Balsamic Roasted Peach, Almond, & Cilantro Pizza

Welcome to the month of February, where 93% of New Year’s resolutions come to die.

I mean, can you honestly admit to not having fallen off the wagon all year? If so then I’m super happy for you, you’re an incredible individual with astonishing willpower. For those of us living in a more realistic world though, this is where the line between strictly healthy food and cravings for chocolate starts to get a little bit blurred.

As far as pizzas are conscerned though, this one isn’t too bad. It fits in with anyone’s meatless Mondays and it’s got some pretty undeniably healthy toppings. It’s where the melty cheese and yeasty bread crust come in that we start approaching that tipping point. But like I said, it’s February dudes, that fact negates these little nuances.

I feel like this is the first Monday in months that I can sit back and say that I had a relatively uneventful weekend. My food making mode was on overdrive for so many days all week that by the time it got to Friday I was starting to get backed up on food. In a house with as many people as mine, that doesn’t happen easily, let me tell you. I was even able to do all the prep for our typical pizza night the day before so that on Saturday I just had to asseble them and bake. It was a gloriously easy meal and to top it off, most of the gang went out for the day so I had the whole kitchen to myself. It was a lovely thing. 

You see, usually pizza night gets really crazy with people coming in and out for hot pieces and seconds and I’m shuffling to try to find clean counterspace to work. This time it was quiet and peaceful so I took advantage of this fact and made a new flavor to share. We’ve got so many varieties of fresh fruits in season right now that it would seem crazy for it not to be ending up on pizzas. My crazy brothers have also been loving the fact that I have to keep making smoothies daily to prevent it all from spoiling. They can drink smoothies as faster than I can make them so that’s always a great way to use up the extras.

So this isn’t you’re typical pizza (obviously), but I was really happy with how it turned out. I debated for a while between whether to go with creamy or basic red sauce, but then I realized that I hardly ever do red so it seemed like a good choice. The step of roasting the peaches and onions with balsamic before putting it on the pizza, may seem like a pain if you’re in a hurry, but it gives the best flavor ever! I also have this thing for adding crunchy nuts to pizza, it’s so good! My instinct would usually have been to reach for some fresh basil to top this off, but since I was out of basil I went with my second choice of fresh cilantro. I’m thinking that I’m kind of glad I did because it gave the pizza a unique finishing touch and added that fresh summery punch of flavor needed to push this pizza to double yumness!

This would be a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner to surprise you’re sweetheart with and it would also be a great addition to your Super Bowl party. Or, you could simply make it because it’s a really great pizza flavor to switch up from the usual.