This is my totally gorgeous friend, Brandy. I met her at a local wading pool one day a couple of summers ago, each of us with a toddler in tow, and pretty much thought she was the coolest.
She's a stay-at-home mom
and a chef. I used to bug her about ideas for meals to make since Bo is a vegetarian and I'm still sort-of a meat eater. Even after ten years of cooking some meat/some veggie or all veggie or whatever, I just sometimes find myself getting stumped in the kitchen. And then, last week Brandy announced that she'd had this idea: once a week, she will come up with a couple of meals that people like me could choose from (who either don't like to cook, don't have time to cook, or just need a break from the kitchen but want something delicious to eat for dinner.) Then she prepares some gourmet awesomeness for you. I knew right away that whatever she made would be amazing, so I signed our family up for her first week of this new adventure. (Extra cool: she offers vegetarian dishes, shops locally and at the farmers' market and sometimes does deliveries on her bike.)
So this is how dinner started off tonight! My mouth was watering as soon as I opened everything up and saw that yummy ciabatta. This is the beginnings of the vegetarian ciabatta pizza with gorgonzola, walnut pesto, pears, (omg ... the pears were so good,) arugula, and per Brandy's suggestion, a little honey on the side.
It was seriously the most flavorful, delicious pizza we've ever had – and Bo has had
a lot of pizzas. It was the perfect summery meal and we all were in love with every single bite. More like, freaking out about how good it was after every single bite. Again with those fresh
pears. Delicious. We even have enough left over for tomorrow. (Yay!) So yeah, it's a pretty brilliant idea and I'm happy to reap the benefits.
(If you're in the Des Moines area and want Brandy's contact info, shoot me an email and I can hook you up.)