The Fifth Beatle

Some friends of ours introduced us to a delicious pizza with an unlikely name… “The Fifth Beatle.” The masterminds behind this wonder of the pizza world are the guys up at American Dream Pizza in northeast Portland, on Glisan Ave.

This pizza has an interesting and unexpected mix of toppings that I would never have dreamed of putting together myself… Red Onions, Blue Cheese & Hazelnuts (Oregon is the nation’s largest supplier of hazelnuts). The red onions are sautéed to give the a nice, sweet flavor which contrasts with the pungent flavor of the blue cheese. The hazelnuts mellow out the flavors of the other two ingredients and add a bit of a chew/crunch to the softness of the other items. There is a red sauce on this pizza, but it is a very lightly applied sauce, so the sauce is certainly not the first thing you notice when sampling this pizza. All in all this is one our new favorite pizzas. However, Chris & I are big cheese lovers… not sure if this pizza would be nearly as appealing to someone who didn’t enjoy the strong flavor of the blue cheese on it. Still, if you’re not afraid of intentionally moldy cheeses, I highly recommend this.

That’s the upside… the downside is that American Dream Pizza is about a 30 minute drive from our house – either by freeway or surface streets – doesn’t make much difference. So delivery is definitely out of the question, and our ability to just go pick up one of these delectable pies on the spur of the moment is pretty limited as well. My solution? Make our own version of the Fifth Beatle.

I have made this pie twice now and it’s been really tasty both times. Mine is maybe not exactly the same offering as American Dream, but a yummy substitution nonetheless. I made my own dough, directly from a recipe on Recipezaar (my favorite recipe site) and then I used a jar of premade spaghetti sauce. I blend the sauce in my Vita Mix so that it is smooth and doesn’t have the tomato, pepper, and onion chunks that I might otherwise enjoy if they were in spaghetti. The sauce is applied very lightly to a par-baked crust. I use slightly more than ½ of my “normal” pizza amount. Then the mozzarella goes on. There shouldn’t be a ton of it either. American Dream claims that they apply less cheese to this than to a more traditional pie. Then the red onions are sliced & sautéed, cooled, and put on. I think I used about ½ of an onion per pie and sautéed them to a nice carmel color to bring out the sweetness in the onion. The blue cheese is put on – I used an Oregon Blue. Yum! And finally, the hazelnuts are chopped (not too finely) and put on. I baked it in a 425 oven until the cheese was light brown and bubbly.

As I said, this is not an exact replica of the American Dream pizza, but a close enough approximation when you don’t live within a reasonable distance of the original. For anyone who likes blue cheese, or who likes experimenting with pizza toppings, I highly recommend this pie. As I said, it’s a surprising combination of toppings that create a truly sublime pizza experience!

Green Smoothies... not quite a "lifestyle" yet, but we're progressing!

So, I've lost count of what day this is on our green smoothie challenge/transition to a lifestyle, but we've been at it for a few weeks now. Chris & I are still imbibing 55-60 oz of green smoothie daily and feeling pretty good for it.
I'm still getting used to the more frequent trips to the grocery store to buy fresh produce and I've never spent as much time in the leafy greens section of the store as I have the last few weeks. We have been learning about how different greens work in smoothies with some surprises along the way...

• Spinach: I would have figured that raw spinach would be too bitter for a smoothie, but it's actually really good in it. I use about 5 big handfuls per blender batch.
• Collards: aka collard greens. These are really intimidating just looking at them... the leaves are big and leathery and you think that there's no way this would possibly be good in a smoothie, but they are very mild and work well in most smoothies.
• Romaine: I always figured that romaine lettuce was mild enough that you could put it in almost any smoothie without a problem... this is simply not the case... romaine has a very distinctive flavor that isn't easily "hid" by the fruits, so unless you like your smoothie to taste like Caesar Salad, I suggest using stronger tasting fruits with your romaine... things like raspberries, blackberries or maybe blueberries.
• Kale: Again, like the collards, it looks like an intimidating green to use, but it is quite mild in your smoothie and blends well with most any fruits. Kale comes in many different varieties. The ones available at our local store are green, purple, & Italian.
• Chard: Same as collards and kale. It comes in varieties as well. We've been using the red chard (see pic above) mostly because it's readily available in an organic form at the store.

Lately, I've been wondering what the cashiers in the check-out line think of my grocery basket. There are huge bunches of strange greens piled up in my grocery basket along with a ton of fruit. I'd say that on any given trip to the store, my grocery inventory ise comprised of at least 50% fruits and veggies... but hey, isn't that the way it's supposed to be???

Digital Scrapbooking

I have started digital scrapbooking lately in an effort to a) hone my PhotoShop skills and to b) get some more scrapbook pages done. I am a very slow traditional scrapbooker. I'm not sure why that is. I think I tend to get more obsessed about the way the pages look and making sure they all look creatively done, instead of just making sure the pictures get into an album.

Anyway, the digital scrapbook allows for a few advantages over the traditional method:

1. You can re-use the digital elements as many times as you want. This saves the hassle of having to purchase multiples of one element just to repeat it on a few different pages.
2. You can re-work the page as many times as you want - until you get it how you want it. Once your electronic piece of paper is "cut" you're not stuck with it like you are with traditional paper pages.
3. There are many sites on the web devoted to digital scrapbooking and many of them offering tons of freebies. My favorite site at the moment for freebies is Shabby Princess. She offers a bunch of free kits that have not only the papers but lots of coordinating elements for downloading.

To give you an idea of how dreadfully behind on scrapbooking I am, the above page, which I just did this week is pictures from our wedding... and Chris & I just celebrated our 5th anniversary this month! Agh!

This cracked me up. Thanks to my aunt for sending this out. Yes, I do know people who take pictures of their breakfast and then post it up on Facebook. I won't name names to protect those involved, but you know who you are...

Scruggs!

The cats love the dining table. I don't know exactly why, but I think it's just the law of cats that they most enjoy being in those places and situations that they know they're not supposed to be. Couple the love of the dining table with Scruggs' love of hanging her front end off of stuff (I think she likes the blood rushing to her head) and you get the above picture. As much as I wanted to get Scruggs down from the dining table, her look was cracking me up, so she got a reprieve while I snapped the shot.

More on Green Smoothies

Today's smoothie is much sweeter than normal. Chris requested that we have a "sweeter" one today than normal, so I cut back on the greens a bit and added an extra banana (also, the bananas are going ripe really fast with the heat, so they need to be used up).

Chris came across a video of Sergei Boutenko (Victoria's son) making a smoothie on their website www.rawfamily.com. According to Sergei you should reduce the number of items in your green smoothie and stick to only one variety of green at a time. This will reduce the chance of toxicity (via alkaloids) of any of the leaves to build up over time. He suggests rotating through a series of greens throughout the week. So, following Sergei's advice, here is our recipe for the day:

Recipe for today's smoothie:
- 2 bananas
- 1 large peach
- couple handfuls strawberries
- 1/2 bunch italian kale

Green Smoothies - Day 5

Today is day 5 of our foray into "green" smoothies. We were turned onto them by some friends of ours at church whose doctor recommended these concoctions after one of them was diagnosed with a heart blockage and went in for an angiogram/angioplasty. They were turned on to a book called Green for Life by Victouria Boutenko who has helped many people turn to a healthier lifestyle starting with green smoothies.

Green smoothies are a fruit smoothie with a kick... they have leafy greens added to them for additional fiber, chlorophyll and nutrients that can only be found in dark green leafy vegetables. They are comprised of approximately a 60/40 mix of fruits and leafy greens and are processed either in a traditional blender, or more ideally a Vita-mix blender - which we just happen to have!

Victoria challenges anyone who thinks they might benefit from better nutrition to try at least 32 oz. of green smoothie every day for for 14 days minimum, and ideally 30 days, to see if they notice any changes. Victoria claims that people have noticed a wide range of changes in their health in just 30 days. Anything from better nutrition & regularity (duh!), to clearer skin, more energy and sleeping better... all the way to extreme claims such as fewer wrinkles and less gray hair. These last couple of claims seem really extreme to me. However, I can't deny the fact that Chris & I definitely weren't getting our RDA of fruits and veggies, so any means of getting more of these into our diets would be a big boost for us... anyway, we decided to embark on this endeavor.

Chris & I are now on day 5 of the green smoothie regimen. And while it's too early on to notice a lot of difference in our lives, I have noticed a few changes for myself personally. First of all, I think I have a lot more energy during the day. I am also getting my digestive system back on track. Also, I have noticed some changes that I didn't really expect; namely reduced cravings for coffee and for sweets. I'm not saying that my desire for these has gone away altogether, but I'm not rummaging around the house looking for something sweet to satisfy me all the time. The amounts we are blending up makes not quite 2 quarts of green smoothie... the 2 - 20 oz. "Snapple" bottles and a 16 oz. glass. I have been drinking the glass of smoothie for breakfast, one of the bottles with my lunch and then the 3rd bottle in the evening as a dessert substitute.

How do they taste? Well, Chris really likes the taste of them. For me, I would say it's a bit more of an acquired taste. They're not bad at all... in fact, some of them are quite tasty, it's just that if you go in expecting a super-sweet straight-from-Jamba-Juice fruit-smoothie taste, that's not what you'll get. I've heard of many people struggling not with the taste, but with the color of them... they aren't exactly appealing to the eye... and when you add blueberries or blackberries they go from the green color you see above to a dubious shade of brown.

Today's smoothie recipe? While not my favorite of the ones I have made this week (the carrot taste was pretty strong initially), it was definitely better after chilling for an hour or so...
- 2 Peaches (organic - with peel)
- 1 Banana (organic - no peel)
- 1 to 1 1/2 C Strawberries (organic - with green tops left on)
- 2 Carrots (organic - with green tops left on)
- 1/2 bunch parsley (organic)
- 1/2 head romaine (organic)

Lately I've been trying to buy more and more organic products, especially as they become more available, but I haven't been really dedicated to it. However, Victoria has some charts in her book that are truly stunning when comparing the amount of nutrients in "commercial" vegetables vs. organic ones. For instance, commercial tomatoes have approx. 4.5 mg of calcium in them whereas organic ones have approx 59.2 mg. That over 13 times the amount of calcium! And this is not the most dramatic difference in the charts she hast listed, based on a study done at Rutgers University. Anyway, this was a real eye opener for me and I will try to buy more organic products just based on this alone.

Victoria and her family are raw-foodies. They eat no cooked or processed foods or any animal-based proteins at all. I can't say that Chris & I will ever end up at that point, but I think we will continue on the green smoothie path for a while longer and see where it leads.