Pizza, pizza!!

Trader Joes is probably my most favorite grocery store, EVER! I love the atmosphere, variety and friendliness of the entire store. If you haven't been to a TJs, you need to pack your reusable grocery bags and head over there NOW!

Ok, now with that out of the way (!), dinner last week was an impromptu home-made pizza. After watching a food show about pizza, I had the bug for a Caprese pizza. So, to Traders I go!

They have dough (Garlic-Herb, whole wheat, and plain), pizza sauce and all the toppings one could dream up! Seeing as how I am trying to be more mindful about the products I purchase, the food I consume and how my food is created/fed/butchered, etc. I opted to buy my own basil plant ($2.99!!) and chose the whole wheat dough. Now, confession time. I. Do. Not. Bake. Have I discussed this before? I think I have. Yeast has a mind of it's own and I cannot control it. I do not like that. So, buying my own dough was a big step. Maybe someday I'll actually MAKE my own. Anyway...there were many worries in my mind about cooking my own dough, but I manned up and it was FABULOUS!

The dough was sweet and cooked just perfectly. I did spray the pan with a tiny bit of cooking spray and the flour from rolling it out was just enough. I used the entire container of sauce and it wasn't over powering for this pizza. The mozzarella was amazing, the fresh basil was

a bright flavor and the tomatoes were perfect! It was an all-around wonderful dinner!

Cook vs. Baker

I'm definitely the former as opposed to the latter. Baking terrifies me. There's chemistry involved. Your measurements have to be a lot more exact and precise than in cooking. You can't 'ad-lib' as much in baking as cooking. If I don't have a shallot, I can add an onion; but in baking, if I only have 1/4 cup of flour, I can't sub baking powder. When I try a recipe for the first time, I try to stick to it and not interject my own opinions, however, once the trial run is complete, I'm off and running! One of my favorite recipes doesn't call for a red onion, but hello? It totally needs it. I've added it since day one.

There's a popular WW substitution in baking that involves a can of pumpkin instead of oil and eggs. I like the cookies, other people aren't such a big fan. But if I can have 3 WW cookies over 1 normal cookie, I'll take the 3, thank you very much. The cookies don't taste like pumpkin at all. I've used a spice cake mix as well as a chocolate and no pumpkin flavor. They're of a more cake-y consistency than a crispy cookie which suits my chewy preferences.

Anyway, baking. Today, I applied the pumpkin substitution theory to an Apple Bread mix from Trader Joe's (which is my fav store, btw). The first time I made it a few months ago I totally spaced on putting the eggs in! I don't bake, I'm trying to tell you this. The bread was fine though. I was a bit apprehensive today, but then I figured I couldn't mess it up more than not putting eggs in it, so what the heck? The verdict? It's delicious! The sub was pumpkin minus the butter, eggs and milk! Very moist and full of flavor. I like pumpkin, so if it did taste pumpkin-y, I didn't mind, but some people may be hesitant. Don't be!

Applesauce is another popular sub for oil or eggs. There's a great slow-cooker chocolate cake recipe that uses applesauce. As far as baking goes, those are the only tricks I know. Cooking, I can hook you up! My most popular subs are ground turkey for beef, low sodium sauces/soups, FF soups (unless you're making a casserole, in which case, you do need some of the fat to hold it together), a butter flavored yogurt instead of actual butter, PAM as opposed to coating the pan with olive oil. One sub that I refuse is turkey bacon for real bacon. I read or heard somewhere that turkey bacon actually has more sodium because they have to add it to the turkey to preserve it whereas real bacon has salt naturally. If I'm going to splurge on bacon, give me the real stuff!