Butternut Squash, Carmelized onion and Arugula Pizza

I made a pizza.

Not too shocking, because I love pizza. But for some reason, I really never made them at home. A few months ago, though, I discovered that TJ's sells pizza dough.

Its less than $2 and delicious. They have a whole wheat version, which is what I always get, but they also have white and then some sort of flavored one that I am definitely trying next.

I had this thought in my head that butternut squash, carmelized onions and arugula would make a great pizza. I googled the heck out of it but couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I figured I'd wing it. Turned out pretty well so I figured I'd share! (Disclaimer: this started with me googling "how to carmelize an onion. My cooking skills are awesome).

Ingredients:

1 pizza crust
1/2 red onion - more if you really like onions
Approx 3 C butternut squash, cubed
1 tsp oregano, divided
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
1/2-1c shredded cheese (I used a swiss/gruyere combo)
1/2 c arugula
salt to taste

Step 1: Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400. Prepare the butternut squash: toss with olive oil to coat and 1/2 tsp oregano. Sprinkle with salt. Place squash on shallow baking dish and bake for 25min.

Step 2: While squash is cooking, preheat olive oil in skillet on medium heat. Thinly slice onions and saute until translucent. Once onions are transulcent, lower heat slightly. Add a splash of balsamic vinetar and continue to stir frequently until onions are soft and brown.

Step 3: combine about 2 Tbsp of olive oil with minced garlic and the other 1/2 tsp of oregano. Spread over pizza crust as a base.

Step 4: Top pizza with onions, cheese, and squash. Top with a splash of balsamic vinegar. Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes (or follow the instructions for your crust) until cheese begins to bubble.

Step 5: Rinse arugula with cold water to refresh. Allow to drain.

Step 6: Remove pizza from oven and immediately top with arugula. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Traveling through a Winter Storm

I spent all day yesterday traveling. And by "traveling" what I mean is "sitting in the airport waiting for a flight." My first flight got cancelled - perhaps because of this...

But I quickly rebooked onto a second, earlier flight. Unfortunately, that one was cancelled as well. So then I got to pay a lot of money to rebook on a third flight and wait about 5 hours until it took off. Awesome.  Luckily, I love this coffee shop at the MKE airport, so I sat and got some work done.

I also discovered that there is a used bookstore in the main terminal (before you go through security). I picked up some cheap paperbacks to get me through the day. I also bit the bullet and finally signed up for Boingo internet. It actually is a pretty good deal to start out with - something around $5 per month for the first 3 months. With as much time as I spend in airports I probably should've done that months ago!

Has anyone else been through the MKE airport? I fly through there a bunch and it's actually a great airport (minus the snow, of course!). After the security checkpoints they have this sign over some benches and it makes me smile every time!

Of course, by the time my flight was departing, it was still snowing heavily.

Which meant they had to keep shutting down the runway to get it plowed. So I missed my connecting flight in ATL. Also, can we talk about how big that airport is? I was put on standby and ended up running around the airport between all the terminals to chase down standby flights. At least I got a good workout in! I also got lucky and a) found some healthy airport food and b) made it on the next flight as a standby! I've never been so happy that someone else missed their flight! I got home late last night and now it's 65 degrees and sunny. Needless to say, I'm psyched to go for a run this afternoon! 

Does anybody else freak out a bit when they de-ice the plane? I'm always slightly paranoid they might miss a spot...

New Addiction

Can we talk about how good this is? So good you probably shouldn't buy it if you haven't already. Trust me. Now excuse me while I go eat some more...

Up All Night

Up most of the night with work stuff last night. It was a beautiful full moon, though that's hard to tell by my crappy picture. As much as it stinks to be woken up a million times, I was rewarded with a beautiful winter sunrise.

I got back to the hotel to find a Valentine's gift, which seriously considered eating for breakfast. That's okay, right?

I was originally planning on a long run today and felt like scrapping it at first, but after a nap and some coffee I decided to start running and see how I felt. Ended up with a freezing 10-miler. Definitely a slower run than normal, and at the end I started to wonder if I was getting frostbite on my face (turns out I wasn't).

I feel like running on the snow is about as hard as running on sand. With the added fear that at any moment you will hit a slick patch and bust it! Now time to relax with some treats from Trader Joe's!

I travel a lot for work, which means I spend a lot of time in airports.  Follow along as I share the good parts, the bad parts, as well as other random tidbits from my life!

The sunsets are the best.