Pizza, Pizza!

Along with cheese, I think the hardest thing to get past is the craving for pizza...the kind packed with pepperoni, sausage and a TON of that cheese. So, in hopes of avoiding the frozen pizza aisle, with it's tasty treats packed with thousands of calories, fat grams and sodium milligrams....I tried this. 

Pizza Fix

Need: 

• Italian bread, 1 loaf
• Sharp bread knife
• 1 large portabella mushroom
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• Boca crumbles
• Kosher salt
• Pizza sauce (I used Meijer Naturals brand) 
• Veggie Shreds (Mozzarella) 
• Kraft Italian cheese-finely shredded (and totally optional)

Do: 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium to med-high
3. Peel and chop onion in thinnish slivers
4. Slice pepper in thinnish slices, lengthwise, then cut slices in half
5. Slice portabella cap in thin slices, probably 1/4-inch, then cut slices in half or thirds, if it's an exceptionally LARGE cap. 
6. Saute veggies and Boca crumbles for 5-6 minutes, sprinkling with Kosher salt. 
7. Cut Italian loaf in half, width wise, then cut one half in half lengthwise....not sure I'm explaining that correctly, but if you want to make FOUR pizza pieces, cut the entire loaf in half, then cut each half in half. Something like that!  
8. Spread a generous amount of pizza sauce over each half....(we found that it did get kind of dry during baking, because I didn't use enough sauce, so don't get skimpy, or you get pizza-flavored croutons)
9. Top each saucy half with the veggie/crumble mixture, heap it on! 
10. Top each half with a layer of Veggie Shreds, and a very thin layer of Italian cheese (because it was here and I cannot throw away food, so yeah, this is Vegetarian vs. Vegan!)
11. Bake on cookie sheet for 9-11 minutes, depending on how done you like it. I probably could have stopped at 9 minutes, but I think I actually went for 12...and that was TOO many minutes, yet it was still good, damnit!  

That did it for me.....filling, tasty, pizza-esque. No meat. Though, I do sincerely miss pepperoni!!!  I have found some TVP-Pepperoni, so I might have to give that a try one day soon!  

The whole concoction took less than 30 minutes to prep and cook. The beloved said it was missing something, like garlic. O.O....Garlic on pizza is not for me, but it's what he said it missed, so maybe next time I'll add crushed garlic to the veggies. I don't know. 

Regardless, enjoy!  

Beating Meat: Days 5 & 6

Nothing much exciting going on in the world of being meat-free....except for that I must say my all-Vegan Split Pea Soup kind of rocks!

Lunches have been fairly uneventful with PBJs and experimenting one day with COLD Boca burgers. Probably not the best plan, but it did the trick for the moment. It was semi-edible. The beloved is kind of liking the idea of eating oatmeal first thing every day (first thing, meaning his first meal, several hours after he leaves for work. That's cool.

I am taking iron supplements again, because I think the lack of meat stuffs is not helping me to get over the long-lingering anemia. Sucks, but what are you gonna do? Taking iron supplements is better than adding the fat and calories of PBJs to my own diet, and thus far I am not consuming adequate portions of iron-rich foods, like beans, spinach, etc. to make up for the loss of the iron in meat. I think if it continues for another month, I'll have to get back to the doc to see what I can do about it, and to make sure it IS anemia and not something else.

I do have to tell you that ALL the changes we've made with regards to food have almost totally ramped up energy levels. There are few to ZERO sugar comas going on, no crashing, no running out of gas, no nothing. Oh, and if  you eat those 'energy' bars, the ones with all the fiber and stuff, the ones they tell you should be GOOD for you?  Full of sugar. All kinds of it. My husband got one, one day during work, thinking exactly what they told him to think, that it would be good for him. Instead, he said he felt just like he used to after eating tons of sugary candy, cookies, etc. Save your money....just eat better foods.

We tried a new 'meatless' product...

Dr. Praeger's Buffalo Chickenless Patties

Results were mixed.  I am thinking I didn't cook them long enough. Due to such undercookage, they kind of gave off the impression of FISH sandwiches.....NOT my husband's favorite. I'm thinking though that if I cooked them longer, the outcome might be better. They were NOT all that Hot & Spicy to me, but to him they were..and fishy.  

So, we made it through SIX DAYS. It's a new first for us! Stay tuned because I'm going to show you what I made for dinner last night. I was fairly impressed and shocked!