staycations

Well hello there strangers. Long time no see. Don’t worry, I’m not blaming you. I take full responsibility for our lack of chatting lately, and the lack of sharing going on around here. You see, I’ve been on holidays for the last week and a half. I wish I could say that I’ve been on a beach or lounging lakeside somewhere far away from here, sipping on cocktails and exerting myself as little as possible. But no, this summer I’m having a little staycation right within my humble abode. As lovely as vacations are, staycations can be rather delightful as well. Staycations allow a person to forego the stress of packing, gratuitous spending, long days of traveling, and instead allow one to do things that need doing around the house (ie. tackling that dang room, which for the record, I still haven’t tackled), relax less than should be necessary while on holidays, and be productive with important projects, such as one’s food blog. While I am definitely succeeding with the first two things, clearly I have missed the mark on that last one. #epicfail

Trust me, I had the best of intentions going into this staycation of mine. I had envisioned baking or cooking up something fabulous on a daily basis, sharing a recipe with you every other day, and basically overstaying my welcome on the interwebs over these couple of weeks. But the thing about staycations is, they allow you to really live, and put responsibility aside when other things come up – things like invitations for patio drinks at 2pm/4pm/8pm on a beautiful summer day, a sporadic trip to the park to sit and read a good book, sleeping in way later than necessary, random backyard/living room yoga, or quick little road trips to visit friends that you just don’t see often enough. My mantra for my holidays? You only live once. YOLO! And sometimes, when you’re in the thick of YOLO’ing, blogging takes a back seat for a short while. PS. If you require further deets about YOLO’ing, Joy and Tracy got ya covered.

However, I did manage to whip up this simple and delicious summer pizza, and after taking the first bite, I snapped a couple of photos so that I could share it with you. But first, a couple of things…

First of all, I joined Pinterest. Finally! I realize I’m a bit behind the eight ball on this one, but better late than never. Too be honest, I was a little stumped by Pinterest when I first checked it out a few months ago (pins? boards? say what?), but a friend gave me a quick tutorial last week (thanks J!) and I am officially obsessed. OBSESSED. If you wish to follow me, you can search for me under onceuponarecipe.

Secondly, I caved on another social media front and now Once Upon a Recipe has a Facebook page! Check it out here.

And now, onto the good stuff, a fabulous pizza that I created last week. What started out as a venture to use up some of the market produce that was on its last legs in my fridge ended with one of the most delicious pizzas I’ve created in a long time. I don’t really want to call it a recipe, but here are some guidelines for you.

Zucchini, Tomato, and Feta Pizza with Balsamic Reduction

Start off with a pizza dough of your choice. I used some fresh dough from my local Italian market, but if you want to make your own, go for it! I have a great recipe for whole wheat pizza dough that you can find here.

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. The cornmeal will help create a nice crispy crust! Stretch out your dough to the desired thickness (I made mine quite thin), and brush with olive oil. Cover with thinly sliced veggies of your choice – I used zucchini and grape tomatoes, as well as thinly sliced fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, and season with good sea salt (I used fleur de sel) and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.

You can eat this pizza as is, and it will be delicious. But if you want to take it over the top, make a quick balsamic reduction (pour 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and allow to reduce to about half over medium heat), and drizzle it over the hot pizza. OMG. YOLO, indeed.