By Week 428. Summer 2024. I am 41 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.
Tom made his trout on Friday, the way he does every Friday, and the fish was perfect, and the kitchen smelled like lemon and capers, and I sat at the table and ate fish that my partner caught and cooked and served, and the being-served is still a wonder after all these years.
Mason is 13 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.
Lily is 11 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made zucchini noodles this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
The zucchini noodles were good — light and summer-right — but after I made them I found myself still a little hungry, still standing at the counter, still wanting something that felt more like a meal and less like a gesture toward one. That’s when I pulled up this pizza bowl. It’s the kind of recipe that asks nothing of you except your hands and a little time, and on a week like this one — ordinary, full, mine — that was exactly enough.
Copycat Olive Garden Pizza Bowl
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (24 oz) jar marinara sauce
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup sliced black olives
- 1 cup sliced pepperoni
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil leaves, for garnish
Instructions
- Brown the meat. In a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, cook the Italian sausage and ground beef together, breaking them up with a wooden spoon, until fully browned, about 8–10 minutes. Drain excess fat.
- Sauté the vegetables. Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Build the sauce. Pour in the marinara and diced tomatoes. Stir in Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.
- Add toppings. Scatter the olives, pepperoni, and mushrooms evenly over the top of the sauce without stirring them in.
- Add cheese. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over the top, then finish with the Parmesan.
- Broil. Preheat your broiler to high. Place the skillet under the broiler for 3–5 minutes, watching closely, until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and lightly golden in spots.
- Rest and serve. Remove from the broiler and let rest 3 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve directly from the skillet with crusty bread or over cooked pasta if desired.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 620 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 42g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 1340mg