Feeding my pizza craving

With Thursday being the last day of my work week, I started the day with only 6 1/4 hours left to work. That meant I was off early enough for a little adventure in the kitchen.

Like many—dare I say all—folks, I LOVE pizza. But now that I’m back on the low-carb wagon, I can’t just order from Domino’s … or even Rosati’s. That makes me a little sad. Rosati’s just opened in Prescott, and it has an awesome Chicago-style thin-crust pizza—cut in little squares with the tiny, crunchy edge triangles and everything. But that’s no longer on the table for me.

*Sad trombone*

The good thing is that there are plenty of low-carb pizza options. One of my go-to’s when my roommate and I went low-carb back in 2003-05 was pizza casserole: browned sausage and mushrooms, pepperoni, the lowest-carb sauce we could find and mozzarella cheese, baked until the cheese was brown and bubbly.

Voila! All the pizza toppings we both liked with none of the crust.

Pizza bites are another option (zucchini rounds or eggplant slices topped with a pepperoni and some cheese and then baked).

But sometimes you just want a good old slice of pie. You know, the triangle of crust topped with all the meats, veggies and cheese.

Enter Fat Head Pizza. I saw this recipe in the 90-day Low-Carb Challenge Facebook group I belong to.

It looked easy enough to put together, and I had all the ingredients on hand … so I decided to go for it.

Spreading the dough onto parchment paper on my pizza stone wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be. Probably would have helped if I’d used two sheets to cover more of the stone’s surface. (It seemed like a waste of paper, though.)

Ah well. Live and learn, right?

Another slight issue: My stupid electric stove doesn’t cook things evenly. One side of the crust was dark brown before the other side even got golden. Have I mentioned I hate cooking with electric? I learned to cook with gas, and vastly prefer it. My stove also doesn’t have any freakin’ temperatures on the knob … only Nos. 1-5. So I have no idea what temperature I’m using to cook anything.

No worries. My pizza survived.

Low-Carb Pizza!

It might be slightly misshapen, but it was seriously delicious! I skimped a bit on the cheese topping the crust because the crust itself is mostly cheese. The rest of the toppings included 1/4 cup sauce, 14 pepperoni (1 serving) and 1/2 cup thinly sliced zucchini.

I cut the pizza into quarters, and then each quarter into 2 slices. Each two-slice serving has 4.9 net carbs, according to the LoseIt app, which is where I’ve been tracking my eats.

I was a bit worried that two slices wouldn’t be enough. Usually, when faced with a  traditional pizza, I can eat a half or more. But I only dished up a quarter of the pie.

And you know what? It WAS plenty. I was amazingly satisfied with just two pieces. Adding a small side salad with blue cheese dressing would have upped the satisfaction factor, but it wasn’t necessary.

Chalk up another one for the power of low-carb, high-fat eating.

On another note, remember that snowstorm that was supposed to dump up to a foot of snow on Prescott Friday? I’d made plans to write at home … but when I woke up, there was barely a dusting in the yard, and the streets were fine.

Instead of camping out at my kitchen table, I headed to Starbucks.

This is my kind of snowstorm — flakes in the air, water on the ground.

I’ve gotten a whole lot of nothing done so far, but after I finish this blog post, I’ll try to do some actual fiction writing.

Wish me luck. If the snow starts to stick, I’ll have to vacate my Starbucks table and head home.

This isn’t the adventure I had in mind

When I said I wanted 2017 to be a year of adventure, this isn’t the kind of adventure I was thinking of having.

From the National Weather Service:

DEPENDING ON YOUR LOCATION WITHIN THE WARNING AREA, EXPECT 8 TO 16 INCHES BETWEEN 5500 AND 7000 FEET AND 12 TO 24 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET. IN GENERAL…ONLY LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED OVER THE LOWER ELEVATION AREAS OF PRESCOTT THROUGH FRIDAY WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOW FRIDAY NIGHT. HIGHER ELEVATION REGIONS OF PRESCOTT SOUTH AND WEST OF DOWNTOWN WILL RECEIVE HEAVY SNOW AT TIMES THROUGH THE ENTIRE EVENT. CONSULT POINT SPECIFIC FORECASTS AT: WEATHER.GOV/FLAGSTAFF.

Doggone it, I moved an hour and a half south to Prescott to escape massive snow events.

Okay, I really moved for my job … but I certainly hoped I wouldn’t have to see this much snow at once anymore.

I do not do well in snow — and I blame my mother, who would have turned 73 yesterday if she were still with us. Right after I learned to drive, the days it snowed were the only days Mom made me ride the school bus. Consequently, I never really learned to drive on snow/ice.

Yes, I’m 40-plus years old and have had ample opportunities to attempt winter driving. However, when I lived in Flagstaff, I was a short walk from my office, so when the skies dumped snow, I bundled up and hoofed it to work. (My editor or one of the other page designers always ran me home at the end of the night.)

So I still try not to go anywhere when the roads are crap. Luckily, I’m off on Friday and Saturday, so I shouldn’t have to drive in the brunt of this storm … But the forecast will keep me from planting my butt in a chair at Starbucks, where I can log massive writing time.

Good thing I have a Keurig at home. Also good, there’s a clear spot on my kitchen table. I’ve been trying to prep a place where I can sit and write so I don’t have to spend so much money at Starbucks every week.

*Gasp* I can’t believe I said that. Blasphemy!

It’s also part of my attempt to finally settle in at my place. I moved in there in early May 2015 and STILL have packed boxes in the living room.

May 2, 2015 – the truck is packed and ready to haul.

Remember what I said yesterday about there always being something better to do than cook? The same thing applies to unpacking.

I’ll even go a step further: I’d rather go to the dentist than unpack a box. Yes, it’s that bad. There’s a reason I only move a couple of times a decade.

It also doesn’t help that I went from having two bedrooms, a good-sized shared kitchen and living room to having a small-ish one-bedroom bungalow. (It’s cuter than cute, but there’s barely enough room to turn around in the kitchen — and there’s very little in the way of counter space.)

But I’ve probably used the size, or lack thereof, as an excuse long enough. It’s long past time to declutter and settle in.

Ha! If I’m snowed in at my place Friday and Saturday, I’ll have the perfect opportunity to do exactly that.

Too bad that’s still not the adventure I had in mind …

 

 

 

 

Day Three and feeling fine (Or, yummy low-carb pancakes for breakfast)

Brace yourselves: The magic of low-carb eating has kicked in: I’ve walked past a tray full of homemade cookies (including my fave—peanut butter) at least ten times without being tempted once.

Last week, I’d probably have sampled a cookie with every pass.

There’s also bread and cake in the break room that I’ve been able to resist. It’s an excellent start.

I also noticed that I felt pretty spry getting out of my car at the office. (A very good sign.) I’m still slightly achy sometimes, but I’m hoping that’ll subside as the crappy carbs work their way out of my system.

I’ve had two kitchen adventures in the last 24 hours—one successful, the other not so much.

Last night, I tried making a batch of those famous Oopsie Rolls. The recipe seemed easy enough: beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff, fold into egg yolks beaten with sour cream and bake.

Maybe I got lazy and didn’t get my egg whites stiff enough. Whatever happened, my “rolls” all ran together and made more of a flatbread. It was tasty enough when I used it on a burger for dinner, but I’m going to try again and see if I can get the promised light, fluffy rolls.

This morning, I made the Low-Carb Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes from FitViews.

Mine may not have turned out as pretty as the ones in Kerri’s picture, but they were delicious! And only 6 Net Carbs in the batch.

Why yes, that IS a Millennium Falcon pencil sharpener on the table.

I’ll definitely add the recipe to my repertoire. I’m also looking forward to trying Kerri’s Sweet Cinnamon Low-Carb Pancakes and Hot Cocoa Low-Carb Pancakes.

On the writing front, I’m so excited. I wrote more than 1,500 words yesterday on a brand-new project … and then jotted down another page and a half on paper as I watched TV last night. That’s the most I’ve written in a day for months!

Hopefully, it’s a sign I’m getting my writing mojo back. I had a pretty crappy writing year in 2016. Yes, I managed to publish two books and two (free) short stories … but my year-end stats tell a different story: I wrote less than 40K. For an ENTIRE 12 months.

That’s not the best way to succeed as an author.