Stormy Nights

Last night around Seattle many of us, including my husband and I, spent the evening watching the local news to find out which of our community neighbors were being flooded out. It has been one hell of a winter so far. Talk about non-stop excitement since Friday, December 20 when we received our first heavy snow. The last of that just melted yesterday in a deluge of rain on our mountaintop to the great misfortune of our lower land neighbors.

We in Western Washington are used to rain but the unlimited snowfall we experienced in the latter part of December was completely out of our realm of experience. Even as the rains began this week the community was still grilling our local and state officials on their handling of the snow. The officials are between a rock and a hard place however. Do you budget huge sums of money (that nobody but the filthy rich have anymore) for a big snow event that normally never happens? That is when the same community will point fingers at wasteful spending. Catch 22 really.

I'm glad the snow is gone. Now that I work from home I don't get the advantage of a snow day anyway. I was also feeding the poor little birds 2 to 3 times a day. When the snow falls they really encounter some hardships in getting food. Considering the cost of birdseed these days you can see why I'm happy to see the snow melt.

Last night was a vegan evening but it also required a comforting quality to offset the howling winds and drumming rain outside our windows. Last time I stocked up at Trader Joes I picked up a couple of their whole wheat pizza crusts, some fresh mozzarella and basil. The pizza crusts freeze very well so you can keep them for a while. So while the tempest whipped the forest outside Tim and I enjoyed a deliciously simple pizza in front of the fire. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

Cheese Pizza

1 Trader Joes whole wheat pizza crust
1 ball of fresh mozzarella
6 Large Basil leaves shredded by hand
1 small can Tomato Sauce or Pizza Sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out room temperature pizza dough to size and shape of your pizza pan and place on cooking sprayed pan.

Swirl tomato sauce or pizza sauce to the amount you enjoy over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with shredded fresh basil leaves. Cut fresh mozzarella into slices and place strategically over sauce and basil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Bake on lower rack of oven for 15 to 20 minutes.