Recipe Sunday!

I had another busy day of whipping things up in the kitchen yesterday. It all started with an idea for dinner; I received a pizza sticks pan and cutter from Williams-Sonoma from my mom for Christmas. I love it, it's so much more fun to assemble than a regular ol' pizza ;) Last night the craving hit me again for some pizza sticks.

At the grocery store the day prior, we picked up pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, olives and tomatoes for the sticks. I knew of three different kinds we could make: pepperoni and cheese, margherita and perhaps pesto olive and tomato sticks! I had plenty of basil, olive oil, parm and garlic, but alas, no pine nuts.

Well kids, it turns out you don't need pine nuts to make pesto! I had no idea :) Into my food processor went the following combination of ingredients:

ALMOND PESTO

• 1 c fresh basil leaves
• 3 T grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c sliced almonds
• 1 T marinated garlic
• 1/4 c olive oil

All you have to do is mix it all together in a food processor/blender until smooth! Or chunky if you prefer it that way. I do.... because that's as fine as my little processor will allow me haha.

I guess I could have added salt and pepper, but I knew this was going to be a topping for my pizza, so I didn't bother. To my amazement, it came out nearly the same as pine nut pesto!!! There are subtle differences in the flavors each nut brings to the table, but this truly was a fantastic substitution.

Now on to the pizza. While I prepped the sauce and toppings, J.D. set to work on the dough. We actually cheated and bought a pack of powdered dough for under $1. All he had to do was put it in a big mixing bowl and add water! But J.D. being the gourmet aficionado that he is spruced it up with Tuscan seasonings and garlic salt into the dough mixture.

Then out came the dough into the pans. I put sauce, cheese and pepperoni on his two slices, olives, pesto and tomatoes on my two sticks, while the fifth stick in the center remained ours to share. That one's the margherita pizza with sauce, cheese, tomatoes and basil.

As the pizzas cooked I had my heart set on tackling a large Tuscan melon, which very much resembles cantaloupe. I've always loved melon, but the idea of cutting one of those up with a giant knife always worries me. No worries here, though, as I halved it and then put the majority in the fridge with a few slices to gnaw on for an after-dinner snack. The only thing that let me down, however, was the fact that the melon's not quite ripe. Even though it had been sitting on the counter for three days at that point. You could even smell the fruit's juices from outside of the skin, so I'm puzzled. Maybe another day in the fridge is all that stands between me and melon perfection.

One final item remained before the pizzas were ready. Wine selection! My fav, fav, favorite winery probably ever is Napa Valley's Coppola Winery -- yes, owned by Francis Ford Coppola! I've had the fortune of visiting that winery in the past few years :) Anyways, all his selections can be found for fairly cheap in pretty much any Northern California grocery store. To go with our sticks we chose a Coppola Zin. And to switch it up, poured it into ENORMOUS stemless glasses. I don't know if these glasses are for red or white wine, but I heart them :) I might have to read up some more on appropriate wine vessels I suppose.

Finally, the pizzas were ready for consumption!

While my hands were dirty, Mr. Fox took these pictures for me ;) Ain't he a cutie?!

And now, I present to you, pizza sticks and Tuscan melon! SALUTE!

I have to admit, I could only finish 1.5 of my sticks. The final pesto pizza stick awaits in my fridge for a late afternoon snack... or something like that :)

After dinner I took the puppy on a mile walk roundtrip to the dog park near our house. Again, he walked the entire way!!! He's becoming a good little walker :) And it tires him out right before bed, which makes me happy. Just before going to sleep, I got the baking itch. So maybe if you're lucky I'll post my adapted recipe for BERRY BANANA BREAD a little later.

Until then, I'm going to leave you with this song that's been stuck in my head for weeks. My boss gave me their CD and I've been jamming to it ever since. Love the Dirty Heads! So much that I even loaded the CD into my iPhone yesterday :) I don't know, it just reminds me of being back in Santa Barbara, rocking out to Bob Marley, Pepper and Jack Johnson (fun fact, JJ went to UCSB and sings about it in "Bubble Toes").

Enjoy! (While I try to enjoy a World Cup victory by ESPAÑA! But, my No. 1 pick in the last WC finished second.... poor Frenchies.....)