I *HEART* Pizza

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore (for a big pizza pie, at any rate)! Pizza used to be one of my favorite foods, did you know?! I mean honestly, what's not to love? Depending on how you order it or make it, it's an all-inclusive kinda meal - all four food groups in one delightfully tasty treat. Mmmmmm.....

Being originally from Chicago, I do enjoy my Chicago style pie. Whenever we visit the ol' relatives, we almost always manage to sneak in some Lou Malnati's. The last 2 times I've been to Chicago, we somehow didn't have the time to partake in the gluttony. I can't say I was heartbroken as it probably would have been difficult to watch everyone eat it and that is definitely something not on The South Beach diet.

When I was in Chicago for my annual management meetings back in November, however, some of us were hungry one evening and so my brother ordered some regular pizza and had it delivered to the hotel we were staying at. I always admit that the only cheating I do on my diet is full fat cheese in restaurants versus reduced fat (since that is rarely, if ever an option). I ate the cheese/sauce off the pizza leaving the crust behind. That's the only "pizza" I've had since I started my life style change in July with the exception of my own little low carb / low fat / low calorie version I created.

I take a low carb small tortilla (either Mission or South Beach brand) and I add some diced fire roasted tomatoes (out of the can). I then add 2% Italian cheese blend, turkey pepperoni, and if I'm feeling a little zesty, I throw on some green olives. I then sprinkle a bit of Italian seasoning on top and throw it in the oven on 350 degrees until the cheese is all melted and the tortilla is all crispy. It may not be the real deal, but it's pretty darn tasty for a healthy-ish substitute.

My friends have all been AMAZINGLY supportive of my quest for a healthier me. They are soooo cute about always making sure I will have options wherever we are going to eat. It's Greggy-D's bday on Sunday (the big 30, to boot) and he decided he wanted an ol' fashioned pizza party at a place called Star Pizza down in Rice Village which we celebrated tonight. Mellie Bellie called me up on Thursday night to "break it to me". See...this is how thoughtful my friends are...they are worried about my diet when it's their birthday celebration. I pride myself on being quite adaptable, though, so I said no worries...I can always find something to eat anywhere I go. A few minutes later, however, I called my Meliska back up and told her how excited I was because while scoping out the menu to decide on a salad, I noticed that Star Pizza offers up a whole wheat crust option. Eureka!!! I can eat whole wheat crust, my little buttercups!!! Kim had herself some real pizza! What a delectable treat - a perfect way to celebrate Greggy-D's entrance into the wonderful world of 30 and a fantastic way to carbo-load before tomorrow's 8 miler part deux. I decided on the small veggie pizza and I only ate 1/2 (which was plenty). Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, and zucchini were generously covering every inch of my pizza (I opted out of the green pepper since I don't do cooked peppers EVER). It was fabulous! After dinner, we walked over to an ice cream place called Amy's Ice Creams. They had such interesting flavors like avocado and lavender. Had I not been fully committed to my plan, I would have totally tried one of those just to be wild and crazy, but alas...I brought a South Beach Fiber Fit chocolate bar with me and ate that instead. Let's hear it for preplanning!

You know what??? The only thing that was better than getting to eat my yummy pizza tonight was the fact that I got to enjoy that experience with such fantasmic company! =D