veggie pizza+strawberry salad

I've only been back home for two weeks, and I already miss dorm life. I miss the random crazy-ness of it, like being surrounded by people to hang out with on weeknights, the guy who spent his entire life pacing back and forth down the hall talking on his cell phone, and finding my neighbor passed out drunk in the stairwell.

one big difference between the dorms and home is, of course, the food. At school, pizza means "a one dollar slice from the place you go when half the group is drunk and you're about to start an ill-advised 2 am showing of Lord of the Rings." At home, pizza means, "homemade wheat dough topped with portabello mushrooms, onions, cilantro pesto, and fontina cheese, served with a salad of strawberrys, pinenuts, homemade dressing, and lettuce fresh from the garden." both have their merits, but i think you'd prefer a recipe for the latter.

pizza, from cooking light via myrecipes.com
we replaced half of the all purpose flour with wheat, and we both agreed if we made it again, we would make more of the cilantro pesto, as the cilantro flavor didn't come through the other ingredients. overall, the recipe was a success.

lettuce and strawberry salad serves 4

* about 4 cups lettuce, roughly chopped into bite sized pieces
* about 1 cup strawberries, sliced
* about 1/4 cup pine nuts
* 1 tablespoon butter (or margarine, or smart balance, or whatever buttery thing you like)

1. melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
2. add pine nuts, stir constantly until pine nuts are toasted, just starting to blacken but not burnt.
3. top lettuce with strawberries and pine nuts, toss.

sweet lemony dressing all quantities are estimated, we weren't really measuring. i recommend starting with small quantities, than adjusting to taste

* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
* 1 teaspoon mustard powder
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 teaspoons celery seed
* 2 teaspoons poppy seed
* 2 Tablespoons honey

1. combine all ingredients
2. stir, or place in a covered container and shake
3. toss with salad. start with about half the dressing, add however much you need to coat salad.
4. serve immediately.