Homemade Pizza Night: The Classic Margherita

Happy (almost) 4th of July!

Last night I took my San Diego visitors, my brother Danny and his girlfriend Desiree, to The Shout House, a piano bar downtown. It is so much fun there! I’ve played the piano since I was a little kid, so I feel like I appreciate the pianists and how talented they are even more so than the average person. It was trivia night and they had an America themed round, of which I can only recall one question…

Who was the only man to actually sign the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July? Answer at the bottom of this post!

Before we went out on the town, I made us some pizza to enjoy for dinner. If you’ve read this blog and haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a big fan of pizza! I kept it simple and delicious last night with this pie:

Classic Margherita Pizza

Makes 1 pie/4 servings 

• 1 whole wheat pizza dough (Trader Joe’s)
• 3 vine ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 8 oz mozzarella, sliced
• About 1/2 c marinara sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Fresh basil, coarsely chopped (I used about 5 or 6 leaves)
• Mixed up salt & pepper
• Whole wheat flour to help roll dough out

Preheat oven to 400. Roll out pizza dough using a rolling pin, dusting flour on the counter and pin every so often.

Place dough on a pizza pan lightly coated with cooking spray. Spread sauce across dough, then begin adding your toppings: garlic, mozzarella, sliced tomato, basil, salt & pepper.

Pop that bad boy in the oven until lightly browned, around 15 minutes.

Per 1 serving/2 slices: 390 calories, 14 g fat, 19 g protein, 54 g carbs

I was productive with work today, got Harley some exercise outside, and had a yoga session. Now that these things are off my day’s to-do list, I’m about to kick off another fun-filled night and the start of my July 4th celebration with these 2 crazy 21-year olds!

And the answer to the trivia question is John Hancock. 🙂