Saturday night pizza

After returning from a short but satisfying backpacking trip, we were completely out of food at home. I had planned Monday through Wednesday so well that we didn't leave any perishables to - ahem - perish, while we were away. I realize now that even better planning would have included some sort of freezer item for dinner when we got back, but the lack of food forced me to go to the grocery store, which I would have hated to do tomorrow. Anyway.

I found and modified* a pizza recipe from Real Simple that I never tried when I was going through their month of recipes earlier in the year because I skip over pretty much anything that calls for mushrooms and am intimidated by the thought of working pizza dough. But beer and pizza sounded too good to pass up for a relaxing Saturday evening. I got one of those premade pizza dough thingies, added zucchini, bell pepper, marinara sauce, plenty of fresh grated mozzarella, avocado and egg. I added the egg a bit too late so it was still a little jiggly, but didn't taste terrible. Next time I'd just add it at the beginning, since it only takes about 12 minutes for the crust to bake and the cheese to melt, and I think the egg would be just about done by then. I liked that the pizza was meatless, but still really filling.

Pretty, pretty pizza!

*modified, v: 1) didn't follow the recipe; 2) messed up; 3) made it my own. 

I made pretty things!

Summer is still my favourite time of year: the epic thunder storms, the warm, long evenings, the summer brews. I have been cooking, but have been spending more time enjoying the evenings with my husband and friends. Tonight I'm making grilled flank steak with a honey dijon glaze, found here. 

Last night, I made a beautiful salad, that was filling, sweet, savory and full of colour! I loved every bite.

In this salad: baby greens, white beans, corn, strawberries, red bell pepper, carrots, avocado, feta cheese, topped with a balsamic dressing! Yum!

 And this afternoon I tried my hand at zucchini, banana, chocolate chip bread. I haven't tasted it yet, but I have to tell you, it's my first loaf that has successfully made it out of the baking pan in one piece!!! I am so excited about this that I don't even want to cut it. Okay, that's a blatant lie. I took the photo, time to eat!
Recipe status: Followed! Oh wait...I added chocolate chips instead of the called-for pecans. See the full recipe here!

Cooling on my porch railing, since I don't have an adorable cottage kitchen window to place it in.

One more thing, if you're interested in beer, even a little, check out and follow my friend Steph's budding blog at Small Pour Steph!