This ran in Friday's Wynne Progress:
The Active Life
Kara Smith
Feb. 20, 2015
Martin and I have been making Sunday night pizza for
almost 16 years. We will have our 17th
wedding anniversary this April. As you
can imagine, Sunday night pizza is very dear to my heart. It is difficult to start the week off right
without it. We began this tradition when
we lived in Austin, Texas. This was
before children, so we had a lot more time to watch television. We would watch the “Sopranos” every Sunday
night and in keeping with their Italian heritage, we made our very own homemade
pizza. The crust recipe came from
Martin’s mom, Jeanie. I still use the
same recipe and it is not only super easy, but also true perfection. Our lives have changed dramatically since
Austin, with the addition of our three, sweet children. But I am happy to say we still look forward
to our Sunday night family pizza night.
After I had our third baby, August, in 2010, I started
having strange stomach pains. They
weren’t horrible, but I knew something wasn’t right. I will spare you the
details, but after consulting my general practice doctor, a gastroenterologist,
an ultrasound, CT scan and gallons of blood work, I still had no answers. As a pharmacist, I reasoned that I could
just take some medicine for it and fix it.
I tried Prevacid, Zantac and Tums.
None of which touched it. I have
always read about nutrition and living healthy, but with three kids, a husband
and a full time job it was hard to always eat healthy. When I got home from work, I was really tired
and the last thing I wanted to do was to cook and clean up.
One day, I happened to read about Celiac Disease. Mayo Clinic defines Celiac, as “Celiac disease
is an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and
rye
If you have celiac disease, eating gluten triggers an immune
response in your small intestine. Over time, this reaction produces
inflammation that damages the small intestine's lining and prevents absorption
of some nutrients (malabsorption). One of
the many manifestations was stomach pain, which was brought on by eating
gluten. I read more about it and thought
it was worth trying to cut gluten out of my diet. I had not been pain free in 3 years so had
nothing to loose. If you have ever tried
to cut back on gluten, it is really hard.
Basically everything that we eat has a trace amount of gluten in
it. After diligently trying to eat
gluten free, I immediately noticed my stomach quit hurting for the first time
in years. I also noticed that my joints
no longer hurt. I always just attributed
the joint pain to working out. But I
felt like a new person. It was amazing. That is when it clicked for me that what I
put in my body greatly affected my wellbeing.
And to feel my best, I had to make a much more informed and better
effort to fuel my body (and my family’s) much more wisely.
I have never been diagnosed as having Celiac, and don’t
feel that I suffered as severely as someone that truly has full blown Celiac. I
can truly tell a difference in how I feel.
The other day at work, I was starving and forgot my usual snack of
peanuts. I opted for a processed pack of
cheese crackers. Thirty minutes after
eating them, my stomach cramped up and I remembered quickly why I normally
avoid junk like that.
Now more than ever, I stay away from processed food such
as store-bought bread, premade salad dressings, frozen dinners and anything
else you just throw in the oven. In this
day and time, everything is premade for busy schedules. With the premade comes lots of preservatives
and junk that has no business being in our bodies. And just think what years of feeding it to
our kids will do. Things have changed drastically
since our grandparents’ time. Some
things for the better, but the more I read and learn, our choice of premade,
preservative and sugar packed food is doing our bodies much more harm than
good. Just compare store bought salad
dressing. It is full of sugar,
artificial flavors and numerous preservatives.
In my salad dressing, I often just toss balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
As I said previously, I am a pharmacist. I dispense prescriptions that doctors
prescribe for their patients. Every day,
I see patients with the mindset that a pill will fix all of their problems. Myself included, we need to do all that is
within our reach to fix our problems and feel better including eating better
and exercising. We need to take
ownership of our lives and realize sometimes to fix our health; we need to get
off the couch and make eating better a top priority. Mark my words, the food we are eating today –
is negatively affecting our health. So take what you eat seriously and think
before you grab that processed, premade dinner.
We still have Sunday pizza night, but I have found a
delicious, gluten free flour. Martin and
I agree, it makes an even better crust and I don’t have to suffer with the
stomach pain the next day. It is so tasty;
I hope you will try this recipe.
1 Package Active Yeast
3 Tablespoons Warm Water
Sprinkle yeast over water and let sit for 5 minutes
1-Cup Warm Water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
3 Tablespoons Olive oil
Mix these together and pour over yeast mixture
Slowly add 3 cups flour (I
use “Cup for Cup Gluten Free” but regular All Purpose Flour or another
favorite, King Arthur Italian Flour is fabulous)
Knead until all flour mixed
in. Cover and set in a warm place to
Rise for 2 or more hours.
Martin takes it from here,
but he sets the oven to 450 degrees and works the dough onto a pizza pan. He adds plain tomato sauce and spices
including basil, oregano, garlic powder, rosemary, and thyme.
He then grates fresh
mozzarella (we can’t stand the pre-grated!!) and sprinkles on top. Then he puts whatever else toppings such as
pepperonis, mushrooms, onions, sausage, peppers, etc. He cooks it for about 25 minutes. Be creative with your toppings, it is so much
fun to try different things. And what comes
out of that oven is so darn good; you won’t be able to not make it a tradition.
