Pizza for Dinner

When I bought a can of artichokes at the grocery store recently, I envisioned myself making some sort of creamy crab-spinach-artichoke dip, but that has never happened. Instead, a few artichokes ended up in a salad. Since they were the unmarinated kind, it didn’t really work out. That bowl of unfinished artichokes was my inspiration for pizza.

I discovered frozen pizza dough a few years ago and love to use it now and then. My plan yesterday was to stop at the grocery store before going to the gym at around 12:30. The problem with the plan was that even though it was the middle of March, the temperature was in the mid-forties – far too cool for the dough to begin thawing in the car. But wrapped in its plastic bag, I thought it might get a head start in my gym locker in the toasty woman’s locker room!

 Unfortunately, after my workout, the dough was still pretty frozen. What did the trick was placing it on a metal baking sheet. The metal conducts heat from the air to the frozen item or disperses the cold molecules away – I’m not sure which, but food thaws faster than if left directly on the counter.

My pizza recipes vary. For this one, I made a basil pesto and topped it with mozzarella, mushrooms, and the artichoke hearts.  I like to add salt and pepper, and sometimes some red pepper flakes. What made this pizza really great was dried tomatoes--they have a very strong and bright taste.  I bought my dried tomatoes in the bulk section at the grocery store, but I think I'll try making some from fresh tomatoes from this recipe. I'll let you know how it goes.