Pizza and Eggplant

Holy sore deltoids, Batman! My jumping jacks adventure made writing on the board a little rough today, but I'm a lover of sore muscles, so no complaints here!

Today, talking to Terry on the way home from work, I hit a new low. Here's how that went:

Me: Is Modern Family new tonight?

Terry: We already watched it.

Me: No, we didn't.

Terry: Yes we did, you don't remember?

Me: Terry, you're a terrible liar. Today is Wednesday!

[Here's where I realize that today is, in fact, Thursday.]

It's amazing what exhaustion will do to your brain.

Let's jump to the most exciting parts of today: meals. For lunch I finished up the last of our homemade tomato soup. By the way, Jenn loved it! (I brought her dinner yesterday to provide some sustenance while she works on her qualifying exams. Good luck, Jenn!) She said she paired her leftovers today with zucchini and pomegranate seeds. YUM. I only had the soup.

Tonight I made it home by 7:00, which is early these days. I couldn't wait to work up a sweat after such a stressful week. First, I made the dough for our pizza, since it needs to rest for an hour, and then I headed to our complex's gym for my 5-4-3-2-1 workout. My intervals tonight were:

• 5 minutes: 6.7 mph, 0 incline
• 5 minutes: 4.5 mph, 8 incline
• 4 minutes: 6.9 mph, 0 incline
• 4 minutes: 4.5 mph, 8 incline
• 3 minutes: 7.1 mph, 0 incline
• 3 minutes: 4.5 mph, 8 incline
• 2 minutes: 7.3 mph, 0 incline
• 2 minutes: 4.5 mph, 0 incline
• 1 minute: 7.5 mph, 4 incline
• 1 minute: 4.0 mph, 0 incline

I added an extra two minutes at 4.5 (no incline) in order to reach 3 miles. I got home just in time to make pizza (though we ate around 8:30 - sorry, honey). Quick and easy pizza and roasted eggplant!

Homemade Pizza

Serves 2, with leftovers

Look at those vegetables!

Melted cheese + eggplant + tomatoes = Pizza perfection

• Whole-wheat pizza dough (I used Lisa's recipe)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce of your choice
• 1/4 eggplant, sliced crosswise
• 1/2 tomato, sliced
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 3 ounces mozzarella

Make the pizza dough according to your recipe's directions. Lisa's calls for you to allow the dough to rise at least one hour and up to 24 in the fridge. When it's ready, heat the oven to 475 degrees and roll out the dough on a pizza stone or cookie sheet - not too thin! We used a thick crust this time, but we've done thin before and it's also delicious. Top the dough with an even layer of tomato sauce, then pieces of mozzarella. Add the thinly sliced eggplant, tomatoes, onion, and additional cheese. Bake for 8-12 minutes (less time for thin crust, more for thick).

The pizza kicked delivery pizza's booty! I absolutely LOVE pizza. We live way too close to BJ's pizza, which makes some awesome deep-dish crust (though I had to quit eating their spinach-artichoke pizza when I saw how many calories it has), and I've had more Papa John's pizzas than I'm proud of. But now that I know how easy and delicious homemade pizza is, I'm a changed girl! Plus, I can load up my pizza with TONS of fresh vegetables! Bonus!

Roasted Eggplant with Tomato Sauce

Serves 2 (side)

I didn't take a picture of just the eggplant
because I didn't realize it would be so delicious!

• 1 eggplant, cut into one-inch cubes
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the olive oil, salt, pepper, and eggplant on a cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes, turning once. Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce on the stove. When the eggplant is roasted, allow to cool for a few minutes, then add to the tomato sauce. To serve, top with the Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

This recipe is a great way to serve a delicious side of vegetables. The sweet eggplant complements the salty cheese, and the tomato sauce makes it taste just like eggplant parmigiana! We will definitely eat this easy dish more often to boost our dinner veggies.

Scout was thrilled to chill on the couch after dinner!

Off to bed! Tomorrow is Friday (football in the rain? yuck), and I have big plans for a pre-work yoga session!