100 Mile Diet Pizza

Last weekend I made a passing comment to DH that I was thinking about make pizza this week. Since then, Mr. Selective Hearing & Memory has been bugging me for some homemade 'za.

Yesterday, I decided that I wasn't going to get my pizza lovin' monkey off my back until I made some 'za. I whipped up a basic pizza dough with some True Grains Red Fife whole wheat. From the freezer I pulled out some pesto and local tomatoes for sauce. My veggie toppings included local mushrooms and onions. Meat toppings ran the gambit from local striped shrimp to Hertel's smoked bacon to bison pepperoni from Island Bison. Instead of plain ole mozzarella, I went for Little Qualicum's Raclette cheese & some of their feta. I also had a chunk of goat feta from Hilary's Cheese and and some of their camembert. It pretty much was a cleaning out of bits and pieces of fridge offerings. Pizza is a great use for leftovers, drips and chunks of this 'n that.
















While one of the batches of pizza was baking up, I also tossed in some squash and other veggies to roast up for side dishes. Might as well maximize the use of the oven while it's chugging out all that heat.

Along with a half a dozen thin crust pizzas, I also made a batch of calzones. Pretty much just small stuffed pizzas. They're great for lunches. Both the pizza and calzones freeze well and just need a quick heat up in the oven.

















We enjoyed a fun 'za night and that pizza lovin' monkey is too full to bug me for a few more weeks. Luckily, I have a couple batches of frozen pizza and calzones to throw at him when he starts jonesing again.

Today, I did an interview with Allison Cross, a reporter from the Nanaimo Daily News, about the 100 Mile Diet. I invited her over for lunch since I figured it only makes sense to enjoy a 100 mile diet meal while chatting about local food issues. I blended up some of the butternut squash into a smooth soup and threw in some curry powder and a touch of chipolte pepper. Along with that, I warmed up some slices of 100 mile diet pizza and we had ourselves a lovely lunch. Of course, I rambled and ranted endlessly. I don't even remember half the things I said. It's so hard for me to stay on track. There's so much to talk about in relation to the 100 Mile Diet. Well, Allison was a smart and able interviewer and I'm sure be able to unravel my rambling and find something coherent admists my verbal rat's nest.

Tuesday night's talk with MP Jean Crowder in Cedar went spendidly well. At least, once I figured out which church I was supposed to go to, the evening went well. I really have to learn to actually write down my destinations and not just trust my gut. I got to meet a load of really cool people and had the oppurtunity to chat with folks about the diet and their concerns and questions. I even talked to a local restauranteur who was interested in bringing in local produce into his restaurant. Kudos and I hope it happens. Then I'll have somewhere to eat other than Chez Jen's.

One of the big issues that looms in the minds of local farmers around the world is the commercialization of the Terminator seed by Monsanto. Basically, it's a seed that has been genetically engineered to be sterile after the first use. This means that the practice of seed-saving that has been done since the beginning of agriculture, is not possible with the use of this technology. It means another step towards industrial monopolization of our food supply and the end of food soveriegnty. Canada, once a supporter of a ban on Terminator seeds has recently switched sides and is now leading the campaign to lift the moratorium on the commercialization of this product. This even when the chief of Strategic Policy Development for Agriculture Canada admitted that the government has no way of assessing the impact of this technology on the public's health, the economy and Canadian farmers. The government will let the marketplace make the assessment. This is completely ass backwards. Talk about letting the fox guard the henhouse. So while local farmers are trying to survive under an avalanche of ridiculous and unneccesary regulations, Monsanto gets to unleash it's untest, unassessed products onto the Canadian public with the federal government's blessing. GRRRRR.

For more information, check out the Ban Terminator site.
If you're interested in hearing more about this issue, Kate Green from USC Canada will be speaking about the Terminator seed at Knox United Church in Parksville on Valentine's Day from 7 to 9pm.

Last, but not least, the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet is back up! YIPPEE!!!! There are still a few quirks that I've gotta work out but for the most part it's back up. Check out the 100 Mile Diet Nanaimo site regularly as I'm going to be updating it with local food news and events for Vancouver Island.

I'm off to finish the 2nd sleeve of the MIL sweater. Tomorrow I shall steek (EEEK!!). Wish me luck. I'm a bit naseous just thinking about it.

Happy Eating!
Jen