No seriously. How can you actually expect me to like you or even love you for that matter if you don’t like pizza? Who doesn’t like pizza? It’s like ice cream, everyone wants it all the time and if we could, we’d eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can name, off the top of my head, my favorite pizza establishments in the three states I have lived in and I regularly crave Chicago deep dish pizza even if I could hardly finish a single slice let alone two! Oh! And those fantastic pizza joints I was talking about before are as follows: In Rhode Island: I love Caserta’s Pizza on Spruce Street, Papa Gino’s in Warwick, Pizza Pie-er on Wickenden, and the now defunct East Side Mario’s in Providence. As far as Chicago goes… you can’t go wrong. The Original Uno Pizzeria, Girodano’s, Nancy’s on Broadway, Lou Malnati’s, My Pie, Pie Hole, and Pequod’s. California? I’ve yet to find a better pizza than out of the kitchen of Niccola Nelson but I’m bias of course. Get my recipe here! 

All of my friends like and eat pizza. And I’ve always had pizza friends; you know someone who would meet me and eat with me. In elementary school my best friend Roxanne and I would steal money out of my dad’s pockets while he was out mowing the lawn (we had no shame) and walk the 10 minutes to Papa Gino’s and grab a slice and play New Kids on the Block tunes on the jukebox. If we had change we crossed the street over to Huggies Ice Cream Parlor and got a couple of cones. See! Pizza and ice cream go hand in hand! In high school, college and after, my best friends Lynn and Amanda and I ate pizza from various pizzerias several times a week together and we shared many laughs and big sodas over huge slices of pepperoni pie. We would sprinkle our red chili flakes on top and talk boyfriends, enemies, jobs and family. Pizza brought us together. It’s what keeps us together too! Every year when I would come home to Rhode Island from Chicago the girls would pick me up and we would head to Papa Gino’s for a large pie and sodas (a water for me) and we would catch up and it felt like home.

Papa Gino’s was the spot for many birthday parties, Toll Gate High School pasta nights and family dinners!

These days though, I never go out for pizza. I honestly can’t remember the last time I called for a pizza delivery never mind picked up a frozen pizza and cooked it in my oven. Making pizza is so simple and so fun when you have the right tools like a pizza stone, a rolling pin and good flour. Let’s talk about flour for a minute. The title of this post came from a conversation I was having with a “friend” who I mentioned to that I was having pizza for dinner that evening. She gave me this look like “really?” so I gave her a look back that said “yes, for reals yo” and she exhaled and said “I don’t eat pizza.” WHAT????? WHY????? “I’m gluten free,” she replied. And so I said “Well it’s 2014 girl and they make gluten free flour now and pancakes and pie crust and even pizza dough, frozen pizza and you can get it delivered now too.”

She was shocked. “Are you living in a hole?” I asked her. In her defense she rarely shops at the big name food chains. She’s a Farmer’s Market girl and I see her every Wednesday when I hit up the one near my house in Arroyo Grande. So I went to the market for her and picked her up some products (after reading and re-reading the labels) and made a pizza for her. I’m Italian and a good cook so of course it was a success (patting myself on the back here) and thankfully she’s back eating pizza and even better, I can keep her as a friend… Haha! Below are my favorite gluten-free products for pizza prep. (Vicolo, Udi’s and Mama Mary’s) I prefer making my own dough at home with wholewheat flour but you can use gluten-free flour instead! Say it with me, “I can still eat pizza even though I’m gluten-free!” Pillsbury has a ton of products including a gluten-free cookie dough. Who knew?

I’ve been getting super creative at home with my pizza toppings and last night’s dinner featured Persimmon Pizza (bottom left) while last week’s had Delicata Squash (bottom right) on top! I of course love left-over pizza for breakfast, preferably served cold and with a large glass of orange juice if possible. Very acidic I know but I don’t do it often! Today I thought I’d create a Breakfast Pizza sans the cheese and tomato sauce. This was easy to make and the ingredients are fresh, green and clean so you don’t have to feel guilty about having pizza for breakfast!

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Breakfast Pizza- serves one 

Ingredients:

-small handful of pizza dough

-1/2 avocado, mashed

-2 eggs, to your liking

-tomato

-cilantro, chopped

-salt and pepper

-olive oil

Directions:

1. Start by rolling out the dough (if it’s not pre-made) with plenty of flour.

2. In a cast iron pan, get the temperature to medium-high and drizzle some olive oil. When the pan is warm, place the dough on top. It will take about 5 minutes to get both sides crispy so flip often.

3. Using half an avocado and some cilantro, mash them together in a bowl with some salt and pepper.

4. Cook your eggs. I made mine sunny-side up.

5. Then place the cooked pizza dough on a plate and spread the avocado mixture on top.

6. Place the eggs on next and garnish with the tomatoes and extra cilantro. YUM!

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I’m going to leave you with my current book selection, Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories. I loved her novel Life After Life and a friend (Goodreads) recommended it to me. After reading the quote on the front of the book jacket by Stephen King, I knew it had to be a good mystery and it is! I have to go now so I can finish the last 20 pages before my next class!

If you’re eyes are bad like mine the quote reads, “Not just the best novel I read this year but the best mystery of the decade… I defy any reader not to feel a combination of delight and amazement.” Stephen King.