March (Charles)

(The Mellow Mushroom where Charles works)

Caesar Pizza

1 head Romaine lettuce
1 tomato
1 (12 inch) prepared pizza crust
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 package of chicken (skinless and boneless breasts of course)
1 can of Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried basil leaves
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried oregano
1 bottle of Newman’s Creamy Caesar dressing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet, over medium heat, brown the chicken until cooked through. Place pizza crust on a large baking sheet. Stir together the tomato sauce, basil, and oregano. Spread tomato sauce evenly over pizza. Sprinkle cooked chicken evenly over tomato sauce and top with Mozzarella cheese. Bake 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly golden. While the pizza is baking, cut up the romaine and mix with the Caesar dressing. After you pull the pizza out of the oven sprinkle the lettuce on top of the pie. Distribute the sliced tomatoes evenly on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cut into slices to serve.

Gastrography
One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is to take recipes from local restaurants that I love and try to replicate them in my own kitchen. This recipe is one of those replications. I borrowed this recipe from Mellow Mushroom, the place where I have been employed for the last year. I chose to add this dish in the cookbook because it is one of my favorite pies at Mellow Mushroom, and this restaurant has played an important part in my life over the last year, as it has supported my frugal spending habits, I have met some amazing people, and I almost lost my hand in this restaurant. This might not be a story to tell in a cookbook, but this event has been one of the most trying events in my life thus far and the accident affects me in the kitchen even today (I still don’t have feeling in three fingers on my right hand which means I have to be extra careful when cooking to make sure that I don’t burn myself without feeling it).

The night of July 6^th I was just about to get off work. I had a beer and a Caesar Pizza waiting for me at the bar and was about to relax when a fellow co-worker asked me to carry some pint glasses up to the bar to be washed. As I was heading up the stairs I slipped and tried to catch myself with my right hand which proceeded to go through the beer mug I was carrying. I learned later in the hospital that I had cut five tendons, three nerves, and an artery. I spent the next six months going to physical therapy three times a week and with my hand in a cast. At least I have a pretty awesome scar now.