Vegan MoFo, Day 8: Today Sucks...Oh, Wait, There's Pizza?

This has been one dreary-ass day (aside from the wedding The Hubs and I attended. Congrats Beth and Nick!). But otherwise, the rainy pits. Definitely an evening best spent climbing back into a sweatshirt and lounge pants, watching kitschy ghost shows, and listening to the rain pound on the roof.

Since I assigned my blog to the "Comfort Foods" category, I thought I would throw some of that in here. Let's face it, as tasty as "boeuf" bourguignon and sushi are, they aren't REALLY comfort foods. Unless you slather them in hot sauce/cheeze sauce. Then I'd make them any time I felt glum.

There's also pizza. Our adopted American past time. Yeah, because eating pizza is sort of like a sport nowadays. (Side note: since when did the guy from the Operation kids game have man boobs? I saw the new version on TV today, and he's HUGE.) This is most definitely a "foodie" dish. I think I remember hearing an NPR article a while back about the war between two pizzerias in NY: one that had been the first known pizzeria in the US (which had closed its doors for a while) and one that was established later but was claiming to be the longest-running pizzeria in the US. People and their pizza! Yikes!

So let's get into those sweats and enjoy some BBQ Chix Pizza, people!

"Not Like the Oldest Pizza in the US, But F-ing Tastycakes"

serves probably more than my one portion

pizza dough (we had store-bought, but feel free to make your own from the vast numbers of recipes out there)

3-4 tbsp BBQ sauce (we used Annie's brand)

1 package chick'n, cooked until golden

several handfuls of Daiya (I just had cheddar on hand)

Sprinkle of parsley and red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cook your chick'n. Spread your pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet. Bake it for about 5 minutes, then remove from oven.

Spread BBQ sauce on crust, followed by half the Daiya, then the chix, then the rest of the Daiya. Sprinkle with the dried parsley and red pepper flakes. Pop back in the oven for about 5-7 minutes more until ooey-gooey.

Enjoy it on the couch, watching a back episode of Jeopardy!, and lamenting the rain. Ho hum.

In other news, I am now into the 140's (as in weight). I haven't been here since...maybe 2006(?) That means that I've gone from 175 lbs. when I went vegan Jan 2, 2010 to 148 lbs today. Holla!

Jes

Ah, Friday, I Miss You Already...

But on to SATURDAY!

Yesterday was a day of doing not much of anything around our house. We went out to forage (i.e. buy some groceries) and came home to nap, catch up on Jeopardy! (we watch it every time we eat dinner together, it's our ritual for a year now), and renew our love for playing board games with each other.

After I woke up, bleary-eyed from my nap, I stumbled into the kitchen to grab the chocolate ice cream we purchased earlier at the store. Nothing better after a nap of dreaming about it :)

I couldn't eat much of it, which is a good thing!

After a dinner of pizza like this we dug out some board games to play together. We used to do this ALL THE TIME and have tons of games as a result, but the stress of the wedding and school made us forget all about the fun we used to have. Consider the rivalry renewed!

1st up: Scrabble! (Hubs won.)

Check out the word in the middle! That was mine to start the game!!

Totally unexpected but RAD!

2nd game: Trivial Pursuit! (I kicked his butt!)

And then for old time's sake: Connect Four! (He won...and won...)

Now we're both sick...great...I'm torn between making soup and making a salad with grilled tofu and cranberry vinaigrette with shallot croutons. You can tell what's probably going to win.

Jes

'Za, I Love It!

The Hubs and I love the 'Za (Pizza...we love to shorten food names in this house). It's one meal that we sort of collectively make--me being vegan, The Hubs still eating meat occasionally. We do eat some of the same food, but this is so much fun--it's like making a personal pan pizza à la childhood!

He has his half (whoa, say that 3 times fast!), and I have mine. I want to say it's the same thing as with money in a marriage ("what's hers is hers, and what's his is hers"), but it's NOT so much in this case...

Here's the result:

Notice the huge No Man's Land in between!

My side: Mozz. and Cheddar Daiya, organic mushrooms, and black olive slices atop homemade 'za sauce.

His side: Morningstar Farm Crumbles with cow's milk mozz.

Winner: Mine, clearly :)

This is how we compromise when it comes to the 'Za, because that's what marriage is all about and why we've been together for so dang long. Wonder what we're going to do when we have kids...?

Jes