Pizza

A friend of mine asked me to post these recipes. This is a great weekend recipe. I like to have my girls help me make pizza.  We use Canadian bacon, pepperoni, feta cheese, artichokes, and sun dried tomatoes as toppings. I usually make a double recipe. This pizza reheats well. I hope you enjoy!

 

Pizza Sauce (makes 1 quart)

1 teaspoon crumbled dried basil

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried marjoram

1/4 cup white wine (the cook can drink the rest)

• Add herbs to wine and marinate for 15 minutes.  

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I buy a jar of already chopped.)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• While herbs and wine marinate, sauté garlic in olive oil until soft but not brown. 

1 1/2 cups chopped crushed plum tomatoes (I use canned)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (I use the entire can)

salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

• Add tomatoes, paste, herb/wine mixture, and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from stove, puree in a blender until smooth. Return sauce to skillet and summer uncovered until it thickens slightly.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (makes an 8 slice, 15 in crust)
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast.
1 1/2 teaspoon low calorie baking sweetener (I use 1t Splenda and 1/2t sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
extra flour for kneading and rolling

• Mix yeast, sweetener, salt, oil and water in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes; the mixture will become cloudy and thick.  When this happens, put the flour in another bowl and make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture and fold into the flour. Add more lukewarm water if needed. Knead dough until it becomes smooth, and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean cloth. Place the dough in a warm area for about 45 minutes or until it doubles in size. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 15 inch round, place on pizza pan, top with sauce and toppings and bake at 500 degrees until crust is crispy.

*I use 1 3/4 cup of whole wheat four plus 1/8 cup wheat germ and 1/8 cup ground flax seed instead of the 2 cups of flour.

Both of these recipes are from The Miami Mediterranean Diet by Michael Ozner, MD.

 

Self Love

I recently listened to a podcast that has challenged me to change my thinking. The woman being interviewed was Karly Randolph Pitman who is the founder of First Ourselves. Karly talked about "7 Ways to Accept Your Body as it Ages." The entire podcast is worth listening to, but I was particularly struck by her comment about being sure we approach change out of self love.

According to Karly, when we see a need to make a change in our life, there are 2 ways we can think about that change. One way is the negative approach that is almost a form of self-abuse. Even something like exercise can be turned into a form of punishment - Look at me, I need to exercise to get rid of this disgusting weight. Karly says that vanity is a terrible short term motivator. Wanting to look good will not keep you exercising, eating right, and taking care of yourself because vanity is never satisfied. There will always be a better version of you to strive for. If you decide that there is something you want to change, do it out of self love (the 2nd and better approach) - I love my body and I want to care for it the best way I can.

While this sounds like common sense, it is not the way I approach change and I doubt many women approach weight loss out of self love. I believe that I am not too "down on myself" but I have to admit that my motivation for change rarely comes from a place of self love. This is especially true when it comes to my weight. I want to lose weight because I want to be thinner. I know that my self-esteem is significantly impacted by my weight and as a result, I try to keep it under control. Of course, when I lose weight, I feel good for a short time and then I begin to feel like I need to lose more weight.

I am challenged and encouraged by what I heard on this podcast, and I plan to explore Karly's website and resources. I also want to share these resources with you. I realize that learning to accept my body as it ages, be kind to my body and treat myself with love will take time and practice, but I am excited to get started on this journey.

The podcast I heard is from Vicky and Jen. They produce a podcast called "What Really Matters." I love their show and I hope you will check it out.
Vicky and Jen's website - http://vickyandjen.com
The podcast on Self Love - http://vickyandjen.com/podcast_169.html
Vicky and Jen in iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-really-matters/id201098170

Karly's website, First Ourselves - http://www.firstourselves.org

The information below is from Karly Randolph Pitman and is quoted from the Vicky and Jen website.
(http://vickyandjen.com/podcast_169.html)

7 Ways to Accept Your Body as it Ages
By Karly Randolph Pitman
 1. Mourning / Celebrating Losses. Honor and celebrate what you had. Necessary losses. Grieve what you’ve lost. It hurts to watch our bodies age and lose their beauty.
2. Integrity / Honesty. We feel more beautiful when we are taking care of ourselves. Beauty has a high connecotion to integrity – to living out our values. (We say we love ourselves, but then we do otherwise – i.e., skimp on sleep, exercise, healthy food or overexercise, diet, etc.) Honor your commitments to your body.
3. Compassion / Non-violence. Drop comparisons. Comparisons are cruel. This includes comparing yourself to yourself, to a younger, prettier, thinner, better version of yourself.
4. Acceptance. Accept what you can’t change. Change what you can. Have the wisdom to know the difference. Use love as motivation to change rather than vanity.
5. Know your true nature. Attach your self-worth to something other than your body. It’s a recipe for hurt and pain.
6. Gratitude. Appreciate what your body can do to take the focus on how it looks. Try something new. Expand your idea of what is possible.

7. Authenticity. Adopt your own beauty standards. As we age, we are more comfortable being ourselves - and being ourselves in our bodies. Use jealousy as a way of uncovering how you are inauthentic.


4 Ways to Be Kind to Our Bodies
Body hatred manifests in our lives as harsh expectations, stringent guidelines and general meanness: asking too much from our bodies, and then criticizing them when they fall short. Who wants that? The antidote to body hatred is gentleness: relaxing our expectations so that we can meet our need for a beautiful, healthy body without living with an internal slavedriver.
How can we be more gentle towards our bodies? Here are 4 suggestions:
1. Wear clothes that fit. One of the easiest ways you can feel fat, like you need to lose weight, and generally ruin your day is by squeezing into clothes that are too small. Would you ever do this to a child? Of course not. So why do this to yourself? Because wearing a smaller size makes us feel thinner. Likewise, we think that wearing a smaller size will make us look thinner. But the reverse is true. Well dressed women agree that wearing clothes that skim, rather than cling to the body, creates the most flattering silhouette: good for your body as well as your self esteem.
2. Give yourself time for changes to manifest. Whether you’re a new mother trying to lose her baby weight, or you’re trying to lose your winter hibernation pounds, be kind to your body, and give yourself enough time to reach your goal. Expecting changes overnight, or in a week, or even in a month, result in drastic measures and frustration. Either you’ll kill yourself to meet your goal, or you’ll give up and berate yourself for your lack of progress. Habits take 3 weeks to take; mindsets, over a year. So give it time.
3. Accept a range for an ideal weight, rather than one number. Health is dynamic, an ever changing, living, breathing thing. You can’t expect your body to be constant. Weight fluctuates, especially in women’s bodies. Health fluctuates, as your external circumstances change. The appearance of your skin and hair fluctuates with the seasons and your health. Instead of accepting one weight as your ideal, give yourself a range of at least 6 pounds to accommodate the normal flux of living. Instead of having one definition of a good hair or skin day, increase your options to include a day when you have a small pimple or when your hair doesn’t cooperate perfectly.
4. Accept fat days without shame and criticism. Yes, in an ideal world, every woman would love her body all of the time. But what if you don’t love your body everyday? Let it go, and give yourself a break. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you’ve got PMS. Maybe you’re tired of winter and sweaters and are longing for spring. Accept that while, yes, your goal is to love your body, there may be times when you don’t. And that’s okay.