One of the most viewed recipes on this blog over the last almost 8 years has to be my copycat Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Pizza.  I remember the day like it was yesterday when I came home and Tony saw on America’s test kitchen that they made a deep dish pizza, and he asked me if I could make it . . . that night!  I almost fell over, because usually Tony would make every excuse in the book NOT to have pizza.  That recipe calls for over 3 cups of flour, as well as 7 tablespoons of butter for the dough.  Um, no wonder it’s so good!  The key ingredient I believe for Lou’s pizza is corn meal.  I decided to let my no rise pizza dough rise on the counter for half a day last Friday, with the addition of corn meal and I subbed I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in place of the butter in the dough recipe.

This recipe is enough for two 9 inch cake pan size pizzas.  Best part is that once the dough has risen, you can put these together ahead of time – keep one in the refrigerator until ready to be baked, and even freeze the other one and cook straight from the freezer to the oven – which only adds an additional 10 minutes longer in the oven.

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My calculations put each 1/4 of a pizza at only 9 smart points – and this is a generous piece of pizza!  Now, the crust obviously isn’t as butter as the real deal copy cat pizza, but this is still a delicious pizza – I actually love all the sauce and didn’t miss all that extra cheese.

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Since it was my day off yesterday, I do like to sleep in a bit later than usual.  I woke up at 8:30, and I could see that Hannah not only was up, but she’d already been to Starbuck’s for her coffee fix, and well, it was as if she slept in her cleaning pants and was ready to go.  I however, still had to blog, I checked email, looked at a couple job boards to see what was new, and then made breakfast.  Hannah ended up starting the cleaning party a good 30 minutes before me!  I made a quick shredded zucchini omelet with 2 tablespoons of guacamole, two pieces of uncured bacon and some cherries – this whole plate is only 6 points!  I just stocked up on egg whites at Sam’s Club – an 8 count container is only $9!

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Then the cleaning commenced.  It’s amazing how much junk one person can hang onto.  At one point it felt like I was on an episode of Hoarder’s because Hannah would tell me “Mom, I’ve never seen you even use this.”  But I really do need that bamboo steamer the next time I make steamed Asian dumplings!   We worked for several hours and have already stock piled 10 garbage bags of stuff to either donate, or throw out.  We decided that going out to lunch would be a nice reward.  I always get the steak tacos for 5 points each – get two and have a 10 point lunch.  I decided to try something different.  A gordita – which was described as meat and beans in a corn tortilla.

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I actually stole some garnish off of Hannah’s plate for that pic – it didn’t have any cilantro, cheese or anything.  And it seemed like it was “fried” with oil or butter on the flat top because the top and bottom were a bit greasy and crunchy.  Delicious though!  I ate 3/4 of it and a few bites of the rice and beans that I shared with Hannah, and decided 15 points would be an accurate calculation for lunch.

Um, just so happens that the thrift store is right next to the taco place, so Hannah and I had to check it out.  I am looking for a filing cabinet to store papers I need to keep off the ground.  My basement has a tendency to flood every once in a while in the spring.  I found these shoes that looked as if they had never been worn!  So comfy – these may become my new farmers market shoes.

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Hannah?  Well, let’s just say this is the look you get when you realize the baby bjorn can be worn as a back pack!

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Roman must have stayed in that backpack for a good 20 minutes before he wanted out – it was so cute how he put his paws on either side of Hannah’s shoulders. 

When dinner came around, I decided I should use up what I have before going to the grocery store.  I still had chicken wings and Hannah had tofu and noodles.  4 ounces of wings with radishes on the side – 10 smart points, so I ended up with 31/30 points for the day.  Promise I’ll buy and eat veggies today Open-mouthed smile

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Is there anything better than a chicken wing?  It’s funny because my other blog friend Ally LOVES buffalo anything as much as me.  When I mentioned my blog friend Melissa as loving buffalo chicken wings as much as I do, she called me out on Instagram and said “what am I, chopped liver?!”  To tell you how much Ally loves buffalo anything, a few of her dishes:

I still need to make a plan to meet Ally half way for lunch before the summer gets away from us – Ally, I’ll be in touch!

Alright, off to shower and then to WW – I did pretty good with the extra bites and licks, until yesterday of all days – I kept thinking I wanted to eat more stuff and after a couple bites of pretzel thins, an extra piece of cheese, I had to just tell myself the kitchen was closed.  I find that the days I am home are the ones where food is always in reach, so I need to pay extra attention on those days.

Another beautiful day!  My only exercise yesterday was cleaning, and while Hannah wants to spend at least another hour down there today, I will get a long walk in before it gets too hot – it’s a perfect 75 degrees right now.

Now go make it a great day!