I’ve said before that I am competing with Pizza Hut and Little Caesar’s for The Salesman’s palate. So when I came across a recipe in the Trim Healthy Table Cookbook for a Personal Pan Pizza, I paused and thought that this just might interest the pizza lover at our house.
Diabetes and heart disease impacted The Salesman’s life, and our home, almost two years ago. I still remember the precious grandmotherly response from a woman that had spent most of her life as a nurse saying to The Salesman about his penchant for eating out:
Mr. Osburn (oh my goodness, I’ve shared his name – you know back when I started blogging, we did not under any circumstance share our spouses name on the *World Wide Web* because, you know, it was the *World Wide Web*). And there is the sidetrack to why I started referring to my husband as The Salesman. Anywho, the precious grandma-like nurse said:
Mr. Osburn, would you really eat out every meal, every day?
Mhmmm.
He grew up always eating every meal at home, much like I did growing up. When he started his first job in St. Louis, he would reward himself with a chocolate shake every time he wrote a school district. He wrote 415 school districts. Now you know why I call him The Salesman. He is really good at selling. Yes, 415 school districts equals 415 chocolate shakes.
And there you go. Much like me when I weighed 257 pounds, food was a reward. For me, I would reward myself every night after I tucked the girls into bed by grabbing a bag of chips and cheese. Usually is was that gooey tub of cheese that is not really cheese if you read the ingredients; but, that was what I’d reward myself with in the peace and quiet of the evening. Well, I didn’t start out planning to tell part of my story; but, all that to say, I understand going to food for reward and comfort. I learned to go to the Lord when I was bored, busy, head hungry, stressed, or chilled. Jesus was the only one that could fill my heart hunger. Nothing else would satisfy. I intentionally got rid of over 100 pounds by going to the Lord instead of food. I won’t get sidetracked with the journey; but if you want to read more, click here to read about my before and after story.
When Audra started doing the Trim Healthy Mama plan, the recipes that she made enticed me with the delicious smells; but, they also tasted so good! One of the reasons I started following the THM lifestyle was because I was experiencing a carb crash after lunch. I could eat a half a sandwich and feel like I needed a nap… I found I had so much more energy eating in line with the THM lifestyle and moreover, I believe that I started on this plan so that when The Salesman had his heart attack and diabetes diagnosis, that I could already have in place a healthy eating alternative for him.
But, do I even need to say that: Old habits die hard. The pull is strong. The pull is real. So, I am always competing with fast food restraunts, although they have no clue that we are in a competition. Oh, yes we are. He is a salesman and is on the road often and travels many miles. Don’t think that all that advertising is in vain. It does speak to people. So, that is why I am trying to pick out recipes that would appeal to him. I understand where he is. I cast no stones.
So today, I am here to review the Trim Healthy Mama Personal Pan Pizza. Personally, the name itself has a lot to live up to, because I remember the yum of a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza. But for a diabetic, there is that matter of the white crust that can send your blood sugar through the roof, The THM Personal Pan Pizza is a really good alternative to the PHPPP.
I wish that I could say that this recipe turned out perfectly. It did not by any means of the imagination. The first crust I made according to recipe directions, stuck to my pan and instead of flipping one golden crust over in the pan, I had about ten mismatched crust pieces… I thought I’d re-read the recipe and do a second crust since I was going to do two anyway, one for The Salesman, and one for me. I thought I’d eat the first flop. Well, I wish I could say that the second crust came out rivaling the personal pan pizza’s that I knew years ago. It did not. It came out in just as many pieces as the first one. Second verse was same as the first. So, I put both of the crusts on a piece of parchment paper that was on top of a cookie sheet. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. This was my only plan for dinner. I had not cooked or baked in three whole days because we were on a imposed by me *Eat All The Leftovers Before Mama Makes Anything Else* order. And we had eaten all the leftovers…
I had all the sauce and S friendly pizza toppings all out on the counter just looking at me like, “Hey lady, are you going to use us, or not?” I was not pleased with the mess I’d made and I knew The Salesman would be all to willing to dial a 1-800 Get-A-Pizza-Number, so I opened the sugar free marinara sauce and thought I’d go at this pizza making like it was an Easter craft project. Instead of glue, I’d use the marinara sauce to put my Humpty Dumpty pizzas back together again. It is a bit challenged isn’t it? And yes, it does look a little bit pancakey in texture.
Then instead of Easter grass, I added a little bit of organic greens to hide the cracks in the basket / crust. Oh my, one of them, mine, needed more greens than the other. I thought I’d give The Salesman the one that was in nine pieces instead of ten.
I continued to make a meat lovers pizza out of his THM Personal Pan Pizza, adding Turkey Pepperoni and Chicken Sausage that was finely ground. Since I’d eaten pepperoni while preparing the pizza’s, I only added the Chicken Sausage to mine.
Then it was time to add the veggies. I added diced onion, and thinly sliced colored little peppers. I thought the more the merrier. The topping to crust ratio was at least 3:1. I was so trying to make this work.
When I added the cheese, it started looking like a pizza. But would it hold together with my Humpty Dumpty crust? I put them under the broiler for a few minutes.
They came out looking really good. And I can gladly report, they tasted really good and with all the sauce and cheese, the crust held together! I will be making the THM Personal Pan Pizzas again and try to perfect my crust making!
Try these Mamas! You will be so glad you did. Your pickiest pizza lovin’ hubby will like it and eat every.single.bite. Guaranteed.
Recipe details here:
Cookbook: Trim Healthy Mama Trim Healthy Table Cookbook
Recipe: Personal Pan Pizza
