Nostalgic Pizza

Remember those school lunch pizzas? The rectangle shape ones? I don't really but I didn't really eat hot lunch ever. When I was in high school I'd get Subway or Cousin's Subs a'la carte on Tuesdays and Thursdays... And eat junk food. Chocolate milk and chips. Healthy. Anyway, husband remembers these pizzas and he loved them and wants to have them again. So what did I do?

I recreated it.

Of all the things I could duplicate... Olive Garden's Chicken Marsala... Serendipity 2's Frozen Hot Chocolate... and he wants cafeteria food. Alright. As long as he eats it. 

To my surprise, it looked and smelled amazing. I made homemade pizza dough and the sauce and everything from scratch. I didn't eat any because I'm...on this diet... But he and Sofia loved it. I served it with corn. All that was missing was a carton of chocolate milk and a prison tray. Here's the recipe. Nothing special at all...pretty basic actually. 

Crust:

• 1 package yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water 
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Shortening and cornmeal for dusting

Sauce:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 teaspoon dehydrated onion
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 12oz can tomato paste 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 pinch marjoram
• 1 pinch thyme

Oh, you'll need like two standard size bags of shredded mozzarella cheese, too.

Now that you've assembled your arsenal, let us bring back the painful memories of eating alone in the school cafeteria.

Directions: 

Brown the beef and drain. Add onion and garlic and cook on medium/low for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, marjoram, and thyme. Stir, cover, and let simmer on low while you prepare the dough. 

Preheat your oven to 450*F. 

In your mixer bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let it sit until it gets creamy, around 10 minutes. 

Stir in flour, salt, and oil. Use the dough hook and mix until smooth and elastic. Let rest for 5 minutes or so while you prepare the pan. 

Grease your cookie sheet, including the sides. I used a standard jelly roll pan. Sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal. Set aside. 

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and flip over, shaping into a ball. If it's sticky, sprinkle flour on it. Place the dough ball in the middle of your pan and smash it and spread it around the pan including up the sides. Use your fingers to form the crust edges. 

Sprinkle one bag of mozzarella cheese on the crust. Cover with half the meat sauce. Sprinkle second bag of mozzarella cheese over the meat sauce. 

Bake at 450*F for around 15-20 minutes. 

Oh yeah, and the other half of the meat sauce? Store in the freezer to make pizza burgers later on in the week. I ended up with all this extra sauce so that's the solution. 

You're welcome. 

Stuff

Hi!

So...um.....wow, I just realized that it's Wednesday. Have I seriously not exercised since Friday? Funny how things just get away from you if you say, "Oh, I'll just skip today." Then all of a sudden it's like 5 days later.

Still lost 2.5 pounds since the last time I weighed myself a week ago though, which is pretty sweet. So I don't feel so bad. Keeping track of what I am eating and staying within a calorie limit is pretty much the only thing that saves me if I don't exercise. One thing I've noticed is that after the 3rd day of running, as difficult as it is, my feet stopped hurting. And now after like 4 days of not running, they hurt again. I don't get it.

I'm tired. Nothing else to say. Just making an effort to keep up with this like I promised myself I would.

Pounds lost:

• Last week: 2.4
• To date: 8.8

Commitment

I don't even know that anyone looks at my blog anymore because I never write in it! Seriously, it has been super sporadic because most of my time is spent doing things for other people, and then when I do have time to myself, I'm not thinking about this at all. But! I realize that's not the greatest thing, because I like writing and I like sharing my life with people. So, I am going to make a commitment to post a new blog entry once a week. I will aim for that, a least.

I know that without dedication or commitment to something, nothing will get accomplished. Which brings me to my next point.

I think I need something to focus on. Before baby arrived nearly two years ago, my focus was kind of all over the place, but mostly on cooking. Hence, the recipes. Sometimes there would be ranting and raving and whining because you need that. Then came baby, and most of what I talked about was her and all the fun that came along with being a new mom and not knowing what I was doing. Seriously - raising a child is like...a crash course. She will be turning two years old this month and I still have no idea what I am doing. I'm surprised, quite frankly, that she is still alive. She must have like 8 guardian angels.

Anyway, so I think for the next few months, my main focus is going to be on me....and shrinking myself. Not even kidding, I mean WTF? I've never been SKINNY but I wasn't always a fricken planet and I can't even use pregnancy as an excuse for how I've let myself get to where I am at now. What I can use is my love for cookies, ice cream, cake, and lack of self control. Oh, and the fact that exercise is not fun to me.

So um.....here's what I'm going to do. I am going to blog my weight loss efforts and my results. Way embarrassing but maybe if I just put it all out there and know that people are reading it and waiting to see what happens (or waiting for me to fail so they can laugh maliciously while sitting alone in a dark basement), I will actually accomplish something.

I'll even post pictures. But not yet. Because it's too embarrassing.

Earlier this week I decided I was going to do some sort of consistent exercise. I downloaded the Couch to 5k app for my iPhone. Yes, I spent the $2.99, but whatever. Or maybe it was $1.99. I don't remember. You might ask why. Because really, I hate running. I don't even know how. The only time I even consider running is if I'm being chased by a lion or a dinosaur. I realized that if I had to actually run for my life, I would probably die. So what better way than to learn how to run?

It's awful so far. Just awful! But I've managed to get through week 1! Three workouts a week and my fake trainer tells me what to do. First week, three workouts of 30 minutes each. I started on Sunday, so I ran Sunday, Tuesday, and today (Thursday). I read somewhere that 30 minutes a day a three times a week is what is recommended by most health professionals. Not sure if it's true, but doing something is better than doing nothing.

Another thing I started doing was tracking the things I stuff my face with. My Fitness Pal is a sweet app and it's totally free. You can customize it for you based on where you're at, where you need to be, and how many pounds you want to lose each week. It tells you how many calories you need to eat each day and takes into account your activity level as well. AND you can track your exercise/calories burned, which is super great. AND you can connect with your friends to keep you accountable. A handful of my friends can now assume I'm obsessed with English muffins since I eat them everyday.

Realistically, yes, I want to lose 100lbs. 100. And it has been, oh, roughly 2 weeks, and I'm down 6 pounds. Which isn't a lot, but now that means I only have to lose 94 pounds. Hooray!

And finally, I also purchased one of those heart rate monitors. You know, the strap that goes around your chest and under your boobs (you can't see it) and then transmits onto a bulky man-looking watch. I figured this would be the best way to keep track of my calories burned.

OH! And Husband bought me a food scale. So now I can be all obsessive and weigh my food. But really, you can't just assume you're guessing correctly. Until today I had no idea that a slice of turkey deli meat weighed 1.5 ounces and the actual serving size for 70 calories is 2 ounces. I've been piling on like 3-4 slices of turkey on a sandwich assuming that was correct. I'm sure it wasn't excess deli meat that made my ass big though. It was probably gelato and Nutella.

Anyway....so....I'm not going to be a skinny mini for my brother's wedding at the end of August. And that's cool. It's all about realistic goals. But I could probably be down another 10lbs, which is realistic and doable. So if you're interested, keep up with me and watch my progress. I will post pictures when I feel ready, and will even have the perpetual "progress" pictures and the "before and after" pictures.

Here are a few random things:

I got bored today with my free time. It's July 4th and I'm ALONE. My kid is with my inlaws and Husband is working a 24 hour shift. Rather than be a productive member of society, I took the opportunity to lay around and waste my day on the internet. I made a Facebook page called Mommy Needs a Sedative where I can post pictures and things that I think are funny and mildly offensive without offending everyone on my Facebook friends list...because I have people like my parents, my extended family, and the pastor of my church who might not appreciate these things showing up in their news feed. But if YOU'RE wanting a daily dose of humor, especially surrounding stuff with parenting, please "like" my page.

Mommy Needs a Sedative

Prayer for Sofia

Note: I didn't write this so I can't take credit. But it definitely sounds like something I would write.

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half and stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes and not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it.

Grant her a rough patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers and the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into the car in front of her friends, for I will not have that shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know.

Nicki Minaj totally looks like....

.... The Nutcracker.

**Cue music: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy**

All the money in the world. And that's the outfit she picked for to tonight. I'm watching the season premiere of American Idol, in case you were wondering.