Pea and Olive Pizza.

Is it cold enough for you out there?  (Friends in the Southern Hemisphere, just sub out “warm” for “cold.”)

First and foremost, we’re riding quite an exuberant high around Chez Recessionista this week, since my beloved Seminoles clenched the national championship trophy last night!  I would’ve blogged – we had West Coast chili in keeping with the Rose Bowl theme – but I was too busy alternating between jumping to the ceiling in jubilation and flinging myself onto the side of the front door in despair.  (It was a little bit of a rough game for three or so quarters there.)

As a result of last night’s festivities, tonight LeeLee and I are both a bit tired (the game went late last night, and the celebration went later).  So I knew we needed a relatively easy, quick meal to put on the table.

Now, when I made up this week’s menu plan, I had intended to make a batch or two of pizza dough to put in the freezer for nights just such as these.  Alas, my best-laid plans were not to be, and so tonight I found myself stopping by the grocery store on the way home for a Pillsbury pizza crust, which did the job perfectly fine, if I do say so myself.

I came across the recipe for green pea and black olive pizza in Nava Atlas’ The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet, which incidentally is one of my very favorite go-to cookbooks.  My best friend gave it to me as a wedding gift nearly 10 (!) years ago, and it hasn’t strayed far from my reach since then.  I use it all the time, and tonight was no exception.

Instead of a red pizza, I elected to do a white version, so I spooned a few dollops of ricotta cheese on my prebaked crust and topped it with some “pizza blend” cheese (that is, mozzarella and cheddar – I confess I’d never really thought of that combination as a “pizza blend” before, but there the package sits, proudly in the grocery aisle).  I topped the cheeses with a hearty helping of frozen (straight from the bag!) peas and a small can of sliced black olives and put the pizza back in the oven to bake for about 15 more minutes.  As it cooked, I tossed a quick salad (my go-to – romaine with cherry tomatoes, olives, and parmesan cheese) and set the table.  And poured myself a glass of wine while I was at it, because why not?

The end result was fantastic.  This pizza looks so fresh, so dadgum healthy in spite of the cheese, and the Pillsbury dough was a worthy stand-in for homemade.  LeeLee and I each had three slices, and we’ve still got enough for one of us to eat for lunch tomorrow.  I love a leftover!

Stay warm, friends, and go Noles!

:)