Chip's lunch: February 24, 2010

I can't believe we've made it for two days eating clean! I mean, I can't believe I've managed to eat and cook nothing but clean food for 48 hours. It's necessitated several trips to the co-op up the street, but it's been worth it. I hope we can keep it up.

On the bike ride back from school today, I started craving pizza from Carrabba's. I worked there when I was 20 and ate a LOT of their food for a year or so! My fave was the Italian chicken pizza, but obviously I can't eat or make that, right? So I decided to attempt a Margherita pizza, and it turned out SO well! I found this recipe for Carrabba's pizza crust. I had to run to the co-op and get some organic white flour and dry yeast. I've never cooked with yeast before. Ever. I've also never kneaded dough. While it was rising, I went for a run with the dog. When I came back, the dough was ready to be punched down and turned into crust. My mouth was watering the whole time it was baking (525* for about 15 minutes).

A few things to note, if you would like to attempt your own pizza (especially if you want it to be like Carrabba's):
-After you spread the dough onto the pan, brush a very thin layer of olive oil over the whole crust, especially the edges.
-After the olive oil, throw on a very light sprinkle of grated Parm, then a touch of sea salt and cracked pepper.
-Don't put the basil on top until the pizza comes out of the oven; otherwise, it will burn.



Margherita pizza (with Campari tomatoes, organic basil, local Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, and homemade organic crust), a whole banana, snack mix (organic roasted and salted sunflower seeds, organic raw almonds, organic dried apricots, organic flame raisins, and organic dark chocolate), and a salad with redleaf lettuce, white mushroom, Campari tomato, organic carrot, and sunflower seeds.