An Update On Peach Pesto Pizza (and a summer thought on delight)

I had to pay $20 to Squarespace this week for my domain renewal, so I figured I’d make use of that twenty bucks and share a few words. Here they are:

It’s summer again and I have a newborn in the house again. Also a toddler, which is chaotic. But the best kind of chaos. Especially right now, in these dog days, when everything is hot and slow and Sam is always sweaty and smelling like outside and Josh and I are almost exclusively drinking white wine spritzers and rose and Jane is just starting to smile.

Summer is, always and forever, my favorite. Summer bursts with life and fun and goodness and bounty and delight.

This summer in particular has been one of practicing delight in little things. It turns out that I, a lover of grand gestures and big plans, am finding the greatest joy in the simplest moments: my weekly zinnia and dahlia harvest (I am ruined; I simply must have zinnias every summer from now until I die), running errands alone as the sun sets (summer twilight is a magical time), sitting in the blow up pool on the deck with a novel, an evening at home with friends. It’s all small. But it fills me all the way up and each time it happens I try to capture the feeling and tuck it away for the days that I feel like I need more: more excitement, more clothes, more trips, more treats, more things.

I really don’t need more things. But more delight is always good. More treasuring up simple beauty. Here, in the summertime, raising some babies and watering some zinnias. Although—full disclosure—it is absolutely Josh who rolls the hose out every day in the heat to water the zinnias. I just cut them and arrange them in vases all over the house.

Another delight of summer for me is pizza. Specifically (as presented in my post from two summers ago) Pesto, Peach & Prosciutto Pizza. I thought I hit the nail on the head with my original recipe, but it turns out two more years of summer pizza making has resulted in an infinitely better product. So here it is!

Summer Peach, Pesto & Prosciutto Pizza

You’ll need:

  • 1 *Trader Joe’s pizza dough (the actual fresh dough! It’s next to the cheese)

  • Corn meal (optional, but it’s nice)

  • Fresh pesto (next to the fresh dough and the cheese, or you can make your own)

  • 1 peach OR nectarine (turns out either one works)

  • Prosciutto

  • Shredded mozzarella

*This recipe is not sponsored by Trader' Joe’s but it probably should be

Set the dough out to rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and lay out a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with a generous amount of cornmeal. This gives your pizza that very legit fancy-pizza quality and makes it not stick to the paper.

Prepare toppings: thinly!! slice your stone fruit and tear prosciutto into small-ish ribbons.

Once the dough is ready, shape (to the best of your ability) the dough into a circle and place on the cornmeal/parchment paper. Cover with pesto. Leave some room for crust.

Sprinkle with a thin layer of mozzarella, then place your peach and prosciutto pieces however you like. Top it all with more mozzarella.

Bake (on the parchment paper, directly on the rack) for 8ish minutes. Then pop the broiler on for a couple of minutes to make the cheese brown and bubble a bit. Keep. An. Eye. On. It. or it’ll burn.

And that’s all! It’s summer on a pizza pie. It’s the easiest clean up in the world (which matters to me now like it never has before). And it’s a delight.

Cheers to summer. Cheers to finding and creating moments of delight, in whatever season of life you find yourself. May those moments point you to the Creator of Delight and serve to remind you of his goodness. Amen and amen.