Smoked Salmon and Avocado Pizza

We needed a little pick me up here in the South because of the cabin fever we have been getting due to all the rain. Thankfully, the rain held off long enough for me to take the kids on a walk while Garrett worked on a project. We came back just in time to miss getting caught in tonight's downpour and started to work on our pizzas. We typically eat dairy and egg free at the McMullin house, but slowly I am adding small bits of dairy back into my diet. Much to Garrett's delight, last night was one of those nights.

Homemade pizza nights are fun all around. Sometimes we let the kids help throw on toppings and some nights we don't - but they are always thankful for their cheeseless treat. When we make pizzas, we pick up Whole Foods' unshaped pizza dough for about four dollars each. The kid's pizza usually looks like pizza sauce and topping choices comprised of meats and veggies. Garrett and I decided to make a fun, new pizza that was a nod to a favorite at a local restaurant and inspired by the many recipes we viewed online.

Smoked Salmon and Avocado.

This was not intended to be a blog post, but we both felt like it was too good to keep to ourselves. We will spare you loads of stories and photographs and get to what you want - the recipe!

Smoked Salmon and Avocado Pizza

You will need

-a pizza crust of whatever variety you enjoy.

-olive oil

-1/2 block of cream cheese

-salt

-four springs of fresh dill

-tablespoon of diced garlic

-mozzarella cheese (not shredded, get the good stuff)

-about 2 ounces of salami

-1/2 red onion sliced thinly

-1/2 avocado

-2 4 oz smoked salmon filets

-handful baby arugula

-lemon pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Soften the cream cheese and mix in about four sprigs of dill. We like a lot! Add in garlic and mix it together. Salt to taste.

Drizzle olive oil over pizza. Spread cream cheese mixture over the dough. Next, add the mozzarella cheese. We try to get a piece in just about every bite. We sliced the salami in strips and laid them out similarly. Do the same with the red onion. Put pizza in oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until mozzarella is melted.

Top with sliced avocado and salmon. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Put back into oven just long enough to heat the two additional toppings. Add arugula, plate, enjoy.

NOTE: We took one of the Whole Foods pizza dough balls and split it to make two separate crusts. One of our's was EXTRA cheesy because one of our's had minimal cheese. Otherwise this would make one very large pizza. If you are using smaller crusts, I would divide all of these ingredients between two!

We hope you enjoy this treat as much as we did! Garrett said he wants to make it a regular on our list of indulgent foods. We really LOVED it. I would recommend accompanying it with a salad, wine, and good company. :)

From our hearts and homes.... and bellies,

Cindy

A Little About Cindy

Cindy here. I was born and raised in the same area that our family lives now. Garrett and I have been married for six years and have four precious, young children. By day, I change diapers, chase our three big kids around begging them to pick up their toys, cook (dairy and egg free), and nurse our precious 5 month old. By day, between the hours the children are at preschool and late into the evening (and sometimes in the closet with my bedroom door locked mid day), I am a real estate agent. I love helping my clients understand their needs and goals and walking along side them until they reach them. I also love being able to help our oldest son learn to read, watch as our second born beams with excitement as he draws an upside down (and backwards) L, and twirl in countless circles with our two year-old daughter. I feel extremely busy but don’t have the desire to change a thing.

Parenting is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Well, maybe that and marriage amidst four children in less than five years ;) I am so thankful for grace and forgiveness in the middle of chaos. Apologies are a theme in our house right now. But also so are belly laughs, late nights, spilled drinks, water colors and markers, learning to read, imaginary bad guys and lots of hugs and kisses.

I come from a family of creators. My dad is a master craftsman with wood; my sisters paint, bake, photograph and make pottery. My brother shares my dad’s talent of woodworking and he has recently gotten into iron work. I have always been so impressed with their natural talent and how they have refined them over the years. I am definitely the odd one out. I like to paint and have lots of creative ideas, but have struggled to reproduce them in any tangible way. With the help of Garrett and encouragement from family, I am coming to terms with the idea that design is a form of creativity.

“Remember that He who created you to be creative gave you the things with which to make beauty and gave you the sensitivity to appreciate and respond to His creation. Creativity is His gift to you and the 'raw materials' to be put together in various ways are His gift to you as well.” - Edith Schaeffer

I remember the first time I felt accomplished with a design. My parents moved home after four years in Eastern Africa. I was able to use a mix of their items and thrifted items to create an entirely new space to welcome them back to their home. I decided then that I really liked to live out the old adage, “Waste not want not” when it came to decorating and design. As our family grew and moved and went through years of being in school and “hustling” financially, I was able to flex my design muscles and make do with what we could. My canvas became the rooms in which we lived.

Thus began years of rearranging furniture, small additions from thrift stores or FB resell groups, Annie Sloan tutorials, and many renderings of a kitchen redo. This creative outlet brought joy and a new purpose when it came to home-making and hospitality.

“If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for us” - Edith Schaeffer

Garrett has been the actual muscles to my ideas and I am so thankful that we can work together to create a home that works for us! He is supportive of finding joy in the process and a partner in expressing creativity through our home.

Thanks for following as we gear up for these projects at our home (and even at some of our reader’s!). Your excitement and support of this little endeavor of our’s to open our doors to you has filled us with so much (surprise and) thanksgiving. This month will hold a lot of personal transitions and projects for clients. We look forward to sharing some little DIY soon!

From our heart and home,

Cindy

Heeeere's Garrett

Hey, my name is Garrett and I guess you could say I’m the brawn of this adventure – as in most things Cindy is more the brains and has all the beauty (she did not edit that in, but she also didn't edit it out). I am a maker at heart – I love to use my hands, problem solve, fix, research, strategize…do it myself. But I also enjoy engaging with other people, sharing a common bond, teaching and talking.

According to the tests, I am an ENTP and a 7. But people would describe me as goofy. I am a glass half-full type of person, but fully understand that we've all got problems in a problematic world. But I do believe in a Creator who takes care of His creation and that there is a universal, specific truth - and that truth isn't defined by us individually or wholly (which is good, because we got problems). We try to keep up with the spin of the earth (which is 1,000 miles/hr) and that leads to trading sit down meals with fast-food, social media over being social and baby sitting over sitting with our babies. I think we need to slow down...but that's just my perspective.

I have always loved to build and DIY. I got into “woodworking” about 3 years ago because I finally got a tool. I say woodworking loosely because usually the wood works me; I am still learning, it isn’t anything that comes easily to me - I think and figure out more than I cut and assemble. But gosh it’s fun. I’ve had the pleasure to work with pine, poplar, maple, walnut and cherry…I can’t wait to get my hands on some quarter sawn oak. Working with wood seems only natural. We live in a world full of plastic, particleboard, IKEA and the mighty dollar being the bottom line. Wood is real, living, strong, unpredictable, pliable yet stable, sustains yet to be subdued. Wood is unique, each species has it’s own color, scent, texture and feel that can’t be factory made. I look forward to working with it for the rest of my life.

I do not have a set style I am most in love with. I enjoy mostly contemporary colors and design schemes, have a deep appreciation for the simplicity of shaker style furniture, but love the detail and richness found in more grand, traditional pieces. I’ve only made furniture-style cabinets, counter tops, bunk bed and gift items – cutting boards, charcuterie boards, picture frames and the like. I am currently working on some wine shelves for a local restaurant and have a nursery set and outdoor grill cabinets in the wings. I can’t wait to build some actual furniture for our house, starting with a media credenza sometime this spring.

Overall, woodworking has been a hobby born out of necessity and a desire to do it myself. But I hope to become more skilled, provide high-quality products and maybe even teach others the joy and intricacies of woodworking. I look forward to seeing how all this unfolds, and am excited to have you along for the ride.

From my heart and home to yours…Garrett

P.S. From Cindy - I feel like you should know these things about Garrett. He is seriously goofy. He loves The Office, Parks and Rec, and Cheers. He loves football - particularly MSU and the Saints. He loves our family so much. I never have a doubt in my mind about his love for us. By no means am I saying that he is perfect, but I can rest in his love and that is such a comfort. hmm...He is seriously a goofball. :) I am so thankful to have married someone so handy and handsome!