Simple Sunday Family Lunch: Ham & Cheese Pizza Sandwiches

Posted by Rowena Dumlao Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 10/22/2013

Simple Sunday Family Lunch: Ham & Cheese Pizza Sandwiches

Food takes shape in my mind, day in and day out. I can't help it. Once a passion turned into a main activity, recipe developing became a daily routine in my life so my mind is constantly in search of everything edible and photographable. And that gives my husband a big relief because for once, my frequent thoughts about which handbag looks great came to a sudden halt. But his relief did not live long because now my thoughts are also focused on which camera lens to buy next.

New technological devices and so many foodie trips aside, my husband just learned to scratch his head and wonder if my handbag binge was even cheaper & preferable than my new interest. Handbags don't make a better person out of me but food & travel blogging sure does. I can't compare myself to the person I was almost 3 years ago. My food knowledge has been enriched a million times and my kids are benefiting from what I am learning, even if I personally think that they don't like half of what I am imposing on them.

Food shopping with both kids is a struggle but there is only one place where I actually look forward in taking them along and play deaf to their constant bickering. The weekend farmers' market we frequent creates that special appeal to me as a parent because in every single stall (well, 90% of them), my kids receive a sample of the farmers' or producers' food. After one round of shopping around, my kids receive free pieces of cheese, candies, white pizza, prosciutto, fruits, nuts and even eggs at times. Both go out of the market with their hands, tummies & mouths full of good food.

Me? I love getting to know the people behind every single produce we buy. Learning from them is a big eyeopener for me. Most of the stuff I buy are gnarled and quite on the ugly side but they are all 100% free from anything we don't want our food to have. Once, my son and I saw a strolling little worm among the vegetables. My son said yuck and I would have reacted the same way but instead, it made me buy more. The presence of the worm plus the imperfect conditions of the food guaranteed quality to me. I like buying from people who care more about what we put in our bodies than how much money they will earn from us.

So last Sunday, our trip yielded our lunch that we ate outside the house because the weather was fantastic! We had a family picnic. And that is what you see in the pictures. I already did a post similar to this one but this time, let me focus on the pizza. That's the white pizza that you can easily buy here. Slice it in the middle so that you can put whatever filling you want. For this post, I just filled them up with prosciutto crudo and aged cheese made from bufala (buffalo) milk. It's not really a recipe but it's just an idea when you find yourself confronted with a piece of white pizza. The cheese below is a mozzarella filled with ricotta. It goes perfectly well with tomatoes, basil & extra virgin olive oil, a caprese salad.