Spinach Strawberry Pizza

My husband and I always say we have champagne tastes and a beer budget. In this economy, I am starting to think that beer is seriously expensive.

When we were planning on a second child the world was completely different. We had spent the summer eating and cooking lavishly. When we found out I was pregnant, the economy had just started to tank. As the baby approaches, we have started to consider where to cut money. Packed lunches, no more frivolous shopping (oh, I will miss the beautiful shoes), no movies… Looking at out spending, we felt food was not one of the places we wanted to cut. Organic healthy food for our children would reap benefits far outstripping the costs (for the environment of the future, for their bodies, for their souls).

Of course, one challenge remains making the most of every dollar spent. We try to use every vegetable from our CSA or farmer’s market basket. But, there are always extenuating circumstances—the impulse purchases at the market, the purchases made of good intensions rather than concrete plans, the 18 lbs of cabbage that from the CSA. This summer, we are trying to spend less by wasting less. To that end, we decided to use up the spinach purchased from the Sunday market tonight. J—made some pizza dough and baked it. When still warm he topped it with raw spinach, raw strawberries, sautéed scapes, and sauteed pinenuts. (The spinach wilts just the right amount from the heat of the pizza.) It was a seriously healthy and satisfying dinner, especially when paired with a glass of wine and a shard of parmesan. Of course, I am off the sauce these days.

This is also my entry this week for One Local Summer and as promised I even know some of the names of the farms:

Snake Hill Farm scapes
Millgate Farm strawberries
Spinach—from North Union Market (next week will get the name of the farm)
Homemade dough
Pinenuts, American but not local.