The healing power of bread...

So Thursday of this past week I came home from a long day of working at a curriculum fair exhausted and within hours fell ill. Considering I hadn't been ill for the last 5 years or so, I was a bit depressed about it. But, with things needing done and one more long day of curriculum fair ahead of me, I bucked up and moved on. Friday seemed even longer...and I felt worse when I was finally able to make it home, because to top off the really long day, the traffic on the way home was horrible and seemed to move at a snails pace. It think there was a lesson to be learned through that ordeal, but that is for another time. With nothing more than a desire to curl up and veg for the rest of the evening and with the hope of finding sleep early (something us insomniacs always dream of), I instead found myself in the kitchen... Making bread. I pulled out the grain. Pulled out the Nutrimill. Milled the grain into flour. Pulled out my Bosch Universal Plus. Gathered bread ingredients. And went about making bread... There is something cathartic about the process of making bread - the combining of simple ingredients, the aroma of those ingredients coming together into a fabulous dough, the texture of the warm dough in your hands being divided into and rolled into loaves, the baking of those loaves...and the smell of those loaves as they come out of the oven golden brown and baked to perfection. For during those moments, though my head still felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, my throat raw, my eyes heavy with heat and a need for sleep - those moments were so soothing, so healing, so homemade good! So my conclusion - there is just something about making bread for yourself, for your family, that makes the burdens of our lives eased, the tiredness not so tiring, the weight of our stress a little lighter. It is in the process of making bread that I remember the love for my family profoundly, the simplicity of life, the goodness in my life, the gifts I have been graced with, the desire to share with others. Happy bread making my friends.

Upside Down Pizza

So, several weeks ago I was trying to come up with a few ideas for some cooking demos/classes that I wanted to hold.  I was flipping through a magazine and came across a recipe for a healthier version of a Pineapple Upside Down Cake and while that looked interesting it wasn't going to do anything for the "Italian" themed class that I thought would be fun to teach.
        ~  However, it did give me an idea for a "fun" pizza!  ~
Looking at the picture of that Upside Down Cake it made me wonder - what would it be like to make an Upside Down Pizza?  So, me being me, and always trying to think beyond the norm in the kitchen, I tried it!  Thus my Upside Down Pizza was born!


Upside Down Pizza:


In a round deep dish pan (after it has been sprayed with a bit of Olive Oil) -


lay down your cut veggie toppings,
on top of the veggies place you cooked/chopped meats,
and then layer o your thick sauce,
cheese,
bread dough that is then dimpled with oil.


Bake in a 365*-375* oven for approximately 18-20 minutes (or until bread is done).
Pull out of oven, place a serving plate over your pizza dish, using two hands quickly invert the deep dish pan onto the serving plate.
Slice "pizza" with a pizza cutter & serve.