The One With the Three Thousand Dollar Pizza

I am perfectly aware that most of you are just stopping by for the recipes this week. But I am sure you are equally aware that I don’t just hand them over. First I have a story, or a song, or an opinion on some subject or other. If you are impatient, and want to ignore my story, I won’t try to stop you. Just scroll down and take your recipe. Today is slow typing. I am using four fingers on my right hand and only the pinkie finger on my left. But that is a story for tomorrow (more of a cautionary tale, really). For today, the story of the $3,000 pizza. Where do you buy such a pizza, you ask? Why, Costco of course.


It was the Pizza Margherita variety to be specific, with tomatoes and basil. Dillon is severely allergic to pine nuts, and he asked before he ate, if there were any pine nuts in the pizza. I assured him there were not, and he ate a slice. In my defense, pine nuts are usually only found in a pesto-type sauce, and as you can see from the photo above of an actual Costco Pizza Margherita, this is definitely a marinara-type sauce. He asked as he finished the slice, “Are you sure there are no pine nuts? I can taste something…” (as he started wheezing ang clutching his stomach). At that point, I dragged out the box, and guess what was in the sauce? You guessed it: pignolias… piñones… yes, pine nuts. Pine nuts are really interesting little things. A quarter cup of them has over 20 grams of fat. That is impressive, don’t you think?

So anyway, Dillon chugged some Benadryl, but the damage had been done. Hives, head to toe. Asthma. Vomiting. But the most shocking thing that happens to Dillon is facial swelling. Did you ever see Will Smith in the movie Hitch, when he had the seafood allergy? Dillon’s is much worse. Shocking, in fact. More like the Elephant Man. DK rushed him to the ER that night, and for several hours he had the whole ER staff working on him. He was in critical condition when he arrived. Scary. A friend of ours works in the ER, and she said she couldn’t even recognize him. The $3,000 was the ER bill from that night. Expensive pizza.

If you are still with me, you have earned your recipe. We are going vegetarian and healthy tonight, with one of my favorites: Three-Tomato Spaghetti. One of my readers, Aleta, asked if I had any easy-to-make, diabetic-friendly recipes. This is a quick, easy meal with few ingredients, and to make it diabetic-friendly, prepare it with whole wheat spaghetti. I actually like this pasta even better warmed up the second day… I like the way the spaghetti absorbs the flavors.


And unless you are inviting Dillon over to dinner (I can’t afford an ER trip right now…), try this side dish with your spaghetti… it really makes an easy, beautiful side dish with just about anything. I thought I didn’t like asparagus until a couple of years ago. Turns out I just don’t like bland or overcooked asparagus. This, I love. If you’re scared, just leave off the pine nuts. You big chicken…


And since these photos are of my actual dinner tonight, I am off to eat...

Three-Tomato Spaghetti

Asparagus With Pine Nuts