They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I suppose I feel flattered that there are so many ‘gourmet’ pizzerias these days. More than a decade ago the trend was quantity over quality and we went against the herd to offer the best quality of pizzas that we could create using all natural ingredients like Olive Oil and 100% dairy cheeses.
We’ve always loved to create new and interesting tastes on pizza; this is how our ‘Taste of the Month’ pizzas that we feature in our monthly newsletter began. Every month we’ll bring in a new kind of cheese, or topping and create something completely different for the month. The most popular Taste of the Month pizzas are added to our regular menu.
Back in 2007 we brought on a slow-roasted pulled pork that we marinate with our Sweet’n’Tangy BBQ sauce and then add a splash of hot sauce for a little kick. It’s one of my personal favourites toppings , especially when paired with our dry-cured pepperoni and fresh hand cut pineapple with a cheddar cheese blend, which we call our “Sweet’n’Spicy Divine Swine”. This pizza was so popular that it was added to our menu back in 2008. I’m told of another pizza place in the city that claims to be the first to offer this ‘gourmet topping’, but since they didn’t exist in 2007, I don’t give it much thought.
When I was awarded “Canada’s best pizza chef of the year 2005” by Canadian Pizza magazine the editor flew out to spend the day with Pierre and I. He loved our newsletter and our unique approach to pizza and he asked me to write a regular column for the magazine. As a result I have exposed many other independent and chain pizzerias to our style and dedication to excellence in the art of pizza making. Today it isn’t uncommon to see more than one style of crust offered, more than one kind of sauce available and more than the 12 most common pizza toppings on pizza menus. I’ve been told by individuals who work for large pizza chains occupying positions from manager to franchisee, to VIP of operations, to CEO, that they read every column I write and they frequently check out our website and menu to see what the new trend is for pizza. I’m flattered and I am lucky to be considered an expert in my field, although I didn’t set out to be a leader in my industry and that aspect didn’t come about overnight.
My goal was to be known in Winnipeg as the place to go for great tasting gourmet pizzas; the awards, the media attention, the friendships with other talented pizza chefs from around the world and the honour of judging international competitions in Las Vegas and Italy are all cherries on top of a 20 year career focused on hard work and dedication to the art of pizza making.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Healthy Pizza is in Demand
Pierre and I started watching Village On A Diet on CBC Monday nights and I have to say that I'm not surprised about the pizzeria owner. I was surprised that the chef created a pizza dough with flax seed because flax often cuts the gluten in the dough and creates tears when you slap it out, but I would've like to work with it and taste it. I'm a little disappointed that CBC didn't call me because I'd love the opportunity to showcase & share healthy pizza making recipes and tips. And although I've been told many times that I don't look like a award winning pizza chef, I think I'm a pretty healthy one. It may surprise you to know that Winnipeg doctors have been referring diabetic patients to us for over ten years. Our 100% whole wheat crust and low fat mozzarella is diet friendly and diabetic diet friendly.
Pizza can be delicious & nutritious, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Although not all pizzas are created equal and not all pizzas are made to be healthy.
On the show the pizzeria owner said they use a full fat mozzarella, which are usually around 35% m.f. whereas our mozzarella is a nice low fat one at 15% m.f.
For those of us who love real dairy cheeses, I always recommend a cheese blend; mix our low fat mozzarella with our medium sharp cheddar (30% m.f.), or with the garlic n chive havarti for something different. That way you get the additional flavour of the specialty, higher fat cheese without all of the added calories & fat which quickly turns into grease in the hot ovens.
Pile on the fresh veggies and you've got a great tasting and good for you meal.
The pizzeria owner on the show was resistant and seem to believe that if she adopted the healthy chef's suggestions she would be out of business shortly. She talked about her 'Northern style pizza' being in demand and while it may still be she is shortsighted in that her community is crying out for change, otherwise they would not be participating in this ambitious and important lifestyle change challenge.
I would offer an entire new line of healthy pizzas and invite the village to sample 'California style pizzas'. I'd make our whole wheat thin crust and our award winning marinara, low fat cheese and add some spinach with sundried tomatoes and a few fresh veggies from their garden - Yummeh! A couple of slices are perfect to snack on and great portion control too. Maybe throw some grilled pesto chicken breast on there or chick peas for added protein. I bet even the biggest guy in the village could get used to that kind of meal! You may also be surprised to know that we have many body builders who visit us regularly without spoiling their diets. Maybe one them would be willing to offer the villagers some helpful advice too.
That was the inspiration behind our 30 day pizza diet challenge. Not only do we believe that someone could lose weight by eating only our healthy pizzas for 30 days, but we also believe that because of the variety of sauces, cheeses & toppings we carry, they wouldn't get tired of it. This is a diet that anyone can stick to, which is one of the most difficult parts of dieting. As a side note I must say that not every pizza we make is healthy, for some of our clients it's not the primary reason they order a pizza from us. And I personally don't only eat our whole wheat pizzas with low fat mozzarella, there are days where I crave our deep dish Moosehead beer crust with double pepperoni and triple cheese and I satisfy that craving. BUT it's about balance.
We put our pizza diet challenge on hold because by the time we got things in place it was already October and the holidays were right around the corner so we thought we should postpone our challenge until the new year.
And here we are, January 2011. Seems that it's the perfect time to showcase how healthy pizza can be part of a healthy lifestyle. We will choose our candidates and launch our pizza diet challenge shortly. It'll be interesting to see the progress and the ongoing results, so stay tuned!
BTW if someone from CBC's Village on a Diet is reading this I'd be happy to offer my services (gratis) to the pizzeria owner of Taylor BC. I realize that filming is over, but the residents may or may not have reached their goals and good health is too important to give up on. Ever.
Pizza can be delicious & nutritious, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Although not all pizzas are created equal and not all pizzas are made to be healthy.
On the show the pizzeria owner said they use a full fat mozzarella, which are usually around 35% m.f. whereas our mozzarella is a nice low fat one at 15% m.f.
For those of us who love real dairy cheeses, I always recommend a cheese blend; mix our low fat mozzarella with our medium sharp cheddar (30% m.f.), or with the garlic n chive havarti for something different. That way you get the additional flavour of the specialty, higher fat cheese without all of the added calories & fat which quickly turns into grease in the hot ovens.
Pile on the fresh veggies and you've got a great tasting and good for you meal.
The pizzeria owner on the show was resistant and seem to believe that if she adopted the healthy chef's suggestions she would be out of business shortly. She talked about her 'Northern style pizza' being in demand and while it may still be she is shortsighted in that her community is crying out for change, otherwise they would not be participating in this ambitious and important lifestyle change challenge.
I would offer an entire new line of healthy pizzas and invite the village to sample 'California style pizzas'. I'd make our whole wheat thin crust and our award winning marinara, low fat cheese and add some spinach with sundried tomatoes and a few fresh veggies from their garden - Yummeh! A couple of slices are perfect to snack on and great portion control too. Maybe throw some grilled pesto chicken breast on there or chick peas for added protein. I bet even the biggest guy in the village could get used to that kind of meal! You may also be surprised to know that we have many body builders who visit us regularly without spoiling their diets. Maybe one them would be willing to offer the villagers some helpful advice too.
That was the inspiration behind our 30 day pizza diet challenge. Not only do we believe that someone could lose weight by eating only our healthy pizzas for 30 days, but we also believe that because of the variety of sauces, cheeses & toppings we carry, they wouldn't get tired of it. This is a diet that anyone can stick to, which is one of the most difficult parts of dieting. As a side note I must say that not every pizza we make is healthy, for some of our clients it's not the primary reason they order a pizza from us. And I personally don't only eat our whole wheat pizzas with low fat mozzarella, there are days where I crave our deep dish Moosehead beer crust with double pepperoni and triple cheese and I satisfy that craving. BUT it's about balance.
We put our pizza diet challenge on hold because by the time we got things in place it was already October and the holidays were right around the corner so we thought we should postpone our challenge until the new year.
And here we are, January 2011. Seems that it's the perfect time to showcase how healthy pizza can be part of a healthy lifestyle. We will choose our candidates and launch our pizza diet challenge shortly. It'll be interesting to see the progress and the ongoing results, so stay tuned!
BTW if someone from CBC's Village on a Diet is reading this I'd be happy to offer my services (gratis) to the pizzeria owner of Taylor BC. I realize that filming is over, but the residents may or may not have reached their goals and good health is too important to give up on. Ever.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Gluten Free Pizza Available
Back in 2008 we noticed we were getting more and more phone calls asking if we made a gluten free pizza. People with gluten allergies were begging us to make a gluten free pizza that they could eat – something palatable was requested, but they were really hoping for something tasty. They also needed to have confidence that it wouldn’t make them sick, that is to say, that special care in the preparation & cooking would be assured and they could enjoy a pizza like everybody else – except that it would be a gluten free pizza. In a way it was very flattering to hear requests from people with gluten allergies; many said that we are known for being the best when it comes to all things pizza and these people really missed pizza. We still get calls and questions every week about our gluten free pizza.
We took quite a while to develop our own gluten free pizza recipe and it’s been on the menu for about a year and a half. Our recipe is made in house—from scratch and we only make it early in the morning in small batches. We do this to limit the exposure to wheat flour. We could have sourced the pre-made shells like some other pizza places do, but we felt that we could do better. Italians have been making Gluten Free pizza for years and they even have a Gluten Free baking category at the World Pizza Championship games. What I’ve learned from my experience there is that they don’t like eggs in the dough, which is common in North American Gluten Free products. Our recipe is egg free.
While we were developing our gluten free pizza dough recipe we had several testers who tasted our sample batches and sent us evaluations of each test. We knew we had our final recipe when all the evaluations came back with “this tastes like pizza!!!” A big thanks again to all of our samplers, we really appreciated your honest feedback. Even though we had our winning recipe, we still had to figure out how to incorporate a from-scratch gluten free pizza into a busy ‘wheat’ pizzeria. We asked our friends in Australia and Italy how they have been able to offer it on their menus for the past 10 years. We developed our system based on many suggestions from these experts.
We have a special shelf inside our walk in where we make the gluten free pizzas. We use sauce, toppings and cheese from the walkin which have not been in our kitchen, exposed to the wheat dusting flour that we use to slap out our wheat pizzas. Whenever we get an order for a gluten free pizza, a Pizziolo takes a clean, fresh apron and makes that gluten free pizza in the walk in, then loads it in our granite stone conveyor oven. We use separate baking disks and we also use a separate cutting wheel for our gluten free pizzas. We take extra special care that our gluten free pizzas are not exposed to any wheat products. It’s a lot of work, but we realize that not caring could make someone very sick and that’s just not acceptable.
Part of the other challenge was to check with all our suppliers about whether or not their products were deemed “gluten-free”. Label laws in Canada allow for a small percentage of wheat flour to be included in a “spices” category listed on the label—and listed here are all of our gluten free pizza toppings.
Gluten Free toppings:
Meats: Buffalo Chicken, Cajun Chicken, Plain Chicken, Seasoned Chicken, Strip Bacon, Turkey Bacon, Plain Beef, Capicollo Ham, Oysters, Anchovies, Shrimp.
Veggies: All of them!!!!
Gluten Free Pizza Crusts made from scratch with: White Rice flour, Brown Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Corn Flour, Corn Starch, Gluten Free Yeast, and Xanthan gum.
Available in 12” size only.
Gluten Free Specialty Pizzas*
When requested with gluten free pizza crust
Gourmet Hawaiian
Our signature marinara, Capicolla, Strip Bacon, Fresh Hand Cut Pineapple,
Monterey Jack Cheese Blend
Mexican*
*request with plain lean ground beef instead of seasoned beef, our signature marinara, Roma tomatoes, red onions and medium sharp cheddar
Classic Vegetarian
Our signature marinara, fresh mushrooms, green peppers, red onions & Roma tomatoes
Gourmet Vegetarian
Our signature marinara, chopped baby spinach, artichoke hearts, red onions & sundried tomatoes
Cheesy
Our signature marinara, mozzarella, medium sharp cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheeses
Big D’s Bodacious BLT “Canada’s Best Pizza 2006” – Canadian Pizza Magazine
No sauce, a blend of medium sharp cheddar & low fat mozzarella cheeses, capicolla ham, strip bacon, topped with fresh diced Roma tomatoes, ranch dressing, light pepper & sea salt finished with fresh chopped Romaine lettuce.
Havarti Heaven “Finalist for Best Pizza 2007” – Pizza Festiva
Olive oil & herb sauce, roasted red peppers, red onions, strip bacon & Cajun chicken with a blend of garlic’n’chive havarti & low fat mozzarella
Californian
Olive oil & herb sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese, seasoned chicken breast, chopped baby spinach, sundried tomatoes & Roma tomatoes
We took quite a while to develop our own gluten free pizza recipe and it’s been on the menu for about a year and a half. Our recipe is made in house—from scratch and we only make it early in the morning in small batches. We do this to limit the exposure to wheat flour. We could have sourced the pre-made shells like some other pizza places do, but we felt that we could do better. Italians have been making Gluten Free pizza for years and they even have a Gluten Free baking category at the World Pizza Championship games. What I’ve learned from my experience there is that they don’t like eggs in the dough, which is common in North American Gluten Free products. Our recipe is egg free.
While we were developing our gluten free pizza dough recipe we had several testers who tasted our sample batches and sent us evaluations of each test. We knew we had our final recipe when all the evaluations came back with “this tastes like pizza!!!” A big thanks again to all of our samplers, we really appreciated your honest feedback. Even though we had our winning recipe, we still had to figure out how to incorporate a from-scratch gluten free pizza into a busy ‘wheat’ pizzeria. We asked our friends in Australia and Italy how they have been able to offer it on their menus for the past 10 years. We developed our system based on many suggestions from these experts.
We have a special shelf inside our walk in where we make the gluten free pizzas. We use sauce, toppings and cheese from the walkin which have not been in our kitchen, exposed to the wheat dusting flour that we use to slap out our wheat pizzas. Whenever we get an order for a gluten free pizza, a Pizziolo takes a clean, fresh apron and makes that gluten free pizza in the walk in, then loads it in our granite stone conveyor oven. We use separate baking disks and we also use a separate cutting wheel for our gluten free pizzas. We take extra special care that our gluten free pizzas are not exposed to any wheat products. It’s a lot of work, but we realize that not caring could make someone very sick and that’s just not acceptable.
Part of the other challenge was to check with all our suppliers about whether or not their products were deemed “gluten-free”. Label laws in Canada allow for a small percentage of wheat flour to be included in a “spices” category listed on the label—and listed here are all of our gluten free pizza toppings.
Gluten Free toppings:
Meats: Buffalo Chicken, Cajun Chicken, Plain Chicken, Seasoned Chicken, Strip Bacon, Turkey Bacon, Plain Beef, Capicollo Ham, Oysters, Anchovies, Shrimp.
Veggies: All of them!!!!
Gluten Free Pizza Crusts made from scratch with: White Rice flour, Brown Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Corn Flour, Corn Starch, Gluten Free Yeast, and Xanthan gum.
Available in 12” size only.
Gluten Free Specialty Pizzas*
When requested with gluten free pizza crust
Gourmet Hawaiian
Our signature marinara, Capicolla, Strip Bacon, Fresh Hand Cut Pineapple,
Monterey Jack Cheese Blend
Mexican*
*request with plain lean ground beef instead of seasoned beef, our signature marinara, Roma tomatoes, red onions and medium sharp cheddar
Classic Vegetarian
Our signature marinara, fresh mushrooms, green peppers, red onions & Roma tomatoes
Gourmet Vegetarian
Our signature marinara, chopped baby spinach, artichoke hearts, red onions & sundried tomatoes
Cheesy
Our signature marinara, mozzarella, medium sharp cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheeses
Big D’s Bodacious BLT “Canada’s Best Pizza 2006” – Canadian Pizza Magazine
No sauce, a blend of medium sharp cheddar & low fat mozzarella cheeses, capicolla ham, strip bacon, topped with fresh diced Roma tomatoes, ranch dressing, light pepper & sea salt finished with fresh chopped Romaine lettuce.
Havarti Heaven “Finalist for Best Pizza 2007” – Pizza Festiva
Olive oil & herb sauce, roasted red peppers, red onions, strip bacon & Cajun chicken with a blend of garlic’n’chive havarti & low fat mozzarella
Californian
Olive oil & herb sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese, seasoned chicken breast, chopped baby spinach, sundried tomatoes & Roma tomatoes
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Most Expensive Pizza in the Land
We are definitely the most expensive pizza in the city, if not the highest price, then among the top 2. We might even be the most expensive pizza the country, although I thought I heard about a place that was putting gold flakes on their zzas and charging upwards of $100 for a small, 10” pie. Come to think about it, maybe that was one of those hoity toity places in New York.
Some think that our prices are so high just because we’ve won a few awards for our pizzas. (ok, like 5 “Best Pizza of the year 2005-2009”) While we don’t use inedible toppings like gold flakes or diamond studded earrings (now please don’t send me emails debating whether gold flakes are edible) we do use something almost as expensive; 100% Canadian dairy cheese.
Exactly why is Canadian dairy cheese so darn expensive? That’s a great question and I wish I could give you a simple answer but the facts are not stacked in my favour. Whatsmore, there is a 30% pricing difference between 100% Canadian dairy cheese that we use on our fresh pizzas versus 100% Canadian dairy cheese that we use on our frozen pizzas. WHAT?? You ask, that can’t be true – I made that up, you say~!?? Oh I wish it were so, but alas, no ‘tis true. Same cheese, different uses have different prices. That’s why our frozen gourmet pizzas are much, much less expensive than our fresh pizzas. That’s why all the frozen pizzas in grocery stores are so cheap. Nice of the big boys to compare their frozen pizzas to fresh pizzas from authentic pizzerias (like ours) every commercial break for every major game and popular TV show and not mention the built in price advantage, eh? (no, I’m not bitter). (ok, maybe just a little)
So then, how come there are so many pizza places selling fresh pizzas for $5-$10 for the last decade? AHA!! Well if you must know, they aren’t using 100% Canadian dairy cheese on those pies – they are using a substitute, an imitation, a mixture, a derivative of something else created to look like and kinda taste like real 100% Canadian dairy cheese, but cost a whole lot less.
Whether or not you can tell the difference isn’t the issue for today. Whether or not you care is. We are among the last of the holdouts for insisting on using 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our award winning, fresh pizzas. Canadian cheese prices are among the highest in the world – twice that of our friends in the USA. Is it any wonder that consumption of dairy products in Canada is at an all time low? We could use the same ‘cheeselike’ substances that our so-called competitors use and drop our prices, but we believe that our customers would drop us just as quickly. Still though, why can’t we use the same, 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our fresh pizzas that we use on our frozen pizzas? I mean, would the dairy police come and take us away in a milk truck? Would we be thrown in jail for using the more affordable 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our fresh pizzas and passing the savings on to our customers? It might sound silly, but no sillier than a 30% price difference for cheese because of the rules of engagement! It’s like having two separate prices for ball point pens; one higher if you use it on a notepads kept next to the phone, and one price lower if you promise to only use it on lined, legal size yellow paper.
Now I'm not an economist, nor a lobbyist, rather just a simple pizza chef with 20+ years of experience who knows quality ingredients and can say with a certain amount of confidence that giving all pizza makers access to the same low prices that only frozen pizza manufacturers currently have can only increase dairy consumption in Canada. Maybe this article from The Globe and Mail can explain our dairy system better than this pizza chef can.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/global-food/canadians-dont-know-the-price-of-milk/article1809689/
Some think that our prices are so high just because we’ve won a few awards for our pizzas. (ok, like 5 “Best Pizza of the year 2005-2009”) While we don’t use inedible toppings like gold flakes or diamond studded earrings (now please don’t send me emails debating whether gold flakes are edible) we do use something almost as expensive; 100% Canadian dairy cheese.
Exactly why is Canadian dairy cheese so darn expensive? That’s a great question and I wish I could give you a simple answer but the facts are not stacked in my favour. Whatsmore, there is a 30% pricing difference between 100% Canadian dairy cheese that we use on our fresh pizzas versus 100% Canadian dairy cheese that we use on our frozen pizzas. WHAT?? You ask, that can’t be true – I made that up, you say~!?? Oh I wish it were so, but alas, no ‘tis true. Same cheese, different uses have different prices. That’s why our frozen gourmet pizzas are much, much less expensive than our fresh pizzas. That’s why all the frozen pizzas in grocery stores are so cheap. Nice of the big boys to compare their frozen pizzas to fresh pizzas from authentic pizzerias (like ours) every commercial break for every major game and popular TV show and not mention the built in price advantage, eh? (no, I’m not bitter). (ok, maybe just a little)
So then, how come there are so many pizza places selling fresh pizzas for $5-$10 for the last decade? AHA!! Well if you must know, they aren’t using 100% Canadian dairy cheese on those pies – they are using a substitute, an imitation, a mixture, a derivative of something else created to look like and kinda taste like real 100% Canadian dairy cheese, but cost a whole lot less.
Whether or not you can tell the difference isn’t the issue for today. Whether or not you care is. We are among the last of the holdouts for insisting on using 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our award winning, fresh pizzas. Canadian cheese prices are among the highest in the world – twice that of our friends in the USA. Is it any wonder that consumption of dairy products in Canada is at an all time low? We could use the same ‘cheeselike’ substances that our so-called competitors use and drop our prices, but we believe that our customers would drop us just as quickly. Still though, why can’t we use the same, 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our fresh pizzas that we use on our frozen pizzas? I mean, would the dairy police come and take us away in a milk truck? Would we be thrown in jail for using the more affordable 100% Canadian dairy cheese on our fresh pizzas and passing the savings on to our customers? It might sound silly, but no sillier than a 30% price difference for cheese because of the rules of engagement! It’s like having two separate prices for ball point pens; one higher if you use it on a notepads kept next to the phone, and one price lower if you promise to only use it on lined, legal size yellow paper.
Now I'm not an economist, nor a lobbyist, rather just a simple pizza chef with 20+ years of experience who knows quality ingredients and can say with a certain amount of confidence that giving all pizza makers access to the same low prices that only frozen pizza manufacturers currently have can only increase dairy consumption in Canada. Maybe this article from The Globe and Mail can explain our dairy system better than this pizza chef can.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/global-food/canadians-dont-know-the-price-of-milk/article1809689/
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Search is on for 2 Participants for "Diana's 30 Day Pizza Diet Challenge"
Rules of Engagement
•Two people will be chosen to participate in this challenge.
•All participants must be able to pick up their pizzas everyday.
•Participants will receive two 10” pizzas per day
•Participants are allowed to choose either whole-wheat original or whole-wheat thin crust.
•Participants are allowed low fat mozzarella or a cheese blend as their cheese choice. No extra or double cheese options allowed.
•Each pizza can have a maximum of one lean meat choice (Capicolla, Lean ground beef, grilled chicken breast) and as many veggies as they desire. (Veggies Are Encouraged)
•Participants are encouraged to change the sauce, cheese option and toppings so that they don’t become tired of ‘same old, same old’ tastes.
•No soft drinks are to be consumed during this challenge. Water is suggested, diet soft drinks, coffee or tea allowed. No Lattes, specialty coffees, Slurpees or other high sugar/calorie beverages.
•No alcoholic beverages should be consumed during the 30 Day Pizza Diet Challenge.
•30 minutes of moderate exercise per day is encouraged (walking, jogging, yoga, pilates, push-ups, dance your ass off, air band, etc…)
•Participants agree to fill out a daily activities and food & beverage log every day
•Participants agree to get measured a minimum of twice a week when they are picking up their pizzas.
•Before and after pictures and a progress report will be posted on Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria’s Facebook page and may be used in their advertising.
•Participants agree to make themselves available for media interviews.
•Participants will supply a doctor’s note stating they are able to participate in this challenge.
Have you got what it takes? Ready to apply? Click on the link below - or stop by the pizzeria to pick up an application:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2yuvvn0gbjnufmq/start
•Two people will be chosen to participate in this challenge.
•All participants must be able to pick up their pizzas everyday.
•Participants will receive two 10” pizzas per day
•Participants are allowed to choose either whole-wheat original or whole-wheat thin crust.
•Participants are allowed low fat mozzarella or a cheese blend as their cheese choice. No extra or double cheese options allowed.
•Each pizza can have a maximum of one lean meat choice (Capicolla, Lean ground beef, grilled chicken breast) and as many veggies as they desire. (Veggies Are Encouraged)
•Participants are encouraged to change the sauce, cheese option and toppings so that they don’t become tired of ‘same old, same old’ tastes.
•No soft drinks are to be consumed during this challenge. Water is suggested, diet soft drinks, coffee or tea allowed. No Lattes, specialty coffees, Slurpees or other high sugar/calorie beverages.
•No alcoholic beverages should be consumed during the 30 Day Pizza Diet Challenge.
•30 minutes of moderate exercise per day is encouraged (walking, jogging, yoga, pilates, push-ups, dance your ass off, air band, etc…)
•Participants agree to fill out a daily activities and food & beverage log every day
•Participants agree to get measured a minimum of twice a week when they are picking up their pizzas.
•Before and after pictures and a progress report will be posted on Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria’s Facebook page and may be used in their advertising.
•Participants agree to make themselves available for media interviews.
•Participants will supply a doctor’s note stating they are able to participate in this challenge.
Have you got what it takes? Ready to apply? Click on the link below - or stop by the pizzeria to pick up an application:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2yuvvn0gbjnufmq/start
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tour De Pizza
A pizza guy in the US has is on a 1,300 mile mission dubbed the “Tour de Pizza” on his bicycle. He’s promoting that pizza is actually very healthy and that it’s all about selecting your toppings wisely, portion control and exercise.
I’ve been saying that for over a decade, our menu is loaded with healthy choices like low-fat mozzarella, lean grilled chicken breast, fresh veggies not to mention our 100% whole wheat crust option. On more than one occasion, I’ve been told “you don’t look like an award winning pizza chef”, which I always have to ask; “What does an award winning pizza chef look like?” The answer is always that I should be as round as I am tall.
Pizza has been getting a bad rap for years, while it’s true that many low price pizzas are made with fake cheeses and imitation meats loaded with fillers & by-products, the essential, all natural ingredients found in high quality pizzas are indeed healthy.
This guy has lost 25 lbs in 30 days...does anyone need more proof than that?
Check out the full story here;
http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/06/15/1275199/bicyclist-fueled-by-pizza.html
Now I’m not supposed to diet while breastfeeding, and the truth is that I’ve already lost most of my pregnancy weight, but when it comes time to drop the rest you can bet that I’ll be on ‘the healthy pizza diet’.
In the meantime, this gave us an idea for a great way to showcase the healthy nature of our menu so we’re looking for a couple of individuals to participate in ‘the Diana’s 30-day healthy pizza diet challenge’.
The successful candidates would be motivated to lose pounds while eating our healthy pizza for at least 2 meals of the day. We’ll provide the healthy pizza for the 30 day diet and monitor daily/weekly weigh ins. Proper portion control and moderate exercise is also a key component of this plan.
So how about it, do you know someone who’d be willing to take the ‘Diana’s 30-day healthy pizza diet challenge’ ?
I’ve been saying that for over a decade, our menu is loaded with healthy choices like low-fat mozzarella, lean grilled chicken breast, fresh veggies not to mention our 100% whole wheat crust option. On more than one occasion, I’ve been told “you don’t look like an award winning pizza chef”, which I always have to ask; “What does an award winning pizza chef look like?” The answer is always that I should be as round as I am tall.
Pizza has been getting a bad rap for years, while it’s true that many low price pizzas are made with fake cheeses and imitation meats loaded with fillers & by-products, the essential, all natural ingredients found in high quality pizzas are indeed healthy.
This guy has lost 25 lbs in 30 days...does anyone need more proof than that?
Check out the full story here;
http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/06/15/1275199/bicyclist-fueled-by-pizza.html
Now I’m not supposed to diet while breastfeeding, and the truth is that I’ve already lost most of my pregnancy weight, but when it comes time to drop the rest you can bet that I’ll be on ‘the healthy pizza diet’.
In the meantime, this gave us an idea for a great way to showcase the healthy nature of our menu so we’re looking for a couple of individuals to participate in ‘the Diana’s 30-day healthy pizza diet challenge’.
The successful candidates would be motivated to lose pounds while eating our healthy pizza for at least 2 meals of the day. We’ll provide the healthy pizza for the 30 day diet and monitor daily/weekly weigh ins. Proper portion control and moderate exercise is also a key component of this plan.
So how about it, do you know someone who’d be willing to take the ‘Diana’s 30-day healthy pizza diet challenge’ ?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
2009 Top Ten Gourmet Pizzas at Diana's Gourmet Pizzeria
Our customers have voted! Ladies and gentlemen, the top ten favourite, award winning gourmet pizzas from our menu for 2009 are….(drum roll please)
10. Bacon Double Cheese features our signature marinara, 100% lean cooked ground beef, maple smoked crumbled bacon, red onions, extra mozzarella & medium sharp cheddar cheeses.
9. Gourmet Veggie with our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, chopped baby spinach, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and red onions.
8. Classic Veggie features our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, fresh mushrooms, green peppers, Roma tomatoes and red onions.
7. BBQ chicken with BBQ sauce, grilled BBQ chicken breast, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions with mozzarella and medium sharp cheddar cheese blend.
6. Havarti Heaven a.k.a. “Finalist for 2007 Gourmet Pizza of the Year” featuring olive oil & herb sauce, roasted red peppers, red onions, strip bacon & grilled Cajun chicken breast with a blend of garlic‘n’chive Havarti and low fat mozzarella cheeses.
5. Hawaiian featuring our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, smoked ham, pineapple and maple smoked crumbled bacon.
4. Diana Supreme featuring our signature marinara, green peppers, dry cured pepperoni, smoked ham, 100% lean cooked ground beef, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, pineapple, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions smothered with double mozzarella (low –fat).
3. Ultimate Pepperoni - a.k.a. “Canada’s Best Pizza 2007” – World Pizza Championship games features our signature marinara, two layers of dry cured pepperoni on a bed of garlic’n’chive Havarti & low fat mozzarella on a Moosehead beer crust.
2. Canadian featuring our signature marinara, dry cured pepperoni, fresh mushrooms & maple smoked crumbled bacon.
1. Diana's Deluxe featuring our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, green peppers, dry cured pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions.
10. Bacon Double Cheese features our signature marinara, 100% lean cooked ground beef, maple smoked crumbled bacon, red onions, extra mozzarella & medium sharp cheddar cheeses.
9. Gourmet Veggie with our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, chopped baby spinach, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and red onions.
8. Classic Veggie features our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, fresh mushrooms, green peppers, Roma tomatoes and red onions.
7. BBQ chicken with BBQ sauce, grilled BBQ chicken breast, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions with mozzarella and medium sharp cheddar cheese blend.
6. Havarti Heaven a.k.a. “Finalist for 2007 Gourmet Pizza of the Year” featuring olive oil & herb sauce, roasted red peppers, red onions, strip bacon & grilled Cajun chicken breast with a blend of garlic‘n’chive Havarti and low fat mozzarella cheeses.
5. Hawaiian featuring our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, smoked ham, pineapple and maple smoked crumbled bacon.
4. Diana Supreme featuring our signature marinara, green peppers, dry cured pepperoni, smoked ham, 100% lean cooked ground beef, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, pineapple, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions smothered with double mozzarella (low –fat).
3. Ultimate Pepperoni - a.k.a. “Canada’s Best Pizza 2007” – World Pizza Championship games features our signature marinara, two layers of dry cured pepperoni on a bed of garlic’n’chive Havarti & low fat mozzarella on a Moosehead beer crust.
2. Canadian featuring our signature marinara, dry cured pepperoni, fresh mushrooms & maple smoked crumbled bacon.
1. Diana's Deluxe featuring our signature marinara, low fat mozzarella cheese, green peppers, dry cured pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, maple smoked crumbled bacon & red onions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)