So what has been happening in Jules kitchen....not much I hate to admit. We have continued our day to day attempt at clean eating, and I haven't been super great at planning ahead so when it comes time for the family to eat Grandma has been in charge. Here comes the ghastly confession which has me doing the walk of shame of so often.....I feel like there is a huge blinking arrow above me that says doing the walk of shame...so here goes my confession. Grandma loves a certain large pizza chain and they opened one up here...you can see where this is going can't you....well when it comes time for dinner should I be at the day job still, out mowing the yard, folding laundry, or they just don't like what I am cooking for dinner.....my mother can easily sway my children into ordering pizza from this certain chain store before I get home and have me pick it up. There it is I Jules, advocate for preservative free living, is picking up pizza and I have been so busy that I didn't even mind the occasional break until the girl who answers the phone said you order so often and always get the same thing that I know what you want when I hear your voice thinking I was my mother. Man oh man this is a huge issue for our preservative free way of eating and a huge sign that I need to get my mother through preservative detox as she is a bad influence on my children and I need to do a better job of planning ahead. Well I have picked up the pizza so often that I now have rewards card for said pizza joint in the dash cubby of my truck. It makes me want to barf every time I see it, but some days I choose to pick my battles, eat the preservatives, and enjoy a slight break. There it is folks I am not Supermom, just a busy Mom trying to balance life.
Not everyday is perfect, well most days aren't perfect and that I am ok with because it is the best I can do and tomorrow is a new day which means I get to start over and try to do better.
In my effort to meet in the middle I have tried to mingle the convenience foods my family loves with fresh veggies. So when everyone was complaining about what I was planning for dinner, I knew it was time to pull out something just as amazing as the green box preservative laden pizza, which also means less walk of shame walking for me!
So I would like to share my quick go to snack and although not technically preservative free it is better than the chain stores pizza. I love this as a quick evening dinner or even a Saturday afternoon snack. When buying the ingredients be sure to check the ingredient labels carefully.....I just looked at the brand of crescent rolls I buy most often and low and behold they have snuck red 40 and yellow 5 plus the host of other unsavory ingredients that you need to be a scientist in order to pronounce. I used them here (only because I am cheap) and loved it but will no longer be buying this brand. The bonus is this has gotten me back to looking at every ingredient list on every manufactured item I purchase and have found some ghastly ingredients in things that have been "improved" or marketed as healthy and natural (warning sirens should have sounded but I must have been sleep purchasing that day...I just call this item my antifreeze ice cream).
Ingredients
1 tube of crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese the soy cheese also works really really well here
An assortment of fresh veggies I like to use the leftover veggies in my fridge
Here I used spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and some bacon leftover from breakfast. I have also used asparagus and turkey bacon which was also just as amazing.I begin by using my favorite kitchen essential....my mister to spray some olive oil on a cookie sheet. These are the little droplets on the sheet to the right. I unrolled the crescent rolls and push the seams together the best I can. The crescent rolls will not cover the entire sheet and I don't get too excited about it. I then slice the veggies and layer them onto the "crust".
I sure don't mind the sparse amount of cheese on this compared to the chain stores. I am a pizza girl from growing up in the windy city part of the country and for me the sauce has always been a huge part of the pizza experience...yes pizza is an experience. I prefer to use sliced tomatoes in place of sauce to help keep preservatives to a minimum.
After the veggies cover the entire crust I sprinkle the cheese on top of them and then bake the pizza at 325 until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted. Once the pizza is done I slide it off the cookie sheet onto my wooden cutting board to cut the squares. I am very methodical in cutting and make 8 squares but this can easily be cut into smaller sizes for bite sized snacks.
Here is my piece of the final pizza and it is just as fresh tasting and amazing as it looks.
I hope that this serves as a springboard for your own combination of fresh veggies in a super quick meal that may just keep you from sporting the preservative laden pizza chain reward card and doing your own version of the walk of shame!
