Pizza: Dinner Dregs
Simple meals suit me best. This evening a few bites of leftover pizza — sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, caramelized onions. A few bites of a lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad, maybe an orange later, and right now, a cup of tea and a few chocolate chip cookies. Calories controlled by quantity, fat by choice, and all suiting my simple palette that considers a Saltine cracker an element of refined cuisine.
At lunch today I saw an iced chocolate brownie that I’ve had a long and steamy affair. At the checkout with my spartan turkey on whole wheat sandwich loaded with veggies I had the opportunity for the first time to see the nutritional information for that brownie. The calorie count was as embarrassing as the fat content was frightening — 48 grams of fat, 22 of those saturated fat. No wonder I was smitten. No wonder I had a heart attack.
So dinner, and almost all other meals are simple and plain to a degree that the Amish would cry. And every so often I will find myself somewhere that I live again in the fast lane for a moment. Like tonight with a little pizza.
Oh the joys of the dinner dregs…
A few facts:
fat = 9 Cal/gram
carbohydrate = 4 Cal/gram
protein = 4 Cal/gram
Mozzarella is one of the highest fat cheeses, up to 45%. US mozzarella is not the same as Neapolitan Mozzarella. Composition of fats varies from one Mozzarella to another.
Figure 85 Cal/ounce for whole milk Mozzarella. How many ounces do they put on a Pizza ?
Chocolate on the other hand should be classified as a vitamin: essential for life ! 🙂
…and chocolate is an anti-oxidant. Just be sure to get the semi-sweet or 65% cacao version.
I like to think of “simple” palates as sensitive ones. I like my seasonings with a gentle touch when cooking – no roof-of-mouth-torching spices, thank you – but done with attention. Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve been able to get away with a somewhat-fattier diet than some might consider advisable is that most of my meals have been home-cooked: whenI take an occasional gander at the fat, sodium and caloric content of a lot of take-out food I cringe. (BTW, that pizza looks lovely…glad you can have that occasional “indulgence.”)
Ewww, No sausage, pepperoni, green or red peppers! Remind me to take you the Metro New York area someday to get real pizza. I can hardly look at the page. Veggie Pizza? Really Steve? I’ll buy you some real bagels while we’re there.
Unlike the previous comment, my reaction was hmmmm, no sausage or pepperoni. Looks pretty good! I would’ve added black olives and mushrooms.
That pizza works for me. Not exactly dripping with cheese, either. FWIW, a glance at a chart comparing cheeses will put full-fat mozzarella at average or below for fat content of soft cheeses. I like dressing mine with some Parmesan too.
There was fresh mozzarella on the pizza. Not a lot, just enough to give things substance.
I’m sure one day my body will rebel. Probably sooner than I think. I eat poorly, but I do love food.
I like veggie pizza. I like meat pizza, too. Yours looked tasty. I’ll have to scan tune archives for the heart story. That had to be scary,.