Sometimes you just need Champagne and Pizza!

 According to Bunker..."Sometimes, you just need Champagne and Pizza." So true!

We celebrated our one year anniversary of living in our beautiful Dallas home. We were so happy to come back home (we both grew up in Dallas..about 4 blocks away from each other...we now live 5 and 8 blocks away from both sets of parents) after two years in lovely North Carolina. Our years in North Carolina were wonderful, as we lived in truly one of the most breathtaking places in the United States and made life-long friends. People whom I love dearly and am so thankful that our lives crossed paths. People who now live so far away, but we will always be close in our hearts.

On the front steps the day we bought our house last year! 

Within this year in our new house we experienced the heights of joy and the depths of despair. Our house seemed to both celebrate our joys and then cradle us in safety in our despair. It was within this year, with happiness and sadness, that this house became our sweet and loved home.

I suppose we could have made some fancy meal to mark this year anniversary, but that is just not the character of our home. Our home is soft and comfortable, fresh and yet full of character (it was built in the 1930s), but at the same time stately and tailored. We decided our house translated perfectly food-wise into Champagne and pizza! Bubbly and fresh, comforting and classic. Have you ever tried to translate the feel of your house into food? Try it, and celebrate your house, your home that shelters you from the world and holds so many of your precious memories.

 Our house today...ps...it is 100 degrees outside...

This pizza is great because it uses things that I usually have on hand. Pizza is so versatile, you can put whatever you like on it, and it should turn out pretty tasty. I apologize for the slim number of photographs...I was distracted...we opened the champagne a tad early!

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 Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough
1 Package (about 8 slices) of Prosciutto
1 14.5 Ounce Can of Tomatoes (diced or whole, it really does not matter), pureed
1 Package of Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms, sauteed until they soften and loose most of their moisture (so as not to make the pizza soggy)
10 Slivers of Gouda Cheese
10 Slivers of Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Unroll the Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough onto a greased cookie sheet or sil-pad.
2. Puree the 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes until it is very smooth. You can add whatever spices and herbs you wish to this puree.
3. Cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat in a small pan for about 10 minutes, until they become a rich dark brown and have lost most of their moisture.
4. Using mandolin, cut about 10 slivers of each the Gouda and the Parmesan Cheeses (you should use your favorite cheeses).
5. Spread the tomato sauce evenly onto the pizza dough, leaving a nice area at the sides for the crust.
6. Top the sauce with the mushroom spread evenly across the surface.
7.  Tear the Prosciutto into slightly smaller pieces and evenly distribute across the pizza.
8. Spread the cheeses evenly on top.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the crust is lightly browning and the cheese is bubbly.
11. Enjoy with your favorite bubbly of choice!

The pizza right before we put it into the oven.

Fun playtime with toys from a care package from Cort's best friend in North Carolina, Marylebone, who now lives in New Jersey..far too far away!

Puppy love.