Pizza- quite possibly the world's most perfect food

When did pizza start to get a bad rap? Was it the scantily clad mascot from the “Caesar! Caesar!” commercials of the 80s? Or the low carb diets of the 90s? Or the trans fat hype of the 2000s? When did it start to go downhill?

I’m not sure when pizza was thrown under the bus like Tatiana from American Idol {how bad is it that I HATE that she’s actually a decent singer?}, but our family still loves pizza. Every person loves and eats it. I can’t say that about too many other foods. There is big excitement on any given pizza night. So much so, that Ollie has jumped up and down at doughnut boxes before thinking they were pizza. I guess all foods that come in large boxes are equally scrumptious.

If you think about it, it is a very well rounded food: grains (bread), fruit (tomato sauce), meat (if you like it that way- and who wouldn’t?) and dairy (cheese). I will be the first to set up camp in the side of tomato = veggie, but apparently those aren’t the facts. But I don’t really trust the "classification" people anyway since a dolphin is a mammal and not a fish. Go figure. Back to pizza and fruit, you can also get pineapple on it. Have you had it? It’s good! How many foods can you have pineapple OR bacon on them and still enjoy them?

Pizza and I go way back. Growing up, we would usually get pizza on Friday nights and my sister and I would eat cold, leftover pizza on Saturday mornings at 5:00 a.m. and would watch old reruns of Get Smart followed by the USA Cartoon Express. {Captaaaaaaain Caaaaavemaaaaan always goes with pizza in my mind.} Great memories with pizza that was just a little tough around the edges, but still tasted delish!

Here’s another fact that’s hard to argue with:
Pizza is served at 4.2 million birthday parties a year.
Ok. I made that up, but I’m assuming that it’s correct. Have you been to a birthday party lately without it?

I realize that if you eat too much of ANYTHING that it can be bad for you particularly those things high in fat and calories- oh, how well I know that , but a little pizza now and then is just good family fun.

Here is a recipe that I adapted from a great pizza I had on a trip to Michigan in 2003. It’s somewhat healthy- at least it includes a veggie- and I hope you like it! It works for me (we ate it tonight)!

Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Ingredients:
1 pre-made whole wheat pizza crust
1 packet or pre-made jar of Alfredo sauce (packets will require other ingredients, but I like the warm sauce better)
1 head of broccoli, chopped
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
2 c. of mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spread Alfredo sauce on the pizza crust.
Add broccoli and chicken and then cover with cheese.
Cook for 10 minutes (maybe more if you like it more browned).
Enjoy!

And if you eat it while watching Tatiana on American Idol OR Captain Caveman then you get extra points.
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