“Never trust a skinny chef,” is a saying many people, myself included, whole-heartedly believe. Chefs who carry a few extra pounds just seem more believable as one would assume the weight is there because they continually taste food they are preparing until it is properly seasoned and texturally balanced. When someone approaches calorie intake with reckless abandon so he or she could pour heart and soul into preparing the perfect meal, how could you not trust that person? In my case, though, most of the weight I have gained over the last 40 years has not been from the necessary tasting of foods to determine if they were properly seasoned, rather from indulging in eating excessively large portions of all that fabulous food.
Nearly two years ago I began writing Pizza Memoirs, have created nearly 100 recipes and have tested and retested more than half of those recipes. That’s a lot of pizza! Since the testing began, my weight has not been creeping up gradually; it’s been more like a marathon. Before I knew it, I had 60 pounds to lose! What? How did that happen? It wasn’t that long ago that I promised myself I would lose the 40 extra pounds I was carrying. I was officially depressed and convinced myself that I had two choices; I could finish testing recipes for my book or I could lose weight. I remember the day I was discussing this dilemma with my daughter and she stopped me in the middle of one of my ‘poor me’ sentences. “Not for anything, Mom” she said, “but you can tell if a pizza is good without eating an entire half.” Shortly thereafter I went back to Weight Watchers.
Pizza testing has resumed and I did perfectly well with eating a single piece of the zucchini pizza I tested. Being a little obsessive about not going over my allotted daily points, I counted one slice as 10 points and reserved my extra 49 points that week just in case that slice was more than 10. This sounds a bit silly now that I see it in writing. I have yet to calculate points for each of my pizzas as that would be a bit too time consuming, but it can be done. The pizzas I have created have good, healthy ingredients and can fit nicely into any healthy eating plan – in moderation!
The next pizza up for testing is the Fabulous Fortieth Anniversary Pizza; shallots, lobster and manchego cheese. How bad can that be? Check back next week for the recipe. Thanks, L.
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