Assumption Pizza

I am a master of the last-minute. Oftentimes, I am only struck with an idea hours (or even minutes) before it needs to be finished. So two Thursdays ago on the Feast of the Assumption, I came across this amazing blog, which provides recipes and other meal ideas for each of the major feasts of the liturgical year. It also has recipe ideas for other not-so-major feasts, like St. Augustine's feast day, which was celebrated yesterday.

Of course, I realized that I didn't quite have time to prepare an Assumption-themed meal since at that point it was already 4 pm, and Andy likes to eat before 9, ideally. (Although, we have eaten after 9:30 in the early days of our marriage, when I was still figuring out our oven). So I decided to go ahead with my original meal plan: homemade Margherita pizza and our friend Julia's Chocolate Mousse pie for dessert (with tofu as a secret ingredient...shhh!!!).

As I was making the pizza, however, inspiration struck. Couldn't I use one of the crusts to do a little Marian-inspired decorating? I had a bunch of little Roma tomatoes that my mother-in-law had graciously given us, plus some pesto that we had made together, and I had bought fresh mozzarella. All the materials I needed to craft a quick Assumption-themed meal! After brushing on some olive oil to the pizza crust, I sliced the tomatoes and used those to form a large "M" in the middle. I then took a pastry brush and painted on a cross above the letter with the pesto. I placed slices of mozzarella around the "M" to look like clouds. And then, (because I wanted the pizza to taste yummy!) I brushed the mozzarella with a lighter coat of pesto. Below is the result:

Before baking (I was a little worried the pesto on the clouds would look weird, but practicality won out in the end)

Ready to Eat! Note: the crust was crisp because it wasn't loaded down with cheese and sauce. It was delicious!

So while  I won't be  submitting this to Catholic Cuisine anytime soon, I think it turned out pretty well for a last-minute variation on my original meal plan. 

And just in case you're interested in how the non-Marian pizza turned out...

Muy Delicioso!

Let me know if you're interested in the recipe for the aforementioned Chocolate Mousse Pie. I took pictures of the process, but the final result picture mysteriously vanished from my camera. But you can ask Andy how it tasted (fantastic!), plus it's full of protein and yummy chocolate goodness, without the dairy. 

Are you more of a stick-to-the-recipe kind of a person or spontaneous and creative (with sometimes disastrous results) in the kitchen, like me?