Perfect Pepperoni Pizza, Sensational Salad with Amazing Artichoke Croutons, and InCredible Carrot Cookies

Chase’s birthday is Wednesday, so he gets to celebrate the weekend before, the day of, and the weekend after! Even though he’s hardly a child, he’s a kid at heart and asked for a pizza party.

I made a whole wheat and oat crust in the food pro and let it hang out in the fridge until we were ready to roll it. I made Julie’s famous Italian Sausages to use for pepperoni.





I made a tomato sauce the day before and bought Chase’s favorite topping ingredients – spinach, sundried and fresh tomatoes, fresh green and roasted yellow peppers, and green onions. I had some leftover cheez sauce to use on top, and I whipped up a quick parmesan of raw almonds and nooch to sprinkle on individual slices. It was soooo delicious. A completely homemade pizza baked on a pizza stone is pie perfection!

Austin’s own Kitchen Diva had a recipe on her website for a spinach salad with Artichoke Croutons. Wha??? Marinated artichoke hearts are breaded in seasoned panko, baked until crispy, and then used as croutons – genius! And completely delicious.

I made a mixed green salad and added in leftover pizza toppings and toasted walnuts. A store bought Italian dressing was just fine, quite nice actually with the artichokes.

Anna, another Austinite and fellow blogger – oh yeah, and a Pillsbury Bakeoff Grand Prize Millionaire! - posted a recipe for Carrot Breakfast Cookies awhile back. I’ve been promising to make them ever since and I’m proud to say I finally made her low fat version. They are for Chase to have for snacks, but I did have a test taste of one and they are so delicious! Not too sweet, just like Chase likes, and a perfect snack or breakfast. I used one flax egg (1 T. ground flaxseeds + 3 T. water) and whipped it in the mixer in place of the egg whites, and I used ¼ t. orange oil instead of zest; otherwise, I followed Anna’s recipe exactly. The orange flavor is the best part! Check out Anna’s blog for DAILY cookie recipes at cookiemadness.net.

And now for Chase’s pre-birthday cake. Okay it’s actually a rice cake. I spread on some peanut butter, added blueberry eyes, an almond nose, apple mouth, and toasted coconut hair. It fit in well with the kid’s pizza party theme. Meet Mr. Happy Treat. It looks just like Chase!

On Wednesday we’ll have a real birthday cake.