Delicious pizza

Remember this guy? Kinda gross, I know. I don't want to buy pizza from a guy whose toes are showing and is the chest hair really necessary?

Moving on, if I had to live on anything for the rest of my life, I would choose pizza. The toppings would have to have variety, of course. The best part about pizza is that you can basically put anything on it and it is delicious. We eat pizza almost once a week.

I have yet to find a crust recipe that I love so the jury is still out on that. I've been meaning to try Nie Nie's whole-wheat crust (I use her waffle recipe All The Time and love it) But given the fact that a pound of pizza dough costs about 40-50c to make, and a pound of refrigerated pizza dough from Trader Joe's costs 99c to buy, I am not too worried about finding a recipe. Because for 50 cents I will buy the ready made. YUM! I will give credit where credit is due: I heard about this pizza dough for years from Jessica and Hannah and Robbie. Finally one day I tried it and have never looked back. (unless I want pizza but haven't been to TJ's in a while, in which case I go for the tried and true flour-salt-yeast combo because I always have those ingredients on hand.) It's in the refrigerated section and looks like this. The whole-wheat version is pretty nutty-tasting IMO but if you want hearty, go for that.

Also a tip from Hannah and Robbie was a garlicky version of margherita: no sauce; just sliced tomatoes, minced garlic, fresh basil, and sliced fresh mozzarella. Delectable.

A few topping variation ideas:

-canned or fresh tomatoes, garlic, spinach or zucchini, mozzarella
-marinara sauce (if you don't mind butter, here's this easy recipe, found it first on Bonny's blog), garlic, sliced ham, broccoli (or pineapple if you're like me and LOVE Hawaiian pizza), mozzarella
-pesto, garlic, grilled chicken and/or pine nuts, mozzarella and parmesan

-tomatoes, garlic, avocado (otherwise known to me as food of the gods), bacon, Monterey Jack

-garlic, sweet onions (caramelized), sliced pears, blue cheese

Endless.

In addition to this lovely all-in-one meal I like to serve salad...and here I go again with the ready-made but it is cheap and delicious and just a little sugary...I love TJ's spinach-salad-in-a-bag with Craisins, candied pecans, blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. Could I gather these ingredients myself? Yes, but I would only save about a dollar. I also like the classic strawberry-blueberry-spinach-walnut-red onion combo with poppy-seed dressing. (not available in a bag at TJ's but if it were I'd buy it.)

Lastly the bread. I make this bread every week (4 loaves in one batch and the dough can be refrigerated for 2 weeks) and need to branch out to the whole-wheat version and other varieties but the regular sourdough is just too easy. Go here for instructions. Embrace the bread. Love the bread. It is embedded into my life now. It also works as pizza dough in a pinch.

Anyway, so there is today's meal. Pizza, salad, bread, and it's all homemade if you factor out TJ's, which is practically homemade in its cheapness and loveliness if not its elbow grease. About $10 total for this meal, actually more pricey than I would have thought but it's still more and healthier food than you'd get at a pizza place. We always have tons of leftovers. Another typically Terrill meal without meat but fresh, healthy, and DELICIOUS.

More pizza topping ideas, please!