NEW AVENUE

We ran out of our pizza dough from Fresh Direct and we recently opted to test out Trader Joe's offering. Much larger in its standard size, I was a little worried we wouldn't end up with the crispy crust and texture we'd been perfecting in recent weeks.

Turns out my worries were unfounded. This stuff is A+.

After working out the dough and giving it one round on the pizza stone, I pulled out the half-baked crust and topped it with:
- marinara
- chicken jalapeño sausage
- onion
- red bell pepper
- shiitake mushrooms
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chives
- le fournols cheese

Ding, Ding. We have another winner, dudes. The crust, after maxin' and relaxin' in the 500 degree oven for around 15 minutes came out golden and crisp. Each slice came apart solid and firm, but when you took a bite, the interiors were soft, bouncy and full of those good pizza crust bubbles.

As far as the toppings were concerned, the cheese really stood out. Why? It was really stinky. This one was a super stinky, dirty socks kind of cheese. But ... in a good way. If that's possible.

But yeah, I think we're cool with the Trader Joe's crust and we'll be rockin' it from here on out.

Meena also threw together a simple salad. It featured some spinach and campari tomatoes with her classic dressing (canola oil, garlic, sea salt, rice vinegar and black pepper). Tasty as always.

We're off to MKE for the weekend - hope to get you some updates but I make no promises. But definitely expect some burgers and dogs when we get back!