First, please listen to the song below when reading this post.  Thank you.

There is currently a heated debate occurring in my kitchen over the name of this pizza.  Natalie and Ariel are yelling out “PIZZA LOVE, PIZZA LOVE” and Conor, Natalie’s boyfriend, is mumbling something about how there is supposed to be an “a” in between the two words to make it French…or Italian…it’s hard to decipher their arguments.  Anyways, this pizza WAS love, and so the post title is accurate.

Just a warning, this is going to be the first of many Valentine’s Day posts.  As you know, I take advantage of any holiday that comes my way, and use that day/season as an excuse to bake and cook a ridiculous amount of themed foods.  If you are somehow a bitter, love-hating cynic I understand that you might not want to see my cutesy, pink and red foods.  However, here is a plug for all you singletons: I’m exactly like you.  Hell if I’m making all this stuff for some boyfriend who won’t appreciate it (like my boyfriend last year who did not appreciate my charming heart-shaped cakes).  Nope, this Valentine’s Day I’m loving myself and my roommates, and thereby declare that you do not need some person to spoil with these treats – you are good enough to eat them yourself.

Now, sometimes when I make food, I deliberately choose ingredients that will make a dish look better.  It was through this decision-making process that I decided to put pepperoni, red pepper and mushrooms on my pizza.  I don’t even know if I like mushrooms, but they were white, and needed to be included in my V-Day colour scheme.  Since I bought a set of six heart cookie cutters at the Bulk Barn, I decided to use the smallest one for my pizza, carefully cutting out miniature heart-shaped mushroom and pepperoni pieces.  Yeah…I’m kind of cute.

Anyways, this pizza turned out great and I’m still eating the leftovers today.  Not only was the pizza seasonally-appropriate, but also delicious.  Now if you DO have a special Valentine and have procrastinated to the point that you don’t know what to cook for them, I suggest this.  Easy and romantic FTW.

Recipe: Pizza L’Amore
Dough
I always use this recipe to make my pizza dough.  It requires that you have a bread maker, something which I realize most of you probably don’t have.  Basically, any online pizza recipe will work for this, and if you’re really short on time you can always buy a pizza crust from the grocery store.

Toppings
– 4 tbsp tomato paste (approx.)
– 8 oz. mozzarella ball, sliced
– 1/2 red pepper, diced
– 40 slices of pepperoni (available at the deli counter), cut into heart shapes
– 150 g of sliced mushrooms, cut into heart shapes

Spread tomato paste over your pizza dough, leaving a 1/2 inch rim around the edge for crust.  Line dough with mozzarella ball slices, trying not to overlap the cheese so it melts evenly.  Evenly distribute pepperoni, red pepper and mushroom on top of the cheese.  Cook in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese melts and browns slightly.