Pass the Sauce

In case you are wondering what to use for sauce on your pizza, I give you my semi-homemade recipe that I use every time. I do not buy a jar of just "pizza sauce." Rather, I buy many jars of other things, mix those together, and call it homemade pizza sauce.

You will need:

• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1 jar of marinara or other pasta sauce
• 1 cup of red wine, more or less

These were most certainly on sale. Or I had coupons.

Oh look. I found a leftover bottle of chianti.

Put all of those ingredients in a pot on the stove, turn the heat on low (sauces like this tend to bubble, splash, and stain things), and stir it all together to mix it. You may need to use a whisk to break apart the tomato paste. Heat it until it's just a bit bubbly (not boiling), and keep it at that temperature for about 10-15 minutes. Be sure you do keep the heat very low and stir it occasionally - burnt sauce on the bottom of the pot is the worst!

Options for sauce variations:

• Add 1 can of diced tomatoes to the sauce mix. Lots of marinara and pasta sauces already have chunks of tomatoes and veggies in them, but if you want to make it even chunkier with the tomatoes then add these on in there. 
• Add some spices. Again, many of those jarred sauces are already seasoned, so choose spices that will compliment that. Some recommendations: Herbs de Provence, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, white pepper, and onion powder.

I was feeling chunky with this batch, so I put some diced tomatoes right in the mix.

Before I really got into pizza making, I thought that tomato paste alone would be suitable as sauce. That could not be farther from the truth. It literally felt like eating craft paste that was heavily flavored like tomatoes. It's a good thing I didn't just stop then and there in the pizza adventure - that would mean this blog would never have been born, or it would really suck.

I know that you can make sauce that's even more from scratch than this, but do try this one if you're looking for something that's pretty simple to put together and always tasty.

A note about the red wine too...definitely use it! It adds that tasty goodness that is hard to describe but you miss it when it's gone. You don't have to use an entire cup, but at least add a splash. Also, it doesn't have to be super fancy, expensive wine. Just something that's tasty that you would have a glass of during dinner.

This recipe is going to give you a lot of sauce. More than enough to cover two pizzas, probably even three. If you're planning on cranking out a bunch of pizzas in  the next few days, you can store leftovers in the fridge (preferably in a glass container...plastic tends to stain). If it's going to be a week or more until the next pizza, I like to pour the leftovers into ice cube trays, freeze those, and store them in an airtight bag for a few weeks. That way, re-heating is a cinch. Just pop about 10-15 cubes into a pot, heat it till they melt, and you've got enough for just one pizza!

Definitely not ice in those trays.

You can store it for a couple months in the freezer, but in my house it would never last that long. I just love it and want to eat it too soon.

Selection of sauce cubes, about to melt down and heat up for a pizza.

Just Doing It

Like my highlighter art on a 5x7? No I'm not in high school. I was just taking a break from staring at my computer screen at work one day and that's how this piece of art came to be. 

So here's a pretty tough, 3-part circuit-style workout, and I invite you to to give it a shot. The "circuit" (part 2) is meant to be repeated 3 times before moving on to the run. If you're more of a beginner, then do it only once or twice through. If you're more advanced you can do it 4 or even 5 times.

So here we go...

1. Elliptical.
You can spend these 15 minutes however you please, but try to make your time worth in on the machine. I did an interval-style workout, going 2 minutes hard and 1 minute easy and repeating that cycle 5 times. Whatever you do, try to keep your RPM's from fluctuating too much, and keep your heart rate and breathing up. This is cardio, and that's how you work your heart and lungs!

2. Circuit.
For each bullet, do the exercise for 45-50 seconds each, and then rest for 10-15 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. That way, each run through it should take no more than 5 minutes.

For the first one, the squat/shoulder press/side leg lift, you can do the exercise somewhat like this exercise from Women's Health.

...except you don't have to use a step (I didn't, I just did this standing on the floor), and you can use dumbbells instead of a weighted bar. And to make it truly a "shoulder press," press the bar or weights above your head when you move from the squat position to the standing on one leg position. Alternate sides as you are doing this.

For the last part, where I wrote Russian twist and plank, you can really do any abdominal or core exercise you please. I just wrote these down because I know they are always tough and it's easy for me to tell if I'm slacking off or cheating with these (because my form goes to crap).

3. Run 400s (that's one lap on a 1/4-mile track).
I know you don't want to do it, but it really is for the best. The idea here is to just drain the rest of your energy. You'll be able to tell if you were really pushing yourself or not from the previous circuit based on how fast you can run the 400 meter repeats.

If you're not lucky enough to have a track right by or in the gym, you can use the treadmill and do the same distance on there. Yeah, I don't like the treadmill either, but you've got to run on something with a marked distance.

This part is all about speed. Any energy you have left should be gone by the time you're done. You should pace yourself to go very fast during each 400, but not an all-out sprint, because you want to actually be able to finish each one running. After each 400, rest for about 1 minute (no more than 1:30) before getting back to the starting line and going for the next one. Be sure to make a note of your time after the first one and try to either match or beat that time for subsequent laps.

4. Cool-down.
This is going to feel so good, because you are done! You can walk it or jog it, or do a combination of both. Just catch your breath, lower your heart rate, and try to loosen up your muscles.

Be sure to get a good stretch after all this too. I was pretty sore the next day after doing this workout (mostly legs), and sometimes there is no amount of stretching that will alleviate that pain, but it can help a little bit.

And in case you're wondering about the status of my bum ankle, it's feeling about 99.5% better, so I deemed it safe to complete this workout. When it's back to 100% you better believe I'll be adding back in some lateral hops and trickier balance moves...there's been nothing worse lately than my bum ankle making the rest of me feel like a bum, so I am very ready to get back on the workout train hardcore this week!

It's My Birthday!

It is true...this day, 27 years ago, I rolled into the world. And just look how far I've come with all my pizzas and exercise things. It nearly brings a tear to my own eye.

So let's get down to business. There aren't too many great restaurants in my small town, and of the handful of ones I like I really wasn't craving any of those for a birthday meal. Yes, despite the time and energy, I made my own birthday pizza because I wanted to. 

I found a recipe for "Antipasta Pizza" on Pinterest last week and decided I'd like to try this as a birthday meal. The basic idea of it is that it's covered with things you'd find on an antipasta platter...but it's on a pizza. It's so genius, I wish I'd thought of it myself. My pizza philosophy is that you can make any meal into a pizza. If you love mac & cheese, buffalo chicken, tacos, or stuffed mushrooms, you (or I) can think some way to top a pizza in those sorts of things. Instantly you have the best of both worlds. Your favorite food and pizza. Instantly! It blows my mind sometimes, I'm sure you just experienced that too. 

Antipasta Pizza toppings:

• 1-2 cups pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup pesto sauce
• 1 6-oz. jar of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped into smaller pieces
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup pickled banana pepper rings
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
• 6 to 8 slices of large, round genoa salami (Boar's Head at the deli counter is always good)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 500 with the pizza stone inside. 
• Chop all toppings into pieces that are a size you would like to eat. I chopped my artichokes and tomatoes pretty small because they're a little too chewy when they're left as-is. I also cut the salami into fourths because those pieces were sort of massive on their own. The banana peppers and olives came pre-sliced in just the right sizes.
• When the pizza stone is ready, take it out of the oven and place your prepared crust on top of it. 
• Spread the pesto sauce evenly around on that and then spread the sauce on. 
• Add all the toppings on next, starting with the veggies, then the salami, the mozzarella, and finally the parmesan. 
• Pop that stacked za into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Let it sit and cool for a bit when it's done because it is 500 degrees, duh. 

Go as spicy or mild as you want with all those toppings. I used hot banana peppers, making this za very spicy and tangy. It was good. So, so good, and I'm glad I had it for my birthday. I also left it in the oven a little longer than I meant to, which is why the cheese on top looks extra golden. No biggie, as long as it wasn't burnt we're doing good.

Naturally, good friends and good conversation complimented the pizza too. We had our friends Farrah and Anne over to enjoy the meal with us and there was never a dull moment with those two. It's just further encouragement for me to keep making and sharing pizzas!

Look at those magical slices. You may not be able to tell by looking, but they are absolutely mouth-wateringly incredible. Pizza like this isn't dull or even average. It is so flavorful and exciting for your taste buds that it really does not take much to satisfy you. As good as it was I only had one slice with my dinner...never mind all the other stuff I ate. But even still, when it comes to cheap pizzas (or any cheap foods for that matter) you keep going back for more, just hoping and expecting that it will taste better with the next piece. But it never does. Actually, it only gets worse. So make this damn pizza already and experience some good satisfying food for once!

Love & Pizza

I'm not blogging about a recipe today, but this story completely warmed my heart! See the details from the original blog post about how 20 pizzas were gifted to a 2-year old cancer patient. CNN even covered the story!

Look how the pizza just makes their day!

Photos: http://www.ourlittlehazelnut.blogspot.com/