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This week… we’re getting our hands dirty.
One of the things I want to talk about… is exploration. As a newbie clean eater, everything will feel like exploration, adventure, and chance at first. How willing are you to try? To screw up? To make it fun, no matter how good – or awful – it gets?
Pizza time, baby – tomato, goat cheese, arugula. Flax-seed pizza dough.
Let’s use pizza as an example.
When I first started making pizzas in my house, I looked for the most complicated pizza sauce recipe I could find. It had every single herb or spice in the history of mankind in it. It wasn’t complex, it was just freaking complicated! Damn – does pizza sauce have to include everything in the cabinet?
And my dough – ohhh, my dough – I remember when I found my first dough recipe. It was from Dianne from Dianne’s Dishes, and she was super gracious with sharing her insight with me as far as breaking down the dish because, hell, I didn’t know what I was doing. And, after I learned…whew, I was making pizza left and right… as evidenced by the pizza gallery (that sorely needs updating.)
And, something you learn when you explore things like heirloom veggies, raw eating and just cooking in general, you learn to appreciate the actual flavors of ingredients as they are, without having to cook them down to a thick reduction, or without having to roast them into oblivion. You get creative. You learn to play with things. And, the more you play, the more you appreciate both the complexities of well-put together flavors as well as the simplicity of a well-grown veggie.
And I value those simple parts the most, because it means it’s easier on my wallet.
I’ve simplified my recipe – no longer do I put sugar in my dough, nor do I need half my spice cabinet in my pizza sauce for it to be delicious – in ways that make homemade pizza making easier and more accessible for everyone. Besides, do I really need marjoram in pizza sauce? Jeez.
So, this week, we’re going to explore making pizza. You’ll need the following things:
flour*
yeast
sea salt, or kosher salt
two 28oz containers of whole peeled tomatoes
fresh raw mozzarella (comes in a ball, is not pre-shredded)
fresh basil
…and that’s at a bare minimum. *If you’re gluten-free, we’ll explore that later on (I like to play with different kinds of flours, too.)
Don’t ever let ’em tell you clean eating doesn’t include pizza… or fun. You’re getting both this week.
Who’s still hangin’ in there? Check in!
7 comments
This is right on time for me! I was craving pizza this weekend, so I made one on wheat pita bread. It wasn’t the cleanest “recipe”, but it was better than ordering out. I will definitely be trying your pizza out, because it’s my favorite food and I could literally eat it every day.
I’m so excited about this! I have made my own sauce using the recipe you posted a while back (with a few alterations), but I’m still buying Trader Joes whole wheat pizza dough. Making breads and dough is so intimidating to me for some reason. I think it’s the whole yeast part of it. Any who I’m going to give your dough a try!
But question what’s the asterisk next to the flour about and should we purchase instant yeast?
Instant yeast is fine; the asterisk was about those who are gluten-free.
Lol! I love your complicated pizza sauce recipe! I do leave out the marjoram and coriander though. My boys voted it as the winner of all the recipes I tried. 🙂
While trying Dr. Ian’s Shred Diet to kick-start my weight loss, I decided to make my own marinara sauce. I bought about 15 hothouse tomatoes, a small can of pure tomato paste, and fresh spices, put the tomatoes in a blender to liquefy them, and cooked it all day long. I added other ingredients, and when it was done, my husband said he doesn’t want sauce any other way now!
First, jar sauce tastes extremely salty to me now. It is so much better to be able to choose how much of any ingredient you want in your dish.
Second, homemade sauce doesn’t necessarily cling and leave red stains all over everything. While not watery (need to reduce it by simmering for a few hours!) it allows more of the veggies and other ingredients to shine through.
Third, I used this sauce as a base for my lasagna (whole grain pasta) and it made it that much better.
Finally, you inspire me to find other things I could cook from ‘scratch’ to make it even better!
I’m excited! I’ve done pizzas on tortillas cause I wasn’t ready to experiment with my own dough just yet, but I’m sure it will taste so much better than the multi-grain tortillas I’ve been using.
I love your pizza recipe! I made one last weekend, and plan to do one this weekend as well. I added mushrooms, garlic, onions, and bell peppers, and I could really taste the flavors. Other winners at our house are the Giant Pot of Spaghetti, and the Almond Flax Seed Granola recipes. Thank you for sharing recipes that are healthy, and taste great. I also like the fact that we eat every bite before the week ends, so nothing gets thrown away.
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