A Day to Myself

Happy Easter Weekend! As a married couple with no family around, we don't really do much for Easter. Maybe I'll hide an uncooked egg in Mark's shoe or something, but the extent of our Easter Festivities so far have just been a big bowl of Easter candy. Some couples get each other Easter baskets with little presents, but we try to avoid being cheesy when possible. 

School was out today, but Mark had to work so I had the day all to myself. I went for a 90 minute run/walk in the most beautiful weather and got some much needed sun. I realized how painful it's going to be to start working out again, but at the same time it felt so good!

I'm watching what I eat, but I'm still enjoying treats. How much good can the "maintenance phase" be anyway? From what I hear it's the most important part haha, but I am ready to be back to my life of carbs and working out. Oddly enough I really started to missed cooking. I have several new recipes to try this week, and today I made fruit pizza. I forgot to take a picture of it before I cut it, but it looked similar to this (maybe not quite as beautiful) and mine had bananas too. 

Ingredients

         1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

         1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

         1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

          

         Cut up fruit of choice.

          

         1/2 cup white sugar

         1 pinch salt

         1 tablespoon cornstarch

         1/2 cup orange juice

         2 tablespoons lemon juice

         1/4 cup water

         1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Directions

1.             Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slice cookie dough and arrange on greased pizza pan, overlapping edges. Press dough flat into pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool.

2.             In a large bowl, soften cream cheese, then fold in the whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust. You can chill for a while at this point, or continue by arranging the fruit.

3.             Begin with strawberries, sliced in half. Arrange in a circle around the outside edge. Continue with fruit of your choice, working towards the middle. If bananas are used, dip them in lemon juice so they don't darken. Then make a sauce to spoon over fruit.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, salt, corn starch, orange juice, lemon juice and water. Cook and stir over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat, and add grated orange rind. Allow to cool, but not set up. Spoon over fruit. Chill for two hours, then cut into wedges and serve.