Traveling is fun. Missing your kitchen isn’t. However, when your company sends you to Aspen for three weeks – there is absolutely zero complaining to be done. So, what CAN be done? Read some food magazines, get kitchen envy from watching the Food Network while away from home and engage in lunch hour snowboarding and general nutritional misbehavior. So, at the end of my trip I spent 3 hours on a CRJ from Aspen to Atlanta with my nose buried deep in Food Network magazine. Had to figure out what I wanted to make first when I was essentially reunited with my kitchen for the first time since Christmas. You know, after I ran out of lives on Candy Crush.

You know what else I figured out while I was out there? Goat cheese. Wearing snow pants & Sorel boots to work every day is awesome. Snowboarding in fresh powder is like floating on a cloud.

Anyone who knows me is aware of how easily swayed I am by pizza commercials. Articles with pretty glossy photos of pizza get me just as jazzed. See a pizza, want a pizza. That said, the paleo police can take a back seat on this one, because I brought this to a Super Bowl party and everyone loved it.

Prosciutto Pesto Pizza

For the Pesto:

• A bunch of fresh basil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Pine Nuts
• Minced Garlic
• Parmesan/Romano Cheese

For the Rest of the Pizza

• 1 Ball of wheat pizza dough (absolutely worth the $2.50 at the grocery store to avoid headaches of DIY)
• 1 Fresh Tomato, Sliced
• 1 Red Onion, Sliced
• 3-4 Slices Prosciutto
• Goat Cheese (Chevre) Crumbles
• EVOO
• Arugula

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to whatever the instructions on the dough say.
2. In a small food processor, make pesto. Heavy on the basil and EVOO, add other ingredients in moderation until you’ve found a blend you’re happy with.
3. Once the dough is rolled out on your pizza pan/stone or cookie sheet*, brush it first with a thin layer of EVOO, followed by evenly distributing the pesto spread.
4. Next, lay down (in this order) Prosciutto, Tomato, Red Onion, Goat Cheese.
5. Bake… according to whatever the instructions on the dough say.
6. While the pizza is in the oven, toss the arugula lightly in EVOO.
7. Once the pizza is out of the oven, evenly distribute arugula on top and serve immediately.

*My weapon of choice was an aerated non-stick pizza pan. The holes on the bottom make all the difference in the world when it comes to crisping up the bottom of the crust. IMHO, absolutely worth the $20.