"Buy Fresh. Buy Local."

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One of my favorite things about this time of year is the fresh produce. Given that I do not have a garden...and there are several reasons for that: 1) I was months pregnant during planting season and 2) I do not have time to tend to a garden. That being the case I heavily depend on gracious friends and family wanting to share their bounty and also our local Farmer's Market. 

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Our local Farmers Market is across the street from our gym, so I frequently stop by and pick up a few things for dinner or lunch. All the vendors are super nice and despite the weather this year, they've had a pretty good selection of wares. Here are a few things I've found lately. Of course I love making that Garden Pizza I've shared before. 

I also made these yummy desserts last week. And they are healthy because there's zucchini in them, right?! They are the Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches from Martha Stewart Living. There's the link to the recipe or they were in the magazine a few months back with a cute printable available to give them away as gifts. But why you would want to give these away, I don't know. They are scrumptious. This is Martha's picture below, but mine looked way better...I forgot to take pictures. I think they would make a great party food if you did them smaller...more bite size.

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If you're in the area on Saturday, it's the Watermelon Festival at the Morgan County Farmers Market from 9-12. It is always hopping down there, so be prepared to park and walk a block or so.

Recipe: Garden Pizza

I haven't shared a recipe in awhile so Friday when I was making my lunch I decided to document it with photos. The only one I lack is the one of me actually enjoying what I made. As is normal around here, Bliss woke-up Isla from her nap before I could pull the finished pizza from the oven.

This is my variation of a recipe from Pampered Chef, that I believe is called 3 Cheese Garden Pizza.

First you need a pizza dough. Feel free to use a refrigerator crust. Me...I always use the Ford Family stand-by, Jennie's 5 minute Pizza Dough. Here's the recipe.

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

2 Tbsp oil

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in water and let sit for several minutes. Add sugar, salt and oil...stir. Add flour about a cup at a time until you get the correct stiffness to your dough. Knead. Let rest for 5 minutes. Makes 2 crusts.

So now your ready for the pizza part. Take your crust and roll out onto a 9x13 bar pan. I use the entire recipe because I like thick crust. I combine about 2 Tbsp olive oil with 2 minced gloves of garlic and rub it on my dough. Put dough in 425 degree oven and let cook for about 10 minutes.

While your crust is cooking, start cutting up your veggies.

I use:

1 medium size zucchini, sliced

2 roma tomatoes, sliced

2-3 slices of a medium sized onion (red is really good with this, but I use whatever is one hand)

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

sliced mushrooms, occasionally if on hand

Usually by the time I finish up cutting the veggies, my crust is where I need it to be. You want to only partially cook your crust.

I start layering the veggies on my crust.

First is the zucchini.

Then the red peppers and tomatoes.

Then the onions. I sprinkle Italian seasoning over the veggies before I top with the cheeses. I use either a pizza cheese combo or mozzarella and Parmesan. Sometimes I add Asiago or Romano if I have them.

Return pizza to oven and bake until crust begins to turn golden brown, cheese is nice and melty...general appearance of doneness.

There you go. I nice yummy pizza using the wares of a summer garden. No, this didn't all come from my garden, but my local produce section which is full of this kind of stuff for good prices this time of year. And, no offense PC, but I like my variation better. Sorry...cheddar cheese does not belong on pizza...in my humble pizza opinion.

Since no one else in my family likes this, I get to enjoy it for several days. Yum-o.