Farmer's Market Pizza ~ Food Unchained

I'm not a food snob when it comes to chain restaurants. I've had some lovely meals and experiences in chains and some of my best friends from my days "on the line" got their start as cooks in chain restaurants. So when the Foodie Stuntman (the writer behind Crazy Foodie Stunts) proposed a challenge to members of the Food Bloggers Network to recreate a chain restaurant meal at home I decided to tackle one of my favorite chain restaurant dishes: Uno's Farmer's Market Pizza.

The Uno's version is loaded with three cheeses and has a thick crust slick with olive oil. The vegetables are piled high and the flavors are heightened by all of that fat. If you learn one thing in culinary school it's that "fat carries flavor" and is one reason why this pizza is so tasty: it's swimming in fat (about three days worth for me - yipes!) I'm neither a nutritionist nor slim, but I am trying to limit my intake of fats and so for this Food Unchained post I made a reduced fat version of the Farmer's Market Pizza using a homemade crust, fresh vegetables and a limited amount of cheese.

Orange and Red Onion Salad with Olives

This colorful and refreshing orange salad was one of the biggest hits at our Spanish themed dinner. Made by my sweet friend Ann she was initially hesitant about the combination of onion and oranges. She needn't have worried - nearly all the dinner guests asked for the recipe!

Oranges have been cultivated since time immemorial. Native to China and southeast Asia, oranges were brought to Europe through ancient trade routes via Persia and have been grown there since at least the time of the ancient Romans. Seville oranges have been cultivated in Spain (in the city which gave that variety its name) since the 12th century and were brought to Florida by the Spanish in the 15th century. Another common Spanish orange variety is the Valencia orange which was brought to the US in the 19th century. Today oranges are a common fruit the world over. In the US citrus fruits are often considered to be a sweet treat over the winter at which time we tend to eat a lot of Navel oranges, which are in peak production from January-March, making this salad an excellent addition to your winter menus.