Fruit Pizza

While there's no denying that I'm a chocolate person at heart, I must admit that fruity desserts taste just a little bit better in the scorching hot summer months.  Unless you're talking ice cream.  But this isn't a post about ice cream.  This is a post about fruit pizza - a delicious combination of crispy sugar cookie "crust," cream cheese fruit dip "sauce" and a variety of colorful and fresh fruit "pizza toppings."  Making the pizza is simple because I cheat by using refrigerated sugar cookie dough and store-bought fruit dip.  But shhhhh nobody has to know...the fruit is the star in this dessert after all!

Belated Earth Day

So I know I'm a couple days late, but Happy Earth Day!  Better late than never right?  Since most of us seem to be chained to our 9-5 (or 6, or 7, or 8...), I thought of a great earth-friendly activity that you guys can do this weekend since you probably missed out on Wednesday.   Head on over to the Mellow Mushroom for a tasty lunch, and then hike it off in the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation afterwards!  Well, okay, the Mellow Mushroom may not be the most organic, earth-friendly place in town.  BUT they do have a pretty earth-friendly name, tons of vegan and gluten free options AND extremely good pizza with some crazy flavor combinations.  Howie and I were being ourselves a.k.a. extremely indecisive when it comes to ordering food, and sprung for a half Red Skin Potato Pie (hello loaded baked potato pizza!) and half Kosmic Karma, which is topped with sundried tomatoes, pesto and feta cheese.  Not necessarily vouching that the two types went hand in hand in terms of pairing, but we did try both ends of the spectrum, right?  They were goooood!  And while you're there, definitely order a side Caesar salad as an appetizer- it was one of the best I've ever had...the homemade croutons were the bomb.  After we finished our leisurely lunch, we drove a mile or 2 down the road to the Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation to catch the first glimpse of green this spring.  If my estimations are correct, you might see some baby leaves on the trees this week because the buds were sprouting last weekend.  Summer's just around the corner!

Mortar and "Pesto"

I don't know about you, but I have a mild obsession with pesto!  Seriously though...on bread, on pasta, as a marinade...the list could go on and on.  Because I crave it almost on a weekly basis, I usually end up buying those jars at the grocery store that "claim" to be pesto for a quick fix.  Sure the labels says it is, but after you've made this recipe, you will forever be a pesto snob!  I've made this recipe in a blender before, but if you have a mortar and pestle, please use it!  The process of making it definitely requires a little extra elbow grease with the mortar and pestle, but I promise it's worth it.  Did you know that the stainless steel blade in the blender actually neutralizes the flavor of the garlic?  Who wants that?!  Not this girl.  Do it the old fashioned way, and it will forever change your view of pesto!

If you don't have a mortar and pestle, it's a pretty cool gift to ask for on your birthday or Christmas because it's a splurge item that you might not necessarily buy for yourself.  In addition to pesto, its great for mashing guacamole or muddling mint and lime for mojitos.  Hmmm, I spy I a Mexican dinner night blog post in the works...

Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese

There are few things I like more in life than grilled cheese.  Or pizza.  Hmmm anything involving cheese and carbs apparently?  Anyway, after I finished up at the gym last Monday, Howie cut our phone call short because he was being summoned to half-off pizza night at Angelo's Pizza...only my favorite pizza place in all of Cleveland!  Pizza was officially on my mind, and this epic sandwich was born.  I took the typical grilled cheese sandwich topped with American cheese and turned it up a notch, adding provolone, pepperoni, spinach and some Italian herbs.  It tasted just like pizza, especially when dipped in some warm marinara sauce on the side.  YUM.

Pepperoni Bread

Superbowl Sunday is tomorrow!  Let the parties begin!  I know that everybody is always looking for new appetizers to bring to get-togethers because, let's face it, the buffalo chicken dip is starting to get old.  It's so delicious, don't get me wrong, but predictable.  I've been bringing homemade pepperoni bread to parties for about 4 years, and I swear it's always the first food to go.  Maybe it's because each loaf only yields 12 slices or so...but I like to think it's because the recipe is SO GOOD.   I've even had friends come a little early to my house when i'm throwing a party so they could make sure they get one of the first slices right out of the oven!  I love how it's a finger food that seems fancy, but only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish!  Try it tomorrow!

Post-Boxing Reward Day

I picked up a new hobby a couple of months ago...BOXING!  Not only does it make me sound a little bad-ass, but it's super fun and a great stress reliever (for my extremely stressed out, neurotic self) hitting the 100 pound bags to ghetto rap music.  The biggest reason why it's awesome is that you burn almost 1,000 calories in 1 hour, which means I can cut my old 40-minute-on-the-treadmill-6-days-a-week habit down to 3 days of intense boxing/kickboxing!  Definitely not easy, but so worth it. My arms are getting ripped!  So this weekend, I was absolutely starving after my late morning class at Title Boxing Club.  I know it probably would've been healthier to have a grilled chicken salad or something afterwards, but all I had that day was a low-cal green smoothie, so I wanted real food.  Think pizza or grilled cheese or anything else hearty and delicious.  Then my mom said she found a recipe for Pizza Pinwheels.  I was sold!