Pizza, pizza!

I really love pizza. My husband and I moved in to our first house last September. It didn't take us long to discover Wholesome Pizza (in the Raley's parking lot, about half a mile from our house). And, well - I just love it. They have "skinny wheat crust" - who knows how skinny that skinny is. I prefer to remain in the dark, though I have googled the term to see if it represents an actual wholesale product available for pizzerias (if so, it's not something that they publish on the internet in a very public place!). Wholesome Pizza does what they do pretty well. But sometimes a girl just has to make pizza at home!


I probably sound like I am obsessed with Trader Joe's. To a degree, I am. I will discuss my likes and dislikes about the store in a future post. Some of their products just float my boat! Tonight I used their refrigerated herb dough. Yes, I know how to make my own yeast dough at home from scratch. Yes, it requires hours of advance planning due to the rise time. No, I don't have hours most days!! And let's be honest - sometimes we just don't want to clean the food processor. Rolling out TJ's herb dough is a simple and tasty option. (Note: You WILL see this dough more often, come summer. It is absolutely perfect for making grilled pizzas!)

Side note: Reading the package yields wisdom about the product! The dough is supposed to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before assembling and baking. Who knew? I'm not sure this made too much of a difference in the final pizza, but it's good to know.

We did an asparagus, green garlic, and red onion pizza. Yum!


Here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If using a pizza stone, pop it in the oven at the beginning of your prep.

Prepare the veggies:
- Soak the asparagus in a bowl of water for about 5 minutes and clean thoroughly. Chop into 2-inch pieces (halved thicker spears length-wise).
- Clean the green garlic (remove the outer layer and remove any dirt). Slice thinly.
- Thinly slice 1/2 a red onion.

Cook veggies:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the green garlic and cook for about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat; add the asparagus and S&P. Stir to coat.

Other toppings (prepared while the veggies cooked):
- Grate 8 oz of mozzarella (you could use less - this yielded a very cheesy pizza!)
- Crumble a knob of goat cheese (about 2 ounces)

Assemble & cook:
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch round (or to the specific size of your pan - sometimes rectangle pizza just tastes better!).
- Spread some pizza sauce atop the dough.
- Layer the mozzarella, then the asparagus mixture, then red onion, and finally the goat cheese. Sprinkle with dried oregano.
- Pop in the oven and cook for about 12 minutes (or less, depending on how heavy-handed you were with the toppings).

We ate it with a Cesar salad on the side. DELICIOUS!