My Pizza Hut Addiction And A Simple Raw Pizza Recipe

One of my cooked food addictions in my previous life was pizza. Specifically pepperoni pizza. 

When I was a kid, a big treat was going to Pizza Hut. In my home town there was a big restaurant branch, which was kinda a big deal then. They had the coolest promotions - like they would put an electronic timer on your table and if it went off before you got your pizza - it was free!

Then - OHMYGOD - they started doing "All you can eat", but you had to request additional slices from the waitress, so it was a bit embarrassing if you ate too much.

When Pizza Hut introduced the "help yourself" buffet, it was the most exciting news ever. Before I visited, I would eat lightly "to prepare". I would wear comfortable, roomy clothes. I would eat salad as well, but I would avoid eating the crusts. When a fresh pepperoni pizza came onto the buffet, I would run and cram as many pieces as I could on my plate. After a while, I would go to the bathroom to "make some room" and if that wasn't bad enough - I would secretly wrap up a few pieces to take home (and more often than not, I would eat them in the car). 

When I was a teenager, I would go there twice a month and have an eating competition with my friends, which I often won. We would also get home delivery once a month or so. I could eat a whole pizza to myself, and finished off my families slices too (even just their crusts).

I could eat and eat and literally NEVER feel full. I was a little bit chubby but because I was training as a dancer, I actually maintained my weight throughout.

Writing this, I feel very sad for that girl. I never saw it as a problem, and I only realise now that I had a very serious problem with food. I had a lot of anxiety in my life and stuffing myself was one way of coping. It was a form of self harm. 

When I went raw, I was still eating pepperoni pizza ocasionally. I even bought a horrible microwaved one once and hid in the office kitchen because I didn't want anyone to see me. YUK. I wouldn't dream of eating pepperoni now, even though I do eat vegetarian pizza now. It doesn't have the same hold on me, and I can manage my overeating much better now.

Blanka gifted me some wonderful raw bread this week, and I thought.... RAW PIZZA!

I've asked Blanka for the recipe for the bases, but here is what I put on top:

I soaked thinly sliced courgette in olive oil, salt and red paprika for about 30 mins til soft (this was my "pepperoni")

• Thinly sliced red pepper
• Spinach thinly sliced and soaked in warm water to make it soft
• Mashed avocado
• Fresh basil (which smelt amazing)

The base was tomato paste, ketchup and dried herbs. Spread the paste and assemble the ingredients on top however you want.

You can put anything you want on top - maybe raw cheese, mushrooms... anything!

By the way - this is the ingredients list for a typical frozen pepperoni pizza:

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Pepperoni Pizza Topping (Pepperoni Made with Pork, Chicken and Beef (Pork, Mechanically Separated Chicken, Beef, Salt, Spice, Dextrose, Oleoresin of Paprika, Sodium Ascorbate, Garlic Powder, Sodium Nitrite, Lactic Acid Starter Culture, BHA and BHT and Citric Acid to Protect Flavor), Water, Soy Protein Isolate), Water, Mozzarella Cheese Substitute (Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Rennet Casein, Modified Corn Starch, Potato Starch, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Vital Wheat Gluten, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Titanium Dioxide (Color), Maltodextrin, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Rehydrated Pasteurized Process Nonfat Mozzarella Cheese (Water, Nonfat Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Phosphate), Salt, Sugar, Defatted Soy Flour, Dried Whey, Dried Onion, Spice, Methylcellulose, Rehydrated Enzyme Modified Cheese (Water, Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), and Natural Flavor. 

Food should be about SELF LOVE, not SELF HARM

With love,

Denise

© Denise Duffield-Thomas

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Comments

[air yeezy]

Where not to eat bread with tears, people do not know the taste of life of people.

[Kendall]

I already knew it, but whatever thanks.
http://www.filecatch.com/trends/es/14-09-2010.html

[The Green Queen]

One day there might be a raw food recipe book - maybe with my friend Blanka - she's such a good cook!

[Blanka]

The recipe for the raw bread is from Russell James. This one was free in one of his amazing eZines, you can find it on his website rawchef.com under the Recipes section. I am sorry but the system will not let me post a link...
I must try your marinating idea, it sounds delicious!!
Hugs,
Blanka

[Corrina Gordon-Barnes]

Oh my god, that list of ingredients for a regular pizza is so disturbing. How can we do that to ourselves? No-one would dream of filling their car with such polluted petrol, why do we think our bodies are to be abused in that way?

THANK YOU for leading the way in giving people real alternatives. Are you going to published a raw food recipe book one day? I'd buy it :-)

Corrina

http://www.doingthingsdifferently.blogspot.com/