Sunday, April 1, 2012

A great Day that Ended in Darkness

Yesterday was such a nice day. It was not the weather, though it did finally warm up a bit. It was a day spent with my husband and dogs doing simple things. After running several errands, John and I went swimming at the Gable Hall swimming pool at NIU. John's favorite thing is not swimming, but he knows how much I love it, and he went with me to give me a chance to see if the pool chemicals bother my senses too much.

Earlier in the day, John found a recipe for a Paleo Pizza. We stopped at the store and gathered up the ingredients that we needed and after my 1/2 mile of swimming, I made our first,and certainly not our last, Paleo Pizza.
Paleo Pizza Crust
The crust is the key:
1 3/4 C. Almond Meal
1/4 C. whole ground fax seed
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp ancho chili powder
Mix together and spread on greased (olive oil) pizza pan (I use a stone)
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

I used the crust recipe from the Everyday Paleo blog with a slight variation of seasonings.

Take out of oven and put on toppings. We used Muir Glen marinara sauce, sliced grape tomatoes, Jones Turkey Sausage  sliced up and browned, some garlic, and Daiya Mozzarella Cheese. (It is non-dairy, but not totally Paleo as is has canola and safflower oils, and pea protein in it.)
The pizza going in the oven
Slide it back in the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
Out of the oven, ready to eat.
It was really good! I was amazed at how tasty the crust was. It was better than any gluten-free crust I have ever tasted. We had a spinach salad to go with our pizza. (Spinach from the garden which John went out and picked, then washed and dried and turned into salad.)

After dinner, in the middle of watching a movie, it was time for Earth Hour 2012. We shut down the TV, all computers, the lights, and lit some candles and played scrabble by candlelight.
Photo taken at 9:45 after the end of Earth Hour
It was a very close game and if not for the triple letter score z that I got, John would have creamed me. He is more clever with his words and a  much better strategizer than I am. We played by candlelight for just under 2 hours. Then we blew out the candles, turned on the lights to find our way to bed, and shut off the lights again for the night.