Caponata Pizza with Strawberry Salad and my new, old stuff!

Ok, to start off....Have you ever in your entire life seen a strawberry this large? This is my hand(ignore the paint) holding this strawberry and I have some big hands!!!

Yesterday was Nickerson Garage Sale day. I called my best friend Felissa and my daughter and her best friend and we hit the town.
I never leave my house without my yearly sale list, and rarely do I stray from it....until yesterday.
I was in search of books for my wonderful husband, a softball bat, tea pots, and assorted odds and ends.

I did not intend to buy what I bought, but I could not pass up the goodies or the prices, I think you will agree!!
This my friends, is a barn door table. The top is a barn door and the bottom is from an antique butcher block table. I paid only $40.00 for this beauty. My favorite part of this table are the square nails in the ends and where you can see the old hinges!!!! It comfortably seats 8. The chairs are to my other table that now resides in our yellow room!

This is a 1940's tiger maple dresser that I bought for $7.00 It is in excellent shape and there is dove tail joists on the drawers. I originally thought I had the bottom of a Hoosier cabinet, but the top is not metal, it is just painted white. It is in the middle of a complete face lift, more on that tomorrow!

This is of course an outdoor table and chairs, completely metal, I bought this set for $1.00 a month ago, but my daughter needed it for a dining room table until she bought her a new one..

I thought I did awesome and Chris loved the table!!!! Yay!!

Today we have been busy. We had brunch with my uncle, picked up a bed that I got for free off of freecycle complete with a frame, bought some paint and light bulbs and drawer pulls.

Chris came home in a frenzy and removed all of our old beat up junk. The City if Hutchinson brought out a huge metal trailer for all of the residents of Nickerson to get rid of their unwanted leftover garage sale clothes, furniture and junk.

Alot of people were at the trailer garbage shopping today!!! I love recycling!!!

For dinner Chris and I decided we wanted pizza, but I did not want any old plain standard hum drum pizza. I wanted something exciting.

For Chris I made a Spinach, baby portabello, chicken alfredo pizza and for Kaiti and I, Caponata pizza.

Caponata Pizza

Ingredients:

5 baby eggplant, washed and sliced thin

5 inside ribs of celery

2 tbls. capers

olive oil, I used about 1 tbls.

black pepper

1 medium zucchini, sliced into thick matchsticks

3 roma tomatoes, diced

fennel seeds

Italian seasoning

prepared pizza crust

Place all of your vegetables onto a baking sheet, cover with olive oil and toss to coat. Bake at 400 degree's for about 45 minutes, turning occasionally.

Remove from oven. Set aside until ready to use.

I used prepared pizza crust, and canned tomato puree. Top your pizza with about 2/3 cup tomato puree. Top with fennel and italian seasoning to taste.

Top your pizza with the caponata and bake for about 20 minutes or until crust is crunchy.

Last night I went to an auction to benefit Swaziland, Africa. The children of Swaziland have been hit by a plague of AIDS that has left most of them orphans. My friend Becky and her husband host an auction every year to supply this village with clothes, learning equipment and AIDS prevention materials. We bid on various items like furniture, bed and breakfast gift certificates, clothing, blankets and restaurants.

I didn't get anything, but I came away with a treasure.

For the dinner it was all meat, brisket, sour cream, cheese potatoes, bacon green beans, you get the idea...except for the salad.

The salad was comprised of field greens, pecans, strawberries and celery in a lightly sweetened vinaigrette. The salad was not great, they dressed it to early and it was wilted and too sweet. But.....being an ex caterer, I knew I could make this a vegan winner...

Here is what I did.

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Strawberry Salad

Ingredients:

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2 heads romaine, cut into bite size pieces

5 large strawberries, cut into a large dice

The tops of 4-6 celery stalks

1/2 c. walnut pieces

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Dressing:

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This is a total guesstimate

1/2 c. Olive oil, you could use water

1/4 c. White wine vinegar

1 tbls. dijon mustard

3 tsp. agave, you could use stevia

1 tsp. garlic

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

In a medium bowl place you garlic and salt, mash together, add your dijon and white wine vinegar, stir together and in a thin stream add your oil. Then add your agave, tasting for sweetness. Add cracked black pepper and mix. Toss over salad and serve.
Do not be afraid of using mustard's and seasonings with your fruit. It compliments the taste and brings out different floral notes you would not normally taste!!

Here is our dinner.

I thought it was wonderful. I let the pizza stay in a little longer to get a really nice crisp crust. I think I will serve this more traditionally next time I serve it and let it cool before putting it on the cooked crust. The salad was sharp and sweet with a little whang from the mustard and vinegar. Chris loved the salad and said "it was surprisingly good" which I think is a huge compliment! Chris is not a fruit salad kinda guy, but hey, I love him....

I will definitely take the salad to a meat eaters diner party or to my in-laws for 4th of July. The caponanta was not a hit with Chris, but he is a meat eater and not a fan of capers...some people...yeeesh!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! Until tomorrow, I hope you have a good evening!!