarella and 1/2 full fat Italian cheese blend from Sargento. The total cheese I used was 1 1/2 cup. You could get away with 1 cup if you like. I also like to sprinkle basil on top of the pizza before it goes in the oven.

One secret to a perfect pizza crust is to spray the crust with a non-stick cooking spray (olive oil or canola oil work best) before you top it with sauce. The spray creates a barrier against the sauce soaking into the crust, and the result is a crispy crust instead of a soggy one!

I rolled out the pizza (which is about a 12 or 14" thin crust) on my round pizza stone, adding just a little flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking to the dough, and then baked it in a 475 degree oven for 13 minutes. The package called for 9-11 minutes in the oven, but anything cooked on a stone requires a couple minutes more to be done. The cheese melted perfectly and was golden brown in several spots.

The crust was perfect! We were both very impressed. It was even very manageable when cut into wedges and hand held.

The entire process was actually fun and the result was outstanding! I'm so glad we didn't order out last night!

The song that springs to mind when making pizza is actually a tenor piece called "O Sole Mio" - translation: It's my own sun is. Pizza is round like the sun, and as my husband commented when removing it from the oven: "It's the temperature of the sun, as all good pizzas should be." The song is also Neapolitan, as in the city of Naples, Italy, where pizza is traditionally believed to have been invented.

One of several stories behind the invention of pizza, is that a restaurant chef in the mid to late 1800's wanted to give his leftover veggies, meats and cheeses to the poor and hungry if he could not use them before they spoiled. To make such a gift more convenient, he put the food on a flat bread and baked it in his brick oven. Yum!

Listen to O Sole Mio sung Luciano Pavarotti.

Salute! (sal-oo-tay /Italian for "good health")

Chili & Low Fat, High Trouble:Bad "Diet" Food

Most everyone knows by now to avoid transfats like the proverbial plague, but what about low fat and fat free foods? Have you ever wondered what replaces these removed fats in the "diet" foods?

Low fat and fat free dairy is almost always the way to go. The fats removed from the milk that is used in these foods and beverages is not replaced by anything. The cheese may not melt as perfectly on top of pizza but the butter and ice cream are phenomenal!

Fat in food doesn't always equal fat added to the body. There are good fats and bad fats.

Bad Fats are:

Saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). They are in meat, dairy, egg yolks and seafood. Some plant foods are also high in saturated fats such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil.

Trans fats are invented as scientists began to "hydrogenate" liquid oils so that they can withstand better in food production process and provide a better shelf life. They are man made fats! As a result the trans fatty acids are formed and then used in many commercially packaged foods, commercially fried food such as French Fries from some fast food chains, other packaged snacks such as microwaved popcorn as well as in vegetable shortening and hard stick margarine.

The good fats are:

Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). Nuts including peanuts, walnuts, almonds and pistachios, avocado, canola and olive oil are high in MUFAs. MUFAs have also been found to help in weight loss, particularly body fat.

If you don't eat enough goof fats you body will hang onto the fat stored in your body, and the fats in your body are not the good kind!

Then there are diet foods, with fats replaced by additives that your body is not designed to process.

Artificial sweeteners need to be examined too. Aspartame has a huge effect on mood and mental processes. It can cause depressed mood, anxiety, dizziness, panic attacks, nausea, irritability, impairment of memory and concentration. It also turns to formaldehyde at 89 degrees. Your body it 98.6. Consuming aspartame is embalming yourself while still alive!

No on have yet proved that Splenda will kill us, so it is my sweetener of choice, but in moderation.

Stevia (Purevia) is plant based and is as safe as drinking tea. Some of the Stevia products have a bit of after taste, but others don't. Try a variety to find the best type for you.

Also, one downfall of diet foods and drink is a tendency to over eat as result. "I'm having a diet drink so I can have a large fry instead of a small". It's only the difference of 330 calories, 16 grams of fat, 215 grams of sodium and on top of it all the embalming yourself thing from the drink! And none of those numbers reflect the burger!

Don't eat more because you think you are eating better! American portions of food are notoriously out of control. Those tiny portions many people make fun of in upscale restaurants are much more reasonable...in all ways except price!

Full fat cheeses are okay in moderation. Actually that are delicious! Fiber is the number one way to prevent blood sugar levels from spiking, a phenomenon that always leads to weight gain. A couple companies have developed a fiber powder that stirs into beverages and food without changing the taste or texture. I only notice them in water. Fiber rich foods are beans, whole grains, broccoli, raspberries, and green peas.

Chili is a great healthy food if you do it right.

Chili

• 1/2 lb. ground turkey, browned until it is slightly crispy (drained and rinsed of fat)
• 1 c. chopped pepper and onion mix (I use the cut up frozen kind.)
• 1 large can tomato juice
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 3-4 cans chili beans (mild, medium or hot)
• Optional: 1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans
• 2-3 T chili powder

Cook meat, add veg for a couple minutes to thaw.
Put all into a crockpot and cook for 3-4 hours on high, or 8-10 hours on low.

It takes about 15 minutes to prep. Easy and great! Fat free cheese is wonderful as topping.

This chili is roughly 100 calories per cup.

Cornbread goes beautifully with this chili.
I use a box of Jiffy mix. Make it according to box directions with the following substitutions and addition:

• fat free sour cream or fat free plain yogurt in place of the milk
• 2 egg whites instead of one whole egg or 1/4 egg substitute (like Eggbeaters)
  
• also add a couple teaspoons of fiber powder to the dry mix

If you like sweet cornbread mix 2 T of my butter of choice "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" - Light with 2 T honey. Poke small holes in the hot cornbread and spread mix on top. When melted in eat!

The best song I can think of to go with Chili is the "Habanera" from Carmen for two reasons:

1. Habanera is also a spicy pepper.
2. The lyrics are (in French and English)

Tu crois le tenir, il t’evite (love me not, then I love you;)
Tu crois l’eviter, il te tient (if I love you, you'd best beware!)

So don't forget your Beano. Bon appitite!