When in Doubt...

Learn a new word! (or two! or more! in any language, by gosh!!)

Get up and move around! (take a walk! swing your arms! stretch!!)

Read something! (anything! well, something useful and/or interesting, preferably!!)

Clean something! (no matter how small! no matter how inconspicuous!!)

Go be nice to someone! (a parent! a stranger! an enemy! a puppy!!)

Play music! (turn on the radio! sing! pick up an instrument and work at it!!)

Meditate! (or be mindful! notice something new with each breath!!)


There is always something worthwhile you can be doing!!

Things I Did in October

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

PHOTOS: I'm still working with my 11-year-old, 2-megapixel Canon point-and-shoot. Despite being unable to capture the smallest, most vibrantly-colored blooms with it, I'm pretty pleased with this month's photos anyway--lots more lovely autumn light and flowers (most of the plants aren't mine):

(This was much darker--blogger made it look practically like daytime.)

(Up from under the hibiscus! Why didn't I think of this before?)

(Shot through a beveled-glass windowpane.)

(Joey's much too photogenic to be confined to the pupdates.)

BOOK REVIEW: 

How Did It Begin?: The Origins of Our Curious Customs and Superstitions, by Dr. R. & L. Brasch

At first I was a bit leery of this book since I'd found it on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble and started noticing awkward phrasing and typographical errors almost from the beginning. It calls itself a "revised edition," yet, by the end, I had found dozens of mistakes. Judging from information offered in the blurb and the introduction, I get the impression that this was merely a book in progress when the author (Dr. R., a British rabbi who lived in Australia) passed away and his wife (L.) decided to publish it. Thus, despite the kinds of red flags I usually associate with hack writing and misinformation, I felt I could go ahead and take in the facts presented in this book with maybe just a few extra grains of salt and a few extra dictionary and Google checks (for example: Palantine is not an alternate spelling of Palatine, despite the fact that the author spelled it that way five times).

I have a great interest in the origins of customs, objects and words, and this book provided many explanations I had not heard before, even having read an excellent book in the genre called Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things many years ago. Unlike Panati's, however, How Did It Begin? contained almost no references and felt much more off-the-cuff than the scholarly Origins. Another maddening feature of the book was that, despite a line in the introduction about how one must cast aside many false explanations of things in order to find the truth, false or "less likely" explanations were often presented before the true or "more likely" ones without any note that they would prove to be incorrect. This kept me on my toes the entire time because I never knew when I was being led astray. Plus, a wide selection of the author's personal prejudices were a recurring annoyance (I will refrain from providing examples in order to keep my good mood). 

Despite my misgivings and frustrations, I did end up enjoying How Did It Begin?. Even just watching TV, I'd notice all sorts of things connecting back to what I'd read. I found myself wanting to tell my mom and sister the "funnest" facts--how Chinese people used to pay their doctors only as long as they stayed healthy and stopped once they fell ill; how the first Cesarean section after which the mother survived was performed in 1500, not by a doctor, but by "an accomplished sow-gelder" who simply wished to save the life of his wife (who later went on to give birth to six more children); how Australian soldiers are called "Diggers" because they were once stationed on the Sinai Peninsula where drifting sand necessitated the continual re-digging of trenches ("We aren't soldiers, we're diggers!" one Charles Everitt complained); and so on.

All in all, because of its division into short chapters and subheadings, I'd recommend this book if you need something to read in fits and starts--on public transportation, during jury duty, etc. But if you're looking for something with better flow and more attention to detail and accuracy, I'd recommend the book by Charles Panati instead.

HEALTH GOALS:

I ate better and ran more in October. I noticed that my hip bones (those upper corners of the pelvis) have become faintly visible, though it only made me wonder how much of the change in my body this year is evidence of improvements to my health and how much of it is little more than objects under the skin becoming more visible due to aging-related loss of collagen (perish the thought!).

I ran out of B-12 dots about mid-month and thought I would just switch to eating eggs every day since

the new fridge had FINALLY arrived, but I neglected to do this and did not realize my mood had gradually been tanking and my brain filling up with fog until the day before yesterday. I think from now on, I will simply keep the stuff on hand, and if I have failed to eat eggs in any given day, I will take the silly pill.

AT LONG LAST I have made at least a first draft of my...

System for Choosing Less-Fattening Sources of Protein

I did not catalog nearly as many foods as I had intended to, but I can add new things as I go along. 

100 RECIPES GOAL: This entire October write-up is so late because I was reluctant to write up my recipes. I only made two of the titles below into links (the blueberry crisp and the oatmeal) although there are links to half-assed write-ups of the other recipes in the sidebar. For example, the eggplant couscous and the green pilaf were very good, but the recipes were long, and I felt discouraged about copying them out since I get few if any hits on my recipe entries. If you are interested in the missing recipes, just send me a tweet.

#49. Reverse-Engineered Amy's No Cheese Pizza

#50. Wild Blueberry Crisp

#51. Potato, Sage and Apple Gratin

#52. Moroccan Eggplant with Couscous

#53. Green Pilaf with Cashews

#53. Eggplant Mini-Pizzas

#54. Blueberry and Almond Muffins

#55. Doctor Oatmeal

A System for Choosing Less-Fattening Sources of Protein

Below the writing here is a chart/list of ranked foods. Smaller numbers mean healthier foods, but before you take my advice, please read the following:

One day I was "pigging out" on raw pumpkin seeds and raw sunflower seeds. I know--that shouldn't count as pigging out, but I was really shoveling them into my mouth, and it made me wonder: of all the healthy foods I eat, which should I really be eating with abandon, and which should I eat only in little measured servings? I compared the packages on the seeds, and both had lots of protein, fiber, calcium and iron, but I couldn't tell which was better.

To figure it out, I came up with a basic little formula that compares the daily allowances of "bad" things in a food to "good" things. It's structured around what I personally look for in a food, so if you have your own particular dietary needs, I highly encourage you to modify it for your own purposes. If you only care about protein, carbs, and fat, don't even use daily values--I'd recommend comparing the straight up calories of each per gram. So this is just a loose rule of thumb, but I've run a lot of foods through this formula with enough expected results to confirm its correctness and enough unexpected results to make it worthwhile.

Here's the formula:

(%DV Fat + %DV Saturated Fat + %DV Carbohydrates + %DV Sugar) / (%DV Protein + %DV Fiber + %DV Calcium + %DV Iron)

This is just a ratio where I've put the good stuff on the bottom, so A LOWER RESULT MEANS A HEALTHIER FOOD.

I am aware that "saturated fat" is a subset of "fat," and "sugar" of "carbohydrates". I am also aware that within each of those categories are many different types of each, some good, some bad. Like I said, this is just a rule of thumb.

Also, I came up with my own Daily Values for sugar and protein. I just take the number of grams and divide by 0.75 (this means I allow/want 75 grams of sugar/protein per day). Weirdly, that makes sugar count against a food quite a bit, but makes the protein count for less. If you want, you can weight your protein value, paradoxically saying you want less per day in order for it to count more in your number. I tried variations, and in most foods it didn't matter much, so I just stuck with dividing both numbers by 0.75 for ease.

Another thing to watch out for is that some foods will be fortified with extra calcium and iron (for example, Clif Bars, Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats), allowing them to add a lot of sugar or fat without damaging their rating too much. Or, they will simply have a lot of everything in them naturally and end up balancing out pretty well numerically when what you really want may be something that doesn't have much fat or sugar in it at all. On the flip side, things like sauerkraut won't have very big numbers for anything and will come out looking good when they don't have much going for them protein-wise. Likewise, many foods have lots of fiber but no protein (like blueberries). I left the system the way it is because I value the fiber, calcium and iron and much as the protein, even though I'm mainly interested in maximizing protein.

Some foods simlpy can't be rated because they have zeroes across the bottom of the ratio, but there will still be differences. For example, root beer and olives are both impossible to rank, even though olives are much healthier because of nutrients not accounted for in the formula (and for the healthiness of their fat, which ends up on the "bad" side of the ratio despite it's usefulness in limiting bad cholesterol).

So please, please, please just use this as a guide or a way of comparing foods that seem relatively similar. For example, I thought simple, wholesome Heartland Bread Co.'s Honey Whole Wheat Bread would fare better than Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Honey Wheat Bread, but the latter came out slightly ahead. This is because the clever people at Pepperidge farm sweetened their bread not just with honey but with sugarcane fiber as well, which adds not just fiber but iron; added chicory root for even more fiber; and added wheat gluten, which makes dough more workable but also adds protein. The difference is not very big, but it does mean that with your 4 grams of protein per slice, you are getting less fat and sugar, and more iron from the Pepperidge Farm bread.

Another unexpected thing was the healthiness of whole grains overall as opposed to nuts. Someone looking for a high-protein vegan snack would probably choose peanuts over bread (I mean, isn't bread "a carb"?), not realizing that peanuts have carbs as well, and lots of fat to boot. 

And as far as those seeds go, pumpkin beats sunflower, but both are about as healthy as it gets.

Grains and Grain-Based Products

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats--0.26*

Arrowhead Mills Puffed Kamut--0.27 (They market this as a rediscovered ancient grain, but the name is registered, so is it a GMO?)

White Whole Wheat Flour--0.29

Wheat Germ--0.33

Arrowhead Mills Organic Blue Cornmeal--0.36

La Tortilla Factory Green Chile Corn Tortilla--0.37

Bob's Red Mill Extra Thick Rolled Oats--0.44

Nature's Own Honey Wheat Enriched Bread--0.44*

Pepperidge Farm Jewish Rye Bread (Seeded)--0.46

Pepperidge Farm 100% Whole Wheat Bread--0.46

Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Honey Wheat Bread--0.55

Triscuits (both Rosemary & Olive Oil and Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil varieties)--0.56

Bob's Red Mill Golden Couscous--0.65

Heartland Bread Co. Honey Whole Wheat Bread--0.75

Heartland Bread Co. Mega-Grain Bread--0.77

Brown Rice--0.77

Xochitl Totopos de Mais (corn chips)--0.91

Jasmine Rice--1.3

Garofalo Penne Pasta--1.3

King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls--2.2


Lentils, Beans and Peas

Lentils--0.13

Black Beans--0.15

Fresh French Green Beans--0.15

Pinto Beans--0.17

Lima Beans--0.21

Le Sueur Very Young Small Sweet Peas (canned)--0.38

Garbanzo Beans--0.45

Nuts and Seeds

Flax Seed--0.38

Hemp Hearts Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds--0.65

Raw Pumpkin Seeds--0.87

Raw Sunflower Seeds--0.94

Wonderful Shelled Pistacios (roasted)--1.2

Peanuts (dry roasted)--1.5

Cashews (roasted in peanut oil)--1.8

Walnuts--2.0

Jif Creamy Peanut Butter--2.1

Vegetables

Gundelsheim Barrel Sauerkraut--0.11

Seapoint Farms Eat Your Greens Blend (frozen)--0.15

Broccoli--0.22

Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth--0.29

Gimme Organic Roasted Seaweed Snacks--0.32

Fruits


Wyman's Fresh Frozen Wild Blueberries--0.64

Del Monte Pear Halves in 100% Juice (canned)--1.6

Sun Maid Organic Raisins--2.7

Sweetened Dried Cherries--3.2

Reese Mandarin Orange Segments in Light Syrup (canned)--3.3

Animal Products

Chicken Breast--0.22

Simple Balanced Organic Cage-Free Brown Eggs (Target brand?)--0.89

Salmon--0.97

Eggs (according to online Nutrition Facts)--0.98

Veg-a-Fed Cage Free Eggs--1.1

Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese--1.4

Whole Milk--1.4

Oscar Meyer Bologna--5.1

Cookies, Snack Foods and Chocolate

Clif Blueberry Crisp--0.72*

Clif Builder Bar (all varieties)--0.9*

FigBar (Peach Apricot)

Cherry Pie LaraBar--1.82

FigBar (Blueberry, Raspberry, Apple Cinnamon)--1.9

Sunspire Chocolate Baking Bar (65%)--2.1

Endangered Species Natural Dark Chocolate (72%)--2.9

Chocolove Holiday Fruits & Nuts in Dark Chocolate (55%)--3.2

Theo Organic Fair Trade Orange 70% Dark Chocolate--3.2

Theo Organic Fair Trade Cherry Almond 70% Dark Chocolate--3.2

Nonni's Almond Chocolate Biscotti--3.4

Newman's Own Dark Chocolate (54%)--4.6

Anna's Ginger Thins--12.4 (These scored incredibly badly because they are made with lots of palm oil, for crispness. I would have assumed that was totally healthy, but there is some controversy over whether the saturated fats in palm oil are any healthier than animal fats.)

Beverages

Sweet Leaf Sweet Tea (Original)--6.0

Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice--8.3

Frozen Meals and Canned Soups

Amy's Tamale Verde--0.54

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup--0.66

Amy's Mattar Tofu--0.68

Amy's Enchilada Verde--0.71

Amy's Mushroom & Olive Pizza--0.87

#55. Doctor Oatmeal

This is a recipe of my own invention--more of a preparation, really. I was looking to come up with a winter breakfast that would be even healthier than #41. Granola, specifically in that it would have no added sugar and a lot less fat. Oats are wonderfully healthy, full of protein, fiber and iron, without much of anything that's bad for you. I also wanted to incorporate wheat germ, which is a new addition to my diet, and milled flax, which I consider to be my vegan substitute for fish oil capsules.

Get about 1-1/2 cups of water boiling. (I just memorize where the water line is and use the same pot every time.) Add a dash of salt. Throw in 1/2 to 3/4 C. rolled oats (I like Bob's Red Mill Extra-Thick or Organic). I like to let the oats fizz up a bit before turning down the heat, but I'm sure it's not necessary--I just think it makes the finished product a bit thicker. Definitely DO turn down the heat to medium low after a moment, or the oats will overflow and/or scorch in the pan. I like to measure the oats with a little glass custard cup (1/2 C. is at the line and 3/4 C. is at the brim) and then use the same cup to measure my other ingredients.

Add about 1/4 C. wheat germ (you should be keeping this in the fridge since it is not as shelf-stable as the other parts of the wheatberry) and about 2 TBSP (i.e. 1/8 C.) of milled flax seed. STIR, STIR, STIR or the wheat germ will clump and the oats will stick to the pan. When in doubt, STIR. Add 1/4 C. raisins for antioxidants and, even more importantly, SWEETNESS! (You can get a giant box of organic raisins at Costco for about $8--I highly recommend this.) Stir, stir, stir. Pour out about 3/8 C. of walnuts and pick through and pull out any shrively ones and break the rest up with your fingers. Add these when the oatmeal only has about a minute more to cook. (Likewise, you can get 3 lbs. of walnuts at Costco for about $17, but the quality hasn't been great lately--hence picking out shrively ones--and the cost is not much less per pound than other stores.)

When the oatmeal reaches your desired thickness (I like it very thick, not at all runny), scrape it into a bowl and top with cinnamon (which is so healthy that stores actually sell capsules of it in the supplements aisle). Whatever you do, do NOT put sugar on this. The whole point of Doctor Oatmeal is that it makes you healthy. Likewise, milk is unnecessary. I only added apple slices to make the photo less boring, but they tasted pretty good with the oatmeal (just don't cook them into it--I tried one time, and it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be):

A+ (easy, delicious, and about as healthy as it gets)

#54. Blueberry and Almond Muffins

I tried to base this loosely on a recipe in "Easy Vegetarian," but I didn't have buttermilk and couldn't grind my almonds, so they came out pretty dull. I'd recommend the recipe in Joy of Cooking instead--or maybe some day I'll get all the proper ingredients and try this one again.

I took a picture anyway:

(aren't they cute?)

B, (because somehow they tasted fine by the third day--sometimes baked goods are like that)

#53. Eggplant Mini-Pizzas

I stole this idea off a website and now I can't remember which one--some kind of psychic/spiritual website that you wouldn't expect to have recipes--I was just Googling "eggplant pizza" and found it in the "images" bar. The gist is that instead of using crust, you use slices of eggplant. Go thinner than 1/2", but not quite as thin as 1/4", and find a way to get the slices oiled evenly without using too much--some of my slices ended up doused in oil and others were completely without... without oil, dry-baked eggplant just tastes like a green sponge. Pre-cook the oiled slices a bit, top them with whatever, and you're good to go:

I think they cooked at 375 for 15 minutes, but I don't remember. My favorite topping combos were spinach and cheddar, pizza sauce and olives, and marinated artichoke and cheddar. I tried to plate a few in a cute way, but the lighting really is SO bad:

B+ (fun and easy, but kind of boring)

#52. Green Pilaf with Cashews

This is the next recipe in "Vegetarian Cooking: A Commonsense Guide" after the Moroccan Eggplant. The process reminded me of the Curried Lentils recipe I tried several months ago and have been making regularly--you get some things prepared and then put it all in the pot, cover it, and let it cook, then add your greens at the last minute.

[leaving out the recipe for now--ask here or on Twitter if you'd like to try it]

Use raw cashews and toast them on a cookie sheet as the recipe instructs. They smell wonderful. Remember to toast extra because you will be popping them in your mouth while the rice cooks. I covered the pot in foil, and it pitted--this is supposedly a safe chemical reaction. The fennel, onions, parsley, rice and vegetable stock will make your kitchen smell like Thanksgiving.

Wised up and photographed this outside (the indoor lighting is terrible):

(fancy!)

A- (very delicious for a healthy vegan dish, relatively easy)

#52. Moroccan Eggplant with Couscous

This is from the ironically named "Vegetarian Cooking: A Commonsense Guide" which is full of very complicated recipes. I was terrified that it would be inedibly spicy, but it's actually delicious.

[Again, I'm leaving out the recipe. If you want to try it ask here or on Twitter.]

The first time I made this, it came out very good but a bit salty, and it took way too long to make (about two hours). So the second time, I thought I would substitute garlic paste for the garlic salt and take some shortcuts. Both were a bad idea. So in the future, DO salt the eggplant and let it stand 1/2 hour, DO use garlic salt, just maybe half as much, and DO let the eggplant cook slowly in oil without adding water. Also, slice the onions thin and get them good and browned.

This photo is from the first night I made it, when the onions were a bit too thick, but I didn't make the mistake of adding water to the eggplant, so the spices stayed stuck to the eggplant and the couscous stayed nice and couscous-colored:

A, if I do it right

#51. Potato, Sage, and Apple Gratin

As far as I can tell, a gratin is basically a custard with food in it. I got the recipe for this one from my trusty book "Easy Vegetarian." It had a flavor that I would describe as "different" and "interesting," and I mean that in a good way despite my use of quotation marks (my roommate wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, saying, "It has things in it that don't belong together."). The best part, though, was the smell. As the gratin was baking, it brought to mind my family's trip to Europe (16 years ago?) and the wonderful smell of restaurants in Switzerland/Austria/Southern Germany in winter, full of baked Apfel und Kartoffeln und Zwiebeln und Eier (sorry, I don't know how to do the umlaut on Apfel).

This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and about an hour to cook (the book says you can prepare it ahead of time (except for the apples, so they don't oxidize) and cook it an hour before you want it).

[I'm going to leave out the recipe for now because no one is reading this blog, and it's pretty long. If you're interested, just ask here or on Twitter]

Notes for future reference: I would go heavier on the sage, and put the whole amount of apples (I used half as many because I was afraid the baking dish would overflow--instead, the gratin shrank a bit in cooking, I think). This was best freshly cooked, so-so the next day and night, and tasted like bad cafeteria food by day three. I would make a half recipe if you are making it for one or two people.

This was actually quite pretty right out of the oven, but I took the photos at night so the lighting was rather poor:

It looked even better plated, although the layers kept trying to slide apart and fall into a pile:

B+ (I think I would have given it an A if it had taken less time and lasted better in the fridge--it's frustrating to do all that work for something you have to eat in one night)

Fuck Capitalism

My grandma's assisted living center got bought by these jerks. This is why the quality goes down and down while the cost goes up and up and the EXTREMELY hard-working employees get only 5 cents/hour raises every year--that is, when they aren't being fired for no good reason... on CHRISTMAS. All so these people can get their return-on-investment and then brag about it on their website:

My Doctor

This is a picture of my doctor.

Half My Life Ago

Because I'll be turning thirty in a few days, and thus have been feeling all sorts of horrible feelings, I dug into my old diaries looking for an entry from the eve of my fifteenth birthday in order to see what kinds of feelings I was feeling then. It turns out I didn't write anything at all that November, but pressed between the pages instead was a printout dated October 15, 1998. I think it must have been for school, and I vaguely remember reading it aloud to the class (ugh).

I like that it says "soon I'll be thirty" (and I mean "like" in the darkest, most cynical way possible). If you dare to subject yourself to this, you can click to enlarge the photo. You'll see that, even then, I was destined to become a blogger with an audience of twelve.

The biggest change between then and now is that I no longer have the feeling that life is a "carefully directed play." I used to have more of a sense of destiny, that I would become "something," and that that would somehow make everything worthwhile in the end. Somewhere between fifteen and thirty I fell into nihilism, and I don't know if I'll ever climb out again. The second biggest change, but perhaps a worse one, is that I no longer do somersaults. I hopped just this morning, and I played in the mud last week, but anything remotely gymnastic is long behind me now.

Plenty has stayed the same. I still feel far, far behind others in my age cohort, and even "kids" in their twenties have begun to surpass me. There's a couple down the street who are five years younger than me, and they already have three kids (not that I envy them that). I, on the other hand, haven't even held a job for longer than five months.

On the eve of my forty-fifth birthday, I'll need to either already have had kids, or have decided that I won't be having them at all. The family money I've been living on will have been long gone by that point, so I'll definitely have had to figure out my work situation. I know the intervening decade and a half will feel even shorter than the space between the present moment and driver's ed, so I know I can't drag my heels any longer. 

Hanging on for dear life--it's a scary thing.

#50. Wild Blueberry Crisp

I was doing some light online research on healthy foods recently when I read that "wild blueberries have higher levels of antioxidants than their cultivated counterparts." I Googled "wild blueberries," discovered the Wyman's brand, and went to the store and bought some. Then, not really knowing what to do with 3 lbs. of frozen blueberries (other than make the pie recipe from Joy of Cooking, which is very good, but I've been there, spilled boiling blueberry juice all over that), I visited the Wyman's site and found this recipe. It was so simple that I made it during the commercial breaks of my favorite TV show after my roommate complained that she didn't have any dessert foods or "snacky things."

I made this halved version of the original recipe and cooked it in a loaf pan. I think it was gone within 24 hours:

1. Grease a baking dish.

2. Thaw 2 1/2 c. blueberries (I thawed them only part way, first by rinsing them, then by setting them in the oven during preheating.)

3. Mix in a small bowl:

1/4 c. softened butter
3/8 c. brown sugar (I used regular raw-type sugar)
1/4 c. flour (I used white whole wheat, like always)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/8 c. rolled oats
(The Wyman's recipe tells you to cut the dry ingredients into cold butter (as if you are making pie dough), but softening is quicker and doesn't change the finished product very much in my experience.)

4. Pour the blueberries into your greased baking dish (I then pre-cooked them alone for about 10 minutes to continue the thawing process--if yours are already thawed, this is unnecessary.)

5. Distribute the topping evenly over the blueberries.

4. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes (I may have only cooked it 20-25 minutes--there's nothing in this that can't be eaten raw.)

The finished product is a delicious blueberry ooze with sweet, buttery, crunchy crumbles on top:

It's not very fancy-looking, and it's a bit messy, but the taste makes up for it.

A- or A (I'd give it an A or A+, but my roommate was only mildly enthusiastic)

#49. Reverse-Engineered Amy's No Cheese Pizza

If you're a vegan, vegetarian, and/or health enthusiast, you're probably familiar with Amy's-brand prepared meals. Most are frozen, though they've recently(?) come out with some (very bland) canned soups. They tend to be pricey ($2-3 for a snack, $4-6 for an entree, $7-9 for a pizza) but they are, for the most part, delicious, and the ingredients are generally more sound and consistent than those used for other frozen foods. 

I've been a vegetarian for over 8 years now, and I'd like to transition to dairy-free (as I'm mildly lactose intolerant and also have recently learned that dairy production is inextricably tied up with meat production), but it's hard. Pizza is probably one of the hardest things to give up (in fact, I ate Amy's Mushroom & Olive (and cheese) pizza just last night). So in the spirit of moving closer to veganism (and in the spirit of trying to save a little cash in the process) I tried to reverse engineer the Amy's No Cheese pizza using just the list of ingredients on the box:

Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour With Organic Wheat Germ and Organic Wheat Bran, Organic Onions, Filtered Water, Artichokes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Roasted Red Bell Peppers, Organic Shitake Mushrooms, Organic Agave Nectar, Balsamic Vinegar, Sea Salt, Organic Tomato Puree, Expeller Pressed High Oleic Safflower and/or Sunflower Oil, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Garlic, Organic Lemon Juice, Yeast, Spices, Black Pepper.

I omitted: Wheat Bran, Agave Nectar, Safflower and Sunflower Oil, and Lemon Juice (I simply forgot the last one), and only a few of my ingredients were organic. I used roasted red pepper from a jar, and artichokes from a can (I'd definitely recommend getting a jar of marinated artichokes instead).

For the tomato sauce, I used leftover tomato basil pasta sauce, Bertolli, which was very good.

To make the dough, I used whole wheat flour and the recipe from the 75th anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking, and it came out so well that I bragged about it to both my mom and my sister. Here's the pizza after topping and before cooking: 

And almost done (see how lovely the crust was):

It took dinner, lunch, and dinner to eat the pizza, then I made baby pizzas on whole wheat bread to use up the ingredients (much quicker, and about 90% as good):

(On the baby pizzas, I remembered to top with fresh oregano just before taking them out of the oven, which I'd meant to do with the big pizza. It's a really good idea--I think of oregano itself as being "pizza-flavored").

Making this pizza from scratch was fun, and probably cost effective if you have a huge family or don't mind eating the same thing meal after meal. Do it, if you have more time than money, but if you have more money than time, I'd recommend buying the frozen pizza instead. 

A-