Well, life unfolds in its own way, and always beyond my imagination. Never once in my life did I imagine for a second that people will pester me for a recipe of mine, I never cooked anything but pasta in a pot for most of my adult life. But here it is, miracles do occur. Maria is out at yoga and I’ve made a multi-grain pizza for her when she returns (she is always wiped after yoga.) In my life now, I shop and cook. My wife is not very domestic and it turns out I am.

For the last six months, I’ve been working very hard on a healthy and nourishing pizza and I’m getting close. I’ve tried a score of different doughs, and experimented with thickness, vegetables and cheeses and other healthy flavorings.  I am oddly secretive about my recipes. Maria is always badgering me to know what I did, but I refuse to tell her. I say she would dump me for a younger, better-looking man if she knew my cooking secrets, and this makes her a little testy, but it’s what I think sometimes. Hey, therapy and spiritual counseling goes only so far.

I promised to be open on this blog and the requests are getting a bit belligerent, so here goes. Tonight’s multi-grain pizza. I’ll try not to forget anything. I’ll call it the Lenore Pizza.

1. First I get a 20 oz dough ball, multi-grain, from the supermarket. Making my own dough seems too much. It says 10 servings, but for a meal, I’d say three or four at most. I rub wheat flour on the dough and spin it around, then roll it with a pin for thinness of crust, which I like. You can use a glass too. I have a stone pizza plate, helps to make a crisp crust and even heating.

2. I chop up four or five cloves of garlic, mix it with extra virgin olive oil, different kinds of pesto (basil, mostly) pumpkin seeds and pine nuts, stir it all up. About half a cup all together.

3. I brush the pesto/oil mix on the pizza. I sprinkle cornmeal over that evenly to give a bit of extra flavor and some texture to the crust. I bake the crust for 8-10 minutes at 475 degrees. This is to make a firm crust before I put the vegetables and other things on.

4. While the pizza is cooking, I saute the vegetables I have chosen in a pan. In this case, tonight, I sliced up a zucchini, chopped up some cauliflower, sliced some small blue potatoes (for body, flavor and color) thinly, and sliced up a bit of squash (not too much, they have to breath on the crust) sauteed all of them together for about 10 minutes on low flame until they are sizzling and slightly browned. Have to watch them and turn them over to keep them from overcooking. You can mix up the vegetables any way you like, vary them. I try and choose them for color as well as health.

5. I sprinkle some ricotta cheese on the pizza over the pesto/oil/nuts sauce. I sprinkle a handful of dried tomato over the crust.

6.  I hand place the sauteed vegetables and potatoes on the pizza, spreading them evenly,  then sprinkle some goat cheese over the top.

7. I bake the pizza for 10 more minutes. You have to watch it closely because dough and vegetables differ and it can overcook.

8. Then I add some chopped kale (sprinkled with oil to keep it from burning) over the top, for flavor and because it is very healthy.

5. I take the crust out of the oven after 10 minutes, let it cool.

We love this meal. It is not too filling (make sure the crusts are thin) and quite healthy and flavorful.

So there, I’ve done it. I’ve shared a recipe really for the first time in my life. Life just opens and opens.